Catastrophizing thoughts may contribute to the development of anxiety, but functional emotion regulation may help to improve treatment. No study so far directly compared up- and down-regulation of fear by cognitive reappraisal. Here, healthy individuals took part in a cued fear experiment, in which multiple pictures of faces were paired twice with an unpleasant scream or presented as safety stimuli. Participants (N = 47) were asked (within-subjects) to down-regulate, to up-regulate and to maintain their natural emotional response. Valence and arousal ratings indicated successful up- and down-regulation of the emotional experience, while heart rate and pupil dilation increased during up-regulation, but showed no reduction in down-regulation. State and trait anxiety correlated with evaluations of safety but not threat stimuli, which supports the role of deficient safety learning in anxiety. Reappraisal did not modulate this effect. In conclusion, this study reveals evidence for up-regulation effects in fear, which might be even more efficient than down-regulation on a physiological level and highlights the importance of catastrophizing thoughts for the maintenance of fear and anxiety.
Transitions go along with the need to integrate a previous outgroup into the self-concept. This study examines whether this integration follows cognitive consistency principles. In line with recent theorizing, we test whether the perceived compatibility of a previous and a current ingroup determines identification with these groups and intergroup attitudes. We primed employees who were former students (N = 269) to perceive the groups of students and employees as either more compatible or less compatible, and measured the strength of identification and group attitudes with regard to both groups. The findings largely confirmed predictions. Greater compatibility between social groups increased identity integration and reduced intergroup bias. Identity integration mediated the effect of compatibility on intergroup bias. In line with predictions, the voluntariness of group change explained which of the groups people identified more strongly with when groups were perceived low in compatibility. The results of the study provide evidence that integrating identities into the self-concept follows cognitive consistency principles and suggests that emphasizing similarities between previous and current ingroups fosters identity integration and reduces intergroup bias.
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