Research Seminar
Towards unveiling individual differences in emotion regulation: Development and validation of the Emotion Regulation Battery (ERB)Joeri HofmansKU Leuven | |
| Abstract: | Emotion regulation has been defined as the way in which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience or express them. According to the process model of emotion regulation, emotions may be regulated either by manipulating the input to the emotion system (antecedent-focused emotion regulation) or by manipulating its output (response-focused emotion regulation). In addition to this broad distinction, a more fine-grained categorization into five emotion regulation categories can be made: situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation. Previous research has shown that individual differences exist in antecedent-focused response tendencies as well as in response-focused tendencies. However, dispositional differences in emotion regulation strategies other than reappraisal and behavioral suppression have been investigated to a smaller extent. An important reason for this is that up to now no tools to measure such differences are available. The aim of the present paper is to develop a comprehensive test battery that allows studying individual differences in all regulation strategies mentioned above. Moreover, this test battery should take into account that each emotion regulation strategy may aim not only at increasing positive and decreasing negative aspects of emotions (positive finality), but also at decreasing positive and increasing negative aspects (negative finality), as may be observed in instrumental as well as maladaptive forms of emotion regulation. To develop and validate the test battery, four studies were conducted. In the first study, a large sample of items was generated to measure the different regulation strategies (with both a positive and a negative finality) and the items that most closely captured their common core were retained; in addition, the internal structure of the test battery was evaluated. A second study aimed at replicating the internal structure of the battery, and at examining the convergent and divergent validity of the battery by relating the emotion regulation scales to existing regulation questionnaires and questionnaires measuring personality traits, well-being, and general emotionality. In a third study, making use of an experience sampling methodology, we examined how the tendency to make use of each of the different regulation strategies relates to emotions experienced in daily life. In a fourth and final study, the test battery was translated into English and was related to the same questionnaires as in Study 2; as such, we were able to test whether the test battery taps on the same constructs when administered in a different language. Results and implications of these four studies will be discussed. |
| Date: | Tue Nov 24, 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm |
| Place: | room 02.51 (Department of Psychology, Tiensestraat 102, 3000 Leuven) |