Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
BMC Psychol. 2020 Dec 11;8(1):133. doi: 10.1186/s40359-020-00495-1.
Emotion regulation alters the trajectories of emotional responses and, when effective, transforms the emotional responses to help individuals adapt to their environment. Previous research has mainly focused on the efficiency of regulation strategies performed individually at a given time. Yet, in daily life, it is likely that several strategies are often combined. Thus, we question in this study the combinatorial efficiency of two emotion regulation strategies, Situation selection and Emotional suppression.
In a within-subject design, sixty-five participants were asked to implement either no strategy, Situation selection only, Emotional suppression only, or both strategies together (four conditions) while looking at various emotionally charged images. Experience, expressivity, and physiological arousal were recorded throughout the viewing. Repeated-measures ANOVAs and corrected post-hoc tests were used for analyzing the data.
The results of the combined strategies showed that Emotional suppression canceled the beneficial impact of Situation selection on negative experience, while significantly increasing the impact on cardiac activity. The use of both strategies together had a greater effect on respiratory function with an enhanced decrease in respiratory rate and amplitude.
The combinatorial effect of emotion regulation strategies is different according to the emotional response that the individual needs to regulate. The simultaneous use of Situation selection and Emotional suppression could be particularly beneficial to relieve physiological symptoms.
情绪调节改变了情绪反应的轨迹，当调节有效时，它可以改变情绪反应，帮助个体适应环境。先前的研究主要集中在个体在特定时间内执行调节策略的效率上。然而，在日常生活中，很可能经常同时结合使用多种策略。因此，我们在这项研究中质疑两种情绪调节策略——情境选择和情绪抑制的组合效率。
在一项被试内设计中，六十五名参与者被要求在观看各种情绪唤起图片时执行不使用策略、仅使用情境选择、仅使用情绪抑制或同时使用两种策略（四种条件）。在观看过程中记录了体验、表达和生理唤醒。使用重复测量方差分析和校正的事后检验来分析数据。
组合策略的结果表明，情绪抑制取消了情境选择对负面体验的有益影响，同时显著增加了对心脏活动的影响。同时使用两种策略对呼吸功能的影响更大，呼吸频率和幅度都显著降低。
情绪调节策略的组合效应根据个体需要调节的情绪反应而不同。情境选择和情绪抑制的同时使用可能特别有助于缓解生理症状。
