WHAT IS EMOTIONAL SELF-REGULATION? - PSYCHOLOGY - 2024

The emotional self and emotional regulation is a complex capacity is based on the ability of people to manage emotions.

It is the faculty that allows us to respond to the demands of our context on an emotional level in a way that is socially accepted. It also has to be flexible to be able to adapt to each specific situation, to experience spontaneous reactions and to delay these reactions when also needed.

It is a process in charge of evaluating, observing, transforming and modifying emotions and feelings, both own and others, thus forming a very important and indispensable function for people.

This capacity that we possess allows us to adapt to the demands of the environment and adapt to specific demands, modifying our behavior when necessary.

Many studies have focused on the investigation of this self-regulation due to its intervention in social functioning.

Characteristics of emotional self-regulation

Emotional regulation refers to the ability that we practically bring as standard, to modify our emotions according to the events that are unfolding around us, both positive and negative.

It is a form of control, of managing emotions that allows us to adapt to our environment. By activating regulation strategies we manage to modify emotions produced by external reasons that alter our habitual state of mind.

This regulation is necessary for both negative and positive emotions, providing us with the ability to adapt depending on the situation.

To understand what it is, Gross and Thompson (2007) proposed a model to explain it based on a process composed of four factors.

The first would be the relevant situation that gives rise to emotion, which can be external due to events that occur in our environment, or internal due to mental representations that we make. The second would be the attention and importance that we give to the most relevant aspects of the event. The third factor would be the evaluation that is made in each situation, and the fourth would be the emotional response that arises due to the situation or event that occurs in our environment.

Furthermore, for some, self-regulation is a cognitive exercise of control that can be reached through two mechanisms associated with different aspects of emotional experience.

On the one hand, we would find the mechanism of reappraisal or cognitive modification, which is responsible for modifying a negative emotional experience, turning it into beneficial for the individual.

On the other hand, we find the second mechanism called suppression, which is a control mechanism or strategy that is responsible for inhibiting the emotional response.

Gross and Thompson explain that self-regulation can take place on several levels. In other words, these emotions can be regulated by modifying the situations that trigger them, transforming them or avoiding them.

They are also regulated by modifying attention and shifting the focus to another action, or by performing behaviors to distract oneself, by reassessing the situation that triggers a specific type of emotional reaction or by suppressing the response that appears before those situations.

They define self-regulation as a process that can be both external and internal and that allows us to evaluate and modify our behaviors, exerting an influence on emotions, on how and when we experience them.

In addition, self-regulation would constitute an element that clearly influences the performance of elements necessary for learning, as well as attention, memory, planning and problem solving.

For its evaluation and measurement, various parameters have been used, such as self-applied reports, physiological measures or behavioral indices, focusing the interest on the moment of occurrence of regulation throughout the emotional process.

Gross also differentiates between early-onset or antecedent strategies, such as the context and meaning attributed to the situation, and late-onset strategies focused on the individual's response and somatic changes.

Models of emotional self-regulation

Russell Barkley Model (1998)

Barkley defines self-regulation as the responses that alter the probability of an expected response to a given event.

From this model, deficits in the inhibition of responses are proposed, affecting certain self-regulation actions called executive functions, which are non-verbal and verbal working memory, self-control of activation, motivation and affect, and reconstitution. or representation of elements, characteristics and facts of the environment.

Self-regulatory model of emotional experiences by Higgins, Grant & Shah (1999)

The main idea of ​​this model is that people prefer some states more than others and that self-regulation favors the appearance of these. In addition, people depending on self-regulation experience a type of pleasure or discomfort.

They indicate three fundamental principles that are involved, which are regulatory anticipation based on previous experience, regulatory reference based on the positive or negative point of view depending on the moment, and the regulatory approach, in the case of the final statements to those that you want to reach, such as aspirations and self-realizations.

Sequential model of emotional self-regulation by Bonano (2001)

This model proposes that we all have emotional intelligence that, in order to be used effectively, must learn to self-regulate, proposing three general categories.

The first would be the control regulation, which is the regulation presented through automatic behaviors, the second category would be the anticipatory regulation for future emotional events, highlighting laughter, writing, looking for close people, avoiding certain situations, etc. The third category would be exploratory regulation to obtain new resources due to the appearance of possible changes in the future.

Larsen's Cybernetic Model (2000)

It proposes the application of the general cybernetic control-regulation model, which begins according to the state of mind to which you want to reach and in which you are at that moment.

Processes that can be automatic but also controlled are activated to reduce these differences between the two states of mind, through mechanisms that can be directed inwardly, such as distraction, or directed outward, such as problem solving.

Mood regulation model based on social adaptation by Erber, Wegner & Therriault (1996)

It is based on the adaptation of the state of mind to the concrete event, whether positive or negative. In addition, they affirm that our desirable emotional states vary depending on the social context in which we find ourselves.

Barret and Gross (2001) model of self-regulation processes

From this model they understand emotions as the result of the interaction produced between explicit and implicit processes.

On the one hand, they highlight the importance of our mental representations about our own emotions and in which cognitive resources on emotions intervene, access to those resources and the motivation of each one. On the other hand, we find the how and when to regulate those emotions.

In addition, they create five self-regulation strategies such as situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation.

Forgas's (2000) homeostatic model

This model tries to explain the effect that states of mind exert on cognitive and social processes, proposing that the state of mind revolves around something concrete that activates regulatory mechanisms as we move away from that point.

According to this, emotional self-regulation is a homeostatic process that is regulated automatically.

Emotional regulation and psychopathology

Studies and research affirm that many of the problem behaviors that originate in people are due to problems in the process of regulating their emotions, leading to a negative effect on the general health of the person.

For example, people whose style of regulation is suppression are more likely to suffer from alterations due to the decrease in their affective expressiveness, leading to a decrease in the communication of the internal states of the person and presenting an activation of the system nice. In addition, they generate negative affects in others by having a more diminished emotional expression, and are perceived as not very stimulating when facing conflict situations.

The ability to control emotions depends on aptitude, on the ability to distinguish internal states, managing to better manage their affective states. The problem appears when that ability is deficient, since these people are not able to communicate about their internal states.

Many of the problem behaviors such as substance use or self-injurious behaviors can be the consequence of a notable deficiency in the emotional regulation process.

Thus, the efforts we make to modify our emotional states manage to be adaptive and functional, but they can also be dysfunctional and adverse for the individual.

Many authors understand emotional self-regulation as a continuum that extends, giving rise to two opposite poles that would occupy the extremes.

On the one hand, at one pole there would be people with little emotional self-regulation or affective dysregulation that would lead to inordinate emotional lability. And at the other pole we find people with excessive emotional self-control who are associated with high levels of anxiety, emotional reactivity and depression.

Emotional regulation and affective neuroscience

For a long time, the core or center of study of emotions has been the limbic system.

Subsequently, attention has begun to focus on cortical aspects of emotional processing, and studies have revealed that the cerebral cortex, especially the prefrontal, has a role and participation in emotions.

Limbic system

Two main parts of the nervous system are involved in emotions. One of them would be the autonomic nervous system and another fundamental part, the limbic system.

This system is made up of complex structures such as the amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus and other nearby areas located on both sides of the thalamus. They all play a key role in our emotions and are also involved in the formation of memories.

The amygdala plays a key role in emotions, both in humans and in other animals. This brain structure is closely related to pleasure responses as well as fear responses.

The hippocampus plays a key role in memory processes. A person will not be able to build new memories if it is damaged. Participates in the storage of information in long-term memory, including knowledge and past experiences.

The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating functions such as hunger, thirst, response to pain, pleasure, sexual satisfaction, anger, and aggressive behavior, among others. It also regulates the functioning of the autonomic nervous system, regulating the pulse, blood pressure, respiration, and arousal in response to emotional circumstances.

The other areas related and connected to this system would be the cingulate gyrus, which provides the pathway by which the thalamus and hippocampus connect. It is related in the association of memories to pain or smells and in the focus of attention towards events with great emotional content.

Another area would be the ventral tegmental area, whose neurons are emitted thanks to dopamine, the neurotransmitter that produces pleasure sensations in our body, so that people who suffer damage in this area have difficulties in obtaining pleasure.

The basal ganglia are responsible for rewarding experiences, focusing attention, and repetitive behaviors.

Prefrontal cortex

It is a part of the frontal lobe that is closely linked to the limbic system. It is an area involved in the realization of long-term plans, planning of complex cognitive behavior, decision-making, in the adoption of measures, in thinking about the future, in the moderation of social behavior and in the expression of personality (relationship between personality and prefrontal cortex functions).

The basic activity of this region is the performance of actions according to the thoughts, in accordance with internal objectives.

References

1. Gargurevich, R. (2008). Self-regulation of emotion and academic performance in the classroom: The role of the teacher. Digital Journal of Research in University Teaching.
2. Aramendi Withofs, A. Emotional regulation in Early Childhood Education: The importance of its management through an educational intervention proposal.