Effortful Emotion Regulation as a Unique Form of Cybernetic Control

Tamir, Maya

doi:10.1177/1745691620922199

Cited by 56 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 176 publications

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“…Knowing how and when to adjust an active regulatory process to maximize outcomes is integral to selfcontrol and goal pursuit more broadly (Carver & Scheier, 1982Inzlicht et al, 2021;Tamir, 2020;Wilkowski & Ferguson, 2016). Drawing from control theory (Carver & Scheier, 1982, the comparator function monitors the current state of the world (i.e., post-regulation) with the regulatory goal to determine if sufficient progress has been made.…”

Section: Monitoring: Knowing When To Maintain Switch or Stop A Chosen Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-control: An integrative framework

Werner¹,

Bq²

2021

Preprint

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Research on self-control has flourished within the last two decades, with researchers trying to answer one of the most fundamental questions regarding human behaviour – how do we successfully regulate desires in the pursuit of long-term goals? While recent research has focused on different strategies to enhance self-control success, we still know very little about how strategies are implemented or where the need for self-control comes from in the first place. Drawing from parallel fields (e.g., emotion regulation, health) and other theories of self-regulation, we propose a framework that describes self-control as a dynamic, multi-stage process that unfolds over time. In this review, we first provide an overview of this framework, which poses three stages of regulation: the identification of the need for self-control, the selection of strategies to regulate temptations, and the implementation of chosen strategies. These regulatory stages are then flexibly monitored over time. We then propose a series of questions to organize existing literature by highlighting what we already know, what we need to learn, and methodological recommendations for future research. Finally, we conclude by highlighting the need to bridge across disciplines, thereby improving our understanding of how self-control unfolds in everyday life and across different domains.

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Section: Monitoring: Knowing When To Maintain Switch or Stop A Chosen Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-control: An integrative framework

Werner¹,

Bq²

2021

Preprint

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“…intensity of the emotional situation) and intentions to regulate. Intentions to regulate are likely to depend on the outcome of a cost-benefit analysis in which people consider the value, feasibility, and perceived cost of the effort required to achieve the emotion regulation goal (Milyavsky et al, 2019;Shenhav et al, 2013Shenhav et al, , 2017Tamir, 2020). Therefore, future research may want to examine whether and how other factors that shape the relative costs vs. benefits of regulation shape intentions to regulate.…”

Section: Overview Of Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying the determinants of emotion regulation choice: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Matthews

Webb

Shafir

et al. 2021

Cognition and Emotion

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Day-to-day life is inundated with attempts to control emotions and a wealth of research has examined what strategies people use and how effective these strategies are. However, until more recently, research has often neglected more basic questions such as whether and how people choose to regulate their emotions (i.e. emotion regulation choice). In an effort to identify what we know and what we need to know, we systematically reviewed studies that examined potential determinants of whether and how people choose to regulate their emotions. Eighteen determinants were identified across 219 studies and were categorised as being affective, cognitive, motivational, individual or social-cultural in nature. Where there were sufficient primary studies, meta-analysis was used to quantify the size of the associations between potential determinants and measures of whether and how people choose to regulate their emotions. Based on the findings, we propose that people's decisions about whether and how to regulate their emotions are determined by factors relating to the individual doing the regulating, the emotion that is being regulated, and both the immediate situation and the broader social context in which the regulation is taking place.

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“…However, they also face explanatory difficulties. Their conceptual problems result in part from their grounding in the principles of cybernetic control theory ( 7 , 26 ), an influential model of self-regulating systems applied in a broad range of contexts [e.g., ( 27 – 29 )]. Key principles of control theory include comparisons of actual against desired states and the stipulation that discrepancies entail the application of counter-regulatory mechanisms.…”

Section: Domains Of Dysregulated Emotionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using the Ball-in-Bowl Metaphor to Outline an Integrative Framework for Understanding Dysregulated Emotion

et al. 2021

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Dysregulated emotion plays an important role for mental health problems. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, researchers have focused on the domains of strategy-based emotion regulation, psychophysiological self-regulation, emotion evaluations, and resulting emotion dynamics. So far, these four domains have been looked at in relative isolation from each other, and their reciprocal influences and interactive effects have seldom been considered. This domain-specific focus constrains the progress the field is able to make. Here, we aim to pave the way towards more cross-domain, integrative research focused on understanding the raised reciprocal influences and interactive effects of strategy-based emotion-regulation, psychophysiological self-regulation, emotion evaluations, and emotion dynamics. To this aim, we first summarize for each of these domains the most influential theoretical models, the research questions they have stimulated, and their strengths and weaknesses for research and clinical practice. We then introduce the metaphor of a ball in a bowl that we use as a basis for outlining an integrative framework of dysregulated emotion. We illustrate how such a framework can inspire new research on the reciprocal influences and interactions between the different domains of dysregulated emotion and how it can help to theoretically explain a broader array of findings, such as the high levels of negative affect in clinical populations that have not been fully accounted for by deficits in strategy-based emotion regulation and the positive long-term consequences of accepting and tolerating emotions. Finally, we show how it can facilitate individualized emotion regulation interventions that are tailored to the specific regulatory impairments of the individual patient.

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Effortful Emotion Regulation as a Unique Form of Cybernetic Control

Cited by 56 publications

References 176 publications

Self-control: An integrative framework

Self-control: An integrative framework

Identifying the determinants of emotion regulation choice: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Using the Ball-in-Bowl Metaphor to Outline an Integrative Framework for Understanding Dysregulated Emotion

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