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Variability in emotions and emotion regulation

Variability in emotions and emotion regulation. Andy Lane, Paul Davis and Tracey Devonport School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure. People experience strong emotions. Expected events and intense emotions. Performing in front of large audiences (Petrides et al., 2006)

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Variability in emotions and emotion regulation

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  1. Variability in emotions and emotion regulation Andy Lane, Paul Davis and Tracey Devonport School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure

  2. People experience strong emotions

  3. Expected events and intense emotions • Performing in front of large audiences (Petrides et al., 2006) • Tasks with potentially dangerous consequences (Tenenbaum et al., 2008) • Competitive sports (Beedie et al., 2000). • Academic examination

  4. Unexpected events and intense emotions • People also have to regulate intense emotions in response to unexpected events, such as witnessing a disgusting or frightening scene, or being the target of anger on the road or at work.

  5. Lane, (2007) Emotions associated with best performance vary between different situations An individual will look to up-regulate vigour, and down regulate tension for sport performance. An individual will look to down-regulate anger for an academic examination Lane, Devonport, & Thelwell, 2009

  6. Emotion regulation strategies • At least 162 strategies in the literature (Parkinson & Totterdell, 1999) • Most common regulation strategies include: • Talking to, or being with, someone, • Exercise • Relaxation techniques • Music • Food (Thayer, Newman, & McClain, 1994)

  7. Emotion regulation in sport and daily life • Among a sample of athletes, Stevens and Lane (2000) found: • Exercise • Music, • Talking to/being with someone, • Thought control (Stevens & Lane, 2000) • Strategies used for emotion regulation in athletic samples are similar to those used to manage emotions from daily stressors

  8. Aims • Investigate relationships between the use of emotional regulation strategies and emotions using a within-subject design

  9. Method

  10. Participants Participants (N = 10: Age M = 35, SD = 10.5; 8 male, 2 female). All participants were active in terms of engaging in regular exercise. Nine participants were in full-time employment, with all participants being educated to at least degree level.

  11. Measures Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Niven, Totterdell, & Holman, 2009) Positive behaviour intended to improve emotion I did something I enjoy to try to improve how I felt Positive thoughts intended to improve emotion I thought about my positive characteristics to try to make myself feel better Dysfunctional strategies intended to improve emotion I hid my feelings to try to improve how I felt Negative behaviour intended to worsen emotion I started an argument with someone to try to make myself feel worse Negative thoughts intended to worsen emotion I thought about my shortcomings to try to make myself feel worse Items rated on 5-point scale: Not at all (1), Just a little (2), Moderate amount (3), Quite a lot (4), A great deal (5)

  12. Emotion • Short emotion scale • Pleasant emotions: Happy, Calm, Energetic • Unpleasant emotions: Gloomy, Anxious, Sluggish, Guilty, Downhearted • Assessed on a 1-7 scale

  13. Daily open-ended dairy • Participants were asked to; • indicate their goals for the coming day; • evaluate their goals from the previous day. • Participants were asked to list events associated with emotions including prospective and retrospective events.

  14. Response timeframe issues • How have you been feeling over the past 24 hours response timeframe was used. • Memory issues • Current mood • Relative intensity of emotions experienced (Terry, Stevens & Lane, 2005) • A response set that uses recall provides a valid measures of beliefs of emotions experienced, and strategies used to regulate them.

  15. Daily prompts • Participants reminded daily via e-mail sent by the primary researcher. • Participants completed scales for 30 days. • All data collected on-line.

  16. Results

  17. Preliminary analysis Emotions Intense emotions associated with in a range of situations, both expected and unexpected Similar variability within each situation: Sport vs. work Daily stressors vs. major events Expected vs. unexpected event Emotion regulation strategies Strategies used to regulate these emotions showed a stronger relationship with individual rather than situational factors.

  18. Ideographic analysis: Average emotion and use of regulation strategies for two participants Person A Person B Emotion Emotion regulation strategies

  19. Indicative quote from one day • “Knee collapsed today when running; so frustrating. • Email from YY on a XXX complaint angered me…….The bullshit that could follow will annoy me further”

  20. Indicative quote from one day • “Really angry; made some bad decisions at work that were costly. • Exercised at lunch-time; was so angry that I did a really hard session and felt great in the afternoon”.

  21. Relationship between emotion and emotion regulation • Emotions and emotion regulation strategies were standardized to remove between-subject variation • Emotion data classified into: • Pleasant emotions divided in above and below average group • Unpleasant emotions divided in above and below average group • Significant main effect for: • Pleasant emotion (Wilks Lambda 5,238 = .88, P < .01) • Unpleasant emotion Wilks Lambda 5,238 = .91 P < .01)

  22. Positive thinking to improve emotion • Positive thinking to improve emotions when feeling pleasant (F = 5.23, P < .01) and when feeling unpleasant (F = 8.81, P < .01) • Engaging in emotion regulation strategies associated with intense emotion, regardless of direction of emotion

  23. Positive behaviour to improve emotion was used when feeling more positive emotions (F = 21.45, P < .01) and unpleasant emotions (F = 5.89, P < .01). • The interaction effect was also significant (F = 6.78, P < .01); people reported engaging in positive behaviour to up-regulate emotion when experiencing high scores for pleasant and unpleasant emotion.

  24. Negative thinking to worsen emotion associated with unpleasant emotion (F = 6.46, P < .05)

  25. Dysfunctional strategies used when experiencing unpleasant emotion (F = 11.05, P < .01)

  26. Discussion • Findings show that emotions experienced in one situation may produce an affective residue that transfers across situations. • This affective residue can influence the interpretation of situational factors and ambient emotional states, which in turn affects the selection and persistence of strategies used.

  27. Conclusions • Emotion regulation strategies associated with intense emotions • Affective residue from one situation influences emotions in a different situation and subsequent regulation strategies • Future research is investigating relationship between emotions associated with desired emotional states and regulation strategies and how these vary across situation

  28. Thank-you for listening

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