Emotion regulation in daily life: Context matters

情绪调节（ER）是个体以足够灵活的方式对需求作出反应的能力。描述ER的一个重要模型是ER的过程模型。该模型表明，个体在情绪产生过程的不同阶段采用ER策略来调节不愉快情绪。此外，它假设早期阶段（如重新评价）的ERS比后期阶段（如抑制）的ERS更有效。这个模型催生了许多调查单一ERS并比较其有效性的研究。然而，在单一受控情况下指导使用单一ERS的实验室研究只发现相对较小且异质性的平均效应大小。此外，它没有找到令人信服的证据来支持“越早越好”的假设。我们认为，小效应量有多种原因。首先，大多数证据来自实验室研究，因此侧重于短期内耗措施和内耗措施的指导使用。然而，参与者可能在有效地使用这些电刺激系统方面还不够熟练。其次，ERS通常使用单个指令或项目进行评估，这不仅限制了ERS使用的可靠性，而且由于单个ERS可以分为不同的ER策略，因此降低了ERS的复杂性。第三，急诊室研究表明，个体很少只选择一种急诊室来处理他们的情绪。相反，他们经常在一次情绪发作中使用多个ERS来调节自己的情绪。然而，关于多个ERS同时使用的研究很少。第四，最近关于应急措施的报道不再关注应急措施的一般适应性，而是强调了应急措施发生的环境所起的作用。在这些情况下，当参与者灵活地选择适合当前情况的ER时，ER特别有效。然而，这一观点的证据是有限的。因此，在拟议的研究计划中，我们希望捕捉ER及其在日常生活中的背景。具体而言，我们将(1)综合关于应急反应在日常生活中的有效性的先前证据；(2)开发并验证一份新型的应急反应问卷，该问卷包含了应急反应的多个策略/项目的过程模型的所有阶段；(3)调查情境选择在减少参与后续应急反应努力的需要方面的作用，并研究(4)不同应急反应之间的相互作用以及(5)应急反应与情境因素之间的相互作用。拟议的项目有可能对ER领域产生重大的科学影响，因为它既有助于理论（多监管、战略情境契合和ER灵活性），也有助于方法上的进步（新颖的ER问卷和新颖的EMA框架，允许对日常生活中ER及其情境因素进行调查）。就社会影响而言，项目成果将有助于设计干预措施，以促进适应性的生态环境利用。

Emotion regulation (ER) is the ability of an individual to respond to demands in a sufficiently flexible manner. A prominent model to describe ER is the process model of ER. This model proposes that individuals employ ER strategies (ERS) to regulate unpleasant emotions at different stages of the emotion generation process. Furthermore, it assumes that ERS at earlier stages (e.g., reappraisal) are more effective than ERS at later stages (e.g., suppression). This model spawned many studies that investigated single ERS and compared their effectiveness. However, laboratory research on the instructed use of single ERS in single, controlled situations only found relatively small and heterogenous mean effect sizes. Moreover, it did not find compelling evidence for the earlier-is-better assumption. We argue that there are multiple reasons for the small effect sizes. First, most evidence is from laboratory research, thereby focusing on short ER efforts and on the instructed use of an ERS. However, participants may not have been proficient enough in using these ERS effectively. Second, ERS are often assessed using single instructions or items, which does not only limit the reliability of ERS use but also reduces the complexity of an ERS given that a single ERS can be divided into different ER tactics. Third, ER research has shown that individuals rarely choose only one ERS to deal with their emotions. Instead, they often use multiple ERS to regulate their emotions within a single emotional episode. However, research regarding the concurrent use of multiple ERS is scarce. Fourth, recent accounts of ER moved away from the general adaptiveness of ERS and instead highlight the role of the situation, in which ER takes place. In these accounts, ER is particularly effective when participants flexibly select an ERS that fits the current situation. However, evidence for this notion is limited. Thus, in the proposed research proposal, we want to capture ER and its context in daily life. Specifically, we will (1) synthesize prior evidence on the effectiveness of ERS in daily life, (2) develop and validate a novel ERS questionnaire that captures all stages of the process model of ER with multiple tactics/items, (3) investigate the role of situation selection in reducing the need to engage in subsequent ER efforts, and examine the interplay (4) between different ERS as well as (5) between ERS and situational factors. The proposed project has the potential to have substantial scientific impact on the field of ER by contributing both to theoretical (polyregulation, strategy-situation fit, and ER flexibility,) and methodical advances (a novel ER questionnaire and a novel EMA framework that allows for the investigation of ER and its situational factors over time in daily life). In terms of societal impact, project outcomes will be of use in devising interventions to facilitate adaptive ER use.