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In the past decade, there has been increasing scholarly interest in language teachers’ emotional experiences, how they regulate and manage their emotions, and how their experiences and emotion-related practices are related to their cognition, practice, well-being, and professional development. A systematic and critical review is needed to help language teaching professionals to benefit from the insights generated by these studies. This review aims to explore this growing body of research on the emotions of language teachers published between 2015 and 2024 by outlining four major research themes: 1) emotional experience; 2) emotion labour; 3) emotion regulation; and 4) emerging emotion-related concepts. This review critically discusses these themes and draws on relevant research findings to visualise the results in an emotion-focused map of language teachers’ professional development. It concludes by proposing a research agenda to stimulate further inquiry into the emotions of language teachers.
In this clinical reflection, we briefly overview how physicians’ emotion regulation has been addressed within communication training in the context of Western European medical undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education. For illustrative purposes, two examples of recently developed training programmes targeting both communication skills and physicians’ emotion regulation are described. We also discuss the existing gaps in emotion regulation-based communication training, as well as future directions for medical education regarding these skills.
This study examines daily emotion regulation strategies of young adults aged 20-30 and proposes design opportunities for enhancing emotional well-being. Research with 29 participants revealed a preference for behavioral strategies (73.4%) over cognitive strategies (26.6%), particularly “Seek pleasure or relaxation” strategies. Significant differences were observed between positive and negative emotional contexts. Four main categories of emotion regulation strategies were identified: Disengagement, Seek pleasure or relaxation, Reallocate resources, and Engagement. Design opportunities were proposed based on these findings. This study enhances understanding of young adults’ emotion regulation and offers design strategies for product development. Future research should validate these strategies and explore personalized approaches, considering long-term impacts and ethics.
This study examines how infant temperament, particularly fear, influences physiological improvements in infants following maternal postpartum depression (PPD) treatment. Forty infants of birthing parents with major depressive disorder and 40 healthy controls were recruited. Parents with PPD participated in a nine-week cognitive-behavioral therapy intervention. Infant emotion regulation was assessed using high-frequency heart-rate variability (HF-HRV) and frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) at baseline (T1), immediately post-treatment (T2), and three months later (T3). Birthing parents also reported on their infant’s temperamental fear using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Short-Form at these times. A significant increase in HF-HRV was observed immediately after treatment in the PPD group which persisted at T3. While no Group × Visit × Fear interaction emerged from repeated measure models, follow-up regression analyses within the PPD group revealed that higher baseline fear was associated with smaller increases in HF-HRV from T1 to T2 or T3. Although FAA shifted leftward over time, fear did not significantly predict FAA changes. No associations between fear and physiology were observed in the control group. The study suggests that infant fear may reduce the physiological benefits of maternal PPD treatment for infants, underscoring the importance of considering infant characteristics when assessing the impact of maternal PPD interventions.
Emotional processing difficulties represent the core psychopathology of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), yet the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear.
Aims
To investigate neural alterations associated with emotion reactivity and regulation in individuals with NSSI and examine whether emotional valence is related to these neural patterns.
Method
During functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, unmedicated young adults with NSSI (n = 29) and matched controls (n = 25) completed an emotion regulation task in which they viewed pictures of different emotional categories with instructions to either attend to or regulate their emotions.
Results
Individuals with NSSI showed increased neural activation in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG), right parahippocampal gyrus and right supramarginal gyrus during negative emotion reactivity and increased activation in the right middle temporal gyrus and left STG during positive emotion reactivity. Conversely, those with NSSI exhibited reduced activation in the left supplementary motor area, left inferior frontal gyrus, right putamen, right thalamus and right STG during negative emotion regulation and reduced activation in the left ventral striatum during positive emotion regulation. Notably, both hyperactivation of the STG during negative emotion reactivity and hypoactivation of the supplementary motor area during negative emotion regulation were associated with emotion dysregulation in individuals with NSSI.
Conclusions
We observed distinct neural patterns of emotional processing among individuals with NSSI, characterised by hyperactivation during emotion reactivity and hypoactivation during emotion regulation. Our findings provide a neurophysiological basis for therapeutic interventions that facilitate adaptive emotional processing in individuals with NSSI.
Chapter 4 shows how the embodied and enacted psychophysiology of metaphor can explain mechanisms of symbolic healing. Recent research on placebo responding and predictive processing or active inference theories in computational neuroscience suggest models for the physiology effects of placebos, imagery, and imaginative enactments. Examples drawn from traditional shamanistic practices illustrate how healing metaphors and images map bodily physiology, cognition, and experience onto metaphoric landscapes or myths. Movement in these landscapes or along an arc then gives rise to corresponding changes in physiology, cognitive, and social relationships or position, which make use of the dynamics of sensory and affective meaning, including processes of abreaction or catharsis and aesthetic distance. Healing rituals involve a hierarchy of cognitive processes that are structured metaphorically, which reaches down to physiological processes and outward to social interactions. Its multiple levels can operate in tandem to reinforce or subvert processes. This leads to a view of symbolic action and healing ritual as involving multiple parallel levels of causality and communication.
Motivated political reasoning is a central phenomenon in political psychology, but no scholarly consensus exists as to its cause. In one influential account, motivated political reasoning is caused by goals to control emotional states. This explanation is often assumed, but has rarely been tested empirically. It implies, I argue, that individual differences in how people control their emotions (i.e., in emotion regulation strategies) should influence outcomes caused by motivated political reasoning, such as perceptual divides over politically relevant facts. I hypothesize such perceptual divides to be negatively associated with emotional acceptance and positively associated with cognitive reappraisal—two key emotion regulation strategies. I test these hypotheses in the specific context of reasoning about facts related to immigration politics in Denmark using a mix of experimental and cross-sectional survey data from three nationally representative samples of the Danish voter population (total N = 4186). In the specific context of the present study, the results do not support the often-assumed idea that motivated political reasoning is driven by efforts to regulate emotions. These findings raise important questions about the conditions under which emotion regulation might play a role in motivated political reasoning.
Before the infant can even engage in intentional behavior, it is embedded in a pre-existing meaning system, brought forward by parents. By caregivers responding appropriately to the meaning of infant behaviors, giving them signal value, the infant is fitted into this system. Intentionality then lets the infant experience such contingencies more directly, and this begins the process of the co-construction of meaning in relationships
We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify associations between overall and subtypes of CM, global/trait resilience, and five resilience domains (coping, self-esteem, emotion regulation, self-efficacy, and well-being) in adults, and to examine moderators and mediators of these associations. A systematic search was undertaken on 12 June 2024 to identify published peer-reviewed articles in five databases (PROSPERO-CRD42023394120). Of 15,262 records, 203 studies were included, comprising 145,317 adults (Mage = 29.62 years; 34.96% males); 183 studies and 557 effect sizes were pooled in random-effect meta-analyses. Overall CM and its subtypes were negatively associated with global/trait resilience and its domains (r = −0.081 to −0.330). Emotional abuse/neglect showed the largest magnitude of effect (r = −0.213 to −0.321). There was no meta-analytic evidence for an association between sexual abuse and coping, and physical abuse/neglect and self-esteem. Meta-regressions identified age, sample size, and study quality as moderators. Subgroup analyses found that associations between emotional abuse and emotion regulation were stronger, while associations between emotional abuse and self-esteem were weaker, in western versus non-western countries. No differences were found in associations between CM and resilience in clinical versus non-clinical samples. Narrative synthesis identified several mediators. Associations were of small magnitude and there were a limited number of studies, especially studies assessing CM subtypes, such as physical neglect, bullying, or domestic violence, and resilience domains, such as coping or self-efficacy, in males, and clinical samples. CM exposure negatively impacts resilience in adults, an effect observed across multiple maltreatment types and resilience domains. Interventions focused on resilience in adults with CM histories are needed to improve health and psychosocial outcomes.
This chapter explores the intricate ways music evokes emotions, encompassing conscious and unconscious evaluations, emotional resonance, the power of musical memories, and the role of predictions and surprises. It investigates how music can influence thoughts, create specific atmospheres, and fulfil important social functions, fostering connection and well-being. Practical strategies are offered for utilizing music to regulate emotions, promote positive moods, and enhance personal growth. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding and appreciating musical structure, showcasing how music can trigger ’aha’ moments that contribute to both pleasure and cognitive development. Additionally, the chapter examines the social functions of music, including its ability to facilitate cooperation, strengthen social bonds, and promote prosocial behaviour.
Parent factors impact adolescent’s emotion regulation, which has key implications for the development of internalizing psychopathology. A key transdiagnostic factor which may contribute to the development of youth internalizing pathology is parent anxiety sensitivity (fear of anxiety-related physiological sensations). In a sample of 146 adolescents (M/SDage = 12.08/.90 years old) and their parents (98% mothers) we tested whether parent anxiety sensitivity was related to their adolescent’s brain activation, over and above the child’s anxiety sensitivity. Adolescents completed an emotion regulation task in the scanner that required them to either regulate vs. react to negative vs. neutral stimuli. Parent anxiety sensitivity was associated with adolescent neural responses in bilateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), anterior cingulate, and paracingulate, and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, such that higher parent anxiety sensitivity was associated with greater activation when adolescents were allowed to embrace their emotional reaction(s) to stimuli. In the right OFC region only, higher parent anxiety sensitivity was also associated with decreased activation when adolescents were asked to regulate their emotional responses. The findings are consistent with the idea that at-risk adolescents may be modeling the heightened attention and responsivity to environmental stimuli that they observe in their parents.
Recent research argues “betrayal aversion” leads many people to avoid risk more when a person, rather than nature, determines the outcome of uncertainty. However, past studies indicate that factors unrelated to betrayal aversion, such as loss aversion, could contribute to differences between treatments. Using a novel experiment design to isolate betrayal aversion, one that varies how strategic uncertainty is resolved, we provide rigorous evidence supporting the detrimental impact of betrayal aversion. The impact is substantial: holding fixed the probability of betrayal, the possibility of knowing that one has been betrayed reduces investment by about one-third. We suggest emotion-regulation underlies these results and helps to explain the importance of impersonal, institution-mediated exchange in promoting economic efficiency.
Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the recommended first-line treatment for insomnia. However, scaling this proven effective intervention to areas of high need remains a challenge, necessitating sensitive adaptation and evaluation.
Methods
A randomised waitlist-controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of a hybrid digital CBT-I and emotion regulation (dCBT-I + ER) intervention delivered through workplaces. Participants with at least mild insomnia and depression or anxiety symptoms were randomised to the intervention or waitlist control groups. The intervention was delivered via a web-based platform and four video-conferencing therapy sessions. Participants tracked their sleep using actigraphy and a sleep diary that was used to pace the intervention delivered. Assessments occurred at baseline and 8 weeks post-randomisation, measuring insomnia, depression, anxiety, psychological well-being, quality of life, and work productivity.
Results
Of the 159 participants (mean age 43.6 ± 9.4 years, 76.7% female, 80.5% white), 80 received the intervention and 79 were in the control group. The intervention group showed significant improvements in insomnia (F1, 134 = 71.46, p < .0001); depression (F1, 134 = 35.67, p < .0001); and anxiety (F1, 134 = 17.63, p < .0001), with large effect sizes (d = 0.7–1.5). Sleep diary data supported these findings, whereas actigraphy data did not. Improvements in psychological well-being were significant (F1, 132.13 = 10.64, p < 0.001), whereas quality of life, work productivity, and satisfaction outcomes were not.
Conclusions
This study suggests that a hybrid dCBT-I + ER intervention, delivered via workplaces, effectively improves insomnia, depression, and anxiety. It holds promise as a scalable solution, warranting further investigation into its long-term efficacy and economic impact.
This chapter reviews research on the effects of age on emotion as well as decision making. After reviewing the neural regions involved in emotion, the chapter delves into the topics of emotion identification, emotion regulation, life satisfaction, socioemotional selectivity theory, and emotion and memory. Turning to the research on decision making and reward, the chapter considers how age affects brain activity during tasks involving reward, economic decisions, and gambling. It also discusses economic decision making in a social context and future directions in motivation research.
Maternal perinatal mental health is essential for optimal brain development and mental health of the offspring. We evaluated whether maternal depression during the perinatal period and early life of the offspring might be selectively associated with altered brain function during emotion regulation and whether those may further correlate with physiological responses and the typical use of emotion regulation strategies.
Methods
Participants included 163 young adults (49% female, 28–30 years) from the ELSPAC prenatal birth cohort who took part in its neuroimaging follow-up and had complete mental health data from the perinatal period and early life. Maternal depressive symptoms were measured mid-pregnancy, 2 weeks, 6 months, and 18 months after birth. Regulation of negative affect was studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging, concurrent skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate variability (HRV), and assessment of typical emotion regulation strategy.
Results
Maternal depression 2 weeks after birth interacted with sex and showed a relationship with greater brain response during emotion regulation in a right frontal cluster in women. Moreover, this brain response mediated the relationship between greater maternal depression 2 weeks after birth and greater suppression of emotions in young adult women (ab = 0.11, SE = 0.05, 95% CI [0.016; 0.226]). The altered brain response during emotion regulation and the typical emotion regulation strategy were also as sociated with SCR and HRV.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that maternal depression 2 weeks after birth predisposes female offspring to maladaptive emotion regulation skills and particularly to emotion suppression in young adulthood.
Impaired emotion regulation has been proposed as a putative endophenotype in bipolar disorder (BD). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies investigating this in unaffected first-degree relatives (UR) have thus far yielded incongruent findings. Hence, the current paper examines neural subgroups among UR during emotion regulation.
Methods
71 UR of patients with BD and 66 healthy controls (HC) underwent fMRI scanning while performing an emotion regulation task. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed on extracted signal change during emotion down-regulation in pre-defined regions of interest (ROIs). Identified subgroups were compared on neural activation, demographic, clinical, and cognitive variables.
Results
Two subgroups of UR were identified: subgroup 1 (39 UR; 55%) was characterized by hypo-activity in the dorsolateral, dorsomedial, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the bilateral amygdalae, but comparable activation to HC in the other ROIs; subgroup 2 (32 UR; 45%) was characterized by hyperactivity in all ROIs. Subgroup 1 had lower success in emotion regulation compared to HC and reported more childhood trauma compared to subgroup 2 and HC. Subgroup 2 reported more anxiety, lower functioning, and greater attentional vigilance toward fearful faces compared to HC. Relatives from both subgroups were poorer in recognizing positive faces compared to HC.
Conclusions
These findings may explain the discrepancy in earlier fMRI studies on emotion regulation in UR, showing two different subgroups of UR that both exhibited aberrant neural activity during emotion regulation, but in opposite directions. Furthermore, the results suggest that impaired recognition of positive facial expressions is a broad endophenotype of BD.
Patients with personality disorder, especially borderline personality disorder, are challenging for psychotherapy. Yet there is good evidence that most patients can recover if offered specific forms of specialized therapy that are empirically supported treatments. The majority of research studies in personality disorder have focused on borderline personality disorder, and we have only limited data on other categories. The strongest findings for the efficacy of treatment concern dialectical behavior therapy, but other options may yield similar results. Credible components include teaching emotion regulation skills and a present-oriented focus. Some of the effects of effective therapy could be specific to underlying theory and methods, while others may depend on common factors. A sidebar discusses self-injurious thoughts and behaviors in youth.
Emotion regulation, as a typical “top-down” emotional self-regulation, has been shown to play an important role in children’s oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) development. However, the association between other self-regulation subcomponents and the ODD symptom network remains unclear. Meanwhile, while there are gender differences in both self-regulation and ODD, few studies have examined whether their relation is moderated by gender. Five hundred and four children (age 6–11 years; 207 girls) were recruited from schools with parents and classroom teachers completing questionnaires and were followed up for assessment six months later. Using moderation network analysis, we analyzed the relation between self-regulation and ODD symptoms, and the moderating role of gender. Self-regulation including emotion regulation, self-control, and emotion lability/negativity had broad bidirectional relations with ODD symptoms. In particular, the bidirectional relations between emotion regulation and ODD3 (Defies) and between emotion lability/negativity and ODD4 (Annoys) were significantly weaker in girls than in boys. Considering the important role of different self-regulation subcomponents in the ODD symptom network, ODD is better conceptualized as a self-regulation disorder. Each ODD symptom is associated with different degrees of impaired “bottom-up” and “top-down” self-regulation, and several of the associations vary by gender.
The Zones of Regulation (The Zones) is an 18-lesson curriculum that is aimed at helping students develop an awareness of emotions and skills for regulation. Although used by schools globally, no peer-reviewed evidence currently exists to support the use of The Zones. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of teachers implementing The Zones curriculum with autistic students. Feedback was gathered from 26 teachers throughout their implementation of The Zones. In this study, we employed a qualitative methodology to analyse the feedback from teachers. Descriptive statistics were used to report on acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility. Our findings revealed that teachers described high levels of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility when reflecting on the delivery of The Zones. However, teachers reported that The Zones was not suitable for all students and classrooms. For students for whom The Zones was deemed appropriate, teachers modified the lessons and required peer support to deliver these modifications. With modifications, the teachers observed growth in areas such as students’ comprehension of others’ emotions and improved language around emotions. This study highlights the importance of further research to refine and tailor interventions like The Zones to better meet the diverse needs of autistic students in educational settings.