Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Psych J. 2022 Dec;11(6):837-851. doi: 10.1002/pchj.589. Epub 2022 Aug 30.
Recent studies have found the connections between cognitive reappraisals' creativity and their regulatory efficacy. The present study proposed and tested a novel hypothesis on the function of cognitive reappraisals, especially creative ones. That is, whether they could positively alter negative emotional arousal toward unpleasant stimuli. To this end, two questions were investigated: (a) whether the creative reappraisals were more capable than ordinary ones of transforming the negative stimuli (pictures) to be perceived as positive, and (b) whether these two kinds of reappraisals made the "negative-to-positive transformation" through different mechanisms. To answer the first question, we examined the power of the creative and ordinary reappraisals in making the "negative-to-positive transformation" using an indirect and delayed "positive-or-negative" picture-sorting task (Exp. 1, n = 41 with a statistical power of 0.877), or using a direct and immediate subjective rating (Exp. 2, n = 31 with a statistical power of 0.768). To answer the second question, we checked how the factor of creativeness (creative vs. ordinary reappraisal) interacted with the factor of "timing" (simultaneous vs. delayed reappraisal delivery, Exp. 1), or with that of "dose" (one vs. three reappraisal applications; Exp. 2), in making the "negative-to-positive transformation," respectively, and examined if the variation of "timing" or "dose" factors would exert different effects on the creative and ordinary reappraisals' regulatory function. Our results generally proved that creative reappraisal was more capable of making the "negative-to-positive transformation" than the ordinary reappraisal, regardless of the direct and indirect emotion evaluation ratings as well as the variations in the timing and dose of reappraisal delivery. Moreover, we found that these two kinds of reappraisals could show dissociable dose-dependent effects (but not timing-dependent ones), thus partially implying that creative and ordinary reappraisal might make the "negative-to-positive transformation" through fundamentally different processes or mechanisms.
最近的研究发现认知重评的创造性与其调节效果之间存在联系。本研究提出并检验了关于认知重评功能的一个新假设，特别是创造性认知重评的功能。也就是说，它们是否能够积极改变对不愉快刺激的负面情绪唤起。为此，研究了两个问题：(a)创造性重评是否比普通重评更有能力将负面刺激（图片）感知为积极，以及 (b)这两种重评是否通过不同的机制实现“负面到正面的转变”。为了回答第一个问题，我们使用间接且延迟的“正/负”图片分类任务（实验 1，n=41，统计效力为 0.877）或直接且即时的主观评分（实验 2，n=31，统计效力为 0.768）来检验创造性和普通重评在实现“负面到正面的转变”中的力量。为了回答第二个问题，我们检查了创造性因素（创造性与普通重评）与“时间”因素（同时与延迟重评传递，实验 1）或“剂量”因素（一次与三次重评应用；实验 2）之间的相互作用如何，分别在实现“负面到正面的转变”中，以及检查“时间”或“剂量”因素的变化是否会对创造性和普通重评的调节功能产生不同的影响。我们的结果普遍证明，无论直接和间接的情绪评价评分以及重评传递的时间和剂量变化如何，创造性重评比普通重评更有能力实现“负面到正面的转变”。此外，我们发现这两种重评可以表现出不同的剂量依赖性效应（但不是时间依赖性效应），这部分暗示创造性和普通重评可能通过根本不同的过程或机制来实现“负面到正面的转变”。
