Emotion regulation
Emotion regulation comprises processes that influence which emotions occur, when they occur, and how they are experienced or expressed.
Process model of emotion regulation: A framework that distinguishes emotion-regulation strategies by when they act in the unfolding of an emotional response. It maps strategies onto stages such as situation selection, attention, appraisal, and response.
Cognitive behavioral therapy: A psychotherapy that uses cognitive and behavioral methods to address patterns sustaining psychological distress. It often teaches people to examine appraisals and change behaviors that maintain distress.
Emotion: A coordinated response involving subjective feeling, physiological change, appraisal, and action tendencies. Regulation can target different components of an emotional response.
Emotion regulation flexibility: The capacity to adapt regulatory strategies to changing goals and situational demands. Effective regulation depends partly on matching a strategy to its context.
Emotion regulation questionnaire: A self-report measure assessing habitual cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Its focus on two strategies raises questions about how broadly regulation can be measured.
Cognitive reappraisal: Changing how a situation is interpreted to alter its emotional impact. It modifies the meaning of a situation before an emotional response is fully developed.
Dialectical behavior therapy: A psychotherapy combining behavioral change strategies with acceptance and mindfulness skills. Emotion regulation is one of its core skills-training areas.
Executive functions: Cognitive processes that support goal-directed control, including working memory, inhibition, and flexible shifting. These capacities can help maintain regulatory goals and resist impulsive responses.
Hedonic adaptation: The tendency for emotional responses to return toward a baseline after changes in circumstances. Regulation interacts with the ways emotional effects fade or persist over time.
Emotion regulation in children: The development of children's capacities to recognize, manage, and express emotions. Developmental change helps distinguish emerging skills from adult regulatory patterns.