The processes by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express them. James Gross's process model identifies five strategies: situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation.
Emotional regulation refers to the processes by which individuals influence their emotional experiences — which emotions arise, when they arise, and how they are experienced and expressed. It is a fundamental aspect of psychological functioning, and difficulties with emotional regulation are a transdiagnostic feature of many mental health conditions.
James Gross's process model of emotion regulation (1998) identifies five families of regulation strategies arranged along a timeline of the emotion-generation process. Situation selection involves choosing or avoiding situations likely to trigger certain emotions. Situation modification means changing the situation to alter its emotional impact. Attentional deployment involves directing attention toward or away from emotional aspects of a situation. Cognitive change (including reappraisal) involves reinterpreting the meaning of a situation. Response modulation involves directly influencing physiological, experiential, or behavioral components of an emotional response after it has been generated.
Research consistently shows that some regulation strategies are generally more adaptive than others. Cognitive reappraisal (a form of cognitive change) is associated with better emotional, social, and health outcomes. Expressive suppression (a form of response modulation) is generally less effective and associated with greater emotional and physiological cost. However, flexibility in using different strategies depending on context — rather than rigid reliance on any single strategy — appears to be the hallmark of healthy emotional regulation.
Emotional regulation refers to the processes by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express them. James Gross's model identifies five strategies along the emotion-generation timeline.
Research generally shows that cognitive reappraisal (reinterpreting situations) is more adaptive than suppression. However, flexibility — using different strategies depending on context — appears to be the hallmark of healthy regulation. No single strategy is best in all situations.
Improve emotional regulation by developing emotional awareness and granularity, practicing cognitive reframing, building distress tolerance skills, using mindfulness to create space between trigger and response, and engaging in regular self-care practices that support overall nervous system health.
Explore this concept in ManifestedMe
Learn More →