Does suppressing negative emotion impair subsequent emotions? Two experience sampling studies

Emotion differentiation, which involves experiencing and labeling emotions in a granular way, has been linked with well-being. It has been theorized that differentiating between emotions facilitates effective emotion regulation, but this link has yet to be comprehensively tested. In two experience-sampling studies, we examined how negative emotion differentiation was related to (a) the selection of emotion-regulation strategies and (b) the effectiveness of these strategies in downregulating negative emotion ( Ns = 200 and 101 participants and 34,660 and 6,282 measurements, respectively). Unexpectedly, we found few relationships between differentiation and the selection of putatively adaptive or maladaptive strategies. Instead, we found interactions between differentiation and strategies in predicting negative emotion. Among low differentiators, all strategies (Study 1) and four of six strategies (Study 2) were more strongly associated with increased negative emotion than they were among high differentiators. This suggests that low differentiation may hinder successful emotion regulation, which in turn supports the idea that effective regulation may underlie differentiation benefits.

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Affect Dysregulation in Context: Implications and Future Directions of Experience Sampling Research on Affect Regulation Models of Loss of Control Eating

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2021.747854 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Megan E. Mikhail

Keyword(s):

Negative Affect ◽

Affect Regulation ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Future Research ◽

Loss Of Control ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Loss Of Control Eating ◽

Sampling Studies ◽

Regulation Model

Loss of control eating is a core, transdiagnostic eating disorder symptom associated with psychological distress, functional impairment, and reduced quality of life. However, the factors that contribute to persistent loss of control eating despite negative consequences are not fully understood. Understanding the mechanisms that maintain loss of control eating is crucial to advance treatments that interrupt these processes. Affect regulation models of loss of control eating hypothesize that negative emotions trigger loss of control eating, and that loss of control eating is negatively reinforced because it temporarily decreases negative affect. Several variations on this basic affect regulation model have been proposed, including theories suggesting that negative affect decreases during loss of control eating rather than afterwards (escape theory), and that loss of control eating replaces one negative emotion with another that is less aversive (trade-off theory). Experience sampling designs that measure negative affect and eating behavior multiple times per day are optimally suited to examining the nuanced predictions of these affect regulation models in people's everyday lives. This paper critically reviews experience sampling studies examining associations between negative affect and loss of control eating, and discusses the implications for different affect regulation models of loss of control eating. The review concludes by proposing an expanded affect-focused model of loss of control eating that incorporates trait-level individual differences and momentary biological and environmental variables to guide future research. Clinical implications and recommendations are discussed.

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Socioemotional Dynamics of Emotion Regulation and Depressive Symptoms: A Person-Specific Network Approach

Complexity ◽

10.1155/2018/5094179 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 ◽

pp. 1-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Xiao Yang ◽

Nilam Ram ◽

Scott D. Gest ◽

David M. Lydon-Staley ◽

David E. Conroy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Psychological Health ◽

Recovery Time ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Negative Emotions ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Response Analysis ◽

Network Approach ◽

Sampling Studies

Socioemotional processes engaged in daily life may afford and/or constrain individuals’ emotion regulation in ways that affect psychological health. Recent findings from experience sampling studies suggest that persistence of negative emotions (emotion inertia), the strength of relations among an individual’s negative emotions (density of the emotion network), and cycles of negative/aggressive interpersonal transactions are related to psychological health. Using multiple bursts of intensive experience sampling data obtained from 150 persons over one year, person-specific analysis, and impulse response analysis, this study quantifies the complex and interconnected socioemotional processes that surround individuals’ daily social interactions and on-going regulation of negative emotion in terms of recovery time. We also examine how this measure of regulatory inefficiency is related to interindividual differences and intraindividual change in level of depressive symptoms. Individuals with longer recovery times had higher overall level of depressive symptoms. Also, during periods where recovery time of sadness was longer than usual, individuals’ depressive symptoms were also higher than usual, particularly among individuals who experienced higher overall level of stressful life events. The findings and analysis highlight the utility of a person-specific network approach to study emotion regulation, how regulatory processes change over time, and potentially how planned changes in the configuration of individuals’ systems may contribute to psychological health.

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Do people with schizophrenia experience more negative emotion and less positive emotion in their daily lives? A meta-analysis of experience sampling studies

Schizophrenia Research ◽

10.1016/j.schres.2016.11.016 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 183 ◽

pp. 49-55 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Hyein Cho ◽

Rachel Gonzalez ◽

Lindsey M. Lavaysse ◽

Sunny Pence ◽

Daniel Fulford ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Positive Emotion ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Daily Lives ◽

Sampling Studies

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Beliefs about stressors alter stressors’ impact: Evidence from two experience-sampling studies

Human Relations ◽

10.1177/0018726706069768 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 59 (9) ◽

pp. 1261-1285 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Kevin Daniels ◽

Ruth Hartley ◽

Cheryl J. Travers

Keyword(s):

Experience Sampling ◽

Sampling Studies

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Recommendations for Reporting Sample and Measurement Information in Experience Sampling Studies

British Journal of Management ◽

10.1111/1467-8551.12489 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Eric D. Heggestad ◽

Liana Kreamer ◽

Mary M. Hausfeld ◽

Charmi Patel ◽

Steven G. Rogelberg

Keyword(s):

Experience Sampling ◽

Measurement Information ◽

Sampling Studies

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Ready for the Worst? Negative Emotional Anticipation is Associated with Greater Reactivity to an Emotional Event

10.31234/osf.io/zdtre ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Elise Katherine Kalokerinos ◽

Ella Moeck ◽

Koen Rummens ◽

Kristof Meers ◽

Merijn Mestdagh

Keyword(s):

Time Scale ◽

Research Finding ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Bad News ◽

First Year ◽

First Year Students ◽

First Semester ◽

Emotional Outcomes

Lay wisdom suggests feeling negative in advance of an outcome – anticipatory negative emotion – shields against the blow of bad news. However, evidence is mixed, with different lines of research finding that anticipatory negative emotion is helpful, harmful, or has no effect on emotional outcomes. We set out to reconcile the competing findings by examining effects over a longer, but more granular, time-scale. First-year students (N=101) completed 9 days of experience sampling (10 surveys/day) as they received their first-semester exam grades, and a follow-up survey 5 months later. We investigated the association between anticipatory negative emotion and three negative emotional outcomes: (1) reactivity immediately after receiving grades, (2) recovery across the following week, and (3) recovery after 5 months. Anticipatory negative emotion was associated with increased reactivity and negative emotion 5 months later, suggesting that being emotionally ready for the worst has psychological costs.

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Capturing Affective Experiences using the SMS Experience Sampling (SMS-ES) method

International Journal of Market Research ◽

10.2501/ijmr-53-4-479-506 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 53 (4) ◽

pp. 479-506 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Lynda Andrews ◽

Rebekah Russell Bennett ◽

Judy Drennan

Keyword(s):

Repeated Measures ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Practical Implementation ◽

Short Message ◽

Quality Of Data ◽

Sampling Studies ◽

For Profit ◽

Affective Experiences ◽

Methodological Considerations ◽

Message System

This paper reports the feasibility and methodological considerations of using the Short Message System Experience Sampling (SMS-ES) method, which is an experience sampling research method developed to assist researchers to collect repeat measures of consumers' affective experiences. The method combines SMS with web-based technology in a simple yet effective way. It is described using a practical implementation study that collected consumers' emotions in response to using mobile phones in everyday situations. The method is further evaluated in terms of the quality of data collected in the study, as well as against the methodological considerations for experience sampling studies. These two evaluations suggest that the SMS-ES method is both a valid and reliable approach for collecting consumers' affective experiences. Moreover, the method can be applied across a range of for-profit and not-for-profit contexts where researchers want to capture repeated measures of consumers' affective experiences occurring over a period of time. The benefits of the method are discussed, to assist researchers who wish to apply the SMS-ES method in their own research designs.

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Measuring motivational relationship processes in experience sampling: A reliability model for moments, days, and persons nested in couples

Behavior Research Methods ◽

10.3758/s13428-021-01701-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Felix D. Schönbrodt ◽

Caroline Zygar-Hoffmann ◽

Steffen Nestler ◽

Sebastian Pusch ◽

Birk Hagemeyer

Keyword(s):

Variance Components ◽

Generalizability Theory ◽

Relative Proportion ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Process Models ◽

Sampling Studies ◽

Reliable Assessment ◽

Relationship Processes ◽

Level Scale ◽

Variance Estimates

AbstractThe investigation of within-person process models, often done in experience sampling designs, requires a reliable assessment of within-person change. In this paper, we focus on dyadic intensive longitudinal designs where both partners of a couple are assessed multiple times each day across several days. We introduce a statistical model for variance decomposition based on generalizability theory (extending P. E. Shrout & S. P. Lane, 2012), which can estimate the relative proportion of variability on four hierarchical levels: moments within a day, days, persons, and couples. Based on these variance estimates, four reliability coefficients are derived: between-couples, between-persons, within-persons/between-days, and within-persons/between-moments. We apply the model to two dyadic intensive experience sampling studies (n1 = 130 persons, 5 surveys each day for 14 days, ≥ 7508 unique surveys; n2 = 508 persons, 5 surveys each day for 28 days, ≥ 47764 unique surveys). Five different scales in the domain of motivational processes and relationship quality were assessed with 2 to 5 items: State relationship satisfaction, communal motivation, and agentic motivation; the latter consists of two subscales, namely power and independence motivation. Largest variance components were on the level of persons, moments, couples, and days, where within-day variance was generally larger than between-day variance. Reliabilities ranged from .32 to .76 (couple level), .93 to .98 (person level), .61 to .88 (day level), and .28 to .72 (moment level). Scale intercorrelations reveal differential structures between and within persons, which has consequences for theory building and statistical modeling.

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Recalling Experiences: Looking at Momentary, Retrospective and Global Assessments of Relationship Satisfaction

Collabra Psychology ◽

10.1525/collabra.278 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Caroline Zygar-Hoffmann ◽

Felix D. Schönbrodt

Keyword(s):

Relationship Satisfaction ◽

Experience Sampling ◽

Global Evaluation ◽

Summary Statistics ◽

Recall Bias ◽

Sampling Studies ◽

The Mean ◽

The Difference ◽

The Relationship ◽

Momentary State

Relationship satisfaction can be assessed in retrospection, as a global evaluation, or as a momentary state. In two experience sampling studies (N = 130, N = 510) the specificities of these assessment modalities are examined. We show that 1) compared to other summary statistics like the median, the mean of relationship satisfaction states describes retrospective and global evaluations best (but the difference to some other summary statistics was negligible); 2) retrospection introduces an overestimation of the average annoyance in the relationship reported on a momentary basis, which results in an overall negative mean-level bias for retrospective relationship satisfaction; 3) this bias is most strongly moderated by global relationship satisfaction at the time of retrospection; 4) snapshots of momentary relationship satisfaction get representative of global evaluations after approximately two weeks of sampling. The findings extend the recall bias reported in the literature for retrospection of negative affect to the domain of relationship evaluations and assist researchers in designing efficient experience sampling studies.

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