The Effects of Analytical Rumination, Reappraisal, and Distraction on Anger Experience

The manner in which individuals recall negative life events has important affective consequences. The present experiment investigated the effects of emotion regulation strategies on anger experience. One hundred and twenty-one undergraduates recalled an anger-inducing memory and were instructed to engage in either analytical rumination, cognitive reappraisal, or distraction for 20 minutes. In the remaining (control) condition, participants were instructed to write about their thoughts but were not given any emotion regulation instructions. Rumination maintained anger, whereas participants in the remaining conditions reported decreased anger following the writing task. Our results suggest that reappraisal facilitates adaptive processing of anger-inducing memories and distraction facilitates rapid reductions in anger experience. These findings have implications for the management of clinical populations that commonly experience difficulty with anger regulation.

► This is the first experiment comparing reappraisal, rumination, distraction, and spontaneous regulation on anger.
► Rumination maintained anger; participants in the remaining conditions reported decreased anger.
► Ruminating in an emotionally immersive manner induced marginally more anger than ruminating in a self-distanced manner.
► Reappraisal facilitates adaptive processing of anger-inducing memories; distraction facilitates rapid reductions in anger.