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To Regulate or Not to Regulate? Situational and Individual Differences in Emotion Regulation Initiation in Daily Life

delete2026-07-13
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PRE
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T
Tabea Springstein
A
Anna C. Bankston
T
Tammy English
DOI:10.1177/01461672261461318delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
<jats:p> Situational and individual differences shape how and why people regulate emotions, but whether emotion regulation is initiated remains understudied. We hypothesize that, for example, less familiar situations might be associated with more regulation initiation, and people who believe emotions are controllable initiate regulation more frequently. Using experience sampling ( <jats:italic toggle="yes">N</jats:italic> = 216; 7x/14 days), we found that participants initiated regulation 60% of the time over the past 2 hr. As predicted, people initiated regulation in less familiar, less pleasant contexts, and with more dominant, less warm social partners. Unexpectedly, individuals who believe emotions are uncontrollable were more likely to initiate regulation, even after accounting for affect. These findings highlight that while attention has mostly focused on strategy selection or efficacy, meaningful situational and individual differences also exist at the emotion regulation initiation stage when individuals determine whether to expend regulatory resources to maintain well-being. </jats:p>

Journal

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin cover
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
IF:
2.9
Papers:
5.0K
Citations:
2.0W

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Washington University in St. Louis
Scholars:
812
Papers: 350
Citations: 0
U
University of California
Scholars:
7.3K
Papers: 2.8K
Citations: 8.3W
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