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The Impact of an Emotion Malleability Belief Manipulation on Emotion Regulation

Wilson, Anne Cathryn

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Psychology.
Extant research points to a link between emotion regulation and psychological functioning. In particular, research suggests that how individuals choose to regulate their emotions (i.e., strategy selection) and how well they enact their chosen strategy (i.e. implementation) impact emotional and psychological functioning. Emerging research suggests that implicit beliefs about emotion (i.e., beliefs about whether emotions can or cannot be changed) may be one factor influencing emotion regulation choice and implementation. However, it remains unclear whether beliefs about emotion can be manipulated, and if doing so leads to more adaptive emotion regulation choice and implementation. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation is to clarify and explore the relationship between emotion malleability beliefs, emotion regulation, and psychological functioning in a series of three experiments. In each experiment, we randomly assigned participants to receive information stating that emotions either can be changed (malleable condition) or cannot be changed (fixed condition). In Studies 1 and 2, we examined the impact of the malleability belief manipulation on emotion regulation choice and positive and negative affect across two different emotional situations. In Study 3, we tested whether the malleability belief manipulation impacted emotion regulation implementation, specifically cognitive reappraisal. Results suggest that the malleability manipulation was successful in altering beliefs about emotion (Studies 1, 2, 3). In terms of emotion regulation, we found some evidence to suggest that the manipulation impacts emotion regulation choice, but not implementation. Across all studies, telling people that emotions can change led to a short-term increase in positive affect; whereas telling people emotions cannot change led to a short-term decrease in positive affect. However, the manipulation did not impact the intensity of emotional responses to an emotion induction. Together, the results suggest that manipulating participants’ beliefs about the malleability of emotions is possible and leads to changes in subjective emotion and certain aspects of emotion regulation. Our findings underscore the importance of examining how beliefs about whether or not emotions can change differentially affect various stages of emotion regulation, and the need to examine emotion regulation across different emotional contexts.
Jennifer Cheavens, PhD (Advisor)
Daniel Strunk, PhD (Committee Member)
Kentaro Fujita, PhD (Committee Member)
197 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Wilson, A. C. (2019). The Impact of an Emotion Malleability Belief Manipulation on Emotion Regulation [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1559298189559479

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wilson, Anne. The Impact of an Emotion Malleability Belief Manipulation on Emotion Regulation. 2019. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1559298189559479.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wilson, Anne. "The Impact of an Emotion Malleability Belief Manipulation on Emotion Regulation." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1559298189559479

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)