Showing papers in "Psychological Inquiry in 2015"
TL;DR: A review of the current status and future prospects of the field of emotion regulation can be found in this paper, where the authors define emotion and emotion regulation and distinguish both from related constructs.
Abstract: One of the fastest growing areas within psychology is the field of emotion regulation. However, enthusiasm for this topic continues to outstrip conceptual clarity, and there remains considerable uncertainty as to what is even meant by “emotion regulation.” The goal of this review is to examine the current status and future prospects of this rapidly growing field. In the first section, I define emotion and emotion regulation and distinguish both from related constructs. In the second section, I use the process model of emotion regulation to selectively review evidence that different regulation strategies have different consequences. In the third section, I introduce the extended process model of emotion regulation; this model considers emotion regulation to be one type of valuation, and distinguishes three emotion regulation stages (identification, selection, implementation). In the final section, I consider five key growth points for the field of emotion regulation.
2,060 citations
TL;DR: The mindfulness-to-meaning theory is described, from which a novel process model of mindful positive emotion regulation informed by affective science is derived, in which mindfulness is proposed to introduce flexibility in the generation of cognitive appraisals by enhancing interoceptive attention.
Abstract: Contemporary scholarship on mindfulness casts it as a form of purely nonevaluative engagement with experience. Yet, traditionally mindfulness was not intended to operate in a vacuum of dispassionat...
411 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the study of resilience must explicitly reference each of four constituent temporal elements: (a) baseline or pre-adversity functioning, (b) actual aversive circumstances, (c) post adversity resilient outcomes, and (d) predictors of resilient outcomes.
Abstract: Psychological resilience has become a popular concept. Owing to that popularity, the word resilience has taken on myriad and often overlapping meanings. To be a useful framework for psychological research and theory, the authors argue, the study of resilience must explicitly reference each of four constituent temporal elements: (a) baseline or preadversity functioning, (b) the actual aversive circumstances, (c) postadversity resilient outcomes, and (d) predictors of resilient outcomes. Using this framework to review the existing literature, the most complete body of evidence is available on individual psychological resilience in children and adults. By contrast, the research on psychological resilience in families and communities is far more limited and lags well behind the rich theoretical perspective available from those literatures. The vast majority of research on resilience in families and communities has focused primarily on only one temporal element, possible predictors of resilient outcomes. Surpr...
324 citations
TL;DR: Gross as mentioned in this paper showed that emotion regulation processes play a crucial role in health and illness, and thus warrant deeper understanding, and that they play crucial roles in health-related disorders.
Abstract: Three observations motivated the target article (Gross, this issue). The first is that emotion regulation processes play a crucial role in health and illness, and thus warrant deeper understanding....
323 citations
TL;DR: Bonanno, Romero, and Klein provide an excellent review of thinking on resilience and delineate several key foci that require future attention and introduce several key constructs that help describe key organizing principles about resilience that map out the critical constructs and processes that characterize resilience.
Abstract: In considering resilience to stress there are several key organizing principles that will aid both research and understanding. Understanding resilience is critical to illumination of the stress pro...
144 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that remarkable progress is evident in the yield from five decades of research on psychological resilience, while at the same time there are notable gaps and challenges confronting this maturing field.
Abstract: Remarkable progress is evident in the yield from five decades of research on psychological resilience, while at the same time, there are notable gaps and challenges confronting this maturing scienc...
107 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a corpus of research has emerged detailing the therapeutic outcomes and processes of mindfulness, and the emergence of the field of contemplative science has given rise to a new field of research.
Abstract: Over the past several decades, a corpus of research has emerged detailing the therapeutic outcomes and processes of mindfulness. The emergence of the field of contemplative science has given rise t...
105 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors presented an extended version of the process model of emotion regulation that has deeply shaped the field of emotion-regulation research, which they called the extended process mode.
Abstract: In his target article, James Gross presents an extended version of his process model of emotion regulation that has deeply shaped the field of emotion regulation research. The extended process mode...
83 citations
TL;DR: The graduate student who said this to me seemed sincerely surprised to learn about emotional labor, the study of emotion regulation in the workplace as mentioned in this paper. But he did not explain why he thought of it that way before.
Abstract: “I’ve never thought of it that way before!” The graduate student who said this to me seemed sincerely surprised to learn about emotional labor, the study of emotion regulation in the workplace. Rep...
74 citations
TL;DR: Mindfulness Broadens Awareness and Builds Eudaimonic...A man is insensible to the relish of prosperity ‘till he has tasted adversity as discussed by the authors. But mindfulness broadens awareness and builds envy.
Abstract: A man is insensible to the relish of prosperity ‘till he has tasted adversity. — Sa'di (1258/1890, Chapter 5, Story 10)In their target article, “Mindfulness Broadens Awareness and Builds Eudaimonic...
48 citations
TL;DR: Gross as discussed by the authors reviewed the state-of-the-art in modern emotion regulation research and presented a new model of emotion regulation, which is based on a new emotion regulation model.
Abstract: In “Emotion Regulation: Current Status and Future Prospects,” Gross (this issue) reviews the state of the art in modern emotion regulation research and presents a new model of emotion regulation. T...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the role of development, parental socialization, and culture in individual differences in emotion-related self-regulation, and discuss the place of Gross's model in the literature on emotion regulation and selfregulation.
Abstract: Gross’s (this issue) thoughtful and detailed model of the process of emotion regulation and related valuative processes is a considerable contribution to our understanding of the complex processes involved in actual regulation of emotion in context. He provides a framework for framing what is involved in regulating emotions, what contributes to emotion regulation, and what can go well or poorly in the process. He also mentions a number of important directions for inquiry, including individual differences, culture, and development. In this commentary, we attempt to expand on some of these topics as well as discuss the place of Gross’s model in the literature on emotion regulation and self-regulation. Specifically, after discussing more general conceptual issues and the difference between the process of emotion regulation in context and abilities related to individual differences in dispositional emotion self-regulation, we turn to the role of development, parental socialization, and culture in individual differences in emotion-related self-regulation.
TL;DR: It is argued that craving is an affective state per the definition offered in the target article, and as such the Extended Process Model provides a strong theoretical framework to understand the self-regulation of craving.
Abstract: We argue that craving is an affective state per the definition offered in the target article, and as such the extended process model provides a strong theoretical framework to understand the self-r...
TL;DR: In this article, Garland, Farb, Goldin, and Fredrickson compile literature from various fields to present a compelling model detailing the mechanisms by which mindfulness may be fostered.
Abstract: In their target article, Garland, Farb, Goldin, and Fredrickson (this issue) compile literature from various fields to present a compelling model detailing the mechanisms by which mindfulness may f...
TL;DR: In this article, a seminal article outlining the mechanisms by which people regulate their emotions in order to respond to the various demands posed by the environment has been published, which is called the GEM model.
Abstract: Almost two decades ago, James Gross published a seminal article outlining the mechanisms by which people regulate their emotions in order to respond to the various demands posed by the environment ...
TL;DR: The study of resilience first gained attention in the 1970s, explaining why some children raised in highly aversive circumstances emerged as functional and capable individuals (Garmezy, 1972; Rutte... as discussed by the authors ).
Abstract: The study of resilience first gained attention in the 1970s, explaining why some children raised in highly aversive circumstances emerged as functional and capable individuals (Garmezy, 1972; Rutte...
TL;DR: The study of emotion regulation has impacted numerous subfields of psychology including developmental, organizational, social, cognitive, neurobiological, and health investigations.
Abstract: The study of emotion regulation has impacted numerous subfields of psychology including developmental, organizational, social, cognitive, neurobiological, and health investigations (see Gross, 2014...
TL;DR: The Mindfulness-to-Meaning Theory (MMT) is a process model for explaining how mindfulness might facilitate an upward spiral of positive psychological growth via both eliminative and generative mechanisms.
Abstract: The Mindfulness-to-Meaning Theory (MMT; Garland et al., in press) is a process model for explaining how mindfulness might facilitate an upward spiral of positive psychological growth via both eliminative and generative mechanisms. Unlike models that strictly describe the eliminative aspects of mindfulness, MMT provides a theoretical framework for how the iterative cycle of appraisal→ decentering→ metacognitive awareness, coupled with positive reappraisals that extend into broader contexts, may help to extinguish conditioned negative affective sequela and promote positive affectivity and eudaimonic well-being.
One of the largest challenges facing the self-aware individual is the filtering and selection of interoceptive and exteroceptive information, particularly with regard to how one regulates what information is attended to and what meanings are construed from experience (Delle Fave, Massimini et al. 2011). MMT proposes that mindfulness practice, over time, can lead to a deepened capacity for meaning-making – or rather, a capacity to positively reappraise experiences of suffering and to amplify the affective experience related to natural rewards through savoring, transforming the context of these experiences in such a way that the experiences become supportive of the individual’s growth-process, thus engendering eudaimonic well-being while transforming the nature of the personal narrative or ‘autobiographical self’ (Garland et al., in press).
Over the course of mindfulness practice, agency and self-awareness are often transformed in ways that seem to tune attentional processes towards positive information in the internal and external environment (Kiken and Shook 2011). MMT hypothesizes that, at least in part, this process of attentional tuning towards positive stimuli, and reframing ones relationship with negative stimuli, along with proactive cognitive reappraisal feedback loops, will further generate positive affect, ultimately engendering eudaimonic well-being and spurring motivation towards prosociality (Garland et al., in press). In this manner, MMT hones in on key, heretofore neglected, generative aspects of mindfulness, implicitly contextualized in the framework of Barbara Fredrickson’s “Broaden-and-build” theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson 2004). The “Broaden-and-Build” theory models what happens at the affect-attention interface, proposing that positive and negative affect will either broaden or constrict the attentional field – resulting either in the accumulation or the conservation of psychosocial resources, respectively (Fredrickson 2004). MMT applies this theory to mindfulness practice, posturing mindfulness as a generative mechanism through which positive affect can be increased, positive reappraisals generated, and eudaimonic meaning construed from experiences of adversity.
The MMT is a novel and intriguing theoretical model that holds great potential for direct application in modern western society. Though a nascent database of scientific research on the effects of mindfulness practices on mood, cognition and well-being have begun to provide insight into both the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying the processes described in the MMT, a significant amount of research is still needed to identify pathways from dysregulation to well-being. It remains to be seen whether mindfulness-associated positive affect, along with its sequelae, are both necessary and sufficient to provide for the construal of eudaimonic meaning from conditioned and unconditioned stimulus-response sequences. In other words, are the key elements of MMT (decentering, metacognitive awareness, positive reappraisal, attention to positive affect and amplification of natural rewards) necessary and sufficient to provide constant fuel to the self-realizing individual traversing the upward spiral of eudaimonic well-being? Additional longitudinal research on mindfulness will help to assess the MMT and the generalizability of this model to diverse populations (e.g., individual differences, substance use disorders, psychiatric disorders). Notwithstanding these questions, the MMT bridges a significant gap in the literature by explicating a translational model of mindfulness that may be applied to evaluating the effectiveness of mindfulness for treating the pathophysiology of dysregulated behavior, in particular drug addiction.
In the commentary to follow, we frame our discussion of the MMT in the context of a brief overview of the neural correlates of mindfulness practice, particularly with regard to distributed neural network connectivity, and discuss the relevance of mindfulness from the perspective of treating the pathophysiology of drug addiction.
TL;DR: Mindfulness-to-meaning theory moves beyond asking how mindfulness reduces negative affective states (a dominant theme in the mindfulness literature) to a focus on how mindfulness might foster positivity as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Mindfulness-to-meaning theory moves beyond asking how mindfulness reduces negative affective states (a dominant theme in the mindfulness literature) to a focus on how mindfulness might foster posit...
TL;DR: It is illustrated how one can evaluate competing theories regarding their etiology by integrating information from various domains including latent variable models, neurobiology, and quasi-experimental data such as twin and adoption studies rather than relying on any single methodology alone.
Abstract: While the past few decades have seen much work in psychopathology research that has yielded provocative insights, relatively little progress has been made in understanding the etiology of mental disorders. We contend that this is due to an overreliance on statistics and technology with insufficient attention to adequacy of experimental design, a lack of integration of data across various domains of research, and testing of theoretical models using relatively weak study designs. We provide a conceptual discussion of these issues and follow with a concrete demonstration of our proposed solution. Using two different disorders - depression and substance use - as examples, we illustrate how we can evaluate competing theories regarding their etiology by integrating information from various domains including latent variable models, neurobiology, and quasi-experimental data such as twin and adoption studies, rather than relying on any single methodology alone. More broadly, we discuss the extent to which such integrative thinking allows for inferences about the etiology of mental disorders, rather than focusing on descriptive correlates alone. Greater scientific insight will require stringent tests of competing theories and a deeper conceptual understanding of the advantages and pitfalls of methodologies and criteria we use in our studies.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the idea that the implementation of cognitive control can also be viewed as a form of emotion regulation, initiated to reduce the unpleasant experience of challenges to goal-directed behavior.
Abstract: Few fields in psychological science are growing as quickly as emotion regulation. Undoubtedly hastened by the introduction of the process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 1998), researchers have identified a broad array of emotion regulatory tactics, each serving to alter the intensity, duration, or quality of the unfolding emotional response. In addition to being a buoyant research area in its own right, concepts from emotion regulation have permeated multiple subdisciplines of psychology, including biological, cognitive, clinical, developmental, personality, and social approaches, to name a few. Given this rapid expansion, the time is ripe not only to take stock of recent advancements but also to formulate new ideas about the mechanisms that govern emotion regulation. In this light, we welcome the synthesis and conceptual development provided by the extended process model of emotion regulation (Gross, this issue). However, we also believe that the targets of emotion regulation might range further than is typically acknowledged by existing models. Here, extending contemporary accounts of emotion regulation, we explore the idea that the implementation of cognitive control—one other emergent feature of the mind—can also be viewed as a form of emotion regulation, initiated to reduce the unpleasant experience of challenges to goal-directed behavior. In broad terms, cognitive control underlies intentional action, calibrating attentional, cognitive, and action systems to better attain performance goals, particularly in novel or challenging situations (Banich, 2009). Control is distinguished from automatic processing, where responses are implemented in a habitual and spontaneous manner. Of importance, rather than reflecting the execution of a unitary psychological process, cybernetic approaches decompose control into (at least) three core subsystems, including goal setting, control implementation, and monitoring (Carver & Sheier, 1990; Inzlicht, Legault, & Teper, 2014). First, goal setting represents current performance intentions (e.g., name ink color, eat healthily), and implementation systems calibrate ongoing information processing toward the fulfillment of these goals. Crucially, a continual monitoring process detects events that conflict with current objectives (e.g., errors or unwanted impulses), providing feedback to the implementation systems about the fluctuating need to increase or relax levels of control (Botvinick et al., 2001; Carver & Scheier, 1990). Several existing models have identified ways in which controlled processes can regulate automatic emotional impulses (Etkin, Egner, Peraza, Kandel, & Hirsch, 2006; Ochsner & Gross, 2005; Teper, Segal, & Inzlicht, 2013). Here, rather than further specifying how control processes might serve the regulation of prototypical affective material (e.g., negative imagery, distressing life events), we consider how the process of regulating emotional experiences might apply to the calibration of cognitive control, even for tasks that are not explicitly emotional in nature. In this regard, we suggest that emotional processing is inherently involved in goal-directed behavior. For example, in addition to coldly representing the requirements of the task at hand, our performance goals represent the value of successful performance; goal attainment is particularly valuable when goals align with overarching values and beliefs (Deci & Ryan, 1985), are externally incentivized (Chiew & Braver, 2011), or when a represented objective is personally meaningful (Proulx, Inzlicht & HarmonJones, 2012). Consequently, we suggest that situations requiring the use of control (e.g., conflict, errors, temptations) are particularly salient when goals are valued, triggering a transient negative affective state that (a) can be characterized as a type of emotion episode and (b) initiates regulatory action (Inzlicht & Legault, 2014; Saunders & Inzlicht, in press). In this commentary, rather than directly critiquing the extended process model (Gross, this issue), we note the generative nature of this model for understanding established cognitive control phenomena. First, we present evidence that situations requiring
TL;DR: Bonanno, Romero and Klein this article review many aspects of individual, family and community resilience studies, highlighting the fact that resilience is a multi-dimensional, complex construct that can be found in many contexts.
Abstract: Bonanno, Romero and Klein (this issue) review many aspects of individual, family and community resilience studies, highlighting the fact that resilience is a multi-dimensional, complex construct wh...
TL;DR: The contribution by Garland, Farb, Goldin, and Fredrickson as mentioned in this paper introduces a new way to look at the mechanism by which mindfulness improves hedonic and eudaimonic mental states.
Abstract: The contribution by Garland, Farb, Goldin, and Fredrickson (this issue) introduces a new way to look at the mechanism by which mindfulness improves hedonic and eudaimonic mental states. They sugges...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors lay out a detailed account of the factors that inform when different people deploy different emotion regulation strategies, and present an extended process model of emotion regulation, which is based on Gross's model of the emotion regulation process.
Abstract: With his extended process model of emotion regulation, Gross (this issue) lays out a detailed account of the factors that inform when different people deploy different emotion regulation strategies...
TL;DR: Vaidyanathan, Vrieze, and Iacono (this issue) begin their stimulating and insightful article stating, Understanding the etiology and structure of mental disorders is the purpose of psychopathology.
Abstract: Vaidyanathan, Vrieze, and Iacono (this issue) begin their stimulating and insightful article stating, Understanding the etiology and structure of mental disorders is the purpose of psychopathology ...
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Tang et al. as discussed by the authors found that 5 days of mindfulness meditation significantly improved high-frequency heart rate variability, suggesting better parasympathetic regulation and lower negative affect and fatigue, and higher positive feelings on the Profile of Mood States.
Abstract: It has been suggested that mindfulness meditation includes at least three components that interact closely to constitute a process of enhanced selfregulation: enhanced attention control, improved emotion regulation, and altered self-awareness (e.g., diminished self-referential processing, enhanced body awareness and equanimity; Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2015b). Consistent with many other studies in mindfulness, in a series of randomized controlled trials, we have tested whether a short-term mindfulness training (Integrative Body–Mind Training [IBMT]) could improve attention control, emotion regulation, stress response, and immune function, as well as brain plasticity of functional and structural changes. Relaxation training served as an active control. In one study, Chinese college students were randomly assigned to an IBMT (N D 40) or a relaxation training group (ND 40) for 5 days of short-term training (20 min per day). The IBMT group showed significantly greater improvement of performance in executive attention as measured by the Attention Network Test (Fan et al., 2002) than did the relaxation group. Meanwhile, individuals in the IBMT condition also had lower negative affect and fatigue, and higher positive feelings on the Profile of Mood States (Tang et al., 2007). In addition, a few hours of IBMT also decreased levels of the stress hormone cortisol and increased immune reactivity (Tang et al., 2007). In another randomized controlled trial study using the measurement of Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, short-term IBMT showed significantly increased positive mood and reduced negative mood states compared to relaxation (Ding, Tang, Tang, & Posner, 2014). A similar study showed that in comparison with a waitlist control group, an 8-week mindfulness training program significantly reduced negative moods (Robins et al., 2012). These results indicated that mindfulness meditation can improve attention and emotion regulation effectively, as well as reduce stress hormone and increase immune function. What’s the underlying mechanism of these changes following brief mindfulness training? Using neuroimaging and physiological measurements, college students were randomly assigned to IBMT or relaxation groups and assessed before, during, and after 5 days of training (Tang et al., 2009). Neuroimaging data demonstrated that IBMT group showed stronger subgenual and adjacent ventral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activity compared to relaxation control. Based on previous research, this brain area often involves in emotional regulation (Bush, Luu, & Posner, 2000; Posner et al., 2007) and is also linked to autonomic nervous system (ANS; Critchley et al., 2003). We thus measured the heart rate variability, an index of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, and found that compared to relaxation training, 5 days of IBMT significantly improved high-frequency heart rate variability, suggesting better parasympathetic regulation. To test whether body (ANS) and mind (central nervous system [CNS]) work together during mindfulness meditation, we further investigated the interaction between ANS and CNS. Our results indicated the frontal midline ACC theta measured by EEG is correlated with high-frequency heart rate variability, suggesting control by the ACC over parasympathetic activity, and that both the CNS (via ACC) and ANS interact to coordinate and maintain the meditation state. These results indicated that after 5 days of training, the IBMT group showed better regulation of the ANS through a ventral midfrontal brain system than does the relaxation group (Tang et al., 2009). Previous studies have shown the behavioral, physiological, and brain changes following 5 days of training (within 1 week). What will happen following longer mindfulness practice? Our results indicated that 2 to 4 weeks (10–20 sessions) of IBMT showed greater improvements in attention control, stress response (lower basal cortisol concentration), and immune function (greater basal secretory immunoglobin A) compared to 1 week of training (Fan, Tang, Ma, & Posner, 2010; Fan, Tang, & Posner, 2014; Tang, Yang, Leve, & Harold, 2012). These results suggested the dose dependent fashion as the training amount increases. Using MRI diffusion tensor imaging, previous studies have shown that training results in changes in white matter efficiency as measured by fractional anisotropy (FA). We randomly assigned 45 U.S. undergraduates to either IBMT or relaxation
TL;DR: Gross as discussed by the authors opens his target article with the observation that a lively interest in emotion regulation has spread throughout many subdisciplines within psychology during the past decade, and a broadly...
Abstract: James Gross opens his target article with the observation that a lively interest in emotion regulation has spread throughout many subdisciplines within psychology during the past decade. A broadly ...
TL;DR: Proposed RDoC offers an explicit, systematic antidote to the naive reductionism fostered by the Decades of the Brain that began in 1990 and more fundamentally radical is its resuscitation of psychology as an equal partner in the clinical science of psychopathology.
Abstract: Vaidyanathan, Vrieze, and Iacono (this issue) offer provocative proposals for the striking lack of progress, after decades of basic and clinical research, in understanding the etiology of psychopat...
TL;DR: For thousands of years, philosophers have been debating what a meaningful life entails and the best way to create one as discussed by the authors, and Garland, Farb, Goldin, and Fredrickson (this issue) offer a...
Abstract: For thousands of years, philosophers have been debating what a meaningful life entails and the best way to create one. In their article, Garland, Farb, Goldin, and Fredrickson (this issue) offer a ...
TL;DR: Vaidyanathan, Vrieze, and Iacono as mentioned in this paper discuss the role of model assumptions in analysis, the indispensibility of theory in study design, and calls for a broader, more integrative approach to inquiry about mental illness.
Abstract: Vaidyanathan, Vrieze, and Iacono (this issue) discuss numerous issues important to the scientific study of psychopathology: the role of model assumptions in analysis; the indispensibility of theory in study design; and calls for a broader, more integrative approach to inquiry about mental illness. At the core of their argument, however, is a call for greater focus on what they refer to as the fundamental problem of causal inference (Holland, 1986), that is, the ability to draw causal and etiologic inferences from study results. The problem of causal inference certainly is fundamental to science. Large literatures are devoted to the problem of how to draw causal inferences (e.g., Pearl, 2014), and others have made similar pleas for greater focus on causality in psychopathology research (e.g., Sanislow, 2010). As the authors note, recent nosological initiatives (e.g., Research Domain Criteria) have arguably been motivated in part by a desire to base psychiatric classification on causal and etiologic considerations. Causal inference is not the only fundamental problem in scientific inquiry, however. There are other fundamental concerns to address, as well. Questions of ontology—that is, how we even come to identify a construct as a thing—and questions of measurement—that is, how to quantify constructs of interest—are also critical problems facing science, especially the scientific study of psychopathology. Even inference itself—that is, how to make generalizable conclusions and to interpret inferential procedures—is a critical issue. These problems, moreover, are all inextricably linked to one another and to the problem of causal inference: Determining the causes of something requires delineating it as a construct, measuring it, and deciding how to draw generalizable conclusions about it. These are not necessarily trivial tasks, especially in behavioral science, and are arguably the focus of many studies Vaidyanathan et al. counter. Here, I briefly note some implications of these issues for the study of psychopathology, and for some of their arguments.