This study explored the influence of two forms of emotion regulation—attentional shifting and cognitive reappraisal—on emotional experiences following situations of social acceptance or social rejection. The first approach, attentional shifting, entails selectively redirecting your attention toward your breathing rather than engaging in self-evaluation, which can exacerbate negative emotions. The second emotion regulation strategy, cognitive reappraisal, involves mentally separating yourself from unfavorable circumstances and altering your cognitive interpretation of the events that occurred.

Individual differences in behavioral response are a particular area of interest for me, so I initially zeroed in on the authors’ commentary on how people handle rejection versus acceptance in social settings. The primary areas of emotional experience they assessed, resulting from these two types of situation, were excitement, pleasure, surprise, anxiety, anger, sadness, guilt, and shame. Data were collected from college students, who completed a daily diary for 1 month, recording daily life situations (key characters and key events) and the emotion regulation strategies they used at the time, then evaluating their emotional experiences at the end of each day.

Analysis of the daily diary data revealed that the respondents tended to use cognitive reappraisal in social acceptance situations and attention transfer in social rejection situations. Cognitive reappraisal had a cumulative protective effect on physical and mental health when individuals had experienced social rejection, and the authors noted that this strategy is commonly used by people who have good interpersonal relationships. It seems that the sample was, in general, able to use emotional regulation effectively to cope with social rejection without developing sustained negative feelings.

Xie et al. ended the study by calling for replications in other cultural contexts and with larger sample sizes than the 34 students who took part here. I would also be interested to see if the results are sustained in groups with neurodivergent characteristics. For example, rejection sensitivity disorder, to which individuals diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have shown some susceptibility, may result in different patterns of response to those displayed by the respondents in this study.

Sarah Krivan | Senior Copyeditor
Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal

 

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