Emotion Regulation: Cognitive Change, Reappraisal, and Response Modulation

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering emotion regulation strategies, cognitive change, appraisal mechanisms, James Gross's experimental study on reappraisal versus suppression, and the physiological costs of emotional inhibition.

Cognitive change

The fourth strategy of emotion regulation, defined as a process where an individual uses appraisal mechanisms to evaluate and alter how they think about or frame an event to influence their emotional response.

Appraisal

An evaluative process of estimating the realistic impact of a person, circumstance, or event by examining both what is seen and unseen to weigh its true value rather than relying on bodily feelings.

Shafter

The theorist noted as the first person to propose that an environmental appraisal mechanism is an essential step that occurs before emotions are elicited.

Fail-proof framing

A cognitive change approach that establishes mental boundaries around a situation to keep circumstances in perspective and limit how far an emotional reaction can proceed.

Response-focused approach

An emotion regulation strategy implemented after an emotional reaction has already been elicited and generated, functioning to manage or mop up existing emotions.

Antecedent-focused strategy

An emotion regulation process—such as proactive reappraisal—that takes effect before an emotional response is elicited, preventing negative emotions from spilling over.

Dossier

A faculty tenure evaluation packet comprising a curriculum vitae, teaching evaluations, committee service records, and research grants that is sent externally to $10$ to $12$ leading experts in the candidate's field.

James Gross

The emotion regulation researcher who distinguished between antecedent-focused and response-focused strategies and tested the physiological, experiential, and behavioral outcomes of reappraisal versus suppression.

Experiential emotional response

The subjective component of an emotion reflecting how an individual internally thinks and feels about an event, typically assessed using self-report questionnaires.

Behavioral emotional response

The outward, expressive manifestations of an emotion, which include facial expressions, body posture, gestures, and vocal tone.

Physiological emotional response

The internal biological reactions accompanying an emotion, mediated by the autonomic nervous system and indexed by measures such as sympathetic tone and skin conductance response.

Response modulation

The emotion regulation strategy that acts directly on an elicited emotion to alter or modulate its experiential, behavioral, or physiological consequences.

Attentional deployment

A regulation technique that shifts cognitive processing away from the internal rumination of the default mode network toward external stimuli, tasks, or actions.

Healthy distraction in thinking

A cognitive response modulation tactic wherein a person intentionally redirects their thoughts toward positive, realistic memories or future plans to stop emotional escalation.

Tact

Defined by Isaac Newton as "the knack of making a point without making an enemy," cited as an example of behavioral response modulation.

Reappraise condition (Gross experiment)

The experimental condition where participants were instructed prior to viewing distressing films to adopt a detached, unemotional attitude and analyze the events objectively in terms of technical aspects.

Suppress condition (Gross experiment)

The experimental condition where participants were instructed while viewing distressing films to behave in such a way that an outside observer would not know they were feeling anything at all.

Skin conductance response

An objective physiological measure of sympathetic nervous system activation used in Gross's study, which peaked at nearly double the intensity during emotional suppression compared to reappraisal.

Psychosomatic medical problems

Physical health conditions—including hypertension, coronary heart disease, gastrointestinal ulcers, and cancer progression—caused or aggravated by chronic inhibition of emotional expression and sustained sympathetic nervous system activation.