Commentary on “Mindfulness Broadens Awareness and Builds Eudaimonic Meaning: A Process Model of Mindful Positive Emotion Regulation”

According to the focal article by Britt, Shen, Sinclair, Grossman, and Klieger (2016), it seems conclusive that all definitions of resilience involve an experience of significant adversity, regardless of whether it is examined as a trait or an outcome. This experience of adversity is inherently emotional. When considering the ability or outcome of “bouncing back” from a stressful or chronic event, one must recognize the emotional experience and consider how individuals may cope with their emotions. This said, there is a clear connection between resilience and emotion regulation. The focal article presents a descriptive model of resilience for employees, which includes mention of energy and affect as individual resources but does not acknowledge the connection between resilience and emotion regulation. In this commentary I argue that these two research areas are related but largely neglected in the current literature. I will discuss the (a) process model of emotion regulation, (b) points of connection with resilience, and (c) empirical research suggesting the importance of positive emotion.

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Mindfulness Broadens Awareness and Builds Eudaimonic Meaning: A Process Model of Mindful Positive Emotion Regulation

Psychological Inquiry ◽

10.1080/1047840x.2015.1064294 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 293-314 ◽

Cited By ~ 183

Author(s):

Eric L. Garland ◽

Norman A. Farb ◽

Philippe R. Goldin ◽

Barbara L. Fredrickson

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Process Model ◽

Positive Emotion

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Mindfulness-to-Meaning Theory - Mindfulness Broadens Awareness and Builds Eudaimonic Meaning: A Process Model of Mindful Positive Emotion Regulation

10.31231/osf.io/ea2q4 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Eric Garland ◽

Norman A. S. Farb ◽

philippe goldin ◽

Barbara Fredrickson

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Meaning In Life ◽

Process Model ◽

Positive Emotion ◽

Meaning Making ◽

Historical Context ◽

Cognitive Appraisals ◽

Mental States ◽

Psychological Research ◽

Meaning Theory

Contemporary scholarship on mindfulness casts it as a form of purely nonevaluative engagement with experience. Yet, traditionally mindfulness was not intended to operate in a vacuum of dispassionate observation, but was seen as facilitative of eudaimonic mental states. In spite of this historical context, modern psychological research has neglected to ask the question of how the practice of mindfulness affects downstream emotion regulatory processes to impact the sense of meaning in life. To fill this lacuna, here we describe the Mindfulness-to-Meaning Theory, from which wederive a novel process model of mindful positive emotion regulation informed by affective science, in which mindfulness is proposed to introduce flexibility in thegeneration of cognitive appraisals by enhancing interoceptive attention, thereby expanding the scope of cognition to facilitate reappraisal of adversity and savoring of positive experience. This process is proposed to culminate in a deepened capacity for meaning-making and greater engagement with life.

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The Frustration Regulation Journal: A Reflective Framework for Educators

Relay Journal ◽

10.37237/relay/020205 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Sam Morris

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Process Model ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Language Education ◽

Short Article ◽

Language Classroom ◽

As Stress ◽

And Control ◽

Important System ◽

Behavioural Strategies

Teachers and advisors involved in the emotional business of language education feel frustrated from time to time, and if such emotions are not managed healthily, they may lead to negative outcomes such as stress and burnout. One important system for taking control of frustration is emotion regulation, the cognitive and behavioural strategies through which individuals manage their emotions. In this short article, I define frustration and discuss its negative impact on the language classroom. I then introduce a structured reflective journaling tool, built upon Gross’s Process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 2014, 2015) which may help teachers and advisors develop greater awareness and control over experiences of frustration.

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Intimate Partner Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms: Indirect Effects Through Negative and Positive Emotion Dysregulation

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/08862605211006371 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 088626052110063

Author(s):

Lauren E. Simpson ◽

Alexa M. Raudales ◽

Miranda E. Reyes ◽

Tami P. Sullivan ◽

Nicole H. Weiss

Keyword(s):

Intimate Partner Violence ◽

Emotion Regulation ◽

Posttraumatic Stress ◽

Symptom Severity ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Emotion Dysregulation ◽

Positive Emotion ◽

Intimate Partner ◽

Difficulties In Emotion Regulation

Women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) are at heightened risk for developing posttraumatic stress (PTS). Emotion dysregulation has been linked to both IPV and PTS, separately, however, unknown is the role of emotion dysregulation in the relation of IPV to PTS among women who experience IPV. Moreover, existing investigations in this area have been limited in their focus on negative emotion dysregulation. Extending prior research, this study investigated whether physical, sexual, and psychological IPV were indirectly associated with PTS symptom severity through negative and positive emotion dysregulation. Participants were 354 women who reported a history of IPV recruited from Amazon’s MTurk platform ( Mage = 36.52, 79.9% white). Participants completed self-report measures assessing physical (Conflict Tactics Scale), sexual (Sexual Experiences Scale), and psychological (Psychological Maltreatment of Women) IPV; negative (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale) and positive (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Positive) emotion dysregulation; and PTS symptom severity (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5) via an online survey. Pearson’s correlation coefficients examined intercorrelations among the primary study variables. Indirect effect analyses were conducted to determine if negative and positive emotion dysregulation explained the relations between physical, sexual, and psychological IPV and PTS symptom severity. Physical, sexual, and psychological IPV were significantly positively associated with both negative and positive emotion dysregulation as well as PTS symptom severity, with the exception that psychological IPV was not significantly associated with positive emotion dysregulation. Moreover, negative and positive emotion dysregulation accounted for the relationships between all three IPV types and PTS symptom severity, with the exception of positive emotion dysregulation and psychological IPV. Our findings provide support for the potential underlying role of both negative and positive emotion dysregulation in the associations of IPV types to PTS symptom severity. Negative and positive emotion dysregulation may be important factors to integrate into interventions for PTS among women who experience IPV.

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Inducing Amusement in the Laboratory and Its Moderation by Experiential Approach

Psychological Reports ◽

10.1177/00332941211007935 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 003329412110079

Author(s):

Danette Abernathy ◽

Robert D. Zettle

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

College Student ◽

Negative Affect ◽

Regression Models ◽

Positive Emotion ◽

Positive Emotions ◽

Negative Mood ◽

Relative Ability ◽

Experiential Approach ◽

Dispositional Differences

The relative ability of four comedic sketches to induce amusement in the laboratory and its moderation by dispositional differences in experiential approach as a form of positive emotion regulation were investigated. College student participants reported significant and equivalent diminished levels of negative affect relative to baseline following each sketch, while the level of positive affect induced by The Office exceeded that elicited by two of the three other sketches as well as by a top-ranked French comedic film clip. Regression models indicated that the two subscales of the Experiential Approach Scale and their interaction accounted for significant variability in negative mood reductions following the sketches. Unexpectedly, college student participants who enjoyed the greatest decrement in negative affect reported a regulation style in which anxiously clinging to positive emotions dominates over sustaining and savoring them. The limitations of this project and implications of its findings for laboratory inductions of amusement, as well as further investigations of its possible moderation by experiential approach as form of positive emotion regulation are discussed.

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