You Need to Calm Down: Investigating the effect of Goals on the Perceived Effectiveness of Interpersonal Suppression and Reappraisal

Abstract

People often rely on others to regulate their emotions through different strategies. The aim of this study was to investigate whether goals change the perceived effectiveness of interpersonal cognitive reappraisal and suppression. While research on interpersonal emotion regulation has been increasing, little focus has been given to the role of goals in this process. It was hypothesized that reappraisal would be perceived more helpful for hedonic than instrumental goals. Suppression was hypothesized to be more perceived as more helpful for instrumental than hedonic goals. This was investigated through an experimentally designed survey (N = 986). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: hedonic or instrumental goals. Participants rated the strategies perceived helpfulness while thinking of their romantic partner. A repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to analyze the hypotheses. Interpersonal cognitive reappraisal was found to be perceived more effective than suppression regardless of participants’ goals. Additionally, suppression was found to be perceived significantly more helpful for instrumental goals than hedonic goals. Therefore, it may be good to have a closer look at the role of goals and their effect on perceived effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies in future studies. This study showed that goals have differential effects on strategies perceived helpfulness. The findings highlighted the importance of a partner's understanding of the target’s goals before choosing the interpersonal emotion regulation strategy. Keywords: interpersonal emotion regulation, interpersonal cognitive reappraisal, interpersonal suppression