What Is Emotion Regulation?

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On some levels, we don't just feel emotions, we "do" them.

Emotional regulation is important. Reappraisal and suppression are two common forms of regulation.

A meta-analysis found cultural differences in how effective regulation is in reducing psychopathology.

Contrary to notions that emotions sweep over us and we have no agency in how they manifest, we play a role in aspects of their emergence and impact. Psychologists such as Ben-Ze’ev criticized the position that “emotions are reduced to fleeting, unreliable feelings over which we have little control and no responsibility… it is assumed that we do not choose our emotions and are not responsible for them” (Ben-Ze’ev, 1997, p.198), while Mesquita and colleagues called for a shift “toward how different cultures ‘do’ emotions and away from which emotions they ‘have’” (Mesquita et al., 2016, p.31).

How exactly do we “do” emotions? It is important to note that........

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