Benefits of emotional integration and costs of emotional distancing.

OBJECTIVE: Three studies explored the consequences of the self-determination theory conception of integrative emotion regulation (IER; Ryan & Deci, 2017), which involves an interested stance toward emotions. Emotional, physiological, and cognitive consequences of IER were compared to the consequences of emotional distancing (ED), in relation to a fear-eliciting film. METHOD: In Study 1, we manipulated emotion regulation by prompting students' (N = 90) IER and ED and also included a control group. Then we tested groups' defensive versus nondefensive emotional processing, coded from post-film written texts. Study 2 (N = 90) and Study 3 (N = 135) used the same emotion regulation manipulations but exposed participants to the fear-eliciting film twice, 72 hr apart, to examine each style's protection from adverse emotional, physiological, and cognitive costs at second exposure. RESULTS: Participants who had been prompted to practice IER were expected to benefit more than participants in the ED and control groups at second exposure, as manifested in lower arousal and better cognitive capacity. Overall, results supported our hypotheses. CONCLUSIONS: The current studies provide some support for the assumption that in comparison to ED, taking interest in and accepting one's negative emotions are linked with less defensive processing of negative experiences and with better functioning.

Integration of negative emotional experience versus suppression: addressing the question of adaptive functioning.

Integrative emotion regulation is defined as the ability to experience negative emotions, explore their sources, and use this exploration for volitional regulation of behavior. Empirical research on integrative regulation is quite scarce and relies mainly on self-reports. The present research comprised 2 studies exploring the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive consequences of integrative emotion regulation and suppression of emotion, in relation to a fear-eliciting film. Study 1 examined associations between emotion regulation types (self-reported) and defensive versus nondefensive emotional processing (coded from postfilm open-ended written texts) in 80 Israeli college students. In Study 2, we manipulated the emotion regulation types by assigning 120 Israeli college students to integrative, suppressive, and control (neutral) conditions and exposing them twice to the same fear-eliciting film, 72 hr apart. We hypothesized that in the second exposure to the film, participants who were instructed to practice integrative regulation would benefit more than participants in the other 2 groups in terms of lower arousal level related to an experience of fear (measured by skin conductance, physical observation, and self-report) and better cognitive capacity (on a recall test). In general, the results supported our hypotheses. In comparison to suppression, integrative regulation was associated with less defensive written expression in the first study and with lower arousal and better cognitive recall in the second study. Hence, current outcomes provide some support for the assumption that taking interest in and accepting one's negative emotions is linked with less defensive processing of negative experiences and with better functioning.

Prevention of school bullying: the important role of autonomy-supportive teaching and internalization of pro-social values.

BACKGROUND: This study examined students' perceptions of autonomy-supportive teaching (AST) and its relations to internalization of pro-social values and bullying in class. AIMS: We hypothesized that: (1) teachers' AST, which involves provision of rationale and taking the student's perspective, would relate positively to students' identified internalization of considerateness towards classmates, and would relate negatively to external regulation (considerateness to obtain rewards or avoid punishments); (2) students' identified regulation would relate negatively to self-reported bullying in class, whereas external regulation would relate positively to bullying; and (3) the relation between teachers' AST and student bullying would be mediated by students' identification with the value of considerateness towards others. SAMPLE: The sample consisted of 725 junior high school students (50% females) in Grades 7 and 8 from 27 classes in four schools serving students from lower-middle to middle-class socioeconomic backgrounds. METHOD: The participants completed questionnaires assessing the variables of interest. RESULTS: Correlational analysis supported the hypotheses. Moreover, mediational analyses using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) demonstrated that identified regulation mediates the negative relation between AST and self-reported bullying in class. The mediational hypothesis was supported at the between-class level and at the within-class level. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that school policy aimed at bullying reduction should go beyond external control that involves external rewards and sanctions and should help teachers acquire autonomy-supportive practices focusing on students' meaningful internalization.

Consciousness and control in task switching.

Participants were required to switch among randomly ordered tasks, and instructional cues were used to indicate which task to execute. In Experiments 1 and 2, the participants indicated their readiness for the task switch before they received the target stimulus; thus, each trial was associated with two primary dependent measures: (1) readiness time and (2) target reaction time. Slow readiness responses and instructions emphasizing high readiness were paradoxically accompanied by slow target reaction time. Moreover, the effect of task switching on readiness time was an order of magnitude smaller then the (objectively estimated) duration required for task preparation (Experiment 3). The results strongly suggest that participants have little conscious awareness of their preparedness and challenge commonly accepted assumptions concerning the role of consciousness in cognitive control.