Effectiveness of extrinsic emotion regulation strategies in text-based online communication

Nozaki, Yuki [Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University] Mikolajczak, Moïra [UCL]

In daily life, others play a key role in helping regulate an individual’s emotions. Such emotion regulation occurs not only in face-to-face communication but also in text-based online communication. To date, much research has examined strategies for alleviating one’s own negative emotions (intrinsic emotion regulation) based on the process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 1998, 2015a). However, little is known about the effectiveness of the full range of strategies for alleviating others’ negative emotions (extrinsic emotion regulation) derived from this model. This research aims to fill this gap. In study 1, participants wrote response letters to bogus pen pals who had recently experienced negative emotional events. Independent coders rated the effectiveness of these response letters in alleviating pen pal’s negative emotions. In study 2, participants communicated with each other on an online forum by posting about distressing events and messages that attempted to alleviate another person’s negative emotions. When participants received a reply to their posts, they rated its effectiveness in alleviating their negative emotions. The results of both studies consistently showed that strategies classified as reappraisal and empathic responding effectively alleviated others’ negative emotions. Moreover, emotional intensity moderated the effectiveness of some extrinsic emotion regulation strategies. Specifically, problem-solving and reappraisal showed positive effects on the alleviation of relatively less intense negative emotions. However, these effects were neither positive nor negative in regulating relatively intense negative emotions. The present study offers novel insights into other-focused emotion regulation research by clarifying similarities and differences between intrinsic and extrinsic emotion regulation.