Cognitive emotion regulation: a review of theory and scientific findings

- There are a variety of strategies that individuals can use to regulate their emotions.
- Cognitive reappraisal is a generally adaptive strategy that impacts body and brain.
- There are situations in which another strategy is more effective than reappraisal.

One critical developmental milestone is the ability to employ strategies that will regulate unruly emotions [1]. In childhood, and adulthood, emotions do not always need to be controlled, but in situations where regulating them is adaptive, such as educational settings, there are many strategies available for use. One commonly used and largely adaptive strategy is cognitive reappraisal, which involves changing the way we are thinking about a situation in order to change how we feel. Research indicates that this strategy is generally more adaptive than other strategies, such as expressive suppression (in Western cultures) and under certain circumstances, distraction. However, there are some situations in which using reappraisal might not be the best choice, including using reappraisal to regulate emotions which are strong, immediate, perceptually-based, or emotions that are the result of situations that are still controllable. Future work should continue to explore the contextual conditions that inform when reappraisal is effective and adaptive, and define the best alternate strategies when reappraisal cannot be effective and adaptive.