The Self & Self Conscious Emotions
What are the Self-Conscious Emotions?
- shame
- guilt
- embarrassment
- pride
- empathy
- hubris
What are issues with emotion regulation?
- process vs strategy
- within vs between individuals
- might be the same as coping
- might not always be a good thing
ER tactic vs Strategy. What is the diff
ER tactic = more specific action/behaviour (ex. minimizing)
ER strategy = overall plan (ex. cognitive change)
Define load sharing
Trust and independence w/ social partners conserves energy
A response focused emotion regulation strategy that involves the inhibition or concealment of emotional expressions
Expressive Suppression
Give examples on how exposure and evaluative embarrasment differ
- exposure = standing in front of the class (you are just being exposed to the embarrasment)
- evaluative = singing the national anthem in a frog voice (there is a mild shame attached to it)
What is Thompson's (1994) definition of ER?
Processes:
- extrinsic
- intrinsic
Responsible for:
- monitoring
- evaluating
- modifying
emotional reactions
TO ACCOMPLISH GOALS
What are the 6 emotion regulation tactics?
1. distraction
2. rumination
3. reappraisal
4. relaxation
5. expressing engagement
6. expressive suppression
How is energy saved during social relationships?
- risk distribution
- load sharing
What are the cultural differences in terms of expressive suppression?
- majority of studies with cultural differences use W.E.I.R.D samples
- display rules are not shared across cultures
What is the counterfactual processes for guilt and shame?
Guilt = mentally undo some aspect of behaviour
Shame = mentally undo some aspect of self
What does "emotion as regulated" entail?
- changes in the activated emotion
- doing something that influences another person's emotional state
- can be interpersonal as well
- ex. Comforting someone in distress
What does "Range" (Repertoire) entail?
All ER strategies are useful sometimes
Ex. If you only use suppression for everything, it is different than someone who uses suppression but also other ER strategies
Why aren't risk distribution and load sharing benefits of relationships?
- because our "baseline" is social
- the human brain expects access to relationships characterized by independence, shared goals, and joint attention
- human brain assumes proximity to social relationships characterized by shared goals, interdependence, and trust
- being alone to regulate by ourselves is a deficit because it is a deviation from our social baseline
What is the development of Expressive Suppression in Adolescence (name at least 3)?
- characterized by intense + frequent emotions and conflicts
- more time spent with peers
- sensitivity to social norms and impressions
- increased use of expressive suppression
- becomes a part of an individual's repertoire
What are the most common experiences associated with guilt/shame? (pick 1 to talk about)
Shame:
- Poor performance
- Hurting someone’s feelings
- Lying
- Failure to meet other people’s expectations
- Failure to meet one’s own expectations
Guilt:
- Failure to perform one’s duties
- Lying, cheating, stealing
- Neglecting friend/loved one
- Hurting someone’s feelings
- Infidelity to romantic partner
- Breaking a diet
What is an example of Cole, Martin, Dennis' ER interpretation?
temperament research: still face paradigm
1. self regulatory behaviour is more likely during experimentally manipulated conditions in contrast to control conditions
2. ER efforts likely to occur when the infant was distressed but not when neutral or happy
What is Emotion Regulation Flexibility and why is it important?
Being able to change how you handle your emotions depending on different situations that happen in your life.
It's important because it helps you adapt to different challenges and stressors that come your way
Summarize the Social Baseline Theory
- humans evolved to be around other humans
- social relationships save energy through risk distribution and load sharing
- mechanisms evolved to function optimally when we are close to others (greater neural responding to threat when alone, greater SNS responses to social threat in adolescent girls, process evident in infancy)
- massive implications for psychology research
What are reasons why expressive suppression may be bad?
According to ERQ:
- Frequent expressive suppression use is associated with greater symptoms of depression, general anxiety, and social anxiety, and poor social functioning
- However, it doesn't capture real-time effects
According to results from the lab:
- does not improve emotional experience (participants don't actually feel sad)
- cognitive impairments (poor memory)
- may not reflect what participants would do IRL
What is transition like at age 3-4 for theory of heart? (Name 3)
- learn to differentiate facial affects
- use language to reveal internal states
- intentionally regulate others' states
- learn rules
- differentiation of self from other
- representation
- conscioius of wider spans of time (past-memory; future-planning)
What does Gross and John's ERQ entail?
More frequent Reappraisal:
- more positive and less negative expressivity (self and peer rated)
- closer relationships; likability
- better "wellbeing"
More frequent Suppression:
- males > females
- non-white/non-Europeans
- less positive expressivity (self and peer rated)
- less social support, relational closeness, likability
- lower "well-being"
What are the multiple strategies from an Emotion Regulation System perspective?
1. Range (Repertoire) = which strategies are available to use?
2. Combination (polyregulation) = how and when are strategies used simultaneously or in sequence?
3. Contingency (Flexibility) = to what degree are strategies selected to fit the situation?
What was the result of the hand holding study?
When person was alone:
- lots of regions were activated
- absence of support makes people rely on themselves
When stranger OR partner handholding
- fewer region activations but much more when alone
When partner handholding
- very rudimentary/basic activity
What were the results of Chen et al. (2020) study?
- Chinese and US samples completed the ERQ and FREE
- Frequent expressive suppression associated w/ greater symptoms of depression in both samples
- For the Chinese sample: Greater expressive suppression frequency was associated w/ more flexible expressive suppression use, which predicted lower symptoms of depression