Think ahead before you regulate: A focus on future consequences predicts choices of and beliefs about strategies for the down-regulation of negative emotions
Abstract
Considering future consequences predicts many self-regulatory behaviors. Moreover, emotion regulation choices often involve trade-offs between immediate hedonic benefits and future well-being and mental health. We propose that focusing on future consequences may also predict emotion regulation choices. We examined whether people who consider future consequences of their actions are more likely to choose adaptive strategies and less likely to choose maladaptive strategies (Study 1) and whether people believe that adaptive and maladaptive strategies have differential short- and long-term consequences (Study 2). In Study 1, consideration of future consequences was related to choosing more adaptive and fewer maladaptive strategies for regulating negative emotions. In Study 2, participants believed that adaptive strategies are more effective in the short-term than in the long-term and that maladaptive strategies are more effective in the long-term than in the short-term. Moreover, commonalities in favored strategies were observed across the two studies. Taken together, the findings suggest that trait future time focus plays a significant role in emotion regulation preferences and that people have some knowledge about the varied temporal consequences of different strategies.
Keywords
Emotion regulation Consideration of future consequences Future time focus Well-beingNotes
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [grant number 430-2014-00626]. The authors thank Allister Grapes for his assistance with data collection.
References
- Aldao, A., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Schweizer, S. (2010). Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(2), 217–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2009.11.004.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Aldao, A., Sheppes, G., & Gross, J. J. (2015). Emotion regulation flexibility. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 39(3), 263–278. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-014-9662-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Azizli, N., Atkinson, B. E., Baughman, H. M., & Giammarco, E. A. (2015). Relationships between general self-efficacy, planning for the future, and life satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 82, 58–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.03.006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Bargai, N., Ben-Shakhar, G., & Shalev, A. Y. (2007). Posttraumatic stress disorder and depression in battered women: The mediating role of learned helplessness. Journal of Family Violence, 22(5), 267–275. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-007-9078-y.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Billings, A. G., & Moos, R. H. (1981). The role of coping responses and social resources in attenuating the stress of life events. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4(2), 139–157. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00844267.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Biswas-Diener, R., Kashdan, T. B., & King, L. a. (2009). Two traditions of happiness research, not two distinct types of happiness. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(3), 208–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760902844400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Bonanno, G. A., & Burton, C. L. (2013). Regulatory flexibility: An individual differences perspective on coping and emotion regulation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(6), 591–612. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691613504116.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Bonanno, G. A., Papa, A., Lalande, K., Westphal, M., & Coifman, K. (2004). The importance of being flexible: The ability to both enhance and suppress emotional expression predicts long-term adjustment. Psychological Science, 15(7), 482–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Boninger, D. S., Gleicher, F., & Strathman, A. (1994). Counterfactual thinking: From what might have been to what may be. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(2), 297–307. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.2.297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Boniwell, I., Osin, E., Linley, P. A., & Ivanchenko, G. V. (2010). A question of balance: Time perspective and well-being in British and Russian samples. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5(1), 24–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760903271181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Bostic, T. J., Mcgartland, D., & Hood, M. (2011). A validation of the subjective vitality scale using structural equation modeling. Social Indicators Research, 52(3), 313–324. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007136110218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Bruehlman-Senecal, E., Ayduk, Ö, & John, O. P. (2016). Taking the long view: Implications of individual differences in temporal distancing for affect, stress reactivity, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000103.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Bushman, B. J. (2002). Does venting anger feed or extinguish the flame? Catharsis, rumination, distraction, anger, and aggressive responding. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(6), 724–731. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167202289002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Bushman, B. J., Baumeister, R. F., & Phillips, C. M. (2001). Do people aggress to improve their mood? Catharsis beliefs, affect regulation opportunity, and aggressive responding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(1), 17–32. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.81.1.17.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Cameron, L. D., & Overall, N. C. (2017). Suppression and expression as distinct emotion-regulation processes in daily interactions: Longitudinal and meta-analyses. Emotion, Online Fir. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Chervonsky, E., & Hunt, C. (2017). Suppression and expression of emotion in social and interpersonal outcomes: A meta-analysis. Emotion, 17(4), 669–683. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000270.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Clancy, F., Prestwich, A., Caperon, L., & O’Connor, D. B. (2016). Perseverative cognition and health behaviors: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10, 534. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00534.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
- Dassen, F. C. M., Houben, K., & Jansen, A. (2015). Time orientation and eating behavior: Unhealthy eaters consider immediate consequences, while healthy eaters focus on future health. Appetite, 91, 13–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2015.03.020.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Denson, T. F., Moulds, M. L., & Grisham, J. R. (2012). The effects of analytical rumination, reappraisal, and distraction on anger experience. Behavior Therapy, 43(2), 355–364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2011.08.001.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- DeSteno, D., Gross, J. J., & Kubzansky, L. (2013). Affective science and health: The importance of emotion and emotion regulation. Health Psychology, 32(5), 474–486. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030259.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Diener, C. I., & Dweck, C. S. (1978). An analysis of learned helplessness: Continuous changes in performance, strategy, and achievement cognitions following failure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(5), 451–462. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.36.5.451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Diener, E., & Emmons, R. A. (1984). The independence of positive and negative affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47(5), 1105–1117. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.47.5.1105.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larson, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction With Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Dixon-Gordon, K. L., Aldao, A., & De Los Reyes, A. (2014). Repertoires of emotion regulation: A person-centered approach to assessing emotion regulation strategies and links to psychopathology. Cognition and Emotion, 29(7), 1314–1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2014.983046.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Ellis, A. J., Vanderlind, W. M., & Beevers, C. G. (2013). Enhanced anger reactivity and reduced distress tolerance in major depressive disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 37(3), 498–509. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-012-9494-z.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Erisman, S. M., & Roemer, L. (2010). A preliminary investigation of the effects of experimentally induced mindfulness on emotional responding to film clips. Emotion, 10(1), 72–82. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017162.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
- Goldin, P. R., McRae, K., Ramel, W., & Gross, J. J. (2008). The neural bases of emotion regulation: Reappraisal and suppression of negative emotion. Biological Psychiatry, 63(6), 577–586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.05.031.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Gross, J. J. (2015). Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects. Psychological Inquiry, 26(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2014.940781.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(2), 348–362. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.348.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Gross, J. J., & Thompson, R. A. (2007). Emotion regulation: Conceptual foundations. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of Emotion Regulation (1st edn., pp. 3–24). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
- Gutentag, T., Halperin, E., Porat, R., Bigman, Y. E., & Tamir, M. (2016). Successful emotion regulation requires both conviction and skill: Beliefs about the controllability of emotions, reappraisal, and regulation success. Cognition and Emotion, 31(6), 1225–1233. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2016.1213704.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Hart, C. M., Ritchie, T. D., Hepper, E. G., & Gebauer, J. E. (2015). The Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding Short Form (BIDR-16). SAGE Open, 5(4), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015621113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Heiy, J. E., & Cheavens, J. S. (2014). Back to basics: A naturalistic assessment of the experience and regulation of emotion. Emotion, 14(5), 878–891. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037231.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Henry, J. D., & Crawford, J. R. (2005). The short-form version of the depression anxiety stress scales (DASS-21): Construct validity and normative data in a large non-clinical sample. The British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44, 227–239. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466505X29657.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Huta, V. (2012). Linking peoples’ pursuit of eudaimonia and hedonia with characteristics of their parents: Parenting styles, verbally endorsed values, and role modeling. Journal of Happiness Studies, 13(1), 47–61. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-011-9249-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Huta, V., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). Pursuing pleasure or virtue: The differential and overlapping well-being benefits of hedonic and eudaimonic motives. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11(6), 735–762. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-009-9171-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Joireman, J., Anderson, J., & Strathman, A. (2003). The aggression paradox: Understanding links among aggression, sensation seeking, and the consideration of future consequences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(6), 1287–1302. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.6.1287.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Joireman, J., & King, S. (2016). Individual differences in the consideration of future and (more) immediate consequences: A review and directions for future research. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10(5), 313–326. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Joireman, J., Shaffer, M. J., Balliet, D., & Strathman, A. (2012). Promotion orientation explains why future-oriented people exercise and eat healthy: Evidence from the two-factor consideration of future consequences-14 Scale. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(10), 1272–1287. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167212449362.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Joireman, J., Strathman, A., & Balliet, D. (2006). Considering future consequences. In L. Sanna & E. Chang (Eds.), Judgments over time: The interplay of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (pp. 88–92). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
- Kalisch, R. (2009). The functional neuroanatomy of reappraisal: Time matters. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 33(8), 1215–1226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.06.003.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Kross, E., & Ayduk, O. (2008). Facilitating adaptive emotional analysis: Distinguishing distanced-analysis of depressive experiences from immersed-analysis and distraction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(7), 924–938. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208315938.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Lepore, S. J. (1997). Expressive writing moderates the relation between intrusive thoughts and depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(5), 1030–1037. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.73.5.1030.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Lepore, S. J., Ragan, J. D., & Jones, S. (2000). Talking facilitates cognitive-emotional processes of adaptation to an acute stressor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(3), 499–508. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.78.3.499.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Marjanovic, Z., Holden, R., Struthers, W., Cribbie, R., & Greenglass, E. (2015). The inter-item standard deviation (ISD): An index that discriminates between conscientious and random responders. Personality and Individual Differences, 84, 79–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.08.021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Marjanovic, Z., Struthers, C. W., Cribbie, R., & Greenglass, E. R. (2014). The Conscientious Responders Scale: A new tool for discriminating between conscientious and random responders. SAGE Open, 4(3), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014545964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- McKay, M. T., Cole, J. C., & Percy, A. (2015). Further evidence for a bifactor solution for the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale: Measurement and conceptual implications. Personality and Individual Differences, 83, 219–222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.04.022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- McKay, M. T., Percy, A., & Cole, J. C. (2013). Consideration of future consequences and alcohol use among Northern Irish adolescents. Journal of Substance Use, 18(5), 377–391. https://doi.org/10.3109/14659891.2012.685793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Meade, A. W., & Craig, S. B. (2012). Identifying careless responses in survey data. Psychological Methods, 17(3), 437–455. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028085.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Miller, R. B., & Brickman, S. J. (2004). A Model of Future-Oriented Motivation, 16(1), 9–33.Google Scholar
- Naragon-Gainey, K., McMahon, T. P., & Chacko, T. P. (2017). The structure of common emotion regulation strategies: A meta-analytic examination. Psychological Bulletin, 143(4), 384–427. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000093.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Nelis, D., Kotsou, I., Quoidbach, J., Hansenne, M., Weytens, F., Dupuis, P., & Mikolajczak, M. (2011). Increasing emotional competence improves psychological and physical well-being, social relationships, and employability. Emotion, 11(2), 354–366. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021554.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Nelis, D., Quoidbach, J., Hansenne, M., & Mikolajczak, M. (2011). Measuring individual differences in emotion regulation: The Emotion Regulation Profile-Revised (ERP-R). Psychologica Belgica, 51(1), 49–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Ortner, C. N. M., Zelazo, P. D., & Anderson, A. K. (2013). Effects of emotion regulation on concurrent attentional performance. Motivation and Emotion, 37(2), 346–354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-012-9310-9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Pedersen, W. C., Denson, T. F., Goss, R. J., Vasquez, E. A., Kelley, N. J., & Miller, N. (2011). The impact of rumination on aggressive thoughts, feelings, arousal, and behaviour. The British Journal of Social Psychology, 50, 281–301. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466610X515696.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Peters, B. R., Joireman, J., & Ridgway, R. L. (2005). Individual differences in the consideration of future consequences scale correlate with sleep habits, sleep quality, and GPA in university students. Psychological Reports, 96, 817–824. https://doi.org/10.2466/PR0.96.3.817-824.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Philippot, P. (2013). Emotion regulation: A heuristic paradigm for psychopathology. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 45(5), 600–607. https://doi.org/10.5127/jep.034513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Quoidbach, J., Berry, E. V., Hansenne, M., & Mikolajczak, M. (2010). Positive emotion regulation and well-being: Comparing the impact of eight savoring and dampening strategies. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(5), 368–373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.03.048.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Quoidbach, J., Wood, A. M., & Hansenne, M. (2009). Back to the future: the effect of daily practice of mental time travel into the future on happiness and anxiety. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(5), 349–355. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760902992365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Ray, R. D., Wilhelm, F. H., & Gross, J. J. (2008). All in the mind’s eye? Anger rumination and reappraisal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(1), 133–145. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.133.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Richards, J. M., & Gross, J. J. (1999). Composure at any cost? The cognitive consequences of emotion suppression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25(8), 1033–1044. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672992511010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Schäfer, J., Naumann, E., Holmes, E. A., Tuschen-Caffier, B., & Samson, A. C. (2017). Emotion regulation strategies in depressive and anxiety symptoms in youth: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 46(2), 261–276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0585-0.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Schutte, N. S., Manes, R. R., & Malouff, J. M. (2009). Antecedent-focused emotion regulation, response modulation and well-being. Current Psychology, 28(1), 21–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-009-9044-3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Sheppes, G., & Gross, J. J. (2011). Is timing everything? Temporal considerations in emotion regulation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15(4), 319–331. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868310395778.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Sheppes, G., & Meiran, N. (2007). Better late than never? On the dynamics of online regulation of sadness using distraction and cognitive reappraisal. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33(11), 1518–1532. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167207305537.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Sheppes, G., Scheibe, S., Suri, G., & Gross, J. J. (2011). Emotion-regulation choice. Psychological Science, 22(11), 1391–1396. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611418350.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Sheppes, G., Scheibe, S., Suri, G., Radu, P., Blechert, J., & Gross, J. J. (2014). Emotion regulation choice: A conceptual framework and supporting evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(1), 163–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030831.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Shipp, A. J., Edwards, J. R., & Lambert, L. S. (2009). Conceptualization and measurement of temporal focus: The subjective experience of the past, present, and future. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 110(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.05.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Single, E., Rehm, J., Robson, L., & Truong, M. V. (2000). The relative risks and etiologic fractions of different causes of death and disease attributable to alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use in Canada. CMAJ, 162(12), 1669–1675.PubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
- Stolarski, M., & Matthews, G. (2016). Time perspectives predict mood states and satisfaction with life over and above personality. Current Psychology, 35(4), 516–526. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9515-2.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Strathman, A., Gleicher, F., Boninger, D. S., & Edwards, C. S. (1994). The consideration of future consequences: Weighing immediate and distant outcomes of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(4), 742–752. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.66.4.742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Tabachnick, S. E., Miller, R. B., & Relyea, G. E. (2008). The relationships among students’ future-oriented goals and subgoals, perceived task instrumentality, and task-oriented self-regulation strategies in an academic environment. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100(3), 629–642. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.100.3.629.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Tamir, M. (2009). What do people want to feel and why? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(2), 101–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Thiruchselvam, R., Blechert, J., Sheppes, G., Rydstrom, A., & Gross, J. J. (2011). The temporal dynamics of emotion regulation: An EEG study of distraction and reappraisal. Biological Psychology, 87(1), 84–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.02.009.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- van Beek, J., Antonides, G., & Handgraaf, M. J. J. (2013). Eat now, exercise later: The relation between consideration of immediate and future consequences and healthy behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(6), 785–791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.12.015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Zhang, J. W., Howell, R. T., & Stolarski, M. (2013). Comparing three methods to measure a balanced time perspective: The relationship between a balanced time perspective and subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14(1), 169–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-012-9322-x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Zimbardo, P. G., & Boyd, J. N. (1999). Putting time in perspective: A valid, reliable individual-differences metric. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1271–1288. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.77.6.1271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar