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Overcontrol

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

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Synonyms

Emotional constrains; Emotional inhibition; Emotional suppression

Definition

Overcontrol refers to the tendency to constrain motivational and emotional impulses (Block and Kremen 1996).

Introduction

Overcontrol reflects a general style of emotion regulation characterized by a tendency to inhibit, block, or constrain the expression of one’s own emotions. It is related to the constructs of introversion–extraversion, reflection–impulsivity, internalizing–externalizing, emotional suppression, and delay of gratification (see Block and Kremen 1996 for a deeper analysis).

Overcontrolled individuals tend toward minimal expression of their impulses and are usually described as relatively inhibited and constrained (Huey and Weisz 1997). At its extreme, overcontrol overlaps with psychopathology, and in particular with the internalizing dimension classically described by Achenbach and colleagues (Achenbach and Edelbrock 1978; Achenbach et al. 1987), including such problems as anxiety,...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Guido Alessandri

Authors
  1. Guido Alessandri
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guido Alessandri .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Educational Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Patrizia Velotti

  2. Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Patrizia Velotti

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Alessandri, G. (2018). Overcontrol. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_833-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_833-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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