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Stay calm! Regulating emotional responses by implementation intentions: Assessing the impact on physiological and subjective arousal

journal contribution
posted on 2023-07-26, 14:54 authored by Lena Azbel-Jackson, Laurie T. Butler, Judi A. Ellis, Carien M. van Reekum
Implementation intention (IMP) has recently been highlighted as an effective emotion regulatory strategy. Most studies examining the effectiveness of IMPs to regulate emotion have relied on self-report measures of emotional change. In two studies we employed electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate (HR) in addition to arousal ratings (AR) to assess the impact of an IMP on emotional responses. In Study 1, 60 participants viewed neutral and two types of negative pictures (weapon vs. non-weapon) under the IMP “If I see a weapon, then I will stay calm and relaxed!” or no self-regulatory instructions (Control). In Study 2, additionally to the Control and IMP conditions, participants completed the picture rating task either under goal intention (GI) to stay calm and relaxed or warning instructions highlighting that some pictures contain weapons. In both studies, participants showed lower EDA, reduced HR deceleration and lower AR to the weapon pictures compared to the non-weapon pictures. In Study 2, the IMP was associated with lower EDA compared to the GI condition for the weapon pictures, but not compared to the weapon pictures in the Warning condition. ARs were lower for IMP compared to GI and Warning conditions for the weapon pictures.

History

Refereed

  • Yes

Volume

30

Issue number

6

Page range

1107-1121

Publication title

Cognition and Emotion

ISSN

1464-0600

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Language

  • other

Legacy posted date

2020-02-26

Legacy Faculty/School/Department

ARCHIVED Faculty of Science & Technology (until September 2018)

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