A new understanding of the cognitive reappraisal technique: an extension based on the schema theory

Abstract

Cognitive reappraisal is a widely utilized emotion regulation strategy that involves altering the personal meaning of an emotional event to enhance attention to emotional responses. Despite its common use, individual differences in cognitive reappraisal techniques and the spontaneous recovery, renewal, and reinstatement of negative responses across varying contexts may limit its effectiveness. Furthermore, detached reappraisal could cause distress for clients. According to Gross’s theory, cognitive reappraisal is an effortless process that can occur spontaneously. When guided language triggers cognitive reappraisal as an emotion regulation strategy in laboratory or counseling settings, clients experience improved emotional states, but this induced strategy may not necessarily guide them in regulating emotions in similar future situations. Therefore, effectively applying cognitive reappraisal techniques in clinical practice to help clients alleviate emotional distress in daily life remains a significant concern. Exploring the mechanism of cognitive reappraisal reveals that reconstructing stimulus meaning is akin to extinction learning, which entails fostering cognitive contingency that the original stimulus provoking negative emotions will no longer result in negative outcomes in the current context. However, extinction learning is a new learning process rather than an elimination process. The activation of new learning relies on the presentation of critical cues, with contextual cues often playing a vital role, such as a safe laboratory or consulting room environment. We propose a new understanding of cognitive reappraisal based on the schema theory and the dual-system theory, emphasizing the significance of environmental interaction and feedback in constructing new experiences and updating schemata. This approach ultimately enriches the schema during training and integrates the new schema into long-term memory. Bottom-up behavioral experiences as schema enrichment training provide the foundation for top-down regulation to function. This method can assist clients in activating more suitable schemata probabilistically when encountering stimuli in real life, forming stable emotions, and achieving transfer and application across diverse contexts.

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Neuropsychological Insights into Coping Strategies: Integrating Theory and Practice in Clinical and Therapeutic Contexts

“…Reappraisal involves reinterpreting a situation to change its emotional impact, engaging areas such as the prefrontal cortex, which is known for emotion regulation [91,92].…”

The Basolateral Amygdala: The Core of a Network for Threat Conditioning, Extinction, and Second-Order Threat Conditioning

“…Failure to address such dysfunctional beliefs may leave fear and anxiety schema susceptible to relapse through reactivation, much like the effect of initial threat conditioning context in the renewal effect. The aim of techniques such as cognitive reappraisal, often used in conjunction with exposure therapy, is to address such beliefs [6,204]. Interestingly, reappraisal is thought to rely on medial and or lateral PFC circuitry [205], and thus may exert its influence in part by dampening the threat processing which may contribute to the maintenance of dysfunctional schema.…”