Experimental manipulation of emotion regulation self-efficacy: Effects on emotion regulation ability, perceived effort in the service of regulation, and affective reactivity

Abstract

Emotion regulation self-efficacy (Tamir & Mauss, 2011) is a construct of interest that may be prospectively linked to psychological distress. The present study sought to a) replicate findings in which enhanced emotion regulation self-efficacy was associated with less negative affective reactivity in response to a laboratory stressor (Bigman et al., 2016) and b) examine how a manipulation of emotion regulation self-efficacy influences the regulation of emotion as measured via an objective measure. In the present study’s relatively small sample (N = 70), evidence supported replication of Bigman et al. (2016)’s findings, such that those who believed they had enhanced emotional control reported less negative affective reactivity. However, manipulation of emotion regulation self-efficacy did not appear to influence performance on a behavioral emotion regulation task. Thus, a one session manipulation of emotion regulation self-efficacy appears to directly influence self-reported affective reactivity, but not an individual’s emotion regulation ability. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.