James Gross

All Publications

• Task-evoked network connectivity and pain regulation success in chronic low back pain. Neuroimage. Reports Anderson, S. R., Gilam, G., Law, C., Weber, K. A., Goldin, P. R., Wager, T. D., Kong, J. T., Darnall, B. D., Gross, J. J., Mackey, S. C. 2026; 6 (3): 100383

  Abstract

  Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) has shown widespread changes in intrinsic functional brain networks in individuals with chronic low back pain (CLBP). However, less is known about rsFC between task-evoked brain networks (i.e., networks formed by regions that are activated to tasks) implicated in cognitive reappraisal and attention regulation in this population. This cross-sectional study analyzed resting-state fMRI and behavioral data from a separate pain regulation task in 184 individuals with CLBP to investigate whether rsFC among ROIs defined from task-based meta-analyses of cognitive reappraisal and attention regulation networks was associated with pain regulation success. We hypothesized that increased rsFC within and between task-based networks would be associated with greater pain regulation success, and that trait cognitive reappraisal and mindfulness would mediate these relationships. Results indicated that increased rsFC between ROIs in the task-based cognitive reappraisal network, including the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and left middle temporal gyrus (MTG), was associated with reduced pain regulation success using either cognitive reappraisal or attention regulation. Conversely, increased rsFC between ROIs in the task-based cognitive reappraisal network left vlFPC and attention regulation network right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) was associated with increased pain regulation success using attention regulation. Examining the relationship between rsFC and self-reported measures of pain, cognition, and emotion, we found that increased rsFC between the task-based cognitive reappraisal network left MTG and attention regulation network right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) was associated with increased self-reported cognitive distortions. In contrast, increased rsFC between the task-based attention regulation network bilateral vlPFC and left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) was associated with more habitual use of cognitive reappraisal, lower pain catastrophizing, and lower depression. In a formal mediation analysis, neither trait cognitive reappraisal nor trait mindfulness mediated the relationship between rsFC and pain regulation success. Together, our findings suggest that rsFC between brain regions in task-based cognitive reappraisal and attention regulation networks is related to behavioral outcomes in a separate evoked pain regulation task and may underlie cognition and emotion regulation success in individuals with CLBP.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ynirp.2026.100383

  View details for PubMedID 42518330

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC13382298

• Emotion Regulation Modulates Subsequent Control of Unwanted Memories. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience Xie, H., Lin, X., Zhang, J. X., Zhang, D., Gross, J. J., Hu, X. 2026

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation and memory control are indispensable for well-being, yet their interplay remains poorly understood. In this preregistered electroencephalogram (EEG) study, we investigated how emotion regulation influences the subsequent control of negative memories. Participants learned object-aversive scene pairings and were then instructed to either naturally watch or actively reappraise the aversive scenes. They subsequently completed an EEG-based Think/No-Think (TNT) task, where they either retrieved or suppressed the retrieval of aversive scenes in response to Think or No-Think object cues while reporting any intrusions they experienced. Different from our initial hypothesis, preregistered analyses showed that during retrieval suppression, reappraised memories were associated with larger centro-parietal P300 than watched scenes. Consistently, in the post-TNT recall test, participants recalled more details and reported lower negative emotions related to these reappraised scenes than the watched scenes. These results suggest that cognitive reappraisal may preserve the episodic content of negative memories while lessening their emotional impact during recall. This finding holds significant clinical potential, as it could enable individuals to retain valuable information from adverse experiences without being overwhelmed by distress. Additionally, it may help address reduced memory specificity in affective disorders, offering a promising avenue for therapeutic intervention.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/scan/nsag062

  View details for PubMedID 42535903

• Randomised superiority trial evaluating an online transdiagnostic emotion regulation treatment for adolescents with mental health conditions: study protocol. BMJ open Sjöblom, K., Bellander, M., Nilbrink, J., Zetterqvist, M., Sampaio, F., Hedman-Lagerlöf, E., Hellner, C., Gross, J. J., Hesser, H., Bjureberg, J. 2026; 16 (7): e116511

  Abstract

  Mental health conditions are prevalent during adolescence, but access to early evidence-based treatments remains limited. Scalable, online, theory-based transdiagnostic interventions delivered in primary care have the potential to reduce this treatment gap, but the effectiveness remains unknown. The objective is to investigate whether an online transdiagnostic emotion regulation treatment for adolescents with mental health conditions is superior to an active control treatment.This single-blind, randomised clinical superiority trial will evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an online transdiagnostic emotion regulation treatment for adolescents with mental health conditions within primary care in Sweden. We aim to include 388 participants (adolescents aged 12-17 years with mental health conditions and their parents), recruited through primary care and self-referral. Patients will be randomised to either an online transdiagnostic emotion regulation treatment or an active control treatment. Participants will receive 6 weeks of therapist-guided online transdiagnostic emotion regulation treatment or an active control treatment consisting of 6 weeks of online supportive treatment. Parents will participate in parallel with their adolescents in both conditions and will receive an online parent course. The primary outcome, assessed by blinded assessors, will be clinical global symptom severity measured with the Clinical Global Impressions-Severity scale. Treatment effectiveness will be evaluated through blinded assessment and self-assessment at primary endpoint (immediately after treatment) and 3 months after treatment. In addition, a health economic evaluation will be conducted. The study will be undertaken between October 2023 and July 2026.The study has obtained ethical approval from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority. Findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications and presented at scientific conferences.NCT06067165.

  View details for DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2026-116511

  View details for PubMedID 42526916

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC13422934

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy: An Emotion Regulation Perspective CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY-SCIENCE AND PRACTICE Preece, D. A., Gross, J. J. 2026

  View details for DOI 10.1037/cps0000327

  View details for Web of Science ID 001801187000001

• Spirituality and resilience among West Point cadets: The mediating role of emotional integration. Military psychology : the official journal of the Division of Military Psychology, American Psychological Association Erbe, R. G., Cho, I., Gross, J. J., Preece, D. A. 2026: 1-11

  Abstract

  West Point aims to develop cadets into future leaders of character. With this end in mind, the academy exposes cadets to a demanding 47-month experience meant to challenge and develop their resilience. Empirical studies have demonstrated a link between spirituality and resilience, including in military populations, and Army doctrine acknowledges this connection. However, the mechanisms behind this link remain unclear, and no work to date has examined this relationship among members of a service academy population. Across two studies with West Point cadets (N = 187, N = 282), we sought to address these gaps. In particular, we examined the potential mediating role that emotional integration - taking an interested stance toward one's emotional experience - may play in the link between daily spiritual experiences as a connection with a higher power and resilience. Across both studies, statistically significant positive correlations were found among spirituality, emotional integration, and resilience. A cross-sectional statistical mediation model showed that emotional integration significantly partially mediated the relationship between spirituality and resilience. Overall, these findings suggest that daily spiritual experiences of a connection with a higher power were positively associated with resilience and that emotional integration statistically accounts for part of this association. Limitations of the study include the cross-sectional design, with future longitudinal and experimental work therefore being important. Implications for leader development programs and future directions are shared.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/08995605.2026.2685348

  View details for PubMedID 42258779

• Alexithymia and ill-being and well-being: The role of emotion regulation. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Preece, D. A., Mehta, A., Wurgaft, D., Levy, C., Spink, K. M., Teo, Q. K., Jiang, Y., Ong, D. C., Chen, P., Bratman, G. N., Gross, J. J. 2026

  Abstract

  Alexithymia is an important risk factor for psychopathology. However, it is not yet clear why. Here, we examine alexithymia's relationship with both ill-being and well-being outcomes and test whether emotion regulation patterns are a key mechanism explaining these links. Based on contemporary affective science frameworks, we predicted that people high (vs. low) in alexithymia would more frequently use maladaptive emotion regulation strategies that involve disengaging from negative emotions and less frequently use adaptive strategies that involve engaging with negative emotions. We also predicted that emotion regulation strategy choice should, in turn, statistically mediate relationships between alexithymia and ill- and well-being. We conducted two cross-sectional survey studies with mediation modeling, one exploratory (N = 427) and one preregistered (N = 600). In both studies, results indicated that (a) alexithymia is associated with higher ill-being and lower well-being, (b) alexithymia is associated with greater use of maladaptive disengagement emotion regulation strategies and less use of adaptive engagement strategies, and (c) the relationships between alexithymia and ill- and well-being outcomes are statistically partially explained by this profile of emotion regulation. Conceptually, these findings are well aligned with the attention-appraisal model of alexithymia and process model of emotion regulation, empirically supporting the claim that interactions between alexithymia and emotion regulation have important implications for people's ill-being and well-being. Clinically, these findings highlight the importance of targeting both alexithymia and emotion regulation patterns in treatment to help facilitate desirable affective outcomes. Our findings suggest that such work may help reduce ill-being and enhance well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001674

  View details for PubMedID 42258281

• A socially assistive robot to support mental wellbeing in LGBTQ+ young people at risk of self-harm: a randomized controlled trial. Nature medicine Williams, A. J., Rhodes, C. A., Cleare, S., Borschmann, R., Gross, J. J., Petrova, K., Posada, L., Tench, C. R., Chapman-Nisar, A., Martin, L., Hollis, C., Townsend, E., Slovak, P. 2026

  Abstract

  LGBTQ+ youth commonly have unmet mental health needs and are at elevated risk for self-harm, yet many face persistent institutional barriers to accessing support. One impactful way to reduce risk and promote wellbeing is by supporting emotion regulation; that is, the process by which individuals can influence which emotions they feel, when they feel them and how they experience or express these emotions. This universal, modifiable process is widely considered a key transdiagnostic target for mental ill-health prevention and intervention efforts. We conducted a randomized controlled trial using Purrble, a socially assistive robot designed to provide in-the-moment emotion regulation support through intuitive tactile interaction. Between 12 January and 1 September 2024, 153 LGBTQ+ youth with self-harm ideation were randomized 1:1 to receive Purrble and safety planning (Purrble + SP) or safety planning alone (SP-Only), stratified by gender identity (50.3% transgender/gender diverse). Data were collected over 13 weeks, with data collection closing on 22 October 2024. The primary outcome was perceived emotion regulation difficulties at follow-up, adjusted for baseline, gender identity and age. Participants allocated to the Purrble intervention reported fewer emotion regulation difficulties at follow-up than those allocated to safety planning alone (adjusted mean difference: -3.04; 95% confidence interval (CI): -4.92 to -1.16; P = 0.002; partial η2 = 0.07). For secondary outcomes, participants in the Purrble intervention also reported significantly lower symptoms of anxiety and depression, but no significant main effect was observed for self-harm. No serious Purrble-related adverse events were observed. Purrble may offer a scalable intervention to complement existing therapeutic approaches to support LGBTQ+ youth to enhance their emotion regulation. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT06025942 .

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41591-026-04422-6

  View details for PubMedID 42243547

  View details for PubMedCentralID 6896220

• Research Review: Emotion regulation in individuals with intellectual disability - an integrative review. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines Ferguson, E. F., Nuske, H. J., Hardan, A. Y., Gross, J. J. 2026

  Abstract

  Across diverse populations, there is growing evidence that emotion regulation is central to healthy adaptation. Much is known about emotion regulation processes in typically developing populations, but comparatively very little is known about how these processes unfold in individuals with intellectual disability.This integrative review advances understanding of emotion regulation in intellectual disability within a clinical framework. We first synthesize research on affective and behavioral functioning across the heterogeneous intellectual disability population. We then apply the process model of emotion regulation to examine how differences in cognition, language, and executive functioning shape regulation capacities. Particular attention is given to the distinction between self-focused strategies used by individuals to regulate their own emotions, and other-focused, interpersonal strategies (i.e. caregiver-mediated support), which may play a particularly critical role for individuals with intellectual disability across the lifespan. Finally, we discuss implications for clinical practice, including interventions for promoting healthy emotion regulation in intellectual disability within the process model framework and recommendations for family-centered approaches.By integrating empirical evidence with a widely used theoretical model, this review establishes a foundation for conceptualizing emotion regulation in intellectual disability and for improving interventions that support emotional well-being in this underserved population.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/jcpp.70177

  View details for PubMedID 42233684

• Handling the Ups and Downs of Adolescence: The Role of Emotion Regulation Repertoires. Affective science Braet, J., Debra, G., Rein, M. T., Gross, J. J., Werner, K. M., Giletta, M. 2026; 7 (2): 197-212

  Abstract

  Adolescence is a period of biopsychosocial change, where some youth thrive while others develop stress-related difficulties, making it crucial to understand the processes that may contribute to poor mental health. This study examined adolescents' emotion regulation (ER) repertoires and their associations with indicators of mental health, using data pooled across three waves of ecological momentary assessment (EMA), each spaced six months apart. The final sample included 292 adolescents (M age = 12.55 years, SD age = 0.46; 41.48% female) who reported their use of seven ER strategies and affect five times daily over two weeks in each wave. In wave 3, participants completed questionnaires assessing depressive and anxiety symptoms, emotional eating, and loneliness. Multilevel latent profile analysis identified six occasion-level ER profiles that differed in size (from no strategy use to moderate use of all strategies) and composition (adaptive versus maladaptive strategies). At the person-level, three distinct classes emerged: a multi-ER class (moderate use with fewer adaptive strategies), a no-ER class (minimal strategy usage), and a high adaptive class (frequent use of adaptive strategies). Mental health outcomes differed across groups: adolescents in the no-ER class reported the most favorable outcomes (lower depressive and anxiety symptoms, higher daily positive affect), whereas those in the multi-ER class showed the poorest outcomes. The high adaptive class displayed a mixed pattern, with higher levels of daily positive affect similar to the no-ER group but higher levels of daily negative affect resembling the multi-ER group. These findings challenge the assumption that a larger ER repertoire is inherently beneficial, emphasizing the importance of repertoire composition and contextual fit. Interventions could focus on teaching adolescents context-sensitive combinations of strategies, and future studies should evaluate their effectiveness in improving mental health.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-026-00354-z.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-026-00354-z

  View details for PubMedID 42311808

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC13269610

• Emotion Regulation Mediates the Link Between Exposure to Childhood Adversity and Transdiagnostic Symptom Domains in Youth. JAACAP open Liu, Z., Christofilea, E., Venegas, G. A., Santini-Bishop, S., Diep, A. N., Wang, Z., Gordon, I., Gross, J. J., Ibrahim, K. 2026; 4 (3): 530-545

  Abstract

  Emotion dysregulation is recognized as a transdiagnostic feature common to child psychopathology. This study examined the unique association between emotion regulation difficulties and specific strategies (suppression, reappraisal) with transdiagnostic symptom domains of attention, externalizing, and internalizing problems in youth. This study also tested for the mediating role of emotion regulation between domains of childhood adversity (family conflict and negative life events) and transdiagnostic symptoms.In a sample of 9,057 children aged 12 to 13 years in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ (ABCD) Study (47.21% female), linear mixed-effects models were used to examine the association between emotion regulation difficulties and specific regulation strategies with transdiagnostic symptoms. Follow-up analyses tested replication of findings retrospectively and prospectively. Structural equation modeling was used to test whether emotion regulation mediated the association between childhood adversity (family conflict, negative life events) and symptom severity. The Child Behavior Checklist was used as a continuous measure of symptom severity.Greater severity of emotion dysregulation was associated with severity of each transdiagnostic symptom domain, and these associations were replicated both retrospectively and prospectively. Sex-specific longitudinal patterns emerged for attention and externalizing problems. Emotion regulation difficulties mediated the association between childhood adversity (family conflict, negative life events) and all symptom domains, with strategy-specific patterns emerging only for internalizing problems.These findings have implications for developing targeted interventions to address broad emotion dysregulation as an underlying mechanism of child psychopathology linked to exposure to childhood adversity.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jaacop.2026.01.003

  View details for PubMedID 42220635

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC13221816

• Examining fronto-limbic brain and sleep mechanisms of antidepressant effects in cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia. Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Krause, A. J., Osorno, R., Solomon, N. L., Ahmadi, M., Lam, P., Magana, O., Blozyte-Sakenis, E., Harris, L. N., Babros, M. C., Izabel, S. S., Bernert, R. A., Williams, L. M., Gross, J. J., Ma, J., Lazzeroni, L. C., Yesavage, J. A., Manber, R., Saletin, J. M., Goldstein-Piekarski, A. N. 2026

  Abstract

  Treating insomnia with Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) improves depression symptoms, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. This single-arm mechanistic trial (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04424407) examined fronto-limbic and sleep mechanisms of CBT-I's antidepressant response in 48 participants (64% female; age 25-60) with insomnia and depression symptoms. Participants completed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), polysomnography (PSG), and symptom assessments before and after 6 CBT-I sessions. CBT-I resulted in reduced amygdala reactivity to fearful faces (d = 0.55, p = 0.008). Depression and sleep (objective and self-reported insomnia symptoms also improved. However, fMRI-assessed fronto-limbic changes were not associated with a reduction of depressive symptom severity. Instead, reduced depressive symptoms correlated with reduced self-reported insomnia symptoms (p = 0.001, η2p = 0.19) and increased objective sleep efficiency (p = 0.04, η2p = 0.10). Notably, pre-treatment PSG-assessed sleep efficiency, but not fronto-limbic function nor insomnia symptoms, predicted reduced depressive symptoms (p = 0.007, η2p = 0.16), suggesting that lower objective sleep efficiency prior to treatment may be associated with greater antidepressant benefit from CBT-I.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41386-026-02431-0

  View details for PubMedID 42098309

  View details for PubMedCentralID 1978360

• Evaluating the Relationship Between Rumination and Insomnia Across CBTI in Depressed Adults Merrill, J., Converse, E., Osorno, R., Solomon, N., Williams, L., Gross, J., Ma, J., Yesavage, J., Manber, R., Saletin, J., Goldstein-Piekarski, A. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2026: A205-A206

  View details for DOI 10.1093/sleep/zsag091.0460

  View details for Web of Science ID 001760806800020

• The Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire-Short Form (PAQ-S): Psychometric properties in a clinical sample PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Heekerens, J. B., Preece, D. A., Gross, J. J. 2026; 254

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.paid.2026.113654

  View details for Web of Science ID 001668473300001

• Examining Fronto-Limbic Brain and Sleep Mechanisms of Anti-Depressant Effects in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia Krause, A., Osorno, R., Solomon, N., Ahmadi, M., Lam, P., Magana, O., Blozyte, E., Harris, L., Izabel, S., Bernert, R., Williams, L., Gross, J., Ma, J., Lazzeroni, L., Yesavage, J., Manber, R., Saletin, J., Goldstein-Piekarski, A. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2026

  View details for Web of Science ID 001765464500018

• Handling the Ups and Downs of Adolescence: The Role of Emotion Regulation Repertoires AFFECTIVE SCIENCE Braet, J., Debra, G., Rein, M. T., Gross, J. J., Werner, K. M., Giletta, M. 2026

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-026-00354-z

  View details for Web of Science ID 001711401800001

• The emergence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in preclinical Alzheimer's disease: An emotion regulation perspective. Neuron Turnbull, A., Gross, J. J., Vankee-Lin, F. 2026

  Abstract

  Preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with distressing neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) that may accelerate progression toward dementia. Existing approaches probe the symptom-level domain-general or domain-specific neural correlates of NPSs. However, the field lacks process-oriented models of symptom emergence for targeted treatment. We propose one pathway for symptom emergence involving the disruption of emotion regulation (ER) systems by early AD pathology. AD pathology in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex-ventromedial prefrontal cortex disrupts model-free ER that modulates negative valuations using experience-dependent reinforcement learning (e.g., fear extinction), leading to increased negative valuations and negative affect. We further propose that model-based ER competes for overtaxed executive resources and is less successful in preclinical AD, particularly in demanding real-world contexts. These changes lead to a shift toward negative affect, leading to divergent trajectories of NPSs depending on critical moderators. We discuss implications for intervention to improve NPSs and potentially slow dementia progression.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuron.2026.01.022

  View details for PubMedID 41812658

• Self-Objectification, Body Surveillance, and Body Shame Across Countries: A Comparison Between US, UK, Belgian, Israeli, and Thai Women. Psychologica Belgica Wollast, R., Coertjens, L., Bernard, P., Talmon, A., Gross, J. J., Klein, O. 2026; 66 (1): 32-46

  Abstract

  Cross-national research on self-objectification remains notably limited. The present study investigated the associations between self-objectification, body surveillance, and body shame among women in Belgium (N = 239), the United Kingdom (N = 213), and the United States of America (N = 159) in Study 1, and in Belgium (N = 209), Israel (N = 299), and Thailand (N = 230) in Study 2. In Study 1, employing the Likert version of the Self-Objectification Questionnaire (LSOQ), we demonstrated that self-objectification indirectly predicts body shame through body surveillance in the case of Belgian, UK, and US women. In Study 2, we successfully replicated these indirect effects among Belgian, Israeli, and Thai women. This research stands as one of the first empirical, cross-national investigations of the improved self-objectification scale, evidencing the robust association between self-objectification, body surveillance, and body shame across countries.

  View details for DOI 10.5334/pb.1387

  View details for PubMedID 41799863

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12962253

• Using nature to regulate emotions: Introducing the nature selection emotion regulation questionnaire (NS-ERQ) JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Vitale, V., White, M. P., Bratman, G. N., Gross, J. J., Preece, D. A., Bonaiuto, M. 2026; 110

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.102960

  View details for Web of Science ID 001708202300001

• Does Dissociation Have an Emotion-Regulation Function? Evidence From Daily Life and the Laboratory CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Heekerens, J. B., Gross, J. J., Kreibig, S. D., Ober, H. L., Eichentopf, R., Dittrich, T., Lebovitz, J. G., Hellmann-Regen, J., Wingenfeld, K., Roepke, S. 2026

  View details for DOI 10.1177/21677026251396803

  View details for Web of Science ID 001693295700001

• Teachers' Emotion Regulation: Contextual and Multidisciplinary Perspectives ASIA-PACIFIC EDUCATION RESEARCHER Yin, H., Gross, J. J., Zheng, X. 2026

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s40299-026-01088-z

  View details for Web of Science ID 001677044900001

• Accelerated recovery using magnesium ibogaine: characterizing the subjective experience of its rapid healing from neuropsychiatric disorders. Npj mental health research Olash, C., Buchanan, D. M., Brown, R., Faerman, A., Cherian, K., Lin, G., Spiegel, D., Gross, J. J., Williams, N. 2026; 5 (1): 8

  Abstract

  Magnesium-ibogaine, a formulation combining ibogaine with pre- and post-treatment magnesium, was recently found to yield rapid clinical improvements in U.S. Special Operations veterans with TBI and PTSD. Yet, its therapeutic phenomenology during such healing is unknown. We analyzed post-session narratives from 30 male veterans who, after a single open-label magnesium-ibogaine treatment, answered three open-ended questions. A constructivist grounded-theory approach identified four recurrent experiential domains: dialogic trauma re-appraisal marked by guided replay of autobiographical memories; altered-self and mystical connectedness; emotional resolution with surges of forgiveness, love, and renewed purpose; and embodied healing, a vivid sense of neural repair accompanied by cognitive clarity and somatic relief. Together, these themes portray an accelerated, self-directed psychotherapeutic process that dovetails with previously reported improvements in this same cohort, suggesting mind-body mechanisms involving rapid neuroplastic change and highlighting its potential to inform novel approaches to trauma and TBI.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s44184-026-00185-7

  View details for PubMedID 41620509

  View details for PubMedCentralID 10878970

• Psychological well-being among West Point cadets: the role of emotion beliefs and emotional integration JOURNAL OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Erbe, R. G., Dykhuis, E., Gross, J. J., Preece, D. A. 2026

  View details for DOI 10.1080/17439760.2026.2620594

  View details for Web of Science ID 001674551500001

• Understanding alexithymia: the role of experiential avoidance. Cognition & emotion Stiller, M. C., Gross, J. J., Förster, K., Heekerens, J. B., Sikka, P., Preece, D. A. 2026: 1-16

  Abstract

  Alexithymia is a trait characterized by compromised emotion processing. It represents a key risk factor for various psychopathologies, yet its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. According to the attention-appraisal model, one mechanism is experiential avoidance, a tendency to avoid aversive emotional experiences. To investigate this proposed relationship, participants (N = 444) completed questionnaires assessing alexithymia, experiential avoidance, and various psychopathology symptoms. Results showed a strong correlation between alexithymia and experiential avoidance (r = .55, p < .001), with experiential avoidance accounting for 25.4% of the variance in alexithymia. A latent profile analysis identified three distinct subgroups across participants: one with high alexithymia and high experiential avoidance, one with average levels in both, and one with low scores in both. We compared these profiles for their psychopathology levels, showing that the profile highest in both alexithymia and experiential avoidance had the highest symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, posttraumatic stress disorder, and dissociation. These findings support the attention-appraisal model, suggesting that experiential avoidance may play an important role in alexithymia. When high alexithymia is present, people are generally also engaging in high levels of experiential avoidance. Addressing experiential avoidance may therefore be a useful target in interventions for alexithymia and associated emotional problems.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2026.2614307

  View details for PubMedID 41557756

• Personalizing reappraisal: Leveraging prior beliefs to enhance emotion regulation outcomes. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Mehta, A., Gross, J. J. 2026

  Abstract

  Enthusiasm for personalized psychological interventions far outstrips our understanding of how to best tailor these interventions to individuals. The first step in bridging this gap is to identify individual characteristics that predict intervention outcomes. Across three studies (N = 444; between 2023 and 2024), we address this issue by examining the role of prior beliefs in reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy common to many types of psychological interventions. In Studies 1 and 2, we instructed participants to reappraise negative stimuli in a way that was consistent with different beliefs. We found that more belief-congruent (vs. less belief-congruent) reappraisals were more believable and more effective for regulating emotions. In Study 3, we asked participants to rank sets of standardized reappraisals. We found substantial heterogeneity in which reappraisals were preferred and this heterogeneity was partially explained by people's prior beliefs. This work suggests that, in the context of U.S.-based participants, beliefs may be leveraged to systematically personalize reappraisal interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001632

  View details for PubMedID 41505313

• Can reappraisal and mindfulness co-exist? emotion regulation profiles and links with mental health outcomes PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Simmons, R., Gross, J. J., Reichler, A. G., Suri, G., Uusberg, H., Preece, D. A. 2026; 248

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.paid.2025.113468

  View details for Web of Science ID 001591141600002

• Using Artificial Intelligence to Generate Affective Images: Methodology and Initial Library ADVANCES IN METHODS AND PRACTICES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Behnke, M., Kloskowski, M., Klichowski, M., Krzyzaniak, W., Szymanski, K., Maciejewski, P., Chwilkowska, P., Kowal, M., Jonczyk, R., Nowak, J., Kupinski, S., Kunc, D., Saganowski, S., Chowkase, A. A., Guemaz, F., Kertechian, K. S., Maadal, A. T., Aguilar, L. A., Alayande, B. T., Balakrishnan, V., Basnight-Brown, D. M., Boudesseul, J., D'Amelio, T. A., Dacanay, J. C., Dedhe, A., Gao, S., Takayanagi, J. B., Islam, M., Mailhos, A., Mpyangu, C. M., Mebarak, M., Najmussaqib, A., Park, J., Pirtskhalava, E., Rice, E., Sami, S., Yamada, Y., Baczynski, J., Dera, L., Jesko-Bialek, S., Laczkowski, J., Marciniak, H., Nowicki, F., Wilczek, B., Gross, J. J., Coles, N. A. 2026; 9 (1)

  View details for DOI 10.1177/25152459251415336

  View details for Web of Science ID 001708256200001

• EXAMINING FRONTO-LIMBIC BRAIN AND SLEEP MECHANISMS OF ANTI-DEPRESSANT EFFECTS IN COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR INSOMNIA Krause, A., Osorno, R., Solomon, N., Ahmadi, M., Lam, P., Magana, O., Blozyte, E., Izabel, S., Bernert, R., Williams, L., Gross, J., Ma, J., Lazzeroni, L., Yesavage, J., Manber, R., Saletin, J., Piekarski, A. SPRINGERNATURE. 2026

  View details for Web of Science ID 001665758000385

• Predictors of empathy and markers of performance among United States military Academy cadets: The role of emotional integration and father warmth. Military psychology : the official journal of the Division of Military Psychology, American Psychological Association Erbe, R. G., Konheim-Kalkstein, Y. L., Bowen, S., Tilman, C. T., Gross, J. J., Preece, D. A. 2025: 1-11

  Abstract

  The United States Military Academy's mission is to develop leaders of character. Such leaders are characterized by having high levels of moral character traits such as empathy and by having high levels of academic/military training performance. For this reason, factors that facilitate these outcomes are of high interest. One such factor may be emotional integration-the extent to which one has a differentiated awareness of one's emotions while having an accepting and interested stance toward them. Here, across two studies, we examined whether emotional integration predicted empathy and markers of performance among West Point cadets, and the extent to which experiences with parents might underpin the development of emotional integration skills. Participants in Study 1 were 170 cadets and in Study 2 were 192 cadets who completed psychometric measures of relevant variables. Results in Study 1 showed father warmth to be a particularly strong correlate of emotional integration, which in turn was correlated with empathy. Study 2 replicated these findings and showed emotional integration also to be predictive of markers of academic and military training performance. These findings highlight the potential value of developing emotional integration abilities and a key factor that might underpin these abilities. Implications for leader development programs are shared along with recommendations for future research.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/08995605.2025.2605923

  View details for PubMedID 41431200

• Childhood maltreatment and alexithymia: A network analysis. Journal of affective disorders Liu, Y., Liu, S., Preece, D. A., Gross, J. J., Zhao, Z., Qian, J., Gao, M. M., Han, Z. R. 2025: 120876

  Abstract

  Childhood maltreatment is a known risk factor for alexithymia, which is defined as difficulties processing one's own emotions. However, links between specific maltreatment subtypes and alexithymia facets remain underexplored. This study aimed to clarify these associations.This study included 2447 Chinese adolescents (58.8 % girls; aged 16 to 22). Network analysis was used to identify central components and key links between maltreatment subtypes and alexithymia facets. Network comparison tests assessed gender differences in network connectivity.Emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and the difficulty identifying feelings facet of alexithymia emerged as central nodes in the network. The strongest edges were between emotional abuse and difficulty identifying feelings (r = 0.16), and emotional neglect and externally oriented thinking (r = 0.13). Gender differences emerged in specific pathways: physical neglect was more strongly associated with difficulty identifying feelings in girls than in boys, and physical abuse was linked to difficulty describing feelings only in girls.This study illuminates central mechanisms linking distinct childhood maltreatment subtypes to specific alexithymia facets, and highlights gender-specific patterns. These insights may inform targeted interventions for emotional difficulties rooted in early adversity.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2025.120876

  View details for PubMedID 41421624

• Regulatory flexibility and psychological health - Is more always better? Journal of affective disorders Werner, K. M., Preece, D. A., Berkman, E. T., Gross, J. J. 2025: 120893

  Abstract

  Regulatory flexibility, defined as the ability to use strategies in accordance with contextual demands, is thought to be central to psychological health. In the current research, we test the boundaries of this claim by examining: (1) how broadly does regulatory flexibility relate to different facets of psychological health?, and (2) is more flexibility always better? Across six samples, participants (N = 2939) reported their ability to use strategies flexibly when managing impulses (e.g., temptations) and completed indicators of ill-being and well-being. Findings indicated that people who are more flexible report not only report less anxiety and depression but also more positive functioning, including more life satisfaction, meaning, thriving, and positive mental health. There was some goal-to-goal variation, but the same pattern held when controlling for goal-specific covariates and replicated in both meta-analytic and mega-analytic approaches. Interestingly, there was a significant quadratic association between flexibility and well-being but not ill-being. This suggested diminishing returns, such that being more flexible was beneficial for well-being, but only to a certain point. Overall, these findings suggest that having the ability to use strategies flexibly has no apparent downside.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2025.120893

  View details for PubMedID 41412341

• Why nature contact is good for us. Trends in cognitive sciences Bratman, G. N., Gross, J. J. 2025

  Abstract

  Nature contact has long been considered salutary. Recently, scientists from a variety of home disciplines have begun to systematically document these benefits through new assessment approaches and considerations of a wide range of negative and positive affective outcomes. They also have expanded the scale of their investigations, increasing their capacity to understand specifics about the characteristics, magnitude, and timing of effects. Although much remains to be learned about why these affective benefits occur, impressive progress has been made in identifying some of the mechanisms linking nature contact to human functioning. In this review, we focus specifically on mechanisms and outcomes related to affective functioning. We discuss emerging insights and highlight promising directions for future research in this rapidly evolving field.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.tics.2025.11.003

  View details for PubMedID 41318269

• Sit Still or Move More? The Impact of Fidgeting on Creativity. Journal of educational psychology Oppezzo, M., Schwartz, D. L., Aikens, R., Moore, J. B., Langford, J., Baiocchi, M., Gross, J. J., Dohmen, I. 2025

  Abstract

  Many modern classrooms impose constraints on student movement, both physical (e.g. stable, upright chairs) and psychological (e.g. norms that "being still" signals paying attention).. We conducted two separate studies on 32 6th grade (11-12 year old) and 43 7th grade (12-13 year old) students, respectively. Study 1 was a within-subject design and compared students' creative ideation on the Alternate Uses Test and a verbal memory task through two conditions: Sit Still (on a regular chair with instructions to not move) or Freedom to Move (on a wiggle stool with ability to move as they wanted). There was a significant effect of condition on novel ideas, as well as number of novel ideas / total ideation (creativity ratio). There was no significant difference by condition on the verbal memory task. Study 2 was a within-subject design (due to the COVID-19 pandemic, each student completed 2 of 3 conditions): Sit Still, Freedom to Move, and Sit as Usual (on a regular chair with instructions to sit as if they were paying attention in class) and compared students' creative ideation and a focused attention task instead of Study 1's memory task. There was a significant effect of condition on novel ideas and creativity ratio, but pairwise comparisons were not statistically significant. There was no condition effect on focused attention. The Freedom to Move effects appear selective only for creative ideation. Implications for future research and small classroom changes to support natural movement are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/edu0000980

  View details for PubMedID 41306753

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12646023

• The emotion regulation questionnaire-30 (ERQ-30): A 30-item measure of 10 clinically relevant emotion regulation strategies. Journal of affective disorders Preece, D. A., Gross, J. J. 2025: 120727

  Abstract

  People use different strategies to regulate their emotions, and these emotion regulation patterns have important implications for mental health. For over two decades, the most widely used tool for assessing emotion regulation has been the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, a 10-item measure of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Here, we introduce a new 30-item version-the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-30 (ERQ-30). Built on the conceptual foundation of the process model of emotion regulation, the ERQ-30 aims to advance emotion regulation assessments by capturing a more comprehensive range of clinically relevant emotion regulation strategies. It is designed to assess how frequently people use 10 strategies, collectively spanning all stages of the process model, including five generally adaptive strategies (behavioral activation, problem solving, acceptance, cognitive reappraisal, social sharing) and five generally maladaptive strategies (situational avoidance, social withdrawal, distraction, rumination, expressive suppression). Across two studies (Ns = 451, 658), we examine the factor structure, reliability, and affective correlates of the ERQ-30, and use its conceptual breadth to further clarify the nature of emotion regulation. We find it to have a theoretically congruent 10-factor (subscale) structure. All strategy subscales demonstrated good internal consistency reliability, and an expected pattern of affective correlates (e.g., with psychopathology symptoms, wellbeing, emotional reactivity, overall emotion regulation difficulties, alexithymia, emotion beliefs, and personality). We demonstrate that the breadth of strategies assessed by the ERQ-30 enhances its clinical utility and predictive value. Overall, the ERQ-30 has strong psychometric performance, and can now enable more comprehensive assessments of emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2025.120727

  View details for PubMedID 41260359

• Sit Still or Move More? The Impact of Fidgeting on Creativity JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY Oppezzo, M., Schwartz, D. L., Aikens, R., Moore, J. B., Langford, J., Baiocchi, M., Gross, J. J., Dohmen, I. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1037/edu0000980

  View details for Web of Science ID 001616232500001

• Not just for tough times: The efficacy and mechanisms of positive goal reappraisal in negative, neutral, and positive contexts. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Krajuškina, M., Naar, R., Uusberg, A., Gross, J. J., Uusberg, H. 2025

  Abstract

  Reappraisal is a common emotion regulation strategy that involves adjusting how a situation is appraised. While much is known about its use to reduce negative affect in negative situations, less is known about its use across negative, neutral, and positive contexts to increase positive affect (i.e., positive goal reappraisal). To fill this gap, we investigated the efficacy and mechanisms of positive goal reappraisal across three valence categories in two complementary studies. In Study 1, 158 participants rated their subjective affect and reported how they appraised depicted situations on key appraisal dimensions with and without using reappraisal. In Study 2, 70 participants completed the same task, while their electromyographic and electroencephalographic responses were recorded. We found that reappraisal was effective across all valence categories, as it increased subjective positive affect and decreased subjective negative affect in response to negative, neutral, and positive pictures. Reappraisal also increased zygomaticus major reactivity for neutral and positive pictures and decreased corrugator supercilii reactivity for negative and neutral pictures. Regarding cognitive mechanisms, we found that the effects of reappraisal were related to appraisal shifts, particularly changes in congruence and relevance. A broader range of appraisal shifts were involved in neutral and positive contexts than in negative ones, suggesting that reappraisal mechanisms may be context-dependent. Finally, reappraisal amplified the late positive potential across all picture types within a relatively early time window (263-1,013 ms), indicating sustained attentional engagement. We conclude that positive goal reappraisal may be effective irrespective of stimulus valence by producing appraisal shifts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001613

  View details for PubMedID 41231556

• Internalizing Symptoms in Men: The Role of Masculine Norms, Alexithymia, and Emotion Regulation SEX ROLES Mancini, V. O., Ditzer, J., Brett, J. D., Gross, J. J., Preece, D. A. 2025; 91 (10)

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11199-025-01615-0

  View details for Web of Science ID 001592801100002

• Regulating Mixed Emotions: The Role of Emotion Goals on Experiential, Expressive, and Physiological Responses. Psychophysiology Kreibig, S. D., Jung, S., Samson, A. C., Gross, J. J. 2025; 62 (10): e70153

  Abstract

  While mixed emotions are prevalent, the impact of intentional regulation on these states remains unclear. To investigate how individuals modulate these complex emotional states across experience, expression, and physiology, we propose a three-dimensional extension of the Evaluative Space Model (3D-ESM). We used this model to examine whether negative and positive emotion goals during cognitive reappraisal of emotionally ambivalent stimuli (disgusting-amusing) differentially influence negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) system reactivity. A repeated-measures design exposed 48 women to 20-30 s film clips under three conditions: natural response (no goal), emphasizing the film clip's negative aspects (negative emotion goal), or emphasizing its positive aspects (positive emotion goal). We assessed self-reported feelings (negative, positive), facial muscle reactivity (corrugator supercilii, zygomaticus major electromyography), and autonomic responses (pre-ejection period [PEP], respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]). Compared to baseline, unregulated mixed emotions evoked NA-PA system coactivation: increased negative and positive feelings, increased corrugator and zygomaticus reactivity, and increased RSA. The negative emotion goal, relative to no goal, caused reciprocal NA-PA system activation: increased negative and decreased positive feelings, increased corrugator and decreased zygomaticus reactivity, and shortened PEP. Conversely, the positive emotion goal elicited reciprocal PA-NA system activation: decreased negative and increased positive feelings, decreased corrugator and increased zygomaticus reactivity, and no difference in PEP or RSA. These findings suggest that reappraisal emphasizing either negative or positive aspects of mixed-emotion contexts can shift experience and expression in the desired direction. We demonstrate that the 3D-ESM effectively predicts regulation effects across response domains.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/psyp.70153

  View details for PubMedID 41146415

• REGULATING MIXED EMOTIONS: THE ROLE OF EMOTION GOALS ON EXPERIENTIAL, EXPRESSIVE, AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES Kreibig, S., Jung, S., Samson, A., Gross, J. WILEY. 2025

  View details for Web of Science ID 001762813500017

• TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF MIXED EMOTIONS: COMPUTATIONAL MODELING REVEALS PREDOMINANT CONCURRENT PATTERNS OF EMG-DERIVED NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE AFFECTIVE ACTIVATION Jiang, Y., Samson, A., Gross, J., Kreibig, S. WILEY. 2025

  View details for Web of Science ID 001762813500177

• Profiles of beliefs about emotions in treatment-seeking adults: A person-centred approach using the emotion beliefs questionnaire. The British journal of clinical psychology Mazidi, M., Brett, J. D., Azizi, A., Moloodi, R., Shaban, M., Gross, J. J., Becerra, R. 2025

  Abstract

  OBJECTIVES: Maladaptive beliefs about emotions (e.g., believing emotions are uncontrollable or useless) are theorized to contribute to emotion regulation difficulties and psychological distress. Limited research has examined maladaptive emotion beliefs in clinical populations. This study investigated the psychometric properties and latent profiles of the Emotion Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ) in a clinical sample.METHODS: A total of 385 adults currently receiving psychotherapy participated in the study. The sample included inpatients (n=110) from a psychiatric hospital and outpatients (n=275) recruited through clinics and online in Iran. They completed the Emotion Beliefs Questionnaire alongside measures of emotion regulation difficulties (Perth Emotion Regulation Competency Inventory) and psychological distress (Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale-21).RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analyses supported a three-factor model distinguishing beliefs about emotional controllability and the usefulness of positive and negative emotions. The EBQ demonstrated strong internal consistency and convergent and incremental validity. Latent Profile Analysis identified six distinct profiles of emotion beliefs, which were differentially associated with emotion regulation difficulties and psychological distress. Notably, the two profiles characterized by the highest levels of maladaptive emotion beliefs had the highest levels of emotion regulation difficulties and psychological distress.CONCLUSIONS: These findings underscore the heterogeneity of emotion belief patterns in clinical populations and highlight the importance of assessing belief combinations rather than isolated dimensions, which can help with more personalized therapeutic interventions. This study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of emotion beliefs in psychopathology and supports the use of the EBQ as a psychometrically sound tool with clinical samples.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/bjc.70014

  View details for PubMedID 40999600

• Author Correction: Homophily and acrophily as drivers of political segregation. Nature human behaviour Goldenberg, A., Abruzzo, J. M., Huang, Z., Schöne, J., Bailey, D., Willer, R., Halperin, E., Gross, J. J. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41562-025-02300-8

  View details for PubMedID 40935912

• Older and wiser? The neural correlates of worry induction and reappraisal in older adults. Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Karim, H. T., Gross, J. J., Mennin, D., Gerlach, A., Tudorascu, D. L., Butters, M. A., Ladouceur, C., Andreescu, C. 2025

  Abstract

  Severe worry is a transdiagnostic, highly prevalent symptom, difficult to treat and associated with significant morbidity in late life. Understanding the neural correlates of worry induction and reappraisal in older adults is key to developing novel treatments. We recruited 124 older adults ( ≥ 50 years old) with varying worry severity and clinical comorbidity (27% generalized anxiety disorder, 23% depressive disorders). Participants completed a naturalistic worry induction and reappraisal task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and they rated worry severity after each condition. We compared conditions using voxel-wise paired t-tests and conducted k-means clustering on regional activation to identify groups. We predicted the clinical features of cluster groupings using elastic net regression. Worry induction activated regions in default mode network, executive control network, anterior salience network, visual cortex, and subcortical regions (including basal ganglia and thalamus). Reappraisal was characterized by a broader activation of the cingulate and prefrontal cortex. Activity during worry induction clustered into a largely hyperactive compared to a largely hypoactive group. We accurately predicted clusters using elastic net regression and found the hypoactive group exhibited higher reflection, lower in-scanner worry, and greater cumulative illness compared to hyperactive group. We expand our previous work on neural correlates of worry induction and reappraisal, and we identify two novel neuro-endophenotypes: one with neural hyperactivation and high acute worry and another with relatively lower worry, higher reflection and neural hypoactivation. These results identify potential target networks in chronic severe worriers that may be amenable to neuromodulation. "By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest." -Confucius.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41386-025-02193-1

  View details for PubMedID 40921787

  View details for PubMedCentralID 5593792

• Characterizing the Nature of Alexithymia in Autistic Adults: Validation of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire AUTISM IN ADULTHOOD Brett, J. D., Jarvers, I., Uljarevic, M., Whitehouse, A., Gross, J. J., Samson, A. C., Preece, D. A. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1177/25739581251371420

  View details for Web of Science ID 001561968700001

• Assessing difficulties in regulating negative and positive emotions: The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Expanded (DERS-X). Psychological assessment Zhang, D., Liu, S., Lian, Y., Gu, H., Liu, Z., Mi, G., Zhang, M., Gross, J. J., Wu, X. 2025

  Abstract

  Negative and positive emotion regulation are important to psychological well-being. However, most individual-difference measures of emotion regulation focus primarily or exclusively on negative emotion regulation. In the present research, we sought to expand the widely used Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) by including items assessing positive as well as negative emotion regulation. In Studies 1 and 2, we evaluated the new DERS-Expanded (DERS-X) with Chinese student and clinical samples. Findings demonstrate the DERS-X's robust factor structure, high internal consistency, good test-retest reliability of the test scores, and excellent convergent, discriminant, incremental, and predictive validity of the test score interpretations. The DERS-X consists of 11 first-order factors, where the six negative scales (Inattention, Unclarity, Nonacceptance, Ineffectiveness, Disinhibition, Disruption) and the five positive scales (Inattention, Nonacceptance, Ineffectiveness, Disinhibition, Disruption) contribute to two second-order factors: positive emotion dysregulation and negative emotion dysregulation. Additionally, the scores from the positive and negative emotion dysregulation scales can be combined to yield a total emotion dysregulation score. In Study 3, measurement invariance testing indicates the comparability of scores across genders but cautions against direct comparisons between clinical and student populations. This study establishes a link between DERS-X scores and depression and anxiety, highlighting its clinical implications as well as its potential for informing interventions. We conclude that the 33-item DERS-X may be a useful tool for assessing negative and positive emotion dysregulation in diverse settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/pas0001415

  View details for PubMedID 40892570

• The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Short Form (ERQ-S): Psychometric properties in a clinical sample. Journal of affective disorders Heekerens, J. B., Preece, D. A., Gross, J. J. 2025: 120093

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation is essential for healthy affective functioning. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross and John, 2003) has been the most widely used measure of emotion regulation, and recently a 6-item short form was introduced for time-limited settings, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Short Form (ERQ-S; Preece et al., 2023). It is designed to measure habitual use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. We evaluated the psychometric performance of the ERQ-S in a clinical sample.531 individuals with various mental health diagnoses completed the ERQ-S and other psychometric measures of clinically-relevant constructs.The ERQ-S demonstrated a theoretically congruent two-factor structure, good internal consistency, and expected patterns of associations with other constructs, supporting its validity.Our data suggest the ERQ-S exhibits strong psychometric properties in clinical populations. Its brevity makes it a practical tool for emotion regulation assessments in time-limited settings.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2025.120093

  View details for PubMedID 40846163

• Challenges and methodological considerations for research on the role of sleep stage transitions in altered affective processing. Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society Ten Brink, M., Yu, H., Zhang, J. X., Kreibig, S. D., Manber, R., Goldstein-Piekarski, A., Gross, J. J. 2025; 6 (3): zpaf052

  Abstract

  Frequent sleep stage transitions and abnormal sleep stage distribution are features of sleep disorders, including insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy, and have been associated with altered affective processing, including mood disorders. Research on the role of sleep stage transitions is nascent, and mixed operationalizations abound. In this comparative methods study, we overview the ways that prior research has operationalized sleep stage transitions, propose guidelines for four types of metrics, and compare the relevance of each for different analytic purposes. We then discuss three definitional and methodological "hard problems" for research on sleep stage transitions: bias due to scoring discrepancies, low temporal resolution, and opposing definitions of transitions. We discuss the pros and cons of several solutions that use machine learning (ML) scoring algorithms, with examples derived from the Stanford Sleep and Affect polysomnography dataset scored with validated ML algorithms (Stanford STAGES, U-Sleep, and YASA), and conclude with a call to return to descriptive physiological studies to shift the current framing of sleep stage transitions away from categorical state changes. This intends to lay the foundation for further insight into the role of sleep stage transitions in affective function and in clinical dysfunction.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/sleepadvances/zpaf052

  View details for PubMedID 41030541

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12478028

• A Work-Based, Fully Remote, and Peer-Supported Exercise Snack Behavior Change Intervention (MOV'D): Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial. JMIR research protocols Monteiro, A., Moore, J., Aikens, R., Duckworth, A., Gross, J. J., Schwartz, D., Baiocchi, M., Prochaska, J. J., Oppezzo, M. 2025; 14: e64455

  Abstract

  Prolonged sitting and lack of moderate to vigorous physical activity represent 2 independent risk factors for myriad poor health outcomes. The negative effects of prolonged sitting can be ameliorated with as little as 2 minutes of large muscle movement. Further, cardiovascular benefits from moderate to vigorous activity can be accumulated throughout the day in short bouts rather than require continuous long bouts. Taken together, "exercise snacks" provide a way to both interrupt prolonged sitting and accumulate moderate to vigorous physical activity during a sedentary workday.This protocol describes the feasibility and acceptability pilot of MOV'D (Move Often Every Day)-a fully remote, peer-supported behavioral intervention to interrupt prolonged bouts of sitting at work with exercise snack breaks.The MOV'D pilot study aims to recruit approximately 60-80 participants who work full-time in a sedentary occupation. Participants were randomly assigned either to the Fitbit Control or the MOV'D experimental group in a randomized 2-group design. The pilot study had a 4-week active intervention and a 4-week follow-up with assessments at baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks. The Fitbit control group received a Fitbit to self-monitor their physical activity prior to receiving the intervention material at the end of the study. In addition to Fitbit, the MOV'D intervention features included a private social support group chat seeded with daily experimenter prompts, weekly 5-minute behavior change technique videos, daily self-monitoring, and daily exercise snack suggestion videos.Study enrollment began in March 2022 and concluded in June 2022. Data collection concluded in October 2022. We enrolled 70 participants, and 68 participants completed all the study assessments.This protocol integrates findings from education, behavioral sciences, sedentary behavior, and exercise physiology to promote building an exercise snack habit at work: taking short intense exercise breaks to break up prolonged sitting. The results from this pilot study will show the feasibility and acceptability of the MOV'D intervention.ClinicalTrials.gov CT05360485; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05360485.

  View details for DOI 10.2196/64455

  View details for PubMedID 40773742

• Trait emotion regulation similarity and well-being. Scientific reports Eldesouky, L., Gross, J. J., English, T. 2025; 15 (1): 28820

  Abstract

  The ways people manage their emotions (emotion regulation; ER) have been found to affect their own well-being and the well-being of others. In the present research, we extended prior work by examining whether similarity between people's ER habits is also associated with well-being. The study consisted of 254 American romantic couples (N = 508) who completed self-report measures of habitual, or trait-level, use of a wide range of ER strategies (when regulating positive emotions and negative emotions), as well as psychological well-being and relational well-being indices. Contrary to our hypothesis, similarity in trait ER was not associated with any well-being index. This was the case across all ER strategies and the results converged across analyses that used three different metrics of similarity (difference scores, profile correlations, actor x partner interaction). The results suggest that although one's own ER, and their romantic partner's ER, may be tied to well-being, similarity between romantic partners' ER habits may not matter as much.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41598-025-08245-2

  View details for PubMedID 40770279

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12328644

• A scalable mental health intervention for depressive symptoms: evidence from a randomized controlled trial and large-scale real-world studies. NPJ digital medicine Xu, J., Han, Z. R., Lv, X., Chen, L., Mao, N., Gao, M. M., Zhang, H., Hu, Y., Qin, S., Gross, J. J., Zhang, Z. 2025; 8 (1): 491

  Abstract

  Depressive symptoms pose a serious global threat to well-being, highlighting the need for scalable mental health interventions. E-mental health interventions offer promising population-level solutions, yet few are grounded in theory or tested on large samples. This study utilizes an innovative e-mental health intervention based on the Extended Process Model of Emotion Regulation and examines the effectiveness of this theory-based intervention across a randomized controlled trial (RCT, N=187; Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR2400081964; registration date: March 18th, 2024) and two extensive real-world studies (Nstudy 2=11,554, Nstudy 3=44,018) conducted with adults in China. The RCT confirmed the efficacy of this intervention, and both of the real-world e-mental health intervention studies showed a decrease in depressive symptoms (35-36%) and an increase in well-being (14-16%) over 21 days. These findings highlight the potential of theory-based e-mental health interventions as scalable solutions for early depression intervention and prevention, offering substantial societal and economic advantages.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41746-025-01888-5

  View details for PubMedID 40750656

• Mindfulness, Heart Rate Variability and Reappraisal as Potential Moderators of Emotion Experience and Regulation Krygier, J., Heathers, J., Gross, J., Birney, D., Kemp, A. H., Abbott, M. ELSEVIER. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2025.112676

  View details for Web of Science ID 001543991800087

• How Alexithymia Increases Mental Health Symptoms in Adolescence: Longitudinal Evidence for the Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation AFFECTIVE SCIENCE Brett, J. D., Zarei, M., Preece, D. A., Becerra, R., Gross, J. J., Mazidi, M. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-025-00318-9

  View details for Web of Science ID 001524579200001

• Teachers' emotion regulation and related environmental, personal, instructional, and well-being factors: A meta-analysis (vol 26, pg 1651, 2023) SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF EDUCATION Wang, H., Buric, I., Chang, M., Gross, J. J. 2025; 28 (1)

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11218-025-10089-7

  View details for Web of Science ID 001527713300002

• Influence of a Vipassana (Mindfulness) Meditation Retreat on Wellbeing, Emotion Regulation and Heart Rate Variability Krygier, J., Heathers, J., Gross, J., Birney, D., Kemp, A. H., Abbott, M. ELSEVIER. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2025.113004

  View details for Web of Science ID 001543992900060

• Emotion beliefs and emotion regulation strategy use PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Johnston, T. E., Gross, J. J., Chen, W., Mcevoy, P., Becerra, R., Preece, D. A. 2025; 240

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.paid.2025.113066

  View details for Web of Science ID 001438230800001

• Are There Three Subtypes of Social Distancing? A Longitudinal Investigation of Physical Distancing, Social Contact Limitations, and Emotional Distancing EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY Wollast, R., Sadeghi-Bahmani, D., Schmitz, M., Bigot, A., Gross, J. J., Luminet, O. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1027/2512-8442/a000179

  View details for Web of Science ID 001506980400001

• Online Transdiagnostic Emotion Regulation Treatment for Adolescents With Mental Health Problems: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA network open Sjöblom, K., Frankenstein, K., Klintwall, L., Nilbrink, J., Zetterqvist, M., Hesser, H., Hedman-Lagerlöf, E., Gross, J. J., Hellner, C., Bellander, M., Bjureberg, J. 2025; 8 (6): e2514871

  Abstract

  Mental health problems are common during adolescence, but access to effective treatments is limited. Transdiagnostic treatments could address this treatment gap, but their feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness remain unknown.To test the feasibility and acceptability of an online emotion regulation treatment for adolescents with mental health problems and investigate the preliminary effects on clinical outcomes and the target mechanism, emotion regulation.This single-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted between October 16, 2022, and July 28, 2023, in a primary care setting in Sweden. Participants in the intention-to-treat analysis were adolescents aged 12 to 17 years with mental health problems and their parents.Participants were randomized 1:1 to 6 weeks of therapist-guided online transdiagnostic emotion regulation treatment or an active control condition consisting of 6 weeks of online supportive treatment.The primary outcomes were feasibility and acceptability measures, including consent rate, completion of assessments, adherence, credibility and expectancy ratings (Credibility/Expectancy Questionnaire), and treatment satisfaction (Client Satisfaction Questionnaire), immediately after treatment. Clinical outcomes, rated by blinded assessor, included global symptom severity and improvement, symptoms of depression and anxiety, global functioning, and emotion regulation.A total of 30 adolescents (mean [SD] age, 14.2 [1.48] years; 28 females [93%]) were randomized to experimental treatment (n = 15) or active control treatment (n = 15). The consent rate (30 of 37 eligible participants [81%]) and rate of assessment completion immediately after treatment (28 [93%]) were high. Adherence, credibility, expectancy, and satisfaction in both groups were adequate. Participation in the experimental condition, but not the control condition, was associated with large within-group reductions in symptom severity (effect size, 1.30; 95% CI, 0.73-1.86) and symptoms of anxiety and depression (Cohen d, 1.07; 95% CI, 0.37-1.84), improved global functioning (Cohen d, 1.26; 95% CI, 0.66-1.85), and reductions in maladaptive cognitive coping (Cohen d, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.52-1.70) immediately after treatment.In this randomized clinical trial, a brief online transdiagnostic emotion regulation treatment targeting adolescents with mental health problems was found to be feasible, acceptable, and potentially efficacious in primary care and may increase treatment outreach and accessibility for this population.ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05032547.

  View details for DOI 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.14871

  View details for PubMedID 40498482

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12159777

• The brain bases of emotion generation and emotion regulation. Trends in cognitive sciences Zhang, J. X., Bo, K., Wager, T. D., Gross, J. J. 2025

  Abstract

  Emotion generation and emotion regulation are widely seen as functionally distinct. This distinction has inspired efforts to define separable brain bases of each, with emotion generation thought to involve mainly subcortical structures such as the amygdala, and emotion regulation thought to involve mainly cortical regions such as fronto-parietal cortices. However, emerging findings challenge strong neural separability accounts, revealing substantial overlap between brain systems underlying emotion generation and emotion regulation. In this opinion article we review evidence that supports and challenges neural separability. Based on this evidence, we propose an updated neural account using a valuation-systems perspective that incorporates both common and distinct brain bases of emotion generation and emotion regulation. Finally, we discuss implications for next-generation study designs, methods, and clinical interventions.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.tics.2025.04.013

  View details for PubMedID 40447491

• Emotion regulation profiles and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Journal of affective disorders Reichler, A. G., Preece, D. A., Gross, J. J. 2025: 119548

  Abstract

  Symptoms of depression and anxiety are pervasive and highly comorbid, prompting efforts to identify underlying transdiagnostic processes. Emotion regulation (ER) may be one such process; however, most research to date has focused on a limited set of ER strategies. Our aim in this study was to comprehensively examine the ER profiles characterizing a range of depression and anxiety symptoms. Our sample (N = 444) completed a battery of psychometric questionnaires. We assessed ER strategy use across all five stages of the process model of emotion regulation, along with symptoms of depression, stress, panic-related anxiety, generalized anxiety/worry, social anxiety, and health anxiety. Regression analyses showed that ER patterns explained significant variance (8.9 % to 33.1 %) in each symptom category. Among the strongest unique predictors were avoiding unpleasant situations and expressive suppression, both associated with greater symptoms, and cognitive reappraisal (considering benefits), which predicted lesser symptoms. A latent profile analysis identified seven profiles based on symptom patterns and ER use. Three profiles exhibited elevated symptoms but varied widely in ER use. The most symptomatic profile predominantly relied on disengagement-oriented strategies, while other elevated profiles displayed either uniformly high or low ER strategy use. Our findings highlight the transdiagnostic relevance of a wide range of ER strategies, revealing distinct ER patterns even among individuals with similar symptom presentations. They aid conceptual understanding of the link between ER and depression and anxiety symptoms and offer promising assessment and treatment targets.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2025.119548

  View details for PubMedID 40447153

• Insomnia Intervention Associated with Improvements in Affective Brain Function, Mood, and Sleep in Depression Krause, A., Osorno, R., Solomon, N., Ahmadi, M., Lam, P., Magana, O., Blozyte, E., Harris, L., Gross, J., Ma, J., Lazzeroni, L., Yesavage, J., Manber, R., Saletin, J., Goldstein-Piekarski, A. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2025: A521

  View details for DOI 10.1093/sleep/zsaf090.1207

  View details for Web of Science ID 001490501500013

• PERCEIVED EMOTION REGULATION SUCCESS IS ASSOCIATED WITH CARDIOMETABOLIC RISK FACTORS IN MIDLIFE ADULTS Eckerle, W., Gross, J., Gianaros, P., Kamarck, T. LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS. 2025: A34

  View details for Web of Science ID 001595171200072

• Insomnia Intervention is Associated With Changing Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Depression Wang, Z., Krause, A. J., Osorno, R., Solomon, N., Bernert, R., Williams, L., Gross, J., Ma, J., Lazzeroni, L., Yesavage, J., Manber, R., Goldstein-Piekarski, A. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2025

  View details for Web of Science ID 001491712900069

• Insomnia Intervention Associated With Improvements in Affective Brain Function and Mood in Depression Krause, A., Osorno, R., Solomon, N., Ahmadi, M., Lam, P., Magana, O., Blozyte, E., Cirelli, A., Harris, L., Izabel, S., Bernert, R., Williams, L., Gross, J., Ma, J., Lazzeroni, L., Yesavage, J., Manber, R., Saletin, J., Goldstein-Piekarski, A. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2025

  View details for Web of Science ID 001500622200108

• The desegregation of neural networks during worry induction in late-life-an effective connectivity analysis. Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging Gerlach, A. R., Karim, H. T., Kahru, K., Tudorascu, D. L., Gross, J. J., Butters, M. A., Andreescu, C. 2025

  Abstract

  Severe worry is a core component of anxiety and depressive disorders and is independently associated with significant morbidity and mortality. However, the neural basis of worry is poorly understood. We investigated effective connectivity (EC) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of a naturalistic worry induction and reappraisal task in late-life.112 participants age >50 years with varying worry severity completed a personalized, in-scanner worry induction and reappraisal task. We calculated voxel-wise EC in neutral, worry, and reappraisal conditions with generalized psychophysiological interactions using seeds in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), dorsal ACC, and left and right amygdalae, and used paired t-tests to compare conditions. We assessed clusters for association with in-scanner worry severity using linear regression.During the worry condition, EC increased between the subgenual ACC and the default mode network (DMN) and major hubs of the executive control and salience networks. Left amygdala EC to the posterior cingulate also increased during worry, and dorsal ACC connectivity to primary sensory and motor regions decreased. Reappraisal reduced subgenual and dorsal ACC EC observed during worry and the EC between the left amygdala and regions of the dorsal attention network. Broadly, left amygdala EC was robustly associated with in-scanner worry severity.Worry induction robustly engaged the DMN and increased connectivity with other high-order associative networks, potentially subsuming cortical resources. Reappraisal reduced these connectivities and disengaged the amygdala from areas associated with top-down attention. These findings could inform targets for neuromodulatory treatment of severe worry in older adults.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.04.010

  View details for PubMedID 40288751

• Micro-narratives: A Scalable Method for Eliciting Stories of People's Lived Experience. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. CHI Conference Skeggs, A., Mehta, A., Yap, V., Ibrahim, S. B., Rhodes, C., Gross, J. J., Munson, S. A., Klasnja, P., Orben, A., Slovak, P. 2025; 2025

  Abstract

  Engaging with people's lived experiences is foundational for HCI research and design. This paper introduces a novel narrative elicitation method to empower people to easily articulate 'micro-narratives' emerging from their lived experiences, irrespective of their writing ability or background. Our approach aims to enable at-scale collection of rich, co-created datasets that highlight target populations' voices with minimal participant burden, while precisely addressing specific research questions. To pilot this idea, and test its feasibility, we: (i) developed an AI-powered prototype, which leverages LLM-chaining to scaffold the cognitive steps necessary for users' narrative articulation; (ii) deployed it in three mixed-methods studies involving over 380 users; and (iii) consulted with established academics as well as C-level staff at (inter)national non-profits to map out potential applications. Both qualitative and quantitative findings show the acceptability and promise of the micro-narrative method, while also identifying the ethical and safeguarding considerations necessary for any at-scale deployments.

  View details for DOI 10.1145/3706598.3713999

  View details for PubMedID 40671869

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12265993

• Event-related potentials, heart period, and brain-heart responses during a threat of shock oddball task: Replicability and 6-month-reliability. Biological psychology Gerpheide, K., Bierwirth, P., Unterschemmann, S. L., Panitz, C., Gross, J. J., Mueller, E. M. 2025: 109040

  Abstract

  In a previous study (Gerpheide et al., 2024), we observed that unpredictable threat modulated event-related potentials (N1 and P2, but not P3) and heart responses during an oddball task as well as the communication between brain and heart as measured with cardio-electroencephalographic covariance tracing (CECT). Individual differences in brain, heart, and brain-heart responses to threat may provide biological markers for threat-related personality traits and psychopathology. However, to serve as psychophysiological markers the observed phenomena need to be replicable and individual differences in these phenomena must be reliably assessed and be temporally stable. To address this issue, N = 60 participants of our previous study completed the same auditory oddball paradigm with threat of shock vs. safe contexts 6 months after the initial study. With regard to replicability, all experimental effects that were observed during the first time were also significant 6-months later. With regard to reliability, amplitudes of original ERP waveforms, evoked HP changes and one CECT component showed substantial split-half and test-retest correlations. Moreover, difference scores (threat minus safe) for the P2 and N1 also showed substantial split-half (.55

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109040

  View details for PubMedID 40274062

• Bridging supportive communication and interpersonal emotion regulation: An integrative review JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS Nozaki, Y., Gross, J. J. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1177/02654075251335816

  View details for Web of Science ID 001472738800001

• Eating disorder symptoms and profiles of emotion regulation strategy use. Journal of affective disorders Salias, C., Gross, J. J., Petrova, K., Forbush, K. T., Preece, D. A. 2025

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation difficulties are widely thought to be a transdiagnostic risk factor for eating disorders. However, there is limited data on the precise patterns of emotion regulation strategy use that characterize eating-disorder symptoms. Our aim was to comprehensively examine the relationship between emotion-regulation strategy use and eating-disorder symptoms, identifying profiles of strategy use that might characterize these symptoms.University students and general community members (N = 665, Mage = 23.72, 77.3 % female) completed psychometric measures assessing the use of 12 emotion regulation strategies as well as eating disorder symptoms.Regression analyses revealed that emotion regulation patterns accounted for a significant 16.2 % of the variance in overall eating disorder symptoms (p < .001). Regarding specific eating disorder facets, emotion regulation accounted for 8.9 % of the variance in eating restraint, 16.8 % in weight concerns, 16.8 % in shape concerns, and 15.2 % in eating concerns. A latent profile analysis extracted eight profiles with different combinations of emotion regulation strategy use and eating disorder symptoms. Profiles associated with elevated eating-disorder symptoms were generally characterized by increased use of maladaptive, and decreased use of adaptive, strategies. Particularly important were patterns of behavioral avoidance and cognitive emotion-heightening.Our study used cross-sectional data from a single Western country. Future longitudinal work in clinical samples would be beneficial.Emotion regulation strategy use appears to be an important factor for understanding eating disorder symptoms. Targeting specific patterns of emotion regulation strategy use may be beneficial in the assessment and treatment of eating disorder symptoms.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2025.03.050

  View details for PubMedID 40088985

• Alexithymia and Emotion Regulation: the Role of Emotion Intensity. Affective science Mehta, A., Moeck, E., Preece, D. A., Koval, P., Gross, J. J. 2025; 6 (1): 77-93

  Abstract

  When faced with negative emotions, the higher people are in alexithymia, the more likely they are to disengage from their emotions rather than engage with their emotions in an adaptive way. This emotion regulation profile is thought to explain links between alexithymia and negative life outcomes. What is not yet clear, however, is why alexithymia is linked to this emotion regulation profile. One possible explanation is greater emotional intensity. After all, initial evidence suggests that alexithymia is related to greater negative emotional intensity, and it is widely thought that greater negative intensity predicts the use of disengagement over engagement emotion regulation strategies. To address this issue, we conducted two intensive longitudinal studies (N = 273) to test three propositions, namely that in daily life (1) alexithymia is related to greater negative emotional intensity, (2) alexithymia is related to using more disengagement and less engagement emotion regulation, and (3) negative emotional intensity is a mediator explaining the link from alexithymia to using more disengagement and less engagement emotion regulation. In Study 1, we employed a daily diary design where participants reported on a negative event from their day. In Study 2, we used an intensive experience sampling design (nine surveys per day over seven days) to examine whether negative emotion intensity mediated the relationship from alexithymia to subsequent emotion regulation orientation. As expected, we found in both studies that greater negative intensity mediated the relationship between total alexithymia and more disengagement. However, only the difficulty identifying and describing emotion facets, but not externally oriented thinking, were related to negative emotion and disengagement. Contrary to expectation, total alexithymia was unrelated to engagement in both studies. Though in Study 2 alone, we found that externally oriented thinking predicted less reappraisal.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-024-00278-6

  View details for PubMedID 40094046

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11904038

• Emotion regulation, fast or slow: A computational model of strategy choice. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Petter, J., Mehta, A., Petrova, K., Kindt, M., Sheppes, G., Haslbeck, J. M., Gross, J. J. 2025

  Abstract

  Different emotion regulation strategies have very different consequences. This observation has inspired a growing body of work seeking to identify the factors that predict emotion regulation strategy choice. To explain these findings, several explanatory theories have been proposed. As with most theories in the field of affective science, they are formulated in natural language. Translating these theories into the language of mathematics may bring more clarity to the field and help generate new, testable hypotheses. The present article aimed to formulate more precise theoretical predictions by translating verbal theories about the emotion regulation selection process into formal mathematical language. Specifically, we focused on formally defining a theory that might help to explain the robust finding that people prefer distraction over reappraisal at high emotional intensities but prefer reappraisal over distraction at low emotional intensities. Through the process of theory formalization, we identified hidden assumptions and unanswered research questions, which resulted in a computational model that predicts results that match empirical work. This work demonstrates how theory formalization can accelerate theoretical and empirical progress in affective science. Better explanatory theories can then inform interventions designed to enhance the selection of adaptive regulation strategies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001471

  View details for PubMedID 39964535

• Emotion regulation contagion drives reduction in negative intergroup emotions. Nature communications Pinus, M., Cao, Y., Halperin, E., Coman, A., Gross, J. J., Goldenberg, A. 2025; 16 (1): 1387

  Abstract

  When emotions occurin groups, they sometimesimpact groupbehavior in undesired ways.Reducing group's emotions with emotion regulation interventions can be helpful, butmay also be a challenge, because treating every person in the group is often infeasible. One solution is to treat a fraction of a group, and then hope the effect of the treatment will spread to other group members. To test the viability of this option, we designed an experiment to examine the impact of emotion regulation applied to different proportions of groups of six Israeli participants (N=2659) who shared real-time responses to negative emotions-inducing political stimuli. Before interacting with each other, we treated different proportions of each group with an emotion regulation intervention called cognitive reappraisal, which involved teaching participants to reinterpret events to reduce negative emotions. The results showed that as the proportion of participants who received the treatment increased, there was a reduction in emotions within the non-treated participants. Furthermore, targeting above 40% of participants resulted in reliable group emotional change. Using semantic projection analysis, we validated the contagion of reappraisal language. These findings shed light on the conditions that enable collective emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-56538-x

  View details for PubMedID 39910059

• Temporal dynamics of negative emotion regulation: Insights from facial electromyography. Psychophysiology Kreibig, S. D., Gross, J. J. 2025; 62 (2): e14732

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation (ER) is a multifaceted process that unfolds over time. This study investigated the temporal dynamics of ER on negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA). We examined whether NA and PA changes occur sequentially or concurrently. After participants had been exposed to unpleasant pictures for 8000 ms, they received instructions to either continue viewing the picture (no regulation) or reappraise it with a neutral meaning (neutralize goal) or positive meaning (transform goal) for another 8000 ms. We obtained corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major electromyography (EMG) as objective measures of NA and PA. For the no-regulation condition, upon instruction onset, we observed maintained high corrugator and low zygomaticus EMG reactivity, indicating sustained NA activation. Compared to no-regulation, for the neutralize goal, we observed corrugator reduction starting at 1500 ms after instruction onset and no change in zygomaticus, indicating decreased NA and generation of neutral emotion. For the transform goal, we observed corrugator reduction starting at 1000 ms and zygomaticus increase at 3500 ms after instruction onset, indicating decreased NA and increased PA and generation of positive emotion. Model-fitting analyses showed that the best-fitting trajectory for the transform goal's pattern of change was initial NA reduction that turns into PA increase at 2000 ms. These distinct temporal patterns highlight the possibility of effecting one-dimensional NA change with the neutralize goal and sequential two-dimensional change (first decreasing NA, then increasing PA) with the transform goal. This research sheds light on the time course of emotional change generated by different emotion goals.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/psyp.14732

  View details for PubMedID 39905618

• When bigger is better: size of strategy repertoire predicts goal attainment MOTIVATION AND EMOTION Werner, K. M., Wu, R., Gross, J. J., Friese, M. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11031-024-10103-z

  View details for Web of Science ID 001395426800001

• The competitive esports physiological, affective, and video dataset. Scientific data Behnke, M., Krzyżaniak, W., Nowak, J., Kupiński, S., Chwiłkowska, P., Jęśko Białek, S., Kłoskowski, M., Maciejewski, P., Szymański, K., Lakens, D., Petrova, K., Jamieson, J. P., Gross, J. J. 2025; 12 (1): 56

  Abstract

  Esports refers to competitive video gaming where individuals compete against each other in organized tournaments for prize money. Here, we present the Competitive Esports Physiological, Affective, and Video (CEPAV) dataset, in which 300 male Counter Strike: Global Offensive gamers participated in a study aimed at optimizing affect during esports tournament1. The CEPAV dataset includes (1) physiological data, capturing the player's cardiovascular responses from before, during, and after over 3000 CS: GO matches; (2) self-reported affective data, detailing the affective states experienced before gameplay; and (3) video data, providing a visual record of 552 in-laboratory gaming sessions. We also collected (affect-related) individual differences measures (e.g., well-being, ill-being) across six weeks in three waves. The self-reported affective data also includes gamers' natural language descriptions of gaming affective situations. The CEPAV dataset provides a comprehensive resource for researchers and analysts seeking to understand the complex interplay of physiological, affective, and behavioral factors in esports and other performance contexts.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41597-024-04364-z

  View details for PubMedID 39799161

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11724898

• Designing Daily Supports for Parent-Child Conversations about Emotion: Ecological Momentary Assessment as Intervention Ibrahim, S. B., Klasnja, P., Gross, J. J., Slovak, P., ACM ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1145/3706598.3713848

  View details for Web of Science ID 001501406100345

• Emotional Reactivity and Regulation Relate to Surgical Treatment Decision Making Among Newly Diagnosed Women With Breast Cancer. Cancer medicine Benedict, C., Nouriani, B., Neri, E., Miller, K., Kurian, A. W., Gross, J. J., Spiegel, D. 2024; 13 (23): e70357

  Abstract

  Despite bilateral mastectomy (BLM) for early-stage breast cancer (BC) showing no survival benefit and increased risk compared to breast conserving surgery, some patients still choose this treatment. This study examined whether emotion reactivity and regulation influence treatment decision making among newly diagnosed women with breast cancer.Cross-sectional survey data were analyzed as part of a larger study. Measures included the Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy (CPM) survey, PROMIS Anxiety scale, and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) Cognitive Reappraisal and Emotional Suppression subscales. Primary analysis included a logistic regression model predicting treatment choice (BLM vs. non-BLM).Participants (N = 137) with unilateral BC (Stages 0-III) were divided between BLM (n = 66) versus breast conserving surgery (i.e., non-BLM, n = 71) treatment groups. Compared to the non-BLM group, the BLM group was younger, more likely to be partnered, and had a higher household income. Women with high levels of BC-specific worry were 3.6 times more likely to choose BLM compared to women with low levels of worry (OR = 3.09, 95% CI: 1.07-0.8.93). Those who used cognitive reappraisal were 10% less likely to choose BLM compared to women who did not use cognitive reappraisal (OR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.82-0.99). There were no group differences in levels of generalized anxiety (OR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.87-0.99) or emotional suppression (OR = 1.02, 95% CI: 0.90-1.16).Findings suggest the choice of BLM may be due, in part, to negative emotional experiences after a BC diagnosis and lesser use of reappraisal to reframe cancer-related fears. These may be important targets of intervention to support women making BC treatment decisions.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/cam4.70357

  View details for PubMedID 39653041

• The Process Model of Emotion Regulation Scale (PMERQ) Psychometric Properties and Validity of a German Version EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT Heekerens, J. B., Olderbak, S., Gross, J. J., Wingenfeld, K., Roepke, S. 2024

  View details for DOI 10.1027/1015-5759/a000863

  View details for Web of Science ID 001349472500001

• Defining alexithymia: The clinical relevance of cognitive behavioral vs psychoanalytic conceptualizations PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Preece, D. A., Gross, J. J. 2024; 228

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.paid.2024.112732

  View details for Web of Science ID 001247175300001

• BEYOND THE UNPREDICTABLE: EXPLORING THE ROBUSTNESS AND 6-MONTH-STABILITY OF EEG, HEART PERIOD AND BRAIN-HEART RESPONSES TO UNPREDICTABLE THREAT Gerpheide, K., Bierwirth, P., Panitz, C., Unterschemmann, S., Gross, J., Mueller, E. WILEY. 2024: S254

  View details for Web of Science ID 001397577000568

• WANT TO FEEL MORE POSITIVE? SELF-REPORT, EEG, AND EMG MEASURES OF REAPPRAISAL FOR INCREASING POSITIVE AFFECT Krajuskina, M., Naar, R., Uusberg, A., Gross, J., Uusberg, H. WILEY. 2024: S9-S10

  View details for Web of Science ID 001397577000015

• TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF EMOTION REGULATION: INSIGHTS FROM FACIAL ELECTROMYOGRAPHY Kreibig, S., Gross, J. WILEY. 2024: S9

  View details for Web of Science ID 001397577000014

• Attraction to politically extreme users on social media. PNAS nexus Zimmerman, F., Bailey, D. D., Muric, G., Ferrara, E., Schöne, J., Willer, R., Halperin, E., Navajas, J., Gross, J. J., Goldenberg, A. 2024; 3 (10): pgae395

  Abstract

  Political segregation is a pressing issue, particularly on social media platforms. Recent research suggests that one driver of segregation is political acrophily-people's preference for others in their political group who have more extreme (rather than more moderate) political views. However, acrophily has been found in lab experiments, where people choose to interact with others based on little information. Furthermore, these studies have not examined whether acrophily is associated with animosity toward one's political out-group. Using a combination of a survey experiment (N = 388) and an analysis of the retweet network on Twitter (3,898,327 unique ties), we find evidence for users' tendency for acrophily in the context of social media. We observe that this tendency is more pronounced among conservatives on Twitter and that acrophily is associated with higher levels of out-group animosity. These findings provide important in- and out-of-the-lab evidence for understanding acrophily on social media.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae395

  View details for PubMedID 39411093

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11475624

• Maritime hinterlands and interregional interaction at Late Antique Kekova Adası, Türkiye JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE-REPORTS Gross, J., Leidwanger, J., Ozdas, H., Kizildag, N. 2024; 58

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104709

  View details for Web of Science ID 001294487200001

• Alexithymia and Personality Pathology. Journal of personality disorders Winterstein, S., Mazzucchelli, T. G., Gross, J. J., Krueger, R. F., Preece, D. A. 2024; 38 (5): 435-454

  Abstract

  Alexithymia is an important transdiagnostic risk factor for many psychopathologies. To explore its relevance for personality disorders, we examined the association between alexithymia and maladaptive personality traits, as conceptualized within the DSM-5-TR Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (i.e., negative affect, detachment, antagonism, disinhibition, psychoticism). Participants (N = 651) completed a battery of psychometric questionnaires. Regressions revealed that alexithymia facets accounted for a significant 15% of the variance in negative affect, 22% in detachment, 11% in antagonism, 18% in disinhibition, and 25% in psychoticism. Latent profile analysis showed that profiles with more severe personality pathology were generally characterized by more severe levels of alexithymia. Overall, our data highlight that alexithymia is important in understanding personality dysfunction. All facets of alexithymia, across both positive and negative emotions, are linked to each maladaptive personality trait. The assessment and targeting of alexithymia may therefore be of high relevance for the treatment of personality pathology.

  View details for DOI 10.1521/pedi.2024.38.5.435

  View details for PubMedID 39432262

• Alexithymia and Emotion Regulation: the Role of Emotion Intensity AFFECTIVE SCIENCE Mehta, A., Moeck, E., Preece, D. A., Koval, P., Gross, J. J. 2024

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-024-00278-6

  View details for Web of Science ID 001320096500004

• Improving emotion regulation ability after brain injury: A systematic review of targeted interventions. Neuropsychological rehabilitation Pepping, N., Weinborn, M., Pestell, C. F., Preece, D. A., Malkani, M., Moore, S., Gross, J. J., Becerra, R. 2024: 1-41

  Abstract

  Emotion dysregulation is a common sequela after a brain injury, and it can have serious negative consequences for individuals, families, and the community. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify and evaluate interventions designed to improve emotion regulation ability in adults with acquired brain injury. Studies were identified on ProQuest, PsycInfo, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Web of Science; last searched on 3 August 2023. A review protocol was prospectively registered on PROSPERO (CRD42020218175). Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk-of-Bias tool (version 2). Sixteen studies were included in the review comprising one case series, five pilot studies, four pre-post studies, and six RCTs. There was a total of 652 participants across studies. Fourteen of the sixteen studies reported statistically significant improvements in at least one emotional functioning variable. Ten studies reported medium-large effect sizes. Limitations included inconsistency in the measurement, reporting of intervention outcomes and processes. Future directions are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/09602011.2024.2398029

  View details for PubMedID 39230344

• Emotion Regulation Frequency and Self-Efficacy: Differential Associations with Affective Symptoms. Behavior therapy Ramos-Cejudo, J., Salguero, J. M., Garcia-Sancho, E., Gross, J. J. 2024; 55 (5): 1004-1014

  Abstract

  Successful emotion regulation is a critical component of mental health, and difficulties with emotion regulation have been associated with a wide range of disorders, including anxiety and depressive disorders. However, although much is known about commonly used forms of emotion regulation such as cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, the relative contribution of two important facets of emotion regulation-frequency and self-efficacy-is not yet clearly established. To address this issue, we conducted two studies. Study 1 employed a community sample (cross-sectional N = 431; 4- to 5-month longitudinal N = 182). Study 2 employed a clinical sample (cross-sectional N = 132). Both assessed emotion regulation frequency and self-efficacy, as well as affective outcomes (anxiety and depressive symptoms). Findings indicated cognitive reappraisal self-efficacy appears to be a relevant variable understanding negative affect outcomes, cross-sectionally, longitudinally and in the clinical sample. Our findings support the process model of emotion regulation in affective symptomatology. Implications for theory and treatment are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.beth.2024.02.009

  View details for PubMedID 39174261

• Uncertainty moderates the emotional consequences of reappraisal, social sharing, and rumination in daily life. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Moeck, E. K., Greenaway, K. H., Bianchi, V., Gross, J. J., Koval, P., Kalokerinos, E. K. 2024

  Abstract

  People must often wait for important but uncertain outcomes, like medical results or job offers. During such uncertain waiting periods, there is uncertainty around an outcome that people have minimal control over. Uncertainty makes these periods emotionally challenging, raising the possibility that emotion regulation strategies may have different effects while people wait for an uncertain outcome versus after they learn that outcome. To test this possibility, we conducted secondary analyses of an experience sampling study following 101 Belgian University students for 9 days as they waited for (uncertain period), and then received (certain period), consequential exam grades. Across 8,275 observations, we tested the effects of six emotion regulation strategies on positive and negative emotions about anticipated, and then actual, grades. Regardless of uncertainty, acceptance was consistently beneficial for short-term emotional well-being, and expressive suppression was consistently detrimental. However, the consequences of rumination, social sharing, and reappraisal differed when the outcome was uncertain versus certain. Rumination was more detrimental to short-term emotional well-being during the uncertain than certain period, while social sharing and reappraisal were detrimental in the uncertain period but beneficial in the certain period. These findings suggest uncertainty moderates the short-term effectiveness of some emotion regulation strategies in an academic context, which may exacerbate the emotional challenges of uncertain waiting periods. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001407

  View details for PubMedID 39172392

• Trait self-control: A Process Model perspective. Current opinion in psychology Napolitano, C. M., Duckworth, A. L., Gross, J. J. 2024; 59: 101858

  Abstract

  What do self-controlled individuals do that distinguishes them from those who are more impulsive? That is, why are some people better able to align their behavior with personal long-term goals despite alternatives that would be more immediately gratifying? To address this question, we use the Process Model of Self-Control [1], which posits that all impulses are generated via a four-stage, recursive process and can be regulated by intentionally intervening at any of these stages. We suggest that this framework illuminates not only individual states of self-control, but also the diverse ways that stable individual differences in self-control can come about.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.copsyc.2024.101858

  View details for PubMedID 39163811

• Mapping Emotion Regulation Patterns Within the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders Personality Traits. Journal of personality disorders Stulcbauer, L. B., Chen, W., Gross, J. J., Krueger, R. F., Preece, D. A. 2024; 38 (4): 311-329

  Abstract

  Personality pathology is associated with emotional problems that are potentially attributable to problematic emotion regulation strategy patterns. We evaluated the emotion regulation strategies associated with the pathological personality traits in the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD). A total of 504 participants completed measures of AMPD traits and strategy usage, which were analyzed using hierarchical regressions and latent profile analysis (LPA). Regression results demonstrated that each trait was associated with a unique strategy pattern: negative affect with emotional overengagement, detachment with socialemotional avoidance, antagonism with emotional externalization/avoidance, disinhibition with emotional avoidance and overengagement, and psychoticism with strategies linked to psychotic/dissociative experiences. The LPA identified three profiles with heightened AMPD traits: an internalizing/distressed profile, an externalizing/distressed profile, and a schizoid-schizotypal profile; each had a unique strategy pattern that varied depending on trait composition. This research highlights the relevance of emotion regulation strategy patterns in the assessment, conceptualization, and treatment of personality pathology.

  View details for DOI 10.1521/pedi.2024.38.4.311

  View details for PubMedID 39093633

• The role of objective sleep in implicit and explicit affect regulation: A comprehensive review NEUROBIOLOGY OF STRESS Straus, L. D., ten Brink, M., Sikka, P., Srivastava, R., Gross, J. J., Colvonen, P. J. 2024; 31

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ynstr.2024.100655

  View details for Web of Science ID 001261600300001

• The role of objective sleep in implicit and explicit affect regulation: A comprehensive review. Neurobiology of stress Straus, L. D., Ten Brink, M., Sikka, P., Srivastava, R., Gross, J. J., Colvonen, P. J. 2024; 31: 100655

  Abstract

  Impairments in sleep and affect regulation are evident across a wide range of mental disorders. Understanding the sleep factors that relate to affect regulatory difficulties will inform mechanistic understanding and aid in treatment. Despite rising interest, some research challenges in this area include integrating across different clinical and non-clinical literatures investigating the role of sleep architecture (measured with polysomnography) and experimentally manipulated sleep, as well as integrating more explicit versus implicit affect regulation processes. In this comprehensive review, we use a unifying framework to examine sleep's relationship with implicit-automatic regulation and explicit-controlled regulation, both of which are relevant to mental health (e.g., PTSD and depression). Many studies of implicit-automatic regulation (e.g., fear extinction and safety learning) demonstrate the importance of sleep, and REM sleep specifically. Studies of explicit-controlled regulation (e.g., cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) are less consistent in their findings, with results differing depending on the type of affect regulation and/or way that sleep was measured or manipulated. There is a clear relationship between objective sleep and affect regulation processes. However, there is a need for 1) more studies focusing on sleep and explicit-controlled affect regulation; 2) replication with the same types of regulation strategies; 3) more studies experimentally manipulating sleep to examine its impact on affect regulation and vice versa in order to infer cause and effect; and 4) more studies looking at sleep's impact on next-day affect regulation (not just overnight change in affect reactivity).

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ynstr.2024.100655

  View details for PubMedID 39036771

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11260030

• Applying a synergistic mindsets intervention to an esports context ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE Behnke, M., Lakens, D., Petrova, K., Chwilkowska, P., Bialek, S., Kloskowski, M., Krzyzaniak, W., Maciejewski, P., Kaczmarek, L. D., Szymanski, K., Jamieson, J. P., Gross, J. J. 2024; 11 (6)

  View details for DOI 10.1098/rsos.240691

  View details for Web of Science ID 001254867800001

• A brief reappraisal intervention leads to durable affective benefits. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Kam, J. W., Wan-Sai-Cheong, L., Zuk, A. A., Mehta, A., Dixon, M. L., Gross, J. J. 2024

  Abstract

  People who report frequently using cognitive reappraisal to decrease the impact of potentially upsetting situations report better affective functioning than people who report using cognitive reappraisal less frequently. However, most work linking everyday reappraisal use to affective outcomes has been correlational, making causal inference difficult. In this study, we examined whether 2 weeks of daily practice of reappraising negatively valenced personally relevant events would improve affective functioning compared with a wait-list control. Data were collected between 2021 and 2022 from a sample mainly comprised of females (82%) and who identified as Asian (35%) or White/Caucasian (40%). Our planned analyses indicated that reappraisal decreased depressive symptoms and perceived stress as well as increased life satisfaction both immediately and 4 weeks postintervention. Reductions in depressive symptoms and perceived stress were mediated by increases in reappraisal self-efficacy. These findings support the causal efficacy of brief reappraisal training. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001391

  View details for PubMedID 38900559

• The role of executive function in cognitive reappraisal: A meta-analytic review. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Toh, W. X., Keh, J. S., Gross, J. J., Carstensen, L. L. 2024

  Abstract

  Cognitive reappraisal refers to the reinterpretation of a situation to alter its emotional meaning. Theoretically, executive functions (EFs), such as inhibition, updating, and shifting, are core elements of reappraisal processes. However, empirical studies have yielded inconsistent evidence as to whether and to what extent EFs are associated with reappraisal. To address this issue, we conducted a meta-analysis of the literature in which 179 effect sizes from 59 independent samples (N = 4,703) were included. Using random-effects metaregression with robust-variance estimates and small-sample corrections, we also examined whether variation in effect sizes could be accounted for by potential moderators, such as the way reappraisal was assessed (i.e., questionnaires vs. task-based measures) and the type of stimuli used in EF tasks (i.e., affective vs. nonaffective). Overall, results indicate relatively small to typical associations between reappraisal and all three EFs (rs = .13-.19). While the way reappraisal was measured did not moderate any of the relations between EF and reappraisal, we found stronger relations between inhibition and reappraisal when EF was assessed using tasks that involved affective, relative to nonaffective, stimuli. Our meta-analytic findings offer modest support for the idea that EFs are cognitive constituents of reappraisal processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001373

  View details for PubMedID 38869854

• Re-assessing the assessment of fears of positive and negative evaluation: Scale development and psychometric evaluation of the Bivalent Fear of Evaluation Scale (BFOES). Journal of anxiety disorders Weeks, J. W., Beltzer, M., Schmidt, K. M., Olino, T. M., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J., Heimberg, R. G., Zoccola, P. M. 2024; 105: 102879

  Abstract

  The bivalent fear of evaluation (BFOE) model of social anxiety divides fear of evaluation into two distinct valences: fear of positive evaluation (FPE) and fear of negative evaluation (FNE). However, there is evidence that the two most widely utilized and psychometrically supported measures of FNE and FPE contain items which are ambiguous with regard to valence of evaluative fear. To formally address this, the BFOE Scale (BFOES) was developed, by merging items from measures of FNE and FPE into a single scale with an integrated response format. The present studies examined the psychometric profile of the BFOES across a large pooled archival dataset (N = 2216), which included approximately 10 % (n = 224) patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). The factorial validity, internal consistency, and construct validity of the BFOES were examined. Additionally, item response theory analyses were employed for the purpose of merging items from self-report scales which utilized different Likert-type response formats. Results from both studies provided support for the psychometric profile of the BFOES. The implications of the BFOES for the assessment of social anxiety, and theoretical models of fear of evaluation and SAD, are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.janxdis.2024.102879

  View details for PubMedID 38936039

• A POLYREGULATION APPROACH TO HEALTH BEHAVIOUR CHANGE Werner, K., Gross, J. LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS. 2024: A80

  View details for Web of Science ID 001290655500184

• Applying a synergistic mindsets intervention to an esports context. Royal Society open science Behnke, M., Lakens, D., Petrova, K., Chwiłkowska, P., Białek, S. J., Kłoskowski, M., Krzyżaniak, W., Maciejewski, P., Kaczmarek, L. D., Szymański, K., Jamieson, J. P., Gross, J. J. 2024; 11 (6): 240691

  Abstract

  Affective responses during stressful, high-stakes situations can play an important role in shaping performance. For example, feeling shaky and nervous at a job interview can undermine performance, whereas feeling excited during that same interview can optimize performance. Thus, affect regulation-the way people influence their affective responses-might play a key role in determining high-stakes outcomes. To test this idea, we adapted a synergistic mindsets intervention (SMI) (Yeager et al. 2022 Nature 607, 512-520 (doi:10.1038/s41586-022-04907-7)) to a high-stakes esports context. Our approach was motivated by the idea that (i) mindsets both about situations and one's stress responses to situations can be shaped to help optimize stress responses, and (ii) challenge versus threat stress responses will be associated with improved outcomes. After a baseline performance task, we randomly assigned gamers (n = 300) either to SMI or a control condition in which they learned brain facts. After two weeks of daily gaming, gamers competed in a cash-prize tournament. We measured affective experiences before the matches and cardiovascular responses before and throughout the matches. Contrary to predictions, gamers did not experience negative affect (including feeling stressed), thus limiting the capacity for the intervention to regulate physiological responses and optimize performance. Compared with the control participants, synergistic mindsets participants did not show greater challenge responses or improved performance outcomes. Though our adaptation of Yeager et al.'s SMI did not optimize esports performance, our findings point to important considerations regarding the suitability of an intervention such as this to different performance contexts of varying degrees of stressfulness.

  View details for DOI 10.1098/rsos.240691

  View details for PubMedID 39157427

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11328966

• Hippocampal subfield volume in older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment: Effects of worry and cognitive reappraisal. Neurobiology of aging Karim, H. T., Lee, S., Gerlach, A., Stinley, M., Berta, R., Mahbubani, R., Tudorascu, D. L., Butters, M. A., Gross, J. J., Andreescu, C. 2024; 141: 55-65

  Abstract

  Studies have confirmed that anxiety, especially worry and rumination, are associated with increased risk for cognitive decline, including Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Hippocampal atrophy is a hallmark of ADRD. We investigated the association between hippocampus and its subfield volumes and late-life global anxiety, worry, and rumination, and emotion regulation strategies. We recruited 110 participants with varying worry severity who underwent magnetic resonance imaging and clinical interviews. We conducted cross-sectional regression analysis between each subfield and anxiety, worry, rumination, reappraisal, and suppression while adjusting for age, sex, race, education, cumulative illness burden, stress, neuroticism, and intracranial volume. We imputed missing data and corrected for multiple comparisons across regions. Greater worry was associated with smaller subiculum volume, whereas greater use of reappraisal was associated with larger subiculum and CA1 volume. Greater worry may be detrimental to the hippocampus and to subfields involved in early ADRD pathology. Use of reappraisal appears protective of hippocampal structure. Worry and reappraisal may be modifiable targets for ADRD prevention.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2024.02.017

  View details for PubMedID 38823204

• Effect of partner presence on emotion regulation during parent-child interactions. Scientific reports Enav, Y., Knudtson, M., Goldenberg, A., Gross, J. J. 2024; 14 (1): 11732

  Abstract

  Having people around, especially if they provide social support, often leads to positive outcomes both physically and mentally. Mere social presence is especially beneficial when it comes from a loved one or romantic partner. In these studies, we aim to expand the understanding of how the presence of one's romantic partner affects emotion regulation in parental situations. Specifically, we examined how partner presence influences the parent's emotional intensity, emotion regulation, and interpretation of their child's emotion regulation. We examined these questions in parents of both non-autistic children (Study 1) as well as autistic children (Study 2), which we hypothesize leads to more intense emotional interactions. The parents of autistic children were better able to regulate their emotions when their partners were present compared to when they were absent. Furthermore, in both studies, parents' ratings of their children's ability to regulate their emotions were higher when their parent's partner was present compared to when the partner was absent. However, in both studies, we found no significant difference in the parents' emotional intensity when their partners were present compared to when their partners were absent during the emotionally charged interaction with their child. Our findings help highlight the impact of partner presence on parent and child emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41598-024-60998-4

  View details for PubMedID 38778131

• Temporal dynamics of positive emotion regulation: insights from facial electromyography. Frontiers in human neuroscience Kreibig, S. D., Gross, J. J. 2024; 18: 1387634

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation (ER) is a complex process that manifests gradually over time. This study investigated the temporal dynamics of ER in modifying positive emotions in terms of both negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) dimensions.After participants had been exposed to pleasant pictures for 8,000 ms, they received instructions to either continue viewing the picture (no regulation) or reappraise it with a neutral meaning (neutralize goal) or negative meaning (transform goal) for another 8,000 ms. We obtained corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major electromyography (EMG) as objective measures of NA and PA.For the no-regulation condition, upon instruction onset, we observed maintained low levels of corrugator and high levels of zygomaticus EMG reactivity, indicating sustained PA activation. Compared to the no-regulation condition, for the neutralize goal, we observed no change in corrugator reactivity, which remained at a low level, while zygomaticus reduction started at 1,000 ms after instruction onset, indicating decreased PA and generation of a neutral emotional state. For the transform goal, we observed corrugator increase and zygomaticus decrease both starting at 1,500 ms after instruction onset and co-existing throughout the regulation period. These results indicate increased NA and decreased PA, relating to generation of a negative emotional state. The transform goal differed from the neutralize goal in terms of corrugator increase starting at 2,500 ms after instruction onset. Albeit simultaneous onset of changes on corrugator and zygomaticus reactivity under the transform goal, model-fitting analyses indicated that the best-fitting trajectory was one that first emphasized PA reduction until, at 3,000 ms, it turned into primary NA increase.These distinct temporal patterns highlight the possibility of effecting one-dimensional PA change with the neutralize goal and sequential two-dimensional change (first decreasing PA, then increasing NA) with the transform goal. This research sheds light on the time course of emotional change brought about by different regulatory goals.

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1387634

  View details for PubMedID 38812471

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11133866

• Fear of negative and positive evaluation as mediators and moderators of treatment outcome in social anxiety disorder. Journal of anxiety disorders Morrison, A. S., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2024; 104: 102874

  Abstract

  Elevated fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and fear of positive evaluation (FPE) are thought to play key roles in the maintenance of social anxiety disorder (SAD). Although efficacious therapies exist for SAD, the potential mediating and moderating effects of FNE and FPE on social anxiety treatment outcome have not been examined.This sample comprised a secondary analysis of 210 individuals who participated in one of three randomized controlled trials for the treatment of SAD. Participants were randomized to: individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), group CBT, community mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), group MBSR, or they were randomized to waitlist and offered treatment after waitlist. Assessments were completed pre- and post-treatment/waitlist and, for the treatment groups, at three-month follow-up.CBT and MBSR led to greater reductions in FNE and FPE than waitlist, with CBT more efficacious in reducing FPE than MBSR. For both CBT (vs. waitlist) and MBSR (vs. waitlist), there were significant indirect effects on post-treatment social anxiety through both FNE and FPE, and the indirect effect through FPE was greater for CBT than MBSR. However, in the fully longitudinal model testing mediation, CBT and MBSR were not differentially mediated by FPE. Baseline FNE and FPE each moderated CBT treatment outcome compared to waitlist - higher baseline FNE and FPE were associated with higher baseline social anxiety and greater reductions in social anxiety during CBT.FNE and FPE contributed in sometimes similar and sometimes distinct ways to the mediation and moderation of psychosocial approaches for treating SAD. This supports the importance of distinguishing between fears of negative and positive evaluation in the assessment and treatment of SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.janxdis.2024.102874

  View details for PubMedID 38754336

• The Emotion Beliefs Questionnaire: Psychometric properties, norms, and links to affective outcomes. Journal of affective disorders Johnston, T., McEvoy, P. M., Gross, J. J., Becerra, R., Preece, D. A. 2024

  Abstract

  The Emotion Beliefs Questionnaire was recently developed to measure beliefs about the controllability and usefulness of negative and positive emotions. These are beliefs that have been theorised to be influential for emotion regulation and psychological outcomes. However, to date there are few studies utilising large, representative samples to examine the EBQ's psychometric properties and affective correlates. Our aim was to fill this gap by examining the EBQ's psychometric properties and exploring associations between emotion beliefs, emotion regulation, and affective disorder symptoms.A sample of 1175 adults recruited from the general population in the United States completed measures of emotion beliefs, emotion regulation, and affective disorder symptoms.Confirmatory factor analyses supported the EBQ's intended subscale structure, where controllability and usefulness beliefs were separated by valence. This structure was invariant across gender, age, and education categories. The EBQ correlated in expected ways with other measures, demonstrating good validity, and had good to excellent levels of internal consistency reliability.This study used a non-clinical sample that was predominantly White. Future work should utilise clinical and cross-cultural samples to maximise generalisability of findings.Our findings indicate that the EBQ is a psychometrically sound tool for measuring the multidimensional emotion belief construct. The EBQ may have clinical utility in the conceptualisation, assessment, and treatment of maladaptive emotion beliefs. Furthermore, our results highlight the importance of considering the potential influence of maladaptive emotion beliefs in emotion dysregulation and affective disorder symptoms.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2024.04.002

  View details for PubMedID 38574870

• FEASIBILITY AND ACCEPTABILITY OF A WORKDAY EXERCISE SNACKS INTERVENTION Oppezzo, M. A., Moore, J., Aikens, R., Prochaska, J. J., Becker, C., Baumgart, C., Zeitlin, A. B., Calder, D., Uetova, E., Gross, J. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2024: S352

  View details for Web of Science ID 001271352800705

• Using expressive writing to improve cancer caregiver and patient health: A randomized controlled feasibility trial. European journal of oncology nursing : the official journal of European Oncology Nursing Society Eldesouky, L., Gross, J. J. 2024; 70: 102578

  Abstract

  This study examined the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of Expressive Writing (EW) in improving informal cancer caregiver (IC) and patient health, and enhancing ICs' emotion regulation.Fifty-eight breast cancer ICs and patients participated in a randomized controlled feasibility trial of remote EW. ICs were randomly assigned to the EW or control group and completed 3 weekly writing sessions. ICs and patients completed health and emotion regulation assessments at baseline, intervention completion, and 3 months post-intervention. Screening, recruitment, assessment process, randomization, retention, treatment adherence, and treatment fidelity were computed for feasibility. Effect sizes were calculated using the PROMIS Depression Short Form, RAND Short Form 36 Health Survey, Breast Cancer Prevention Trial Hormonal Symptom checklist, healthcare utilization, and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for efficacy.Of the 232 interested individuals, 82 were screened, and 60 enrolled (6 monthly). Two individuals withdrew and 19 were lost to follow-up, leaving 39 individuals. ICs completed at least one assessment and two sessions, and patients completed at least two assessments. All sessions were administered as intended. ICs generally followed instructions (88%-100%), wrote the full time (66.7%-100%), and were engaged (M(SD) = 3.00(1.29)-4.00(0.00)). EW had small-to-medium effects in improving IC health (g = -0.27-0.04) and small-to-large effects in improving patient health (g = -0.28-0.86). EW moderately decreased suppression (g = 0.53-0.54) and slightly increased reappraisal, at least 3 months post-intervention (g = -0.34-0.20).Remote EW may be feasible with cancer ICs and improve cancer IC and patient health. However, it can benefit from additional retention strategies and rigorous testing.CenterWatch Clinical Trials Listing Service (#TX217874); ClinicalTrials.gov (#NCT06123416).

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ejon.2024.102578

  View details for PubMedID 38522170

• Unpredictable threat increases early event-related potential amplitudes and cardiac acceleration: A brain-heart coupling study. Psychophysiology Gerpheide, K., Unterschemmann, S. L., Panitz, C., Bierwirth, P., Gross, J. J., Mueller, E. M. 2024: e14563

  Abstract

  In the face of unpredictable threat, rapid processing of external events and behavioral mobilization through early psychophysiological responses are crucial for survival. While unpredictable threat generally enhances early processing, it would seem adaptive to particularly increase sensitivity for unexpected events as they may signal danger. To examine this possibility, n = 77 participants performed an auditory oddball paradigm and received unpredictable shocks in threat but not in safe contexts while a stream of frequent (standard) and infrequent (deviant) tones was presented. We assessed event-related potentials (ERP), heart period (HP), and time-lagged within-subject correlations of single-trial EEG and HP (cardio-EEG covariance tracing, CECT) time-locked to the tones. N1 and P2 ERP amplitudes were generally enhanced under threat. The P3 amplitude was enhanced to deviants versus standards and this effect was reduced in the threat condition. Regarding HP, both threat versus safe and unexpected versus expected tones led to stronger cardiac acceleration, suggesting separate effects of threat and stimulus expectancy on HP. Finally, CECTs revealed two correlation clusters, indicating that single-trial EEG magnitudes in the N1/P2 and P3 time-windows predicted subsequent cardiac acceleration. The current results show that an unpredictable threat context enhances N1 and P2 amplitudes and cardiac acceleration to benign auditory stimuli. They further suggest separable cortical correlates of different effects on cardiac activity: an early N1/P2 correlate associated with threat-effects on HP and a later P3 correlate associated with expectedness-effects. Finally, the results indicate that unpredictable threat attenuates rather than enhances the processing of unexpected benign events during the P3 latency.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/psyp.14563

  View details for PubMedID 38467585

• Alexithymia profiles and depression, anxiety, and stress. Journal of affective disorders Preece, D. A., Mehta, A., Petrova, K., Sikka, P., Pemberton, E., Gross, J. J. 2024

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Alexithymia is a multidimensional trait comprised of difficulties identifying feelings, difficulties describing feelings, and externally orientated thinking. It is regarded as an important risk factor for emotional disorders, but there are presently limited data on each specific facet of alexithymia, or the extent to which deficits in processing negative emotions, positive emotions, or both, are important. In this study, we address these gaps by using the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) to comprehensively examine the relationships between alexithymia and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms.METHODS: University students (N = 1250) completed the PAQ and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21. Pearson correlations, hierarchical regressions, and latent profile analysis were conducted.RESULTS: All facets of alexithymia, across both valence domains, were significantly correlated with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms (r = 0.27-0.40). Regression analyses indicated that the alexithymia facets, together, could account for a significant 14.6 %-16.4 % of the variance in depression, anxiety, and stress. Difficulties identifying negative feelings and difficulties identifying positive feelings were the strongest unique predictors across all symptom categories. Our latent profile analysis extracted eight profiles, comprising different combinations of alexithymia facets and psychopathology symptoms, collectively highlighting the transdiagnostic relevance of alexithymia facets.LIMITATIONS: Our study involved a student sample, and further work in clinical samples will be beneficial.CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that all facets of alexithymia, across both valence domains, are relevant for understanding depression, anxiety, and stress. These findings demonstrate the value of facet-level and valence-specific alexithymia assessments, informing more comprehensive understanding and more targeted treatments of emotional disorder symptoms.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2024.02.071

  View details for PubMedID 38387670

• Associations of nature contact with emotional ill-being and well-being: the role of emotion regulation. Cognition & emotion Bratman, G. N., Mehta, A., Olvera-Alvarez, H., Spink, K. M., Levy, C., White, M. P., Kubzansky, L. D., Gross, J. J. 2024: 1-20

  Abstract

  Nature contact has associations with emotional ill-being and well-being. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations are not fully understood. We hypothesised that increased adaptive and decreased maladaptive emotion regulation strategies would be a pathway linking nature contact to ill-being and well-being. Using data from a survey of 600 U.S.-based adults administered online in 2022, we conducted structural equation modelling to test our hypotheses. We found that (1) frequency of nature contact was significantly associated with lesser emotional ill-being and greater emotional well-being, (2) effective emotion regulation was significantly associated with lesser emotional ill-being and greater emotional well-being, and (3) the associations of higher frequency of nature contact with these benefits were partly explained via emotion regulation. Moreover, we found a nonlinear relationship for the associations of duration of nature contact with some outcomes, with a rise in benefits up to certain amounts of time, and a levelling off after these points. These findings support and extend previous work that demonstrates that the associations of nature contact with emotional ill-being and well-being may be partly explained by changes in emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2024.2316199

  View details for PubMedID 38362747

• Alexithymia or general psychological distress? Discriminant validity of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire. Journal of affective disorders Preece, D. A., Petrova, K., Mehta, A., Sikka, P., Gross, J. J. 2024

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Alexithymia is an important transdiagnostic risk factor for emotion-based psychopathologies. However, it remains unclear whether alexithymia questionnaires actually measure alexithymia, or whether they measure emotional distress. Our aim here was to address this discriminant validity concern via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ).METHOD: United States general community adults (N = 508) completed the TAS-20, PAQ, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21). EFA was used to examine the latent dimensions underlying these measures' scores.RESULTS: Our EFA extracted two higher-order factors, an "alexithymia" factor and a "general distress" factor (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress). All PAQ scores loaded cleanly on the alexithymia factor, with no cross-loadings on the distress factor. However, for the TAS-20, Difficulty Identifying Feelings (DIF) facet scores cross-loaded highly on the distress factor.LIMITATIONS: Our sample consisted of general community adults; future work in clinical settings will be useful.CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that the PAQ has good discriminant validity. However, the TAS-20 appears to have significant discriminant validity problems, in that much of the variance in its DIF facet reflects people's current levels of distress, rather than alexithymia. The TAS-20, which has traditionally been the most widely used alexithymia questionnaire, may therefore not be the optimal alexithymia tool. Our findings add to the body of evidence supporting the validity and utility of the PAQ and suggest that, moving forward, it is a superior option to the TAS-20 for alexithymia assessments.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.271

  View details for PubMedID 38320659

• A data-driven typology of emotion regulation profiles. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Guassi Moreira, J. F., Sahi, R. S., Calderon Leon, M. D., Saragosa-Harris, N. M., Waizman, Y. H., Sedykin, A. E., Ninova, E., Peris, T. S., Gross, J. J., Silvers, J. A. 2024

  Abstract

  Typologies serve to organize knowledge and advance theory for many scientific disciplines, including more recently in the social and behavioral sciences. To date, however, no typology exists to categorize an individual's use of emotion regulation strategies. This is surprising given that emotion regulation skills are used daily and that deficits in this area are robustly linked with mental health symptoms. Here, we attempted to identify and validate a working typology of emotion regulation across six samples (collectively comprised of 1,492 participants from multiple populations) by using a combination of computational techniques, psychometric models, and growth curve modeling. We uncovered evidence for three types of regulators: a type that infrequently uses emotion regulation strategies (Lo), a type that uses them frequently but indiscriminately (Hi), and a third type that selectively uses some (cognitive reappraisal and situation selection), but not other (expressive suppression), emotion regulation strategies frequently (Mix). Results showed that membership in the Hi and Mix types is associated with better mental health, with the Mix type being the most adaptive of the three. These differences were stable over time and across different samples. These results carry important implications for both our basic understanding of emotion regulation behavior and for informing future interventions aimed at improving mental health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001306

  View details for PubMedID 38300553

• Enhancing emotion regulation with an in situ socially assistive robot among LGBTQ+ youth with self-harm ideation: protocol for a randomised controlled trial. BMJ open Williams, A. J., Cleare, S., Borschmann, R., Tench, C. R., Gross, J., Hollis, C., Chapman-Nisar, A., Naeche, N., Townsend, E., Slovak, P., Digital Youth, Creswell, C., Fonagy, P., Arseneault, L., Lloyd, E., Mendes, J. D., Holter, C. T., Jirotka, M., Lazar, Z., Patalay, P., Kelly, Y., Kandola, A., Sonuga-Barke, E., Livingstone, S., Kostryka-Allchorne, K., Bourgaize, J., Stoilova, M., O'Connor, R., Auer, D., Lee, S., Jawahar, N., Etherson, M., Greenhalgh, C., Sayal, K., Warren, J., Wanniarachchi, V., Glover, K., Stallard, P., Hall, C., Lucassen, M., Merry, S., Stasiak, K., Babbage, C., Khan, K., Parker, A., Lockwood, J., Gregory, J., Nielsen, E., Vallejos, E. P., Woodcock, R., Doherty, S., Willingham, L. 2024; 14 (1): e079801

  Abstract

  INTRODUCTION: Purrble, a socially assistive robot, was codesigned with children to support in situ emotion regulation. Preliminary evidence has found that LGBTQ+ youth are receptive to Purrble and find it to be an acceptable intervention to assist with emotion dysregulation and their experiences of self-harm. The present study is designed to evaluate the impact of access to Purrble among LGBTQ+ youthwho have self-harmful thoughts, when compared with waitlist controls.METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The study is a single-blind, randomised control trial comparing access to the Purrble robot with waitlist control. A total of 168 LGBTQ+ youthaged 16-25 years with current self-harmful ideation will be recruited, all based within the UK. The primary outcome is emotion dysregulation (Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale-8) measured weekly across a 13-week period, including three pre-deployment timepoints. Secondary outcomes include self-harm (Self-Harm Questionnaire), anxiety (Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7) and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9). We will conduct analyses using linear mixed models to assess primary and secondary hypotheses. Intervention participants will have unlimited access to Purrble over the deployment period, which can be used as much or as little as they like. After all assessments, control participants will receive their Purrble, with all participants keeping the robot after the end of the study. After the study has ended, a subset of participants will be invited to participate in semistructured interviews to explore engagement and appropriation of Purrble, considering the young people's own views of Purrble as an intervention device.ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval was received from King's College London (RESCM-22/23-34570). Findings will be disseminated in peer review open access journals and at academic conferences.TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT06025942.

  View details for DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-079801

  View details for PubMedID 38195171

• Parental Emotion Regulation, Stress, and Burnout EMOTION REGULATION AND PARENTING Mikolajczak, M., Gross, J. J., Roskam, I. edited by Roskam, Gross, J. J., Mikolajczak, M. 2024: 116-125

  View details for Web of Science ID 001205478900007

• Emotion Regulation in Self and Others EMOTION REGULATION AND PARENTING Petrova, K., Gross, J. J. edited by Roskam, Gross, J. J., Mikolajczak, M. 2024: 35-54

  View details for Web of Science ID 001205478900003

• <i>The Important and Reciprocal Relationships between Emotion Regulation and Parenting</i> Preface EMOTION REGULATION AND PARENTING Roskam, I., Gross, J. J., Mikolajczak, M. edited by Roskam, Gross, J. J., Mikolajczak, M. 2024: XI-XII

  View details for Web of Science ID 001205478900001

• Emotion Regulation and Parenting Conclusions and Perspectives EMOTION REGULATION AND PARENTING Roskam, I., Gross, J. J., Mikolajczak, M. edited by Roskam, Gross, J. J., Mikolajczak, M. 2024: 287-294

  View details for Web of Science ID 001205478900016

• The role of emotion beliefs in depression, anxiety, and stress AUSTRALIAN PSYCHOLOGIST Johnston, T. E., Petrova, K., Mehta, A., Gross, J. J., Mcevoy, P., Preece, D. A. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1080/00050067.2023.2290734

  View details for Web of Science ID 001147530200001

• Occurrent beliefs about emotions predict emotion regulation in everyday life. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Petrova, K., Zielke, J. N., Mehta, A., Gross, J. J. 2023

  Abstract

  Whether and how people regulate their negative emotions matters a great deal. However, it is not yet clear why people regulate as they do. One promising idea is that people's beliefs shape their emotion regulation choices, and initial evidence indicates that individuals' dispositional beliefs about emotions are indeed associated with general patterns of emotion regulation. The present study extends prior work on emotion beliefs to better understand how occurrent (i.e., momentary) beliefs about helpfulness, controllability, and justification of specific emotions shape whether and how people regulate negative emotions in everyday life. Participants (N = 143; U.S. community college students recruited in 2022; 76% female; age = 18-60) completed a 7-day experience-sampling protocol in which they were pinged three times per day to describe their most recent negative experiences and answer questions about their emotions, occurrent beliefs about emotions, and emotion regulation. With respect to whether people regulate their emotions, results reveal that people regulate their emotions more when they perceive them to be less helpful. Exploratory analyses additionally show that people regulate negative emotions more when they perceive them to be more controllable and when emotional intensity is relatively high. In terms of how people regulate their emotions, people are more likely to use reappraisal when emotions are seen as more helpful, more controllable, and less justified; and more likely to use distraction when emotions are seen as less helpful and more justified. These findings contribute to a more fine-grained understanding of how beliefs shape emotion regulation in everyday life.respect to whether people regulate their emotions, results reveal that people regulate their emotions more when they perceive them to be less helpful. Exploratory analyses additionally show that people regulate negative emotions more when they perceive them to be more controllable and when emotional intensity is relatively high. In terms of how people regulate their emotions, people are more likely to use reappraisal when emotions are seen as more helpful, more controllable, and less justified; and more likely to use distraction when emotions are seen as less helpful and more justified. These findings contribute to a more fine-grained understanding of how beliefs shape emotion regulation (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001317

  View details for PubMedID 38060019

• The Neural Separability of Emotion Reactivity and Regulation AFFECTIVE SCIENCE Zhang, J., Dixon, M. L., Goldin, P. R., Spiegel, D., Gross, J. J. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-023-00227-9

  View details for Web of Science ID 001118272200001

• Conceptualizing alexithymia PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Preece, D. A., Gross, J. J. 2023; 215

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.paid.2023.112375

  View details for Web of Science ID 001066016600001

• The Future of Emotion Regulation Research: Broadening Our Field of View. Affective science Petrova, K., Gross, J. J. 2023; 4 (4): 609-616

  Abstract

  Over the past few decades, emotion regulation research has matured into a vibrant and rapidly growing field (in 2022 alone, more than 30 thousand papers were published on emotion regulation). Taking stock of our progress, we ask "What does the future hold?" In this manuscript, we offer a roadmap for the next generation of research on emotion regulation. We begin by painting a picture of the field's journey so far. We then outline a forward-looking agenda for broadening our field of view along three key dimensions: (1) increasing our resolution to see how regulatory strategies are flexibly and dynamically translated into tactics; (2) widening our viewing angle to embrace interpersonal emotion regulation; and (3) extending the timescale of emotion regulation research to examine how regulatory efforts are fine-tuned across the regulatory cycle and in the context of a broader range of affective experiences. In doing so, we highlight empirical studies that exemplify these three areas of focus and discuss the opportunities that lie before us. We close by offering a set of concrete practical and methodological recommendations for how the field can accomplish the goals we have outlined.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-023-00222-0

  View details for PubMedID 38156255

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC10751286

• Breaking the Link Between Negative Emotion and Unhealthy Eating: the Role of Emotion Regulation. Affective science Langley, E. B., O'Leary, D. J., Gross, J. J., Shiota, M. N. 2023; 4 (4): 702-710

  Abstract

  Stressful experiences frequently lead to increased consumption of unhealthy foods, high in sugar and fat yet low in nutrients. Can emotion regulation help break this link? In a laboratory experiment (N = 200), participants were encouraged to ruminate on a current, distressing personal problem, followed by instruction to use a specific emotion regulation strategy for managing feelings around that problem (challenge appraisal, relaxation/distraction, imagined social support, no-instruction control). Participants then spent 15 min on an anagram task in which 80% of items were unsolvable-a frustrating situation offering a second, implicit opportunity to use the regulation strategy. During the anagram task they had free access to a snack basket containing various options. Analyses revealed significant differences among regulation conditions in consumption of candy versus healthy snack options; challenge appraisal led to the healthiest snack choices, imagined social support to the least healthy snack choices.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-023-00190-5.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-023-00190-5

  View details for PubMedID 38156256

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC10751272

• The Neural Separability of Emotion Reactivity and Regulation. Affective science Zhang, J. X., Dixon, M. L., Goldin, P. R., Spiegel, D., Gross, J. J. 2023; 4 (4): 617-629

  Abstract

  One foundational distinction in affective science is between emotion reactivity and regulation. This conceptual distinction has long been assumed to be instantiated in spatially separable brain systems (a typical example: amygdala/insula for reactivity and frontoparietal areas for regulation). In this research, we begin by reviewing previous findings that support and contradict the neural separability hypothesis concerning emotional reactivity and regulation. Further, we conduct a direct test of this hypothesis with empirical data. In five studies involving healthy and clinical samples (total n = 336), we assessed neural responses using fMRI while participants were asked to either react naturally or regulate their emotions (using reappraisal) while viewing emotionally evocative stimuli. Across five studies, we failed to find support for the neural separability hypothesis. In univariate analyses, both presumptive "reactivity" and "regulation" brain regions demonstrated equal or greater activation for the reactivity contrast than for the regulation contrast. In multivariate pattern analyses (MVPA), classifiers decoded reactivity (vs. neutral) trials more accurately than regulation (vs. reactivity) trials using multivoxel data in both presumptive "reactivity" and "regulation" regions. These findings suggest that emotion reactivity and regulation-as measured via fMRI-may not be as spatially separable in the brain as previously assumed. Our secondary whole-brain analyses revealed largely consistent results. We discuss the two theoretical possibilities regarding the neural separability hypothesis and offer thoughts for future research.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-023-00227-9.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-023-00227-9

  View details for PubMedID 38156247

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC10751283

• Modifying the Emotion Regulation Brain Network in Depression: Mechanistic Insights From a Clinical Trial of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia Krause, A., Izabel, S., Osorno, R., Solomon, N., Ahmadi, M., Lam, P., Magana, O., Blozyte, E., Cirelli, A., Harris, L., Bernert, R., Williams, L., Gross, J., Ma, J., Lazzeroni, L., Yesavage, J., Manber, R., Saletin, J., Goldstein-Piekarski, A. SPRINGERNATURE. 2023: 208-209

  View details for Web of Science ID 001184093500400

• The role of trait reappraisal in response to emotional ambiguity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Harp, N. R., Gross, J. J., Uusberg, A., Neta, M. 2023

  Abstract

  Individuals exhibit a systematic valence bias-a specific form of interpretation bias-in response to emotional ambiguity. Accumulating evidence suggests most people initially respond to emotional ambiguity negatively and differ only in subsequent responses. We hypothesized that trait-level cognitive reappraisal-an emotion regulation strategy involving the reinterpretation of affective meaning of stimuli-might explain individual differences in valence bias. To answer this question, we conducted a random-effects meta-analysis of 14 effect sizes from 13 prior studies (n = 2,086), identified via Google Scholar searches. We excluded studies (a) in languages other than English, (b) from non-peer-reviewed sources, or (c) nonempirical sources. We included studies with (a) the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, (b) a putative measure of valence bias prior to any study-specific manipulations, and (c) adult human participants (i.e., 17+). Supporting our prediction, we found individuals with higher trait reappraisal exhibited a less negative bias (r = -.18, z = -4.04, p < .001), whereas there was a smaller, opposite effect for trait expressive suppression (r = .10, z = 2.14, p = .03). The effects did, however, vary across tasks with stronger effects observed among studies using the scrambled sentences task compared to the valence bias task. Although trait reappraisal accounted for only a small amount of variance, reappraisal may be one mechanism contributing to variability in response to ambiguity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001316

  View details for PubMedID 37971850

• Estradiol effects on an emotional interference task in adolescents with current and remitted depression. Hormones and behavior Sullivan, A. J., Chung, Y. S., Novotny, S., Epperson, C. N., Kober, H., Blumberg, H. P., Gross, J. J., Ochsner, K. N., Pearlson, G., Stevens, M. C. 2023: 105450

  Abstract

  Attentional biases to emotional stimuli are thought to reflect vulnerability for mood disorder onset and maintenance. This study examined the association between the endogenous sex hormone estradiol and emotional attentional biases in adolescent females with either current or remitted depression. Three groups of participants (mean age±SD) completed the Emotional Interrupt Task: 1) 20 adolescent females (15.1±1.83years) currently diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), 2) 16 adolescent females (16.4±1.31years) who had experienced at least one episode of MDD in their lifetime but currently met criteria for MDD in remission, and 3) 30 adolescent female (15.4±1.83years) healthy controls. Attentional interference (AI) scores were calculated as differences in target response reaction time between trials with emotional facial expressions versus neutral facial expressions. Estradiol levels were assayed by Salimetrics LLC using saliva samples collected within 30min of waking on assessment days. Robust multiple regression with product terms evaluated estradiol's main effect on AI scores, as well as hypothesized estradiol * diagnostic group interactions. Although neither mean estradiol levels nor mean AI scores in the current-MDD and remitted-MDD groups differed from controls, the relationship between estradiol and overall AI score differed between control adolescents and the remitted-MDD group. Specifically, the remitted-MDD adolescents performed worse (i.e., showed greater attentional interference) when they had higher estradiol; no significant relationship existed in the current-MDD group. Because this finding was driven by angry and not happy stimuli, it appears higher estradiol levels were associated with greater susceptibility to the attention-capturing effects of negatively-valenced emotional content in girls at risk for MDD from prior history.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105450

  View details for PubMedID 37923628

• Using large language models in psychology NATURE REVIEWS PSYCHOLOGY Demszky, D., Yang, D., Yeager, D., Bryan, C., Clapper, M., Chandhok, S., Eichstaedt, J., Hecht, C., Jamieson, J., Johnson, M., Jones, M., Krettek-Cobb, D., Lai, L., Jonesmitchell, N., Ong, D., Dweck, C., Gross, J., Pennebaker, J. 2023; 2 (11): 688-701

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s44159-023-00241-5

  View details for Web of Science ID 001124794900011

• Feasibility, Perceived Impact, and Acceptability of a Socially Assistive Robot to Support Emotion Regulation With Highly Anxious University Students: Mixed Methods Open Trial. JMIR mental health Williams, A. J., Freed, M., Theofanopoulou, N., Dauden Roquet, C., Klasnja, P., Gross, J., Schleider, J., Slovak, P. 2023; 10: e46826

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Mental health difficulties among university students have been rising rapidly over the last decade, and the demand for university mental health services commonly far exceeds available resources. Digital interventions are seen as one potential solution to these challenges. However, as in other mental health contexts, digital programs often face low engagement and uptake, and the field lacks usable, engaging, evidence-supported mental health interventions that may be used flexibly when students need them most.OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a new, in situ intervention tool (Purrble) among university students experiencing anxiety. As an intervention, Purrble was designed to provide in situ support for emotion regulation (ER)-a well-known transdiagnostic construct-directly in the moments when individuals are facing emotionally challenging situations. A secondary aim is to consider the perceived impact of Purrble on youth mental health, as reported by students over a 7-week deployment.METHODS: A mixed methods open trial was conducted with 78 under- and postgraduate students at Oxford University. Participants were recruited based on moderate to high levels of anxiety measured by Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 at baseline (mean 16.09, SD 3.03). All participants had access to Purrble for 7 weeks during the spring term with data on their perceived anxiety, emotion dysregulation, ER self-efficacy, and engagement with the intervention collected at baseline (pre), week 4 (mid), and week 8 (postintervention). Qualitative responses were also collected at the mid- and postintervention points.RESULTS: The findings demonstrated a sustained engagement with Purrble over the 7-week period, with the acceptability further supported by the qualitative data indicating that students accepted Purrble and that Purrble was well-integrated into their daily routines. Exploratory quantitative data analysis indicated that Purrble was associated with reductions in student anxiety (dz=0.96, 95% CI 0.62-1.29) and emotion dysregulation (dz=0.69, 95% CI 0.38-0.99), and with an increase in ER self-efficacy (dz=-0.56, 95% CI -0.86 to -0.26).CONCLUSIONS: This is the first trial of a simple physical intervention that aims to provide ongoing ER support to university students. Both quantitative and qualitative data suggest that Purrble is an acceptable and feasible intervention among students, the engagement with which can be sustained at a stable level across a 7-week period while retaining a perceived benefit for those who use it (n=32, 61% of our sample). The consistency of use is particularly promising given that there was no clinician engagement or further support provided beyond Purrble being delivered to the students. These results show promise for an innovative intervention model, which could be complementary to the existing interventions.

  View details for DOI 10.2196/46826

  View details for PubMedID 37906230

• The role of self-compassion in loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: a group-based trajectory modelling approach. Cognition & emotion Wollast, R., Preece, D. A., Schmitz, M., Bigot, A., Gross, J. J., Luminet, O. 2023: 1-17

  Abstract

  Research has suggested an increase in loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic, but much of this work has been cross-sectional, making causal inferences difficult. In the present research, we employed a longitudinal design to identify loneliness trajectories within a period of twelve months during the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium (N=2106). We were particularly interested in the potential protective role of self-compassion in these temporal dynamics. Using a group-based trajectory modelling approach, we identified trajectory groups of individuals following low (11.0%), moderate-low (22.4%), moderate (25.7%), moderate-high (31.3%), and high (9.6%) levels of loneliness. Findings indicated that younger people, women, and individuals with poor quality relationships, high levels of health anxiety, and stress related to COVID-19, all had a higher probability of belonging to the highest loneliness trajectory groups. Importantly, we also found that people high in two of the three facets of self-compassion (self-kindness and common humanity) had a lower probability of belonging to the highest loneliness trajectory groups. Ultimately, we demonstrated that trajectory groups reflecting higher levels of loneliness were associated with lower life satisfaction and greater depressive symptoms. We discuss the possibility that increasing self-compassion may be used to promote better mental health in similarly challenging situations.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2023.2270201

  View details for PubMedID 37882199

• The Future of Emotion Regulation Research: Broadening Our Field of View AFFECTIVE SCIENCE Petrova, K., Gross, J. J. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-023-00222-0

  View details for Web of Science ID 001075190200001

• Affect Across the Wake-Sleep Cycle. Affective science Sikka, P., Gross, J. J. 2023; 4 (3): 563-569

  Abstract

  Affective scientists traditionally have focused on periods of active wakefulness when people are responding to external stimuli or engaging in specific tasks. However, we live much of our lives immersed in experiences not related to the current environment or tasks at hand-mind-wandering (or daydreaming) during wakefulness and dreaming during sleep. Despite being disconnected from the immediate environment, our brains still generate affect during such periods. Yet, research on stimulus-independent affect has remained largely separate from affective science. Here, we suggest that one key future direction for affective science will be to expand our field of view by integrating the wealth of findings from research on mind-wandering, sleep, and dreaming to provide a more comprehensive account of affect across the wake-sleep cycle. In developing our argument, we address two key issues: affect variation across the wake-sleep cycle, and the benefits of expanding the study of affect across the full wake-sleep cycle. In considering these issues, we highlight the methodological and clinical implications for affective science.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-023-00204-2

  View details for PubMedID 37744973

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC10514005

• Individual differences in peace of mind reflect adaptive emotion regulation PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Sikka, P., Revonsuo, A., Gross, J. J. 2023; 215

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.paid.2023.112378

  View details for Web of Science ID 001070485000001

• The Role of Emotion Regulation, Affect, and Sleep in Individuals With Sleep Bruxism and Those Without: Protocol for a Remote Longitudinal Observational Study. JMIR research protocols Kreibig, S. D., Ten Brink, M., Mehta, A., Talmon, A., Zhang, J. X., Brown, A. S., Lucas-Griffin, S. S., Axelrod, A. K., Manber, R., Lavigne, G. J., Gross, J. J. 2023; 12: e41719

  Abstract

  Sleep bruxism (SB) is an oral behavior characterized by high levels of repetitive jaw muscle activity during sleep, leading to teeth grinding and clenching, and may develop into a disorder. Despite its prevalence and negative outcomes on oral health and quality of life, there is currently no cure for SB. The etiology of SB remains poorly understood, but recent research suggests a potential role of negative emotions and maladaptive emotion regulation (ER).This study's primary aim investigates whether ER is impaired in individuals with SB, while controlling for affective and sleep disturbances. The secondary aim tests for the presence of cross-sectional and longitudinal mediation pathways in the bidirectional relationships among SB, ER, affect, and sleep.The study used a nonrandomized repeated-measures observational design and was conducted remotely. Participants aged 18-49 years underwent a 14-day ambulatory assessment. Data collection was carried out using electronic platforms. We assessed trait and state SB and ER alongside affect and sleep variables. We measured SB using self-reported trait questionnaires, ecological momentary assessment (EMA) for real-time reports of SB behavior, and portable electromyography for multinight assessment of rhythmic masticatory muscle activity. We assessed ER through self-reported trait questionnaires, EMA for real-time reports of ER strategies, and heart rate variability derived from an electrocardiography wireless physiological sensor as an objective physiological measure. Participants' trait affect and real-time emotional experiences were obtained using self-reported trait questionnaires and EMA. Sleep patterns and quality were evaluated using self-reported trait questionnaires and sleep diaries, as well as actigraphy as a physiological measure. For the primary objective, analyses will test for maladaptive ER in terms of strategy use frequency and effectiveness as a function of SB using targeted contrasts in the general linear model. Control analyses will be conducted to examine the persistence of the SB-ER relationship after adjusting for affective and sleep measures, as well as demographic variables. For the secondary objective, cross-sectional and longitudinal mediation analyses will test various competing models of directional effects among self-reported and physiological measures of SB, ER, affect, and sleep.This research received funding in April 2017. Data collection took place from August 2020 to March 2022. In all, 237 participants were eligible and completed the study. Data analysis has not yet started.We hope that the effort to thoroughly measure SB and ER using gold standard methods and cutting-edge technology will advance the knowledge of SB. The findings of this study may contribute to a better understanding of the relationship among SB, ER, affect, and sleep disturbances. By identifying the role of ER in SB, the results may pave the way for the development of targeted interventions for SB management to alleviate the pain and distress of those affected.DERR1-10.2196/41719.

  View details for DOI 10.2196/41719

  View details for PubMedID 37616042

• The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Short Form (ERQ-S): A 6-item measure of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Journal of affective disorders Preece, D. A., Petrova, K., Mehta, A., Gross, J. J. 2023

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation plays a crucial role in affective functioning. One of the most commonly used measures of emotion regulation is the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), a 10-item self-report measure assessing frequency of use of two common emotion regulation strategies: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. In this study, we aimed to optimize the utility of the ERQ for time-pressured settings by introducing and validating a 6-item short form called the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Short Form (ERQ-S).General community (N = 508) and college student (N = 245) samples from the United States completed online surveys containing a range of psychometric self-report measures. For each sample, we examined the factor structure, internal consistency, and concurrent validity of the ERQ-S.Our confirmatory factor analyses supported the intended 2-factor structure of the ERQ-S (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression factors), with all items loading well on their intended factor in both samples. As expected, the ERQ-S correlated highly with the ERQ. A profile of low cognitive reappraisal use and high expressive suppression use on the ERQ-S was significantly associated with higher levels of emotion regulation difficulties, alexithymia, and affective symptoms.We did not examine psychometric performance in a clinical sample, or other cultural groups outside the US. All concurrent validity markers were self-report questionnaires.Our data suggest that the ERQ-S successfully retains the psychometric strengths of the ERQ. The shorter format of the ERQ-S should therefore help to optimize the measurement of emotion regulation in time-pressured settings.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2023.08.076

  View details for PubMedID 37597776

• Affect Across the Wake-Sleep Cycle AFFECTIVE SCIENCE Sikka, P., Gross, J. J. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-023-00204-2

  View details for Web of Science ID 001044341000001

• Dietary restriction in normal weight-individuals: using a web-based 24-hour dietary recall during 2 weeks Brytek-Matera, A., Mroz, M., Jagielski, P., Sitarska, J., Gross, J. KARGER. 2023: 313

  View details for Web of Science ID 001084581001198

• UNPREDICTABLE THREAT INCREASES EARLY EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL AMPLITUDES, CARDIAC ACCELERATION, AND CORTICO-CARDIAC COUPLING DURING AN ODDBALL PARADIGM Gerpheide, K., Panitz, C., Unterschemann, S., Bierwirth, P., Gross, J., Mueller, E. WILEY. 2023: S156

  View details for Web of Science ID 001094245200377

• TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF EMOTION AND EMOTION REGULATION Kreibig, S., Gross, J. WILEY. 2023: S37

  View details for Web of Science ID 001094245200089

• Emotion regulation efficacy beliefs: The outsized impact of base rates. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Double, K. S., Pinkus, R. T., Gross, J. J., MacCann, C. 2023

  Abstract

  To regulate others' emotions effectively we must learn about the efficacy of our regulation attempts. Deciding whether we made someone else feel better involves a causal judgment about the effect of our intervention on their emotional state. The current study examined whether, like other causal judgments, beliefs about emotion regulation efficacy are disproportionately affected by base rates. In two experiments, we showed that participants' perceived efficacy at helping a target regulate their emotions was more influenced by the target's average emotion levels than the relative effect of regulating versus not regulating the target's emotion. This led participants to conclude that they were helpful both when they were not (Experiment 1) and even when they made the target feel worse (Experiment 2). These findings suggest that our beliefs about the effectiveness of other-directed emotion regulation are notably biased by the average level of emotion expressed by the regulation target. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001273

  View details for PubMedID 37498726

• Quantitative versus qualitative emotion regulation goals: Differential effects on emotional responses. Psychophysiology Kreibig, S. D., Brown, A. S., Gross, J. J. 2023: e14387

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation (ER) involves both a goal (e.g., to feel less emotion) and a strategy (e.g., reappraisal). To clarify the impact of ER goals on emotional responding, we conducted a within-participant study (N = 156) in which we held the strategy constant (reappraisal) to isolate the impact of regulation goals. We compared the impact of a quantitative goal (changing emotion quantity/intensity) with that of a qualitative goal (changing emotion quality/type) on emotional responses to negative and positive pictures. We manipulated ER goals by cuing participants to continue viewing the picture (unregulated/no ER goal) or to reappraise it to decrease its predominant affective impact (quantitative goal) or increase its opposite-valence impact (qualitative goal). We assessed emotional responses through self-reported feelings and facial expressions (corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major electromyography). Our findings suggest that the type of regulation goal has a differential effect on emotional responses, with qualitative goals being more effective in modulating both negative and positive emotions. For negative stimuli, attempts to use a quantitative goal decreased negative but not positive emotional responses (uncoupled negative deactivation). Conversely, attempts to use a qualitative goal decreased negative and increased positive emotional responses (reciprocal positive activation). For positive stimuli, the quantitative goal generated uncoupled positive deactivation, while the qualitative goal produced reciprocal negative activation. Results highlight the importance of considering specific regulation goals in shaping emotional responses. Future research in the field of ER may benefit from identifying and manipulating different goals and strategies to understand how to effectively regulate emotions.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/psyp.14387

  View details for PubMedID 37482894

• Emotional competencies in multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis and related disorders Sadeghi-Bahmani, D., Motl, R. W., Sadeghi Bahmani, L., Mirmosayyeb, O., Shaygannejad, V., Mokhtari, F., Gross, J. J. 2023; 78: 104896

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Emotional competencies (i.e., understanding emotions in self and others) are crucial for psychological well-being and successful social interaction. However, despite the deficits in psychological well-being and social interaction among individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), emotional competencies have not been broadly investigated in MS. The present study: (1) compared emotional competencies between persons with MS and (a) previously published norms for the general population and (b) persons with major depressive disorder; and (2) investigated the association between emotional competencies and symptoms of insomnia, depression, fatigue, and paresthesia in persons with MS.METHODS: The sample of 1135 persons with MS (mean age: 34.6 years; 81.1% female; median EDSS: 2; range: 0 - 5) self-rated emotional competencies and symptoms of insomnia, symptoms of depression, fatigue, and paresthesia. Data on emotional competencies of historical samples (general population: N=622; mean age: 22.0 years; 61% females; outpatients with major depressive disorders (MDD); N=50; mean age: 42.46 years; 68% females) were used for comparison.RESULTS: Persons with MS reported lower levels of emotional competencies than both the general population (t (1, 1756)=55.18, p < 0.001, d=1.66; large effect size) and outpatients with MDD (t (1, 1183)=3.48, p <0.001, d=0.50; medium effect size). Among persons with MS, lower levels of emotional competencies were associated with higher MS-related symptoms of insomnia(r=- 0.24; p < 0.001), depression (r=- 0.42; p < 0.001), fatigue (r=- 0.31; p < 0.001), and paresthesia (r=- 0.18; p < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS: Persons with MS reported significantly lower scores for emotional competencies when compared with the general population and outpatients with MDD. Further, lower scores for emotional competencies were associated with typical MS-related symptoms of insomnia, depression, fatigue and paresthesia. These findings suggest that emotional competencies may be an important target for intervention in persons with MS.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.msard.2023.104896

  View details for PubMedID 37595370

• Teachers' emotion regulation and related environmental, personal, instructional, and well-being factors: A meta-analysis SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF EDUCATION Wang, H., Buric, I., Chang, M., Gross, J. J. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11218-023-09810-1

  View details for Web of Science ID 001026669300001

• Breaking the Link Between Negative Emotion and Unhealthy Eating: the Role of Emotion Regulation AFFECTIVE SCIENCE Langley, E. B., O'Leary, D. J., Gross, J. J., Shiota, M. N. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-023-00190-5

  View details for Web of Science ID 001044341700003

• Challenges in Evaluating Technological Interventions for Affect Regulation IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AFFECTIVE COMPUTING Miri, P., Margarit, H., Uusberg, A., Marzullo, K., Ball, T. M., Yamins, D., Flory, R., Gross, J. J. 2023; 14 (3): 2430-2442

  View details for DOI 10.1109/TAFFC.2022.3175687

  View details for Web of Science ID 001075041900054

• Examining the Cross Cultural Validity and Measurement Invariance of the Emotion Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ) in Iran and the USA JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT Ranjbar, S., Mazidi, M., Gross, J. J. J., Preece, D., Zarei, M., Azizi, A., Mirshafiei, M., Becerra, R. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10862-023-10068-2

  View details for Web of Science ID 001017559700002

• Profiles of Parental Burnout Around the Globe: Similarities and Differences Across 36 Countries CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH Matias, M., Aguiar, J., Fontaine, A., Akgun, E., Arikan, G., Aunola, K., Barham, E., Beyers, W., Boujut, E., Brytek-Matera, A., Carbonneau, N., Cesar, F., Chen, B., Dorard, G., Dunsmuir, S., Egorova, N., Elias, L., Favez, N., Foran, H. M., Furutani, K., Gannage, M., Gaspar, M., Godbout, L., Gross, J., Hatta, O., Huynh, M., Kellou, N., Knezevic, G., Lazarevic, L., Le Vigouroux, S., Leme, V., Manrique-Millones, D., Millones Rivalles, R., Miranda-Orrego, M., Miscioscia, M., Morgades-Bamba, C. I., Mousavi, S., Moutassem-Mimouni, B., Muntean, A., Murphy, H., Tenkue, J., Osman, F., Oyarce Cadiz, D., Perez-Diaz, P. A., Petrides, K., Scola, C., Simonelli, A., Soenens, B., Sorbring, E., Sorkkila, M., Stanculescu, E., Starchenkova, E., Szczygiel, D., Tremblay, M., Ustundag-Budak, A., van Bakel, H., Verhofstadt, L., Wendland, J., Mikolajczak, M., Roskam, I. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1177/10693971231174551

  View details for Web of Science ID 001018113200001

• Cross-cultural validation and measurement invariance of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ): a study in Iran and the USA AUSTRALIAN PSYCHOLOGIST Mazidi, M., Azizi, A., Becerra, R., Gross, J. J., Zarei, M., Mirshafiei, M., Preece, D. A. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1080/00050067.2023.2217325

  View details for Web of Science ID 001002530400001

• The temporal dynamics of dissociation: protocol for an ecological momentary assessment and laboratory study in a transdiagnostic sample. BMC psychology Heekerens, J. B., Gross, J. J., Kreibig, S. D., Wingenfeld, K., Roepke, S. 2023; 11 (1): 178

  Abstract

  Dissociation is a ubiquitous clinical phenomenon. Dissociative disorders (DD) are primarily characterized by dissociation, and dissociative states are also a criterion for borderline personality disorder (BPD) and the dissociative subtype of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dissociative reactions (e.g., depersonalization/derealization or gaps in awareness/memory) across diagnostic categories are believed to be affect contingent and theorized to serve affect regulation functions. What is not clear, however, is how self-reported affect and physiological reactivity unfold within dissociative episodes. To address this issue, the present project aims to investigate the hypothesis (1) whether self-reported distress (as indicated by arousal, e.g., feeling tense/agitated, and/or valence, e.g., feeling discontent/unwell) and physiological reactivity increase before dissociative episodes and (2) whether self-reported distress and physiological reactivity decrease during and after dissociative episodes in a transdiagnostic sample of patients with DD, BPD, and/or PTSD.We will use a smartphone application to assess affect and dissociation 12 times per day over the course of one week in everyday life. During this time, heart and respiratory rates will be remotely monitored. Afterwards, participants will report affect and dissociative states eight times in the laboratory before, during, and after the Trier Social Stress Test. During the laboratory task, we will continuously record heart rate, electrodermal activity, and respiratory rate, as well as measure blood pressure and take salivary samples to determine cortisol levels. Our hypotheses will be tested using multilevel structural equation models. Power analyses determined a sample size of 85.The project will test key predictions of a transdiagnostic model of dissociation based on the idea that dissociative reactions are affect contingent and serve affect regulation functions. This project will not include non-clinical control participants. In addition, the assessment of dissociation is limited to pathological phenomena.

  View details for DOI 10.1186/s40359-023-01209-z

  View details for PubMedID 37287088

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC10245627

• Connecting Introductory Psychology to Climate Change Can Empower Students TEACHING OF PSYCHOLOGY Sparkman, G., Hackel, L. M., Crosby, J., Gross, J. J., Hard, B. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1177/00986283231177949

  View details for Web of Science ID 001008303700001

• Child maltreatment and alexithymia: A meta-analytic review. Psychological bulletin Ditzer, J., Wong, E. Y., Modi, R. N., Behnke, M., Gross, J. J., Talmon, A. 2023

  Abstract

  Alexithymia refers to difficulties identifying and describing one's emotions. Growing evidence suggests that alexithymia is a key transdiagnostic risk factor. Despite its clinical importance, the etiology of alexithymia is largely unknown. The present study employs meta-analytic methods to summarize findings on the role of one hypothesized antecedent of adult alexithymia, namely child maltreatment. We obtained effect size estimates from 99 independent samples reported in 78 unique sources that reported both child maltreatment history and adult levels of alexithymia. These studies involved a total of 36,141 participants. Using correlation coefficients as our effect size index, we found that child maltreatment was positively related to overall adult alexithymia (r = .23 [.19, .27]). Notably, emotional abuse (r = .18 [.13, .23]), emotional neglect (r = .21 [.16, .26]), and physical neglect (r = .18 [.15, .22]) were the strongest predictors. Effects were moderated by gender, affiliation with clinical versus nonclinical samples, and publication status. Overall results were robust to publication bias and the presence of outliers. These findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the complex connection between different types of child maltreatment and alexithymia, providing greater insight into the early environmental influences on alexithymia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/bul0000391

  View details for PubMedID 37261746

• Abuse and affection: Implications of parenting on perceived control in adulthood Ditzer, J., Wong, E. Y., Gross, J. J., Talmon, A. TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD. 2023

  View details for Web of Science ID 001042895800134

• Child maltreatment and alexithymia: A meta-analytic review Ditzer, J., Wong, E. Y., Modi, R. N., Behnke, M., Gross, J. J., Talmon, A. TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD. 2023

  View details for Web of Science ID 001042895800002

• Three reasons why parental burnout is more prevalent in individualistic countries: a mediation study in 36 countries. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology Roskam, I., Aguiar, J., Akgun, E., Arena, A. F., Arikan, G., Aunola, K., Besson, E., Beyers, W., Boujut, E., Brianda, M. E., Brytek-Matera, A., Budak, A. M., Carbonneau, N., César, F., Chen, B. B., Dorard, G., Dos Santos Elias, L. C., Dunsmuir, S., Egorova, N., Favez, N., Fontaine, A. M., Foran, H., Fricke, J., Furutani, K., Gannagé, M., Gaspar, M., Godbout, L., Goldenberg, A., Gross, J. J., Gurza, M. A., Helmy, M., Huynh, M. T., Kawamoto, T., Lazarevic, L. B., Le Vigouroux, S., Lebert-Charron, A., Leme, V., MacCann, C., Manrique-Millones, D., Matias, M., Miranda-Orrego, M. I., Miscioscia, M., Morgades-Bamba, C., Mousavi, S. F., Muntean, A., Olderbak, S., Osman, F., Oyarce-Cadiz, D., Pérez-Díaz, P. A., Petrides, K. V., Pineda-Marin, C., Prikhidko, A., Ricci, R. T., Salinas-Quiroz, F., Sarrionandia, A., Scola, C., Simonelli, A., Cabrera, P. S., Soenens, B., Sorbring, E., Sorkkila, M., Schrooyen, C., Stănculescu, E., Starchenkova, E., Szczygiel, D., Tapia, J., Tri, T. M., Tremblay, M., van Bakel, H., Verhofstadt, L., Wendland, J., Yotanyamaneewong, S., Mikolajczak, M. 2023

  Abstract

  The prevalence of parental burnout, a condition that has severe consequences for both parents and children, varies dramatically across countries and is highest in Western countries characterized by high individualism.In this study, we examined the mediators of the relationship between individualism measured at the country level and parental burnout measured at the individual level in 36 countries (16,059 parents).The results revealed three mediating mechanisms, that is, self-discrepancies between socially prescribed and actual parental selves, high agency and self-directed socialization goals, and low parental task sharing, by which individualism leads to an increased risk of burnout among parents.The results confirm that the three mediators under consideration are all involved, and that mediation was higher for self-discrepancies between socially prescribed and actual parental selves, then parental task sharing, and lastly self-directed socialization goals. The results provide some important indications of how to prevent parental burnout at the societal level in Western countries.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s00127-023-02487-z

  View details for PubMedID 37195293

  View details for PubMedCentralID 7970748

• Reappraising reappraisal: an expanded view. Cognition & emotion Uusberg, A., Ford, B., Uusberg, H., Gross, J. J. 2023: 1-14

  Abstract

  Reappraisal is a frequently used and often successful emotion regulation strategy. However, its underlying cognitive mechanisms are not well understood. In this paper, we seek to clarify these mechanisms by expanding upon our recently proposed reAppraisal framework. According to this framework, reappraisal consists of appraisal shifts that arise from changes to the mental construal of a situation (reconstrual) or from changes to the goals that are used to evaluate the construal (repurposing). Here we propose that reappraisal can target both object-level construals and goals representing states in the environment as well as meta-level construals and goals about different states in the mind. We also propose that reappraisal can operate by facilitating decommitment from a dominant construal or goal as well as by facilitating commitment to alternative construals or goals. We demonstrate that the 2*2*2 matrix formed by crossing the three distinctions between reconstrual and repurposing, between object-level and meta-level representations, and between decommitment and commitment operations forms a useful map of different reappraisal tactics. We draw examples of each of the 8 reappraisal tactics from basic and clinical research. We conclude by considering future research inspired by the expanded reAppraisal framework.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2023.2208340

  View details for PubMedID 37161355

• Daytime affect and sleep EEG activity: A data-driven exploration. Journal of sleep research Zhang, J. X., Ten Brink, M., Yan, Y., Goldstein-Piekarski, A., Krause, A. J., Manber, R., Kreibig, S., Gross, J. J. 2023: e13916

  Abstract

  It has long been thought that links between affect and sleep are bidirectional. However, few studies have directly assessed the relationships between: (1) pre-sleep affect and sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) activity; and (2) sleep EEG activity and post-sleep affect. This study aims to systematically explore the correlations between pre-/post-sleep affect and EEG activity during sleep. In a community sample of adults (n = 51), we measured participants' positive and negative affect in the evening before sleep and in the next morning after sleep. Participants slept at their residence for 1 night of EEG recording. Using Fourier transforms, the EEG power at each channel was estimated during rapid eye movement sleep and non-rapid eye movement sleep for the full range of sleep EEG frequencies. We first present heatmaps of the raw correlations between pre-/post-sleep affect and EEG power during rapid eye movement and non-rapid eye movement sleep. We then thresholded the raw correlations with a medium effect size |r| ≥ 0.3. Using a cluster-based permutation test, we identified a significant cluster indicating a negative correlation between pre-sleep positive affect and EEG power in the alpha frequency range during rapid eye movement sleep. This result suggests that more positive affect during the daytime may be associated with less fragmented rapid eye movement sleep that night. Overall, our exploratory results lay the foundation for confirmatory research on the relationship between daytime affect and sleep EEG activity.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/jsr.13916

  View details for PubMedID 37156757

• Emotion regulation and choice of bilateral mastectomy for the treatment of unilateral breast cancer. Cancer medicine Zhang, J. X., Kurian, A. W., Jo, B., Nouriani, B., Neri, E., Gross, J. J., Spiegel, D. 2023

  Abstract

  There has been steadily increasing use of bilateral mastectomy (BMX) in the treatment of primary breast cancer (BC). In this study, we utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the influence of emotion regulation on the decision of newly diagnosed BC patients to choose BMX rather than non-BMX treatments.We recruited 123 women with unilateral BC, 61 of whom received BMX and 62 of whom received non-BMX treatments, and 39 healthy controls. While participants were in the fMRI scanner, we showed them BC-related and non-BC-negative images. In one condition, they were instructed to watch the images naturally. In another, they were instructed to regulate their negative emotion. We compared the fMRI signal during these conditions throughout the brain.With non-BC-negative images as the baseline, BC patients showed greater self-reported reactivity and neural reactivity to BC-related images in brain regions associated with self-reflection than did controls. Among the BC patients, the BMX group showed weaker activation in prefrontal emotion regulation brain regions during emotion regulation than did the non-BMX group.BC patients are understandably emotionally hyper-reactive to BC-related stimuli and those who ultimately received BMX experience more difficulty in regulating BC-related negative emotion than non-BMX BC patients. These findings offer neuropsychological evidence that difficulty in managing anxiety related to the possibility of cancer recurrence is a factor in surgical treatment decision-making and may be an intervention target with the goal of strengthening the management of cancer-related anxiety by nonsurgical means.NCT03050463.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/cam4.5963

  View details for PubMedID 37083300

• Emotion beliefs are associated with emotion regulation strategies and emotional distress CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY Arbulu, I., Salguero, J. M., Ramos-Cejudo, J., Bjureberg, J., Gross, J. J. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s12144-023-04633-x

  View details for Web of Science ID 000975594900006

• Moving outside the board room: A proof-of-concept study on the impact of walking while negotiating. PloS one Oppezzo, M., Neale, M. A., Gross, J. J., Prochaska, J. J., Schwartz, D. L., Aikens, R. C., Palaniappan, L. 2023; 18 (3): e0282681

  Abstract

  Negotiation is a consequential activity that can exacerbate power differentials, especially for women. While traditional contexts can prime stereotypical gender roles and promote conditions that lead to performance differences, these can be mitigated by context shifts. This proof-of-concept study explores whether an easy-to-apply context shift, moving from seated indoors to walking outside, can help improve the quality of negotiated interactions. Here we examine walking's effects on negotiation and relational outcomes as well as experienced emotions, moderated by gender.Same-gender pairs were randomly assigned to either sitting or walking as either candidate or recruiter negotiating a job offer.Eighty-one pairs of graduate students or community members participated: sitting pairs: 27 women, 14 men; walking pairs: 23 women, 17 men.Participants negotiated either while seated (across from each other) or walking (side by side along a path).We measured: negotiation performance (total points) and outcome equity (difference between negotiating party points); subjective outcomes of positive emotions, negative emotions, mutual liking, and mutual trust. With mixed effects models, we tested main effects of condition, gender, and interaction of condition x gender.Relative to sitting, walking was associated with: increased outcome equality for women, but decreased for men (B = 3799.1, SE = 1679.9, p = .027); decreased negative emotions, more for women than men (IRR = .83, 95% CI:[.69,1.00], p = .046); and greater mutual liking for both genders (W = 591.5, p-value = 0.027). No significant effects were found for negotiation point totals, positive emotions, or mutual trust.This study provides a foundation for investigating easy-to-implement changes that can mitigate stereotyped performance differences in negotiation.

  View details for DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0282681

  View details for PubMedID 36930666

• Alexithymia and Emotion Regulation AFFECTIVE SCIENCE Preece, D. A., Mehta, A., Petrova, K., Sikka, P., Bjureberg, J., Becerra, R., Gross, J. J. 2023; 4 (1)

  View details for Web of Science ID 001057442100018

• Mixed Emotions to Social Situations: An fMRI Investigation. NeuroImage Murray, R. J., Kreibig, S. D., Pehrs, C., Vuilleumier, P., Gross, J. J., Samson, A. C. 2023: 119973

  Abstract

  Neuroscience research has generally studied emotions each taken in isolation. However, mixed emotional states (e.g., the co-occurrence of amusement and disgust, or sadness and pleasure) are common in everyday life. Psychophysiological and behavioral evidence suggests that mixed emotions may have response profiles that are distinguishable from their constituent emotions. Yet, the brain bases of mixed emotions remain unresolved.We recruited 38 healthy adults who viewed short, validated film clips, eliciting either positive (amusing), negative (disgusting), neutral, or mixed (a mix of amusement and disgust) emotional states, while brain activity was assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We assessed mixed emotions in two ways: first by comparing neural reactivity to ambiguous (mixed) with that to unambiguous (positive and negative) film clips and second by conducting parametric analyses to measure neural reactivity with respect to individual emotional states. We thus obtained self-reports of amusement and disgust after each clip and computed a minimum feeling score (shared minimum of amusement and disgust) to quantify mixed emotional feelings.Both analyses revealed a network of the posterior cingulate (PCC), medial superior parietal lobe (SPL)/precuneus, and parieto-occipital sulcus to be involved in ambiguous contexts eliciting mixed emotions.Our results are the first to shed light on the dedicated neural processes involved in dynamic social ambiguity processing. They suggest both higher-order (SPL) and lower-order (PCC) processes may be needed to process emotionally complex social scenes.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119973

  View details for PubMedID 36848968

• The Psychological Science Accelerator's COVID-19 rapid-response dataset. Scientific data Buchanan, E. M., Lewis, S. C., Paris, B., Forscher, P. S., Pavlacic, J. M., Beshears, J. E., Drexler, S. M., Gourdon-Kanhukamwe, A., Mallik, P. R., Silan, M. A., Miller, J. K., IJzerman, H., Moshontz, H., Beaudry, J. L., Suchow, J. W., Chartier, C. R., Coles, N. A., Sharifian, M., Todsen, A. L., Levitan, C. A., Azevedo, F., Legate, N., Heller, B., Rothman, A. J., Dorison, C. A., Gill, B. P., Wang, K., Rees, V. W., Gibbs, N., Goldenberg, A., Thi Nguyen, T. V., Gross, J. J., Kaminski, G., von Bastian, C. C., Paruzel-Czachura, M., Mosannenzadeh, F., Azouaghe, S., Bran, A., Ruiz-Fernandez, S., Santos, A. C., Reggev, N., Zickfeld, J. H., Akkas, H., Pantazi, M., Ropovik, I., Korbmacher, M., Arriaga, P., Gjoneska, B., Warmelink, L., Alves, S. G., de Holanda Coelho, G. L., Stieger, S., Schei, V., Hanel, P. H., Szaszi, B., Fedotov, M., Antfolk, J., Marcu, G. M., Schrötter, J., Kunst, J. R., Geiger, S. J., Adetula, A., Kocalar, H. E., Kielińska, J., Kačmár, P., Bokkour, A., Galindo-Caballero, O. J., Djamai, I., Pöntinen, S. J., Agesin, B. E., Jernsäther, T., Urooj, A., Rachev, N. R., Koptjevskaja-Tamm, M., Kurfalı, M., Pit, I. L., Li, R., Çoksan, S., Dubrov, D., Paltrow, T. E., Baník, G., Korobova, T., Studzinska, A., Jiang, X., Aruta, J. J., Vintr, J., Chiu, F., Kaliska, L., Berkessel, J. B., Tümer, M., Morales-Izquierdo, S., Chuan-Peng, H., Vezirian, K., Rosa, A. D., Bialobrzeska, O., Vasilev, M. R., Beitner, J., Kácha, O., Žuro, B., Westerlund, M., Nedelcheva-Datsova, M., Findor, A., Krupić, D., Kowal, M., Askelund, A. D., Pourafshari, R., Đorđević, J. M., Schmidt, N. D., Baklanova, E., Szala, A., Zakharov, I., Vranka, M. A., Ihaya, K., Grano, C., Cellini, N., Białek, M., Anton-Boicuk, L., Dalgar, I., Adıgüzel, A., Verharen, J. P., Maturan, P. L., Kassianos, A. P., Oliveira, R., Čadek, M., Adoric, V. C., Özdoğru, A. A., Sverdrup, T. E., Aczel, B., Zambrano, D., Ahmed, A., Tamnes, C. K., Yamada, Y., Volz, L., Sunami, N., Suter, L., Vieira, L., Groyecka-Bernard, A., Kamburidis, J. A., Reips, U. D., Harutyunyan, M., Adetula, G. A., Allred, T. B., Barzykowski, K., Antazo, B. G., Zsido, A. N., Šakan, D. D., Cyrus-Lai, W., Ahlgren, L. P., Hruška, M., Vega, D., Manunta, E., Mokady, A., Capizzi, M., Martončik, M., Say, N., Filip, K., Vilar, R., Staniaszek, K., Vdovic, M., Adamkovic, M., Johannes, N., Hajdu, N., Cohen, N., Overkott, C., Krupić, D., Hubena, B., Nilsonne, G., Mioni, G., Solorzano, C. S., Ishii, T., Chen, Z., Kushnir, E., Karaarslan, C., Ribeiro, R. R., Khaoudi, A., Kossowska, M., Bavolar, J., Hoyer, K., Roczniewska, M., Karababa, A., Becker, M., Monteiro, R. P., Kunisato, Y., Metin-Orta, I., Adamus, S., Kozma, L., Czarnek, G., Domurat, A., Štrukelj, E., Alvarez, D. S., Parzuchowski, M., Massoni, S., Czamanski-Cohen, J., Pronizius, E., Muchembled, F., van Schie, K., Saçaklı, A., Hristova, E., Kuzminska, A. O., Charyate, A., Bijlstra, G., Afhami, R., Majeed, N. M., Musser, E. D., Sirota, M., Ross, R. M., Yeung, S. K., Papadatou-Pastou, M., Foroni, F., Almeida, I. A., Grigoryev, D., Lewis, D. M., Holford, D. L., Janssen, S. M., Tatachari, S., Batres, C., Olofsson, J. K., Daches, S., Belaus, A., Pfuhl, G., Corral-Frias, N. S., Sousa, D., Röer, J. P., Isager, P. M., Godbersen, H., Walczak, R. B., Van Doren, N., Ren, D., Gill, T., Voracek, M., DeBruine, L. M., Anne, M., Očovaj, S. B., Thomas, A. G., Arvanitis, A., Ostermann, T., Wolfe, K., Arinze, N. C., Bundt, C., Lamm, C., Calin-Jageman, R. J., Davis, W. E., Karekla, M., Zorjan, S., Jaremka, L. M., Uttley, J., Hricova, M., Koehn, M. A., Kiselnikova, N., Bai, H., Krafnick, A. J., Balci, B. B., Ballantyne, T., Lins, S., Vally, Z., Esteban-Serna, C., Schmidt, K., Macapagal, P. M., Szwed, P., Zdybek, P. M., Moreau, D., Collins, W. M., Joy-Gaba, J. A., Vilares, I., Tran, U. S., Boudesseul, J., Albayrak-Aydemir, N., Dixson, B. J., Perillo, J. T., Ferreira, A., Westgate, E. C., Aberson, C. L., Arinze, A. I., Jaeger, B., Butt, M. M., Silva, J. R., Storage, D. S., Janak, A. P., Jiménez-Leal, W., Soto, J. A., Sorokowska, A., McCarthy, R., Tullett, A. M., Frias-Armenta, M., Ribeiro, M. F., Hartanto, A., Forbes, P. A., Willis, M. L., Del Carmen Tejada R, M., Torres, A. J., Stephen, I. D., Vaidis, D. C., de la Rosa-Gómez, A., Yu, K., Sutherland, C. A., Manavalan, M., Behzadnia, B., Urban, J., Baskin, E., McFall, J. P., Ogbonnaya, C. E., Fu, C. H., Rahal, R. M., Ndukaihe, I. L., Hostler, T. J., Kappes, H. B., Sorokowski, P., Khosla, M., Lazarevic, L. B., Eudave, L., Vilsmeier, J. K., Luis, E. O., Muda, R., Agadullina, E., Cárcamo, R. A., Reeck, C., Anjum, G., Venegas, M. C., Misiak, M., Ryan, R. M., Nock, N. L., Travaglino, G. A., Mensink, M. C., Feldman, G., Wichman, A. L., Chou, W., Ziano, I., Seehuus, M., Chopik, W. J., Kung, F. Y., Carpentier, J., Vaughn, L. A., Du, H., Xiao, Q., Lima, T. J., Noone, C., Onie, S., Verbruggen, F., Radtke, T., Primbs, M. A. 2023; 10 (1): 87

  Abstract

  In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41597-022-01811-7

  View details for PubMedID 36774440

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC9918828

• Appraisal Shifts During Reappraisal EMOTION Uusberg, A., Yih, J., Taxer, J. L. L., Christ, N. M. M., Toms, T., Uusberg, H., Gross, J. J. J. 2023

  Abstract

  How to model the processes involved in regulating emotions via reappraisal? In two studies, we tested whether reappraisal impacts emotions through shifts along appraisal dimensions. In a first experimental study, 437 students imagined reliving a recent distressing event and rated their appraisals and emotions before and after using reappraisal to feel less negative about the event. Between 19% and 49% of changes to different emotions were statistically mediated by shifts along 10 appraisal dimensions. Latent profile analyses suggested that the appraisal shifts reflected four distinct reappraisal tactics. These findings were conceptually replicated in an intensive longitudinal Study 2, where 168 participants rated their appraisals and emotions in relation to a maximum of three emotional events for 7 days, first within an hour of the event and again in the evening when they also reported on emotion regulation use (1142 observations). Between 22% and 46% of changes to different emotions accompanying reappraisal use were statistically mediated by shifts along appraisal dimensions. Appraisal shifts were less significant for unregulated and otherwise regulated emotion changes. Relative to Study 1, the latent profile analyses of Study 2 revealed two similar and four novel reappraisal tactics reflecting a broader range of events and feelings. Across both studies, all appraisal dimensions were involved in at least one tactic and no dimension in all of them, highlighting the suitability of multivariate profiles over univariate dimensions for modelling reappraisal. These findings suggest that appraisal shift profiles can be part of a useful model of cognitive processes underlying reappraisal. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001202

  View details for Web of Science ID 000926149600001

  View details for PubMedID 36745065

• Designing for Emotion Regulation Interventions: An Agenda for HCI Theory and Research ACM TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTER-HUMAN INTERACTION Slovak, P., Antle, A., Theofanopoulou, N., Roquet, C., Gross, J., Isbister, K. 2023; 30 (1)

  View details for DOI 10.1145/3569898

  View details for Web of Science ID 000964902400013

• Pre-sleep affect predicts subsequent REM frontal theta in nonlinear fashion. Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience Ten Brink, M., Yan, Y., Zhang, J., Goldstein-Piekarski, A., Krause, A., Kreibig, S., Manber, R., Gross, J. 2023

  Abstract

  Pre-sleep affect is thought to influence sleep, but associations with both sleep architecture and the electroencephalographic (EEG) power spectrum are mixed. In this pre-registered study, we assessed negative valence and arousal 1h pre-sleep in 52 adults drawn from the community, then recorded one night of polysomnography (PSG) in participants' own homes. Pre-sleep affect was not associated with nonrapid eye movement (NREM) or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep architecture parameters, but we did observe inverted U-shaped relationships between both negative valence and arousal and REM frontal theta power, such that theta power was highest at moderate negative valence and arousal, and lowest at either affective extreme. When entered into a model together, both valence and arousal accounted for independent variance. Secondary analyses revealed a similar quadratic association with pre-sleep positive valence, suggesting a nonspecific effect of pre-sleep valence on REM frontal theta. Robustness checks confirmed that effects were not explained by homeostatic sleep pressure or sleep timing. Our results suggest that mixed findings in the literaturemay reflect different ends of a quadratic function, underscoring the importance of assessing how different components of pre-sleep affect relate to sleep.

  View details for DOI 10.3758/s13415-022-01051-7

  View details for PubMedID 36702991

• "Managing emotion": Open label trial and waitlist controlled trial of an emotion regulation program for university students. Journal of American college health : J of ACH Hasking, P., Chen, N. T., Chiu, V., Gray, N., Gross, J. J., Boyes, M. 2023: 1-11

  Abstract

  Background: More than one-third of university students meet diagnostic criteria for a mental disorder, and three quarters experience role impairment in some aspect of their life. One determinant of whether young adults will experience mental health difficulties is their ability to regulate emotion. We conducted two pilot trials of a brief online program designed to teach emotion regulation skills to university students. Methods: In Study 1, we conducted an open-label trial (n=104). In Study 2, we conducted a waitlist controlled trial (n=167). In both studies, pre- and post-assessment of emotion regulation, psychological distress, and self-compassion were conducted. Results: In both trials, we observed improvements in emotion regulation, and reductions in symptoms of psychological distress. Acceptability and feasibility were also satisfactory. Conclusion: An online emotion regulation program may offer promise in improving emotion regulation and subsequent mental health concerns among university students. (ACTRN12620000390987; ACTRN12620000839909).

  View details for DOI 10.1080/07448481.2022.2155468

  View details for PubMedID 36701430

• Change in Insomnia and Depressive Symptoms During COVID-19: A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Iranian Women with Multiple Sclerosis. Behavioral sleep medicine Sadeghi-Bahmani, D., Mohammadian, Y., Sadeghi Bahmani, L., Khazaie, H., Piri, N., Gross, J. J., Motl, R. W. 2023: 1-16

  Abstract

  There is some evidence that sleep patterns and psychological health have worsened in the general population as a result of the COVID-19-pandemic. Persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) represent a particularly vulnerable population for COVID-19 infections and effects of restrictions. The present study investigated whether insomnia and depressive symptoms, as well as other MS-related symptoms (i.e. fatigue and paresthesia), changed from before to during the COVID-19-pandemic among persons with diagnosed MS.A sample of 90 Iranian females with MS (mean age; 37.62 years; median EDSS score: 2.5) completed a series of self-rating scales at two time points: Nine months before the COVID-19 outbreak in May 2019 (baseline) and then again during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020 (study end). Self-rating questionnaires covered sociodemographic and disease-related information, insomnia, depressive symptoms, fatigue, and paresthesia.Depressive symptoms increased over time with a significant p-value and medium effect size. Symptoms of insomnia increased over time (significant p-value, but small effect size), while no significant changes were observed in fatigue and paresthesia (very small effect sizes). The only predictor for insomnia during the COVID-19 pandemic was insomnia before the COVID-19 pandemic; the only predictor for depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic was insomnia before the COVID-19 pandemic.Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic and its related social restrictions had significant effects on symptoms of depression and insomnia in this sample of Iranian women with MS, but had no effect on fatigue and paresthesia.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/15402002.2022.2157417

  View details for PubMedID 36694352

• Self-reported physical function is strongly related to pain behavior and pain interference and weakly related to physical capacity in people with chronic low back pain. Musculoskeletal science & practice Karayannis, N. V., Smuck, M., Law, C., Mackey, S. C., Gross, J. J., Darnall, B. D., Hush, J. 2023: 102721

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Inclusion of self-reported and capacity-based measures may help to further elucidate the interactive link between how people think and move.OBJECTIVE: To characterize the relationship between self-reported factors of physical function and pain with objective physical capacity measures.DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of 328 adults with chronic low back pain (CLBP).METHOD: Spearman correlations assessed the relationship between pairs of measures. Multiple linear regression models assessed the association between self-reported measures of physical function and the grouping of physical capacity measures. Self-reported measures included Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), PROMIS Physical Function, Pain Behavior, and Pain Interference; Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), and Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ). Capacity measures included walking speed and endurance, lower extremity functional strength, lumbopelvic range of motion, and trunk endurance.RESULTS: PROMIS Physical Function was directly and weakly correlated with walking speed (rho=0.26, 2-min walk) and inversely and weakly correlated with lower extremity strength (rho=-0.29, 5x sit-to-stand). RMDQ was not correlated with any of the capacity-based measures. PROMIS Physical Function was inversely and moderately correlated with Pain Interference (rho=-0.48) and Pain Behavior (rho=-0.43), PCS (rho=-0.36), and FABQ (rho=-0.31). The RMDQ was strongly correlated with PROMIS Physical Function (rho=-0.56), Pain Behavior (rho=0.51) and Pain Interference (rho=0.49); and moderately correlated with PCS (rho=0.37) and FABQ (rho=0.33). PROMIS Physical Function and RMDQ were not correlated with CPAQ. Lower scores on PROMIS Physical Function were weakly associated with lower measures of lower extremity strength (-0.30, 95% CI: -0.51 to -0.09, p=0.005). Higher scores on RMDQ were also weakly associated with lower measures of lower extremity strength (0.26, 95% CI: 0.11 to 0.41, p=0.001).CONCLUSIONS: A strong association emerged between self-reported limitations in physical function, pain behavior, and pain interference. A weak association emerged between self-reported physical function and lower extremity strength.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.msksp.2023.102721

  View details for PubMedID 36759316

• Evaluating emotion regulation ability across negative and positive emotions: psychometric properties of the Perth Emotion Regulation Competency Inventory (PERCI) in American adults and Iranian adults and adolescents AUSTRALIAN PSYCHOLOGIST Mazidi, M., Zarei, M., Preece, D., Gross, J. J., Azizi, A., Becerra, R. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1080/00050067.2022.2157239

  View details for Web of Science ID 000916714400001

• The Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire-Short Form (PAQ-S): A 6-item measure of alexithymia. Journal of affective disorders Preece, D. A., Mehta, A., Petrova, K., Sikka, P., Bjureberg, J., Chen, W., Becerra, R., Allan, A., Robinson, K., Gross, J. J. 2023

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Alexithymia is a trait characterized by difficulties identifying feelings, difficulties describing feelings, and externally orientated thinking. It is widely regarded as an important transdiagnostic risk factor for a range of psychopathologies, including depressive and anxiety disorders. Whilst several well-validated psychometric measures of alexithymia exist, these are relatively lengthy, thus limiting their utility in time-pressured settings. In this paper, we address this gap by introducing and validating a brief 6-item version of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire, called the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire-Short Form (PAQ-S).METHOD: Across two studies with adult samples (Study 1 N = 508 United States community; Study 2378 Australian college students), we examined the psychometric properties of the PAQ-S in terms of its factor structure, reliability, and concurrent/criterion validity.RESULTS: In exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, all PAQ-S items loaded well on a single general alexithymia factor. The PAQ-S total score had high reliability, and correlated as expected with the long-form of the PAQ, as well as other established markers of alexithymia, emotion regulation, and affective disorder symptoms.LIMITATIONS: Our samples were general community or college student samples from two Western countries; future validation work in clinical samples and more diverse cultural groups is thus needed.CONCLUSIONS: The PAQ-S retains the psychometric strengths of the PAQ. As such, the PAQ-S can be used as a quick, robust measure of overall alexithymia levels. The introduction of the PAQ-S hence enables valid assessments of alexithymia in a more diverse range of settings and research designs.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2023.01.036

  View details for PubMedID 36642314

• Using Reappraisal to Improve Outcomes for STEM Teachers and Students. Journal of cognition Daches Cohen, L., Gross, J. J., Rubinsten, O. 2023; 6 (1): 45

  Abstract

  The many stressors associated with teaching can take a toll, resulting in high levels of burnout among teachers and reduced motivation and academic performance among students. This is especially true in the context of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. Despite the efficacy of emotion regulation interventions in pedagogical settings in general and in STEM teaching in particular, there is a lack of suitable interventions. We applied the process model of emotion regulation to STEM teaching and proposed a framework, STEM-Model of EmotioN regulation: Teachers' Opportunities and Responsibilities (STEM-MENTOR), to elucidate how the high demands of STEM teaching and contextual factors (e.g., culture, reforms, teacher-student interactions) may lead to intensified negative emotions and deficits in executive functioning and emotion regulation implementation. Teacher emotions, in turn, shape students' STEM-related achievements and epistemic emotions. Thus, teachers' emotion regulation skills have pervasive effects on teaching outcomes for both teachers and students. We illustrate how at each level of our framework, steps could be taken to improve teachers' emotional trajectory. Our proposed STEM-MENTOR framework has implications for theoretical understanding and may help to shape future interventions that focus on cognitive-emotional processes in STEM education.

  View details for DOI 10.5334/joc.313

  View details for PubMedID 37577258

• Parenting Culture(s): Ideal-Parent Beliefs Across 37 Countries JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY Lin, G., Mikolajczak, M., Keller, H., Akgun, E., Arikan, G., Aunola, K., Barham, E., Besson, E., Blanchard, M., Boujut, E., Brianda, M., Brytek-Matera, A., Cesar, F., Chen, B., Dorard, G., dos Santos Elias, L., Dunsmuir, S., Egorova, N., Escobar, M., Favez, N., Fontaine, A., Foran, H., Furutani, K., Gannage, M., Gaspar, M., Godbout, L., Goldenberg, A., Gross, J. J., Gurza, M., Hatta, O., Heeren, A., Helmy, M., Mai-Trang Huynh, Kaneza, E., Kawamoto, T., Kellou, N., Kpassagou, B., Lazarevic, L., Le Vigouroux, S., Lebert-Charron, A., Leme, V., MacCann, C., Manrique-Millones, D., Medjahdi, O., Millones Rivalles, R., Miranda Orrego, M., Miscioscia, M., Mousavi, S., Moutassem-Mimouni, B., Murphy, H., Ndayizigiye, A., Ngnombouowo, T., Olderbak, S., Ornawka, S., Cadiz, D., Perez-Diaz, P. A., Petrides, K., Prikhidko, A., Salinas-Quiroz, F., Santelices, M., Schrooyen, C., Silva, P., Simonelli, A., Sorkkila, M., Stanculescu, E., Starchenkova, E., Szczygiel, D., Tapia, J., Tremblay, M., Thi Minh Thuy Tri, Ustundag-Budak, A., Valdes Pacheco, M., van Bakel, H., Verhofstadt, L., Wendland, J., Yotanyamaneewong, S., Roskam, I. 2023; 54 (1): 4-24

  View details for DOI 10.1177/00220221221123043

  View details for Web of Science ID 000894437200002

• Think again: the role of reappraisal in reducing negative valence bias. Cognition & emotion Neta, M., Harp, N. R., Tong, T. T., Clinchard, C. J., Brown, C. C., Gross, J. J., Uusberg, A. 2022: 1-16

  Abstract

  Stimuli such as surprised faces are ambiguous in that they are associated with both positive and negative outcomes. Interestingly, people differ reliably in whether they evaluate these and other ambiguous stimuli as positive or negative, and we have argued that a positive evaluation relies in part on a biasing of the appraisal processes via reappraisal. To further test this idea, we conducted two studies to evaluate whether increasing the cognitive accessibility of reappraisal through a brief emotion regulation task would lead to an increase in positive evaluations of ambiguity. Supporting this prediction, we demonstrated that cuing reappraisal, but not in three other forms of emotion regulation (Study 1a-d; n=120), increased positive evaluations of ambiguous faces. In a sign of robustness, we also found that the effect of reappraisal generalised from ambiguous faces to ambiguous scenes (Study 2; n=34). Collectively, these findings suggest that reappraisal may play a key role in determining responses to ambiguous stimuli. We discuss these findings in the context of affective flexibility, and suggest that valence bias (i.e. the tendency to evaluate ambiguity more positively or negatively) represents a novel approach to measuring implicit emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2022.2160698

  View details for PubMedID 36571618

• Trait Anxiety and Unhealthy Eating in Adult Women: The Mediating Role of Cognitive Instability. International journal of environmental research and public health Mroz, M., Gross, J. J., Brytek-Matera, A. 2022; 20 (1)

  Abstract

  Previous studies have demonstrated the influence of affective states on unhealthy eating. Heightened impulsivity has also been recognized as a risk factor for unhealthy eating. The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between trait anxiety and unhealthy eating and to test whether cognitive instability (trait impulsivity component) might mediate this relationship among adult women.METHOD: The sample was composed of 225 women (Mage = 29.70 ± 9.23; MBodyMass Index = 23.39 ± 4.43). The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS) were used. We first conducted a principal components analysis to reduce the dimensionality of the FFQ data, finding four principal components. For our primary analyses, we focused on unhealthy eating. We then conducted a mediation analysis to examine whether trait anxiety was associated with unhealthy eating and, if so, whether cognitive impulsivity mediated this relationship.RESULTS: Trait anxiety was positively associated with cognitive instability, and cognitive instability was positively associated with unhealthy eating. Trait anxiety was also positively associated with unhealthy eating, but only when controlling for cognitive instability. Consistent with our proposed mediation model, trait anxiety was positively associated with cognitive instability, which in turn predicted unhealthy eating among adult women.CONCLUSION: Adult women who reported higher levels of trait anxiety experienced higher levels of cognitive instability and engaged in poor dietary behaviors. Identifying the factors related to unhealthy eating represents a crucial step toward findings ways of reducing their impact on food intake and replacing them with more productive ones.

  View details for DOI 10.3390/ijerph20010296

  View details for PubMedID 36612619

• Alexithymia and emotion regulation. Journal of affective disorders Preece, D. A., Mehta, A., Petrova, K., Sikka, P., Bjureberg, J., Becerra, R., Gross, J. J. 2022

  Abstract

  Alexithymia is a key transdiagnostic risk factor for emotion-based psychopathologies. Conceptual models specify that this is because alexithymia impairs emotion regulation. However, the extent of these putative emotion regulation impairments remains underexplored. Our aim in this study was to begin to address this gap by examining whether people with high, average, or low levels of alexithymia differ in the types of emotion regulation strategies they typically use.General community adults from the United States (N = 501) completed a battery of alexithymia and emotion regulation measures. Participants were grouped into high, average, and low alexithymia quantiles.After controlling for demographics and current levels of distress, the high, average, and low alexithymia groups differed in their use of cognitive and behavioral emotion regulation strategies. Compared to the other groups, the high alexithymia group reported lesser use of generally adaptive regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal, approaching problems, and seeking social support) and greater use of generally maladaptive regulation strategies (expressive suppression, behavioral withdrawal, ignoring).Our data were cross-sectional and from self-report questionnaires. Future work in other cultural groups would be beneficial.Our results support the view that alexithymia is associated with impaired emotion regulation. In particular, people with high alexithymia seem to exhibit a less adaptive profile of emotion regulation strategies. Direct targeting of these emotion regulation patterns in psychotherapy may therefore be a useful pathway for the treatment of emotional disorder symptoms in people with high alexithymia.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2022.12.065

  View details for PubMedID 36566943

• The Process Model of Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Assessing Individual Differences in Strategy Stage and Orientation. Assessment Olderbak, S., Uusberg, A., MacCann, C., Pollak, K. M., Gross, J. J. 2022: 10731911221134601

  Abstract

  The study of individual differences in emotion regulation has typically focused exclusively either on the stage of the emotion generation process at which regulation occurs or on the engagement versus disengagement orientation of the regulation efforts. We introduce a new measure that samples equally across each stage of the process model of emotion regulation and from both engagement and disengagement orientations. Through five studies (ntotal = 2,543), we present the development and convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity evidence for the Process Model of Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (PMERQ). We show the final 10-scale 45-item questionnaire has acceptable internal consistency, is invariant between genders and across the age range, and has sufficient convergent and discriminant validity. The PMERQ also predicts affective and relationship functioning with strategies occurring earlier in the process model generally showing the strongest effects. We propose the PMERQ is a valuable measure to assess individual differences in the use of emotion regulation strategies.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/10731911221134601

  View details for PubMedID 36495015

• Inflammation and emotion regulation: Findings from the MIDUS II study. Brain, behavior, & immunity - health Ospina, L. H., Beck-Felts, K., Ifrah, C., Lister, A., Messer, S., Russo, S. J., Gross, J. J., Kimhy, D. 2022; 26: 100536

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation (ER) strategies are thought to contribute to mental as well as physical health outcomes. Two common ER strategies include expressive suppression, or inhibition of emotional expression, and cognitive reappraisal, which involves changing how to think about an emotion-eliciting event in order to change its emotional impact. Recent reports have hypothesized that one potential way in which ER may be linked to health outcomes is via the immune system. However, information on this putative link is scarce. The present study aims to explore whether peripheral inflammatory biomarkers are associated with individual differences in ER-strategy use. Participants (n=117) from the Midlife in the United States II (MIDUS II) study completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and provided a blood sample for immune biomarker extraction including interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), C-reactive protein (CRP), E-selectin, Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (ICAM-1), and fibrinogen. Results showed higher levels of expressive suppression were associated with decreased IL-10, TNF-alpha, and ICAM-1 levels (controlling for age, sex, BMI, total prescribed medications, and depressive symptoms). Consistent with these findings, hierarchical regression results identified TNF-alpha as a significant predictor of expressive suppression use. In contrast, no inflammatory markers were associated with predicted use of cognitive reappraisal. Our findings suggest a link between inflammation and specific ER-strategy use. Future research should consider the effects of pro-vs. anti-inflammatory cytokines on adaptive ER and subsequent mental and physical health.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.bbih.2022.100536

  View details for PubMedID 36247835

• In memoriam of Emily Butler, 1963-2023. Cognition & emotion Mauss, I., Sbarra, D., Curran, M., Gross, J. J., Barnard, K. 2022; 36 (8): 1464-1466

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2022.2186597

  View details for PubMedID 36951204

• Targeting Maladaptive Anger With Brief Therapist-Supported Internet-Delivered Emotion Regulation Treatments: A Randomized Controlled Trial JOURNAL OF CONSULTING AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Bjureberg, J., Ojala, O., Berg, A., Edvardsson, E., Kolbeinsson, O., Molander, O., Morin, E., Nordgren, L., Palme, K., Sarnholm, J., Wedin, L., Ruck, C., Gross, J. J. J., Hesser, H. 2022

  Abstract

  To evaluate the relative impact of three brief therapist-supported internet-delivered emotion regulation treatments for maladaptive anger (mindful emotion awareness [MEA], cognitive reappraisal [CR], and mindful emotion awareness + cognitive reappraisal [MEA + CR]) and to test whether baseline levels of anger pathology moderate treatment outcome.Treatments were evaluated in a randomized controlled trial. In total, 234 participants (59% female; mean age = 41.1, SD = 11.6) with maladaptive anger were randomized to MEA (n = 78), CR (n = 77), or MEA + CR (n = 79). Self-reported primary and secondary outcomes were followed up at primary endpoint, 3 months after treatment termination (88% retention). Primary outcomes were also assessed weekly during a prolonged baseline phase (4 weeks) and an active treatment phase (4 weeks).At the primary endpoint, the MEA + CR was superior in terms of anger expression (d = 0.27 95% confidence interval, CI [0.03, 0.51]), aggression (d = 0.43 [0.18, 0.68]), and anger rumination (d = 0.41 [0.18, 0.63]). MEA + CR was particularly effective in reducing anger expression (d = 0.66 [0.21, 1.11]), aggression (d = 0.90 [0.42, 1.39]), and anger rumination (d = 0.80 [0.40, 1.20]) for individuals who reported high values (+1SD) of the outcomes at baseline.Brief therapist-supported internet-delivered MEA and CR treatments are effective interventions for maladaptive anger. Combining MEA and CR is especially effective in reducing anger expression and aggression, particularly, in individuals who report higher levels of initial anger pathology. The present study highlights the importance of emotion regulation as an important treatment target for reducing maladaptive anger. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/ccp0000769

  View details for Web of Science ID 000888033500001

  View details for PubMedID 36409100

• Homophily and acrophily as drivers of political segregation. Nature human behaviour Goldenberg, A., Abruzzo, J. M., Huang, Z., Schone, J., Bailey, D., Willer, R., Halperin, E., Gross, J. J. 2022

  Abstract

  Political segregation is an important social problem, increasing polarization and impeding effective governance. Previous work has viewed the central driver of segregation to be political homophily, the tendency to associate with others who have similar views. Here we propose that, in addition to homophily, people's social tie decisions are driven by political acrophily, the tendency to associate with others who have more extreme political views (rather than more moderate). We examined this using a paradigm in which participants share emotions and attitudes on political policies, observe others' responses and choose which others to affiliate with. In four studies (N=1,235), both liberal and conservative participants' social tie decisions reflected the presence of acrophily. We found that participants who viewed peers who expressed more extreme views as more prototypical of their political group also tended to engage in greater acrophily. These studies identify a previously overlooked tendency in tie formation.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41562-022-01474-9

  View details for PubMedID 36411346

• Parental Assistance with Emotion Regulation Moderates Link Between COVID-19 Stress and Child Mental Health. Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53 Cohodes, E. M., McCauley, S., Preece, D. A., Gross, J. J., Gee, D. G. 2022: 1-18

  Abstract

  OBJECTIVE: The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted children's mental health. All children have not been affected equally, however, and whether parental emotion socialization might buffer or exacerbate the impact of COVID-19 on children's mental health remains an important question.METHOD: During the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. N=200 parents of children ages 0-17 (52.5% female) completed questionnaires related to parental assistance with children's emotion regulation, symptomatology, and exposure to COVID-19-related stress. Parents were 74% Non-Hispanic/Latino/a White, 13% Asian, 4.5% Hispanic/Latino/a, 4% Black/African American, 2.5% Native American, and 1.5% bi/multiracial; 0.5% of participants preferred not to state their race/ethnicity. In a series of linear regression analyses, we examined whether parental assistance with children's execution of emotion regulation strategies - across a variety of prototypically-adaptive and -maladaptive strategies - moderates the association between children's exposure to COVID-19-related stress and symptomatology.RESULTS: Results suggest that parental assistance with the execution of prototypically-adaptive strategies (i.e., acceptance, problem solving, behavioral disengagement) and prototypically-maladaptive strategies (i.e., suppression, rumination) may buffer or exacerbate, respectively, the impact of COVID-19-related stress on youth mental health.CONCLUSIONS: Though interpretation of findings is constrained by limitations inherent in collecting data during a pandemic, results highlight the importance of supporting parents - who play a critical role of supporting children - during public health emergencies that affect family life. Interventions designed to improve child wellbeing during the ongoing pandemic may benefit from training parents to assist their children with specific emotion regulation strategies.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/15374416.2022.2140431

  View details for PubMedID 36399629

• Parents'Emotion Suppression Exacerbates the Effect of COVID-19 Stress on Youth Internalizing Symptomatology EMOTION Cohodes, E. M., McCauley, S., Preece, D. A., Gross, J. J., Gee, D. G. 2022

  Abstract

  The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in heightened stress for families in the United States, and exposure to pandemic-related stress has been found to confer risk for mental health problems among both children and parents. To isolate risk and protective factors for children living through the ongoing pandemic, several studies have begun to examine family-level factors that may exacerbate or buffer the impact of exposure to COVID-19-related stress on children's symptomatology. Building upon the extant literature documenting associations between parents' emotion regulation and children's mental health, especially during times of stress, the present study aimed to examine parents' regulation of their own emotions as a potential moderator of the association between children's exposure to family-level COVID-19-related stress and internalizing and externalizing problems. Results suggest that parents' regulation of their own emotions using expressive suppression, specifically, may exacerbate the effect of exposure to pandemic-related stress on children's internalizing problems, but not externalizing problems. Results highlight the importance of prioritizing parents' mental health and self-regulation in prevention and intervention efforts aimed at improving family-wide mental health outcomes during public health crises that place family systems under significant stress. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001174

  View details for Web of Science ID 000880396400001

  View details for PubMedID 36355667

• Maladaptive behaviors in children with autism and parental hopelessness: The moderating role of parental reflective functioning. Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research Enav, Y., Knudtson, M. V., Hardan, A. Y., Gross, J. J. 2022

  Abstract

  Hopelessness in parents has implications for parents' own well-being as well as their ability to meet the needs of their children. In the present study, we examined the effect of maladaptive behaviors in children with autism on parental hopelessness, with particular attention to whether parental reflective functioning would moderate the effect of maladaptive behaviors on parental hopelessness. Our sample included 68 parents of children with autism between the ages of 3 and 18. Findings revealed a significant positive relationship between maladaptive behaviors in the children and hopelessness in the parents. Moreover, parental reflective functioning moderated the effect of child maladaptive behaviors on parental hopelessness, such that children's maladaptive behaviors were positively associated with parental hopelessness in parents with low (but not high) reflective functioning. Findings suggest parental reflective functioning may be a protective factor against parental hopelessness, and thus a possible target for interventions for hopelessness in parents whose children with autism exhibit greater maladaptive behaviors.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/aur.2841

  View details for PubMedID 36333959

• Intensity of Chronic Low Back Pain and Activity Interference: A Daily Diary Study of the Moderating Role of Cognitive Pain Coping Strategies. Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) Vertsberger, D., Talmon, A., Ziadni, M., Kong, J., Darnall, B. D., Manber, R., Mackey, S., Gross, J. J. 2022

  Abstract

  OBJECTIVE: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) has a significant negative impact on daily functioning, particularly for those with challenges coping adaptively with ongoing pain. However, the dynamics of pain coping in daily life remain understudied. Therefore, we examined the extent to which pain intensity interferes with daily activities, and assessed whether pain coping strategies (as assessed using daily diaries) moderated this link.METHOD: We analyzed diary data from a sample of 84 participants with CLBP who completed daily diaries for up to 30days rating pain intensity, pain interference with daily activities, and their use of pain coping strategies, including pain rumination (i.e., repetitive thinking about the pain and its causes), reappraisal (i.e., evaluating one's pain less negatively or more positively), and distraction (i.e., diverting attention from the pain). We hypothesized that these coping strategies would moderate the associations between pain and pain interference with daily activities, although in different directions.RESULTS: Results suggest that pain rumination strengthens the association between pain intensity and pain interference both on the person and day level, while pain reappraisal and distraction weaken this association, at the day and person levels, respectively.CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that those who are more preoccupied with their pain and those who are less likely to reappraise their pain have more pain interference with daily activities. These findings build on prior work on pain coping by using daily diaries and highlight two pain coping strategies that have particular relevance for reducing the impact of CLBP in daily life.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/pm/pnac151

  View details for PubMedID 36214626

• Self-control and SAT outcomes: Evidence from two national field studies. PloS one Baldwin, C. R., Haimovitz, K., Shankar, P., Gallop, R., Yeager, D., Gross, J. J., Duckworth, A. L. 2022; 17 (9): e0274380

  Abstract

  Self-control is often thought to be synonymous with willpower, defined as the direct modulation of impulses in order to do what is best in the long-run. However, research has also identified more strategic approaches to self-control that require less effort than willpower. To date, field research is lacking that compares the efficacy of willpower to strategic self-control for consequential and objectively measured real-world outcomes. In collaboration with the College Board, we surveyed two national samples of high school students about how they motivated themselves to study for the SAT college admission exam. In Study 1 (N = 5,563), compared to willpower, strategic self-control predicted more hours of SAT practice and higher SAT scores, even when controlling for prior PSAT scores. Additionally, the more self-control strategies students deployed, the higher their SAT scores. Consistent with dose-response curves in other domains, there were positive albeit diminishing marginal returns to additional strategies. Mediation analyses suggest that the benefits of self-control strategies to SAT scores was fully explained by increased practice time. These results were confirmed in Study 2, a preregistered replication with N = 14,259 high school students. Compared to willpower, strategic self-control may be especially beneficial in facilitating the pursuit of goals in high-stakes, real-world situations.

  View details for DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0274380

  View details for PubMedID 36170325

• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Acupuncture in Chronic Low Back Pain: Protocol for Two Linked Randomized Controlled Trials. JMIR research protocols Mackey, S., Gilam, G., Darnall, B., Goldin, P., Kong, J., Law, C., Heirich, M., Karayannis, N., Kao, M., Tian, L., Manber, R., Gross, J. 2022; 11 (9): e37823

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Nonpharmacologic mind-body therapies have demonstrated efficacy in low back pain. However, the mechanisms underlying these therapies remain to be fully elucidated.OBJECTIVE: In response to these knowledge gaps, the Stanford Center for Low Back Pain-a collaborative, National Institutes of Health P01-funded, multidisciplinary research center-was established to investigate the common and distinct biobehavioral mechanisms of three mind-body therapies for chronic low back pain: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that is used to treat pain, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), and electroacupuncture. Here, we describe the design and implementation of the center structure and the associated randomized controlled trials for characterizing the mechanisms of chronic low back pain treatments.METHODS: The multidisciplinary center is running two randomized controlled trials that share common resources for recruitment, enrollment, study execution, and data acquisition. We expect to recruit over 300 chronic low back pain participants across two projects and across different treatment arms within each project. The first project will examine pain-CBT compared with MBSR and a wait-list control group. The second project will examine real versus sham electroacupuncture. We will use behavioral, psychophysical, physical measure, and neuroimaging techniques to characterize the central pain modulatory and emotion regulatory systems in chronic low back pain at baseline and longitudinally. We will characterize how these interventions impact these systems, characterize the longitudinal treatment effects, and identify predictors of treatment efficacy.RESULTS: Participant recruitment began on March 17, 2015, and will end in March 2023. Recruitment was halted in March 2020 due to COVID-19 and resumed in December 2021.CONCLUSIONS: This center uses a comprehensive approach to study chronic low back pain. Findings are expected to significantly advance our understanding in (1) the baseline and longitudinal mechanisms of chronic low back pain, (2) the common and distinctive mechanisms of three mind-body therapies, and (3) predictors of treatment response, thereby informing future delivery of nonpharmacologic chronic low back pain treatments.TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02503475; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02503475.INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/37823.

  View details for DOI 10.2196/37823

  View details for PubMedID 36166279

• Emotion dysregulation in adults with ADHD: The role of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Journal of affective disorders Liu, Q., Chen, W., Preece, D. A., Xu, D., Li, H., Liu, N., Fu, G., Wang, Y., Qian, Q., Gross, J. J., Liu, L. 2022

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Emotion dysregulation (ED) is a common clinical feature of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The present study examined the role of cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) in adults with ADHD. In addition, resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) data were analyzed to identify neural substrates of CR/ES-ED relationships.METHODS: A total of 309 adults with ADHD and 163 healthy controls were recruited. ED was assessed using the 'emotional control' (EC) subscale from Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire was used to measure CR and ES. The functional connectivities (FCs) with the amygdala as Region of Interest, were analyzed in a subsample to explore their association with CR, ES and EC, respectively.RESULTS: Higher EC scores (indicative of lesser emotional control), as well as lower CR and higher ES utilization were detected in adults with ADHD compared with healthy controls. CR and ES were both negatively correlated with EC in adults with ADHD. Mediation analysis detected a potential effect of ADHD diagnosis on EC via CR. In addition, a unique significant mediation effect was found between ES-related FC of the right amygdala-prefrontal cortex and ED expression in adults with ADHD, confirming the 'ES FCs [amygR-PFC] EC' relationship.LIMITATIONS: Only self-reported scales and rs-fMRI data were included in these analyses.CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide preliminary evidence that in adults with ADHD, less frequent use of CR accounts for ED expression, while more frequent use of ES may play a unique compensatory role in emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2022.09.058

  View details for PubMedID 36162656

• Psychological Resilience: An Affect-Regulation Framework. Annual review of psychology Troy, A. S., Willroth, E. C., Shallcross, A. J., Giuliani, N. R., Gross, J. J., Mauss, I. B. 2022

  Abstract

  Exposure to adversity (e.g., poverty, bereavement) is a robust predictor of disruptions in psychological functioning. However, people vary greatly in their responses to adversity; some experience severe long-term disruptions, others experience minimal disruptions or even improvements. We refer to the latter outcomes-faring better than expected given adversity-as psychological resilience. Understanding what processes explain resilience has critical theoretical and practical implications. Yet, psychology's understanding of resilience is incomplete, for two reasons: (a) We lack conceptual clarity, and (b) two major approaches to resilience-the stress and coping approach and the emotion and emotion-regulation approach-have limitations and are relatively isolated from one another. To address these two obstacles, we first discuss conceptual questions about resilience. Next, we offer an integrative affect-regulation framework that capitalizes on complementary strengths of both approaches. This framework advances our understanding of resilience by integrating existing findings, highlighting gaps in knowledge, and guiding future research. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 74 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

  View details for DOI 10.1146/annurev-psych-020122-041854

  View details for PubMedID 36103999

• Loneliness Versus Distress: A Comparison of Emotion Regulation Profiles BEHAVIOUR CHANGE Tan, A. J., Mancini, V., Gross, J. J., Goldenberg, A., Badcock, J. C., Lim, M. H., Becerra, R., Jackson, B., Preece, D. A. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1017/bec.2022.18

  View details for Web of Science ID 000853694800001

• Author Correction: A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nature human behaviour Wang, K., Goldenberg, A., Dorison, C. A., Miller, J. K., Uusberg, A., Lerner, J. S., Gross, J. J., Agesin, B. B., Bernardo, M., Campos, O., Eudave, L., Grzech, K., Ozery, D. H., Jackson, E. A., Garcia, E. O., Drexler, S. M., Jurkovic, A. P., Rana, K., Wilson, J. P., Antoniadi, M., Desai, K., Gialitaki, Z., Kushnir, E., Nadif, K., Bravo, O. N., Nauman, R., Oosterlinck, M., Pantazi, M., Pilecka, N., Szabelska, A., van Steenkiste, I. M., Filip, K., Bozdoc, A. I., Marcu, G. M., Agadullina, E., Adamkovic, M., Roczniewska, M., Reyna, C., Kassianos, A. P., Westerlund, M., Ahlgren, L., Pontinen, S., Adetula, G. A., Dursun, P., Arinze, A. I., Arinze, N. C., Ogbonnaya, C. E., Ndukaihe, I. L., Dalgar, I., Akkas, H., Macapagal, P. M., Lewis, S., Metin-Orta, I., Foroni, F., Willis, M., Santos, A. C., Mokady, A., Reggev, N., Kurfali, M. A., Vasilev, M. R., Nock, N. L., Parzuchowski, M., Espinoza Barria, M. F., Vranka, M., Kohlova, M. B., Ropovik, I., Harutyunyan, M., Wang, C., Yao, E., Becker, M., Manunta, E., Kaminski, G., Boudesseul, J., Marko, D., Evans, K., Lewis, D. M., Findor, A., Landry, A. T., Aruta, J. J., Ortiz, M. S., Vally, Z., Pronizius, E., Voracek, M., Lamm, C., Grinberg, M., Li, R., Valentova, J. V., Mioni, G., Cellini, N., Chen, S., Zickfeld, J., Moon, K., Azab, H., Levy, N., Karababa, A., Beaudry, J. L., Boucher, L., Collins, W. M., Todsen, A. L., van Schie, K., Vintr, J., Bavolar, J., Kaliska, L., Krizanic, V., Samojlenko, L., Pourafshari, R., Geiger, S. J., Beitner, J., Warmelink, L., Ross, R. M., Stephen, I. D., Hostler, T. J., Azouaghe, S., McCarthy, R., Szala, A., Grano, C., Solorzano, C. S., Anjum, G., Jimenez-Leal, W., Bradford, M., Perez, L. C., Cruz Vasquez, J. E., Galindo-Caballero, O. J., Vargas-Nieto, J. C., Kacha, O., Arvanitis, A., Xiao, Q., Carcamo, R., Zorjan, S., Tajchman, Z., Vilares, I., Pavlacic, J. M., Kunst, J. R., Tamnes, C. K., von Bastian, C. C., Atari, M., Sharifian, M., Hricova, M., Kacmar, P., Schrotter, J., Rahal, R., Cohen, N., FatahModares, S., Zrimsek, M., Zakharov, I., Koehn, M. A., Esteban-Serna, C., Calin-Jageman, R. J., Krafnick, A. J., Strukelj, E., Isager, P. M., Urban, J., Silva, J. R., Martoncik, M., Ocovaj, S. B., Sakan, D., Kuzminska, A. O., Djordjevic, J. M., Almeida, I. A., Ferreira, A., Lazarevic, L. B., Manley, H., Ricaurte, D. Z., Monteiro, R. P., Etabari, Z., Musser, E., Dunleavy, D., Chou, W., Godbersen, H., Ruiz-Fernandez, S., Reeck, C., Batres, C., Kirgizova, K., Muminov, A., Azevedo, F., Alvarez, D. S., Butt, M. M., Lee, J. M., Chen, Z., Verbruggen, F., Ziano, I., Tumer, M., Charyate, A. C., Dubrov, D., Tejada Rivera, M. D., Aberson, C., Palfi, B., Maldonado, M. A., Hubena, B., Sacakli, A., Ceary, C. D., Richard, K. L., Singer, G., Perillo, J. T., Ballantyne, T., Cyrus-Lai, W., Fedotov, M., Du, H., Wielgus, M., Pit, I. L., Hruska, M., Sousa, D., Aczel, B., Hajdu, N., Szaszi, B., Adamus, S., Barzykowski, K., Micheli, L., Schmidt, N., Zsido, A. N., Paruzel-Czachura, M., Muda, R., Bialek, M., Kowal, M., Sorokowska, A., Misiak, M., Mola, D., Ortiz, M. V., Correa, P. S., Belaus, A., Muchembled, F., Ribeiro, R. R., Arriaga, P., Oliveira, R., Vaughn, L. A., Szwed, P., Kossowska, M., Czarnek, G., Kielinska, J., Antazo, B., Betlehem, R., Stieger, S., Nilsonne, G., Simonovic, N., Taber, J., Gourdon-Kanhukamwe, A., Domurat, A., Ihaya, K., Yamada, Y., Urooj, A., Gill, T., Cadek, M., Bylinina, L., Messerschmidt, J., Kurfali, M., Adetula, A., Baklanova, E., Albayrak-Aydemir, N., Kappes, H. B., Gjoneska, B., House, T., Jones, M. V., Berkessel, J. B., Chopik, W. J., Coksan, S., Seehuus, M., Khaoudi, A., Bokkour, A., El Arabi, K. A., Djamai, I., Iyer, A., Parashar, N., Adiguzel, A., Kocalar, H. E., Bundt, C., Norton, J. O., Papadatou-Pastou, M., De la Rosa-Gomez, A., Ankushev, V., Bogatyreva, N., Grigoryev, D., Ivanov, A., Prusova, I., Romanova, M., Sarieva, I., Terskova, M., Hristova, E., Kadreva, V. H., Janak, A., Schei, V., Sverdrup, T. E., Askelund, A. D., Pineda, L. M., Krupic, D., Levitan, C. A., Johannes, N., Ouherrou, N., Say, N., Sinkolova, S., Janjic, K., Stojanovska, M., Stojanovska, D., Khosla, M., Thomas, A. G., Kung, F. Y., Bijlstra, G., Mosannenzadeh, F., Balci, B. B., Reips, U., Baskin, E., Ishkhanyan, B., Czamanski-Cohen, J., Dixson, B. J., Moreau, D., Sutherland, C. A., Chuan-Peng, H., Noone, C., Flowe, H., Anne, M., Janssen, S. M., Topor, M., Majeed, N. M., Kunisato, Y., Yu, K., Daches, S., Hartanto, A., Vdovic, M., Anton-Boicuk, L., Forbes, P. A., Kamburidis, J., Marinova, E., Nedelcheva-Datsova, M., Rachev, N. R., Stoyanova, A., Schmidt, K., Suchow, J. W., Koptjevskaja-Tamm, M., Jernsather, T., Olofsson, J. K., Bialobrzeska, O., Marszalek, M., Tatachari, S., Afhami, R., Law, W., Antfolk, J., Zuro, B., Van Doren, N., Soto, J. A., Searston, R., Miranda, J., Damnjanovic, K., Yeung, S. K., Krupic, D., Hoyer, K., Jaeger, B., Ren, D., Pfuhl, G., Klevjer, K., Corral-Frias, N. S., Frias-Armenta, M., Lucas, M. Y., Torres, A. O., Toro, M., Delgado, L. G., Vega, D., Solas, S. A., Vilar, R., Massoni, S., Frizzo, T., Bran, A., Vaidis, D. C., Vieira, L., Paris, B., Capizzi, M., Coelho, G. L., Greenburgh, A., Whitt, C. M., Tullett, A. M., Du, X., Volz, L., Bosma, M. J., Karaarslan, C., Sarioguz, E., Allred, T. B., Korbmacher, M., Colloff, M. F., Lima, T. J., Ribeiro, M. F., Verharen, J. P., Karekla, M., Karashiali, C., Sunami, N., Jaremka, L. M., Storage, D., Habib, S., Studzinska, A., Hanel, P. H., Holford, D. L., Sirota, M., Wolfe, K., Chiu, F., Theodoropoulou, A., Ahn, E. R., Lin, Y., Westgate, E. C., Brohmer, H., Hofer, G., Dujols, O., Vezirian, K., Feldman, G., Travaglino, G. A., Ahmed, A., Li, M., Bosch, J., Torunsky, N., Bai, H., Manavalan, M., Song, X., Walczak, R. B., Zdybek, P., Friedemann, M., Rosa, A. D., Kozma, L., Alves, S. G., Lins, S., Pinto, I. R., Correia, R. C., Babincak, P., Banik, G., Rojas-Berscia, L. M., Varella, M. A., Uttley, J., Beshears, J. E., Thommesen, K. K., Behzadnia, B., Geniole, S. N., Silan, M. A., Maturan, P. L., Vilsmeier, J. K., Tran, U. S., Izquierdo, S. M., Mensink, M. C., Sorokowski, P., Groyecka-Bernard, A., Radtke, T., Adoric, V. C., Carpentier, J., Ozdogru, A. A., Joy-Gaba, J. A., Hedgebeth, M. V., Ishii, T., Wichman, A. L., Roer, J. P., Ostermann, T., Davis, W. E., Suter, L., Papachristopoulos, K., Zabel, C., Onie, S., Ebersole, C. R., Chartier, C. R., Mallik, P. R., Urry, H. L., Buchanan, E. M., Coles, N. A., Primbs, M. A., Basnight-Brown, D. M., IJzerman, H., Forscher, P. S., Moshontz, H. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41562-022-01441-4

  View details for PubMedID 36002766

• Optimized short-forms of the Cognitive Distortions Questionnaire. Journal of anxiety disorders Morrison, A. S., Ustun, B., Horenstein, A., Kaplan, S. C., de Oliveira, I. R., Batmaz, S., Gross, J. J., Sadikova, E., Hemanny, C., Pires, P. P., Goldin, P. R., Kessler, R. C., Heimberg, R. G. 2022; 92: 102624

  Abstract

  INTRODUCTION: The Cognitive Distortions Questionnaire (CD-Quest) is a self-report questionnaire that assesses common cognitive distortions. Although the CD-Quest has excellent psychometric properties, its length may limit its use.METHODS: We attempted to develop short-forms of the CD-Quest using RiskSLIM - a machine learning method to build short-form scales that can be scored by hand. Each short-form was fit to maximize concordance with the total CD-Quest score for a specified number of items based on an objective function, in this case R2, by selecting an optimal subset of items and an optimal set of small integer weights. The models were trained in a sample of US undergraduate students (N = 906). We then validated each short-form on five independent samples: two samples of undergraduate students in Brazil (Ns = 182, 183); patients with depression in Brazil (N = 62); patients with social anxiety disorder in the US (N = 198); and psychiatric outpatients in Turkey (N = 269).RESULTS: A 9-item short-form with integer scoring was created that reproduced the total 15-item CD-Quest score in all validation samples with excellent accuracy (R2 = 90.4-93.6%). A 5-item ultra-short-form had good accuracy (R2 = 78.2-85.5%).DISCUSSION: A 9-item short-form and a 5-item ultra-short-form of the CD-Quest both reproduced full CD-Quest scores with excellent to good accuracy. These shorter versions of the full CD-Quest could facilitate measurement of cognitive distortions for users with limited time and resources.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102624

  View details for PubMedID 36087565

• Sleep and affect: A conceptual review. Sleep medicine reviews Ten Brink, M., Dietch, J. R., Tutek, J., Suh, S. A., Gross, J. J., Manber, R. 2022; 65: 101670

  Abstract

  Everyday experience suggests that sleep and affect are closely linked, with daytime affect influencing how we sleep, and sleep influencing subsequent affect. Yet empirical evidence for this bidirectional relationship between sleep and affect in non-clinical adult samples remains mixed, which may be due to heterogeneity in both construct definitions and measurement. This conceptual review proposes a granular framework that deconstructs sleep and affect findings according to three subordinate dimensions, namely domains (which are distinct for sleep and affect), methods (i.e., self-report vs. behavioral/physiological measures), and timescale (i.e., shorter vs. longer). We illustrate the value of our granular framework through a systematic review of empirical studies published in PubMed (N=80 articles). We found that in some cases, particularly for sleep disturbances and sleep duration, our framework identified robust evidence for associations with affect that are separable by domain, method, and timescale. However, in most other cases, evidence was either inconclusive or too sparse, resulting in no clear patterns. Our review did not find support for granular bidirectionality between sleep and affect. We suggest a roadmap for future studies based on gaps identified by our review and discuss advantages and disadvantages of our granular dimensional framework.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.smrv.2022.101670

  View details for PubMedID 36088755

• EXPERIENTIAL, EXPRESSIVE, AND PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EMOTION REGULATION GOALS WHILE REAPPRAISING DISGUSTING STIMULI Bruckhaus, A., Kreibig, S., Samson, A., Gross, J. WILEY. 2022: S139

  View details for Web of Science ID 000882561000259

• Reappraisal, social support, and parental burnout. The British journal of clinical psychology Lin, G., Goldenberg, A., Arikan, G., Brytek-Matera, A., Czepczor-Bernat, K., Manrique-Millones, D., Mikolajczak, M., Overbye, H., Roskam, I., Szczygiel, D., Ustundag-Budak, A. M., Gross, J. J. 2022

  Abstract

  OBJECTIVES: Parental burnout is a prevalent condition that affects parents' functioning and health. While various protective factors have been examined, little is known about their interplay. In the current study, we examined the joint effect of two protective factors against parental burnout (one external-social support and one internal-cognitive reappraisal). We were specifically interested in whether the presence of one factor could compensate for the lack of the other.METHODS: To address this question, 1835 participants were drawn from five countries: United States, Poland, Peru, Turkey and Belgium.RESULTS: Results suggested that both social support and cognitive reappraisal were associated with lower parental burnout. An interaction was also found between the resource factors, such that the presence of cognitive reappraisal compensated for the absence of social support.CONCLUSIONS: These findings point to ways in which parental burnout could be reduced, especially in situations where social support is not easily available.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/bjc.12380

  View details for PubMedID 35852015

• A synergistic mindsets intervention protects adolescents from stress. Nature Yeager, D. S., Bryan, C. J., Gross, J. J., Murray, J. S., Krettek Cobb, D., H F Santos, P., Gravelding, H., Johnson, M., Jamieson, J. P. 2022

  Abstract

  Social-evaluative stressors-experiences in which people feel they could be judged negatively-pose a major threat to adolescent mental health1-3 and can cause young people to disengage from stressful pursuits, resulting in missed opportunities to acquire valuable skills. Here we show that replicable benefits for the stress responses of adolescents can be achieved with a short (around 30-min), scalable 'synergistic mindsets' intervention. This intervention, which is a self-administered online training module, synergistically targets both growth mindsets4 (the idea that intelligence can be developed) and stress-can-be-enhancing mindsets5 (the idea that one's physiological stress response can fuel optimal performance). In six double-blind, randomized, controlled experiments that were conducted with secondary and post-secondary students in the UnitedStates, the synergistic mindsets intervention improved stress-related cognitions (study 1, n=2,717; study 2, n=755), cardiovascular reactivity (study 3, n=160; study 4, n=200), daily cortisol levels (study 5, n=118 students, n=1,213 observations), psychological well-being (studies 4 and 5), academic success (study 5) and anxiety symptoms during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns (study 6, n=341). Heterogeneity analyses (studies 3, 5 and 6) and a four-cell experiment (study 4) showed that the benefits of the intervention depended on addressing both mindsets-growth and stress-synergistically. Confidence in these conclusions comes from a conservative, Bayesian machine-learning statistical method for detecting heterogeneous effects6. Thus, our research has identified a treatment for adolescent stress that could, in principle, be scaled nationally at low cost.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41586-022-04907-7

  View details for PubMedID 35794485

• Effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on symptoms and emotional competencies in individuals with multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis and related disorders Sadeghi-Bahmani, D., Esmaeili, L., Mokhtari, F., Sadeghi Bahmani, L., Afsharzadeh, M., Shaygannejad, V., Mirmosayyeb, O., Goldstein-Piekarski, A. N., Gross, J. J. 2022; 67: 104029

  Abstract

  Compared to the general population, individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) report higher levels of insomnia, depression, fatigue, and paresthesia, and lower levels of emotional competencies (understanding emotions in self and others). Available treatments are limited, and novel approaches to reducing symptoms and enhancing emotional competencies in MS are needed. Two potentially beneficial treatments are Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of ACT and MBSR on symptoms and emotional competencies in patients with MS.A total of 76 individuals with MS (81.6% females; mean age: 38.88 years; EDSS median: 2; range: 0-5) were randomly assigned to an 8-week ACT treatment, an 8-week MBSR treatment, or a wait-list control condition. At baseline and study-end (week 8), participants completed a series of questionnaires covering symptoms and emotional competencies. At mid-term (week 4), participants rated their insomnia and depression.Over time, symptoms of MS decreased (medium effect size for insomnia, fatigue, and paresthesia, and large effect size for depression) and emotional competencies improved (large effect size), but more so in the MBSR and ACT conditions, compared with the control condition. At study-end, the outcome improvement did not differ between the ACT and MBSR conditions.Both ACT and MBSR led to reduced symptoms and enhanced emotional competencies. Psychotherapeutic interventions such as these should be considered as a means of decreasing symptoms and increasing emotional competencies among individuals with MS.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.msard.2022.104029

  View details for PubMedID 35940019

• Online mindset training protects adolescents from stress NATURE Yeager, D. S., Gross, J. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1038/d41586-022-01746-4

  View details for Web of Science ID 000823195900001

  View details for PubMedID 35794386

• Toward Systematic Underwater Survey of Mediterranean Maritime Activity along the Southern Turkish Coast JOURNAL OF FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY Ozdas, H., Leidwanger, J., Gross, J., Kizildag, N. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1080/00934690.2022.2076189

  View details for Web of Science ID 000804612200001

• The psychological impact of the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy: The moderating role of gender and emotion regulation. Health care for women international Panno, A., Theodorou, A., Massullo, C., Bratman, G. N., Imperatori, C., Carbone, G. A., Gross, J. J. 2022: 1-18

  Abstract

  Many researchers suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic may have more negative effects on women than men. Accordingly, we hypothesized that women would experience greater COVID-19 related distress and more psychopathological symptoms than men during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. Moreover, we expected emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, as protective and risk factors respectively) to interact with gender in shaping psychological health. We administered an online questionnaire to 1519 participants during the first national COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. As predicted, women reported greater COVID-19 related distress and more psychopathological symptoms than men. Furthermore, women who made greater use of reappraisal reported lower levels of distress and fewer psychopathological symptoms. Suppression was associated with more psychopathological symptoms, but there were no interaction effects with gender. Our findings have implications for policymakers wishing to sustain women's health during stressful situations such as the COVID-19 outbreak and beyond.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/07399332.2022.2083622

  View details for PubMedID 35763322

• Amplification in the evaluation of multiple emotional expressions over time. Nature human behaviour Goldenberg, A., Schöne, J., Huang, Z., Sweeny, T. D., Ong, D. C., Brady, T. F., Robinson, M. M., Levari, D., Zaki, J., Gross, J. J. 2022

  Abstract

  Social interactions are dynamic and unfold over time. To make sense of social interactions, people must aggregate sequential information into summary, global evaluations. But how do people do this? Here, to address this question, we conducted nine studies (N = 1,583) using a diverse set of stimuli. Our focus was a central aspect of social interaction-namely, the evaluation of others' emotional responses. The results suggest that when aggregating sequences of images and videos expressing varying degrees of emotion, perceivers overestimate the sequence's average emotional intensity. This tendency for overestimation is driven by stronger memory of more emotional expressions. A computational model supports this account and shows that amplification cannot be explained only by nonlinear perception of individual exemplars. Our results demonstrate an amplification effect in the perception of sequential emotional information, which may have implications for the many types of social interactions that involve repeated emotion estimation.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41562-022-01390-y

  View details for PubMedID 35760844

• Somatic symptom profiles are associated with pre-treatment depression and anxiety symptom severity but not inpatient therapy outcomes. Psychotherapy research : journal of the Society for Psychotherapy Research Bertele, N., Wendling, C., Reinken, V., Gross, J. J., Talmon, A. 2022: 1-11

  Abstract

  OBJECTIVE.: Although somatic symptoms are common among mental health patients, their association with symptom severity and inpatient treatment outcomes is not yet well understood.METHODS.: Using a pre-post design and latent class analysis (LCA), 641 inpatients (63.4% female) were classified based on their self-reported somatic symptoms. We examined how the resulting somatic symptom classes related to depression and anxiety symptom severity pre-treatment (T1) and to symptom reduction post-treatment (T2).RESULTS.: Our results suggest four somatic symptom classes, namely (1) unspecific/low somatic symptom burden, (2) sexual problems, (3) gastrointestinal symptoms with pain syndrome, and (4) cardiopulmonary symptoms. While class 1 indicated the lowest pre-treatment depression and anxiety symptom severity, class 2 reported high depressive symptoms coupled with low anxiety, class 3 reported moderate depressive and anxiety symptom severity, and class 4 reported the highest depressive and anxiety symptom burden. Somatic symptom classes, however, did not predict the degree of reduction in either depression or anxiety symptoms post-treatment.CONCLUSIONS.: These findings demonstrate somatic heterogeneity in mental health patients and reveal the relationship of somatic symptom patterns to affective symptom severity. Clinical implications are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/10503307.2022.2090870

  View details for PubMedID 35729846

• Emotion Dysregulation and Opioid Misuse. Biological psychiatry Parvaz, M. A., Gross, J. J. 2022; 91 (12): 1005-1007

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.04.007

  View details for PubMedID 35654558

• Negative Affect, Affect Regulation, and Food Choice: A Value-Based Decision-Making Analysis SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE O'Leary, D., Smith, A., Salehi, E., Gross, J. J. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1177/19485506221079947

  View details for Web of Science ID 000811998500001

• The Undoing Effect of Positive Emotions: A Meta-Analytic Review EMOTION REVIEW Behnke, M., Pietruch, M., Chwilkowska, P., Wessel, E., Kaczmarek, L. D., Assink, M., Gross, J. J. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1177/17540739221104457

  View details for Web of Science ID 000810063700001

• Childhood Maltreatment and Borderline Personality Disorder: The Mediating Role of Difficulties with Emotion Regulation. Journal of personality disorders Bertele, N., Talmon, A., Gross, J. J., Schmahl, C., Schmitz, M., Niedtfeld, I. 2022; 36 (3): 264-276

  Abstract

  Exposure to childhood maltreatment (CM) increases the risk of developing borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, it remains unclear what mechanisms might mediate this link. One candidate of interest is difficulties with emotion regulation. This study aims to examine the pattern of relations among CM, difficulties with emotion regulation, and the risk of developing BPD. A total of 162 individuals diagnosed with current BPD and 162 matched healthy controls completed self-reported questionnaires assessing CM and difficulties with emotion regulation. The authors found high correlations between CM and BPD diagnosis (r = .73, p < .001). Difficulties with emotion regulation were found to mediate the link between CM and BPD diagnosis (p < .001). Results suggest that CM may play a key role in the etiology of BPD and that difficulties with emotion regulation might be a mediating component between CM and BPD.

  View details for DOI 10.1521/pedi.2022.36.3.264

  View details for PubMedID 35647775

• Multivariate Brain Activity while Viewing and Reappraising Affective Scenes Does Not Predict the Multiyear Progression of Preclinical Atherosclerosis in Otherwise Healthy Midlife Adults. Affective science Gianaros, P. J., Rasero, J., DuPont, C. M., Kraynak, T. E., Gross, J. J., McRae, K., Wright, A. G., Verstynen, T. D., Barinas-Mitchell, E. 2022; 3 (2): 406-424

  Abstract

  Cognitive reappraisal is an emotion regulation strategy that is postulated to reduce risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD), particularly the risk due to negative affect. At present, however, the brain systems and vascular pathways that may link reappraisal to CVD risk remain unclear. This study thus tested whether brain activity evoked by using reappraisal to reduce negative affect would predict the multiyear progression of a vascular marker of preclinical atherosclerosis and CVD risk: carotid artery intima-media thickness (CA-IMT). Participants were 176 otherwise healthy adults (50.6% women; aged 30-51 years) who completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging task involving the reappraisal of unpleasant scenes from the International Affective Picture System. Ultrasonography was used to compute CA-IMT at baseline and a median of 2.78 (interquartile range, 2.67 to 2.98) years later among 146 participants. As expected, reappraisal engaged brain systems implicated in emotion regulation. Reappraisal also reduced self-reported negative affect. On average, CA-IMT progressed over the follow-up period. However, multivariate and cross-validated machine-learning models demonstrated that brain activity during reappraisal failed to predict CA-IMT progression. Contrary to hypotheses, brain activity during cognitive reappraisal to reduce negative affect does not appear to forecast the progression of a vascular marker of CVD risk.Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-021-00098-y.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-021-00098-y

  View details for PubMedID 36046001

• SYMPTOMS OF INSOMNIA AND DEPRESSION AMONG INDIVIDUALS WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS BEFORE AND DURING THE COVID-19-RESULTS FROM A PROSPECTIVE LONGITUDINAL STUDY Sadeghi-Bahmani, D., Mohammadian, Y., Piri, N., Bahmani, L., Brand, S., Goldstein-Piekarski, A., Khazaie, H., Gross, J. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2022: A278

  View details for Web of Science ID 000838094800630

• PRE-SLEEP AROUSAL PREDICTS SUBSEQUENT NIGHT'S REM FRONTAL THETA POWER IN A NATURALISTIC CONTEXT ten Brink, M., Yan, Y., Zhang, J., Manber, R., Kreibig, S., Gross, J. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2022: A117

  View details for Web of Science ID 000838094800261

• The Neural Bases of Expressive Suppression: A Systematic Review of Functional Neuroimaging Studies. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews Sikka, P., Stenberg, J., Vorobyev, V., Gross, J. J. 2022: 104708

  Abstract

  Expressive suppression refers to the inhibition of emotion-expressive behavior (e.g., facial expressions of emotion). Although it is a commonly used emotion regulation strategy with well-documented consequences for well-being, little is known about its underlying mechanisms. In this systematic review, we for the first time synthesize functional neuroimaging studies on the neural bases of expressive suppression in non-clinical populations. The 12 studies included in this review contrasted the use of expressive suppression to simply watching emotional stimuli. Results showed that expressive suppression consistently increased activation of frontoparietal regions, especially the dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortices and inferior parietal cortex, but decreased activation in temporo-occipital areas. Results regarding the involvement of the insula and amygdala were inconsistent with studies showing increased, decreased, or no changes in activation. These mixed findings underscore the importance of distinguishing expressive suppression from other forms of suppression and highlight the need to pay more attention to experimental design and neuroimaging data analysis procedures. We discuss these conceptual and methodological issues and provide suggestions for future research.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104708

  View details for PubMedID 35636561

• Emotion Regulation in Everyday Life: Mapping Global Self-Reports to Daily Processes EMOTION Koval, P., Kalokerinos, E. K., Greenaway, K. H., Medland, H., Kuppens, P., Nezlek, J. B., Hinton, J. D. X., Gross, J. J. 2022

  Abstract

  Recent theory conceptualizes emotion regulation as occurring across three stages: (a) identifying the need to regulate, (b) selecting a strategy, and (c) implementing that strategy to modify emotions. Yet, measurement of emotion regulation has not kept pace with these theoretical advances. In particular, widely used global self-report questionnaires are often assumed to index people's typical strategy selection tendencies. However, it is unclear how well global self-reports capture individual differences in strategy selection and/or whether they may also index other emotion regulation stages. To address this issue, we examined how global self-report measures correspond with the three stages of emotion regulation as modeled using daily life data. We analyzed data from nine daily diary and experience sampling studies (total N = 1,097), in which participants provided daily and global self-reports of cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, and rumination. We found only weak-to-moderate correlations between global self-reports and average daily self-reports of each regulation strategy (indexing strategy selection). Global self-reports also correlated with individual differences in the degree to which (a) preceding affect experience predicted regulation strategies (representing the identification stage), and (b) regulation strategies predicted subsequent changes in affective experience (representing the implementation stage). Our findings suggest that global self-report measures of reappraisal, suppression, and rumination may not strongly and uniquely correlate with individual differences in daily selection of these strategies. Moreover, global self-report measures may also index individual differences in the perceived need to regulate, and the affective consequences of regulation in daily life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0001097

  View details for Web of Science ID 000797152000001

  View details for PubMedID 35588386

• Experiential, expressive, and physiological effects of positive and negative emotion regulation goals while reappraising amusing stimuli. International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology Kreibig, S. D., Samson, A. C., Gross, J. J. 2022

  Abstract

  We examined whether positive and negative emotion regulation (ER) goals while cognitively reappraising amusing stimuli differentially engage positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) systems. Forty-eight women watched 20-30s amusing film clips. They were instructed to either respond naturally (no ER goal) or emphasize the film clips' positive (positive ER goal) or negative (negative ER goal) aspects in their interpretation. We measured PA and NA system activity on experiential, expressive, and physiological response channels through self-reported amusement and disgust, electromyography of zygomaticus major and corrugator supercilii, and autonomic nervous system reactivity from respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and pre-ejection period (PEP). Natural viewing (no ER goal) of amusing clips increased self-reported amusement (and to a lesser degree disgust), zygomaticus reactivity, and RSA. Compared to no and negative ER goals, reappraising the amusing clips with a positive ER goal decreased corrugator reactivity, decreasing negative emotional expression. Compared to no and positive ER goals, reappraising the amusing clips with a negative ER goal decreased self-reported amusement and zygomaticus reactivity and increased self-reported disgust and corrugator reactivity, decreasing positive and increasing negative emotional experience and expression. We conclude that positive and negative ER goals while reappraising amusing stimuli differentially engaged PA and NA systems: The positive ER goal engaged withdrawal of the expressive NA system, whereas the negative ER goal engaged reciprocal NA-PA system activation on experiential and expressive response channels.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.05.002

  View details for PubMedID 35597400

• Effortless training of attention and self-control: mechanisms and applications. Trends in cognitive sciences Tang, Y., Tang, R., Posner, M. I., Gross, J. J. 2022

  Abstract

  For the past 50 years, cognitive scientists have assumed that training attention and self-control must be effortful. However, growing evidence suggests promising effects of effortless training approaches such as nature exposure, flow experience, and effortless practice on attention and self-control. This opinion article focuses on effortless training of attention and self-control. We begin by introducing our definitions of effortful and effortless training and reviewing the growing literature on these two different forms of training. We then discuss the similarities and differences in their respective behavioral outcomes and neural correlates. Finally, we propose a putative neural mechanism of effortless training. We conclude by highlighting promising directions for research, development, and application of effortless training.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.tics.2022.04.006

  View details for PubMedID 35537920

• Estradiol Effects on an Emotional Interference Task in Adolescents With Current and Remitted Major Depression Sullivan, A., Chung, Y., Novotny, S., Epperson, C., Kober, H., Gross, J., Phillips, M., Blumberg, H. P., Pearlson, G., Stevens, M. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2022: S199

  View details for Web of Science ID 000789022200486

• Case Study: A Quantitative Report of Early Attention, Fear, Disgust, and Avoidance in Specific Phobia for Buttons COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIORAL PRACTICE McRae, K., Ciesielski, B. G., Pereira, S. C., Gross, J. J. 2022; 29 (2): 485-493

  View details for Web of Science ID 000793409000014

• Estradiol Effects on Amygdala Activity During Emotion Regulation in Adolescent Girls Barratt, S., Novotny, S., Chung, Y., Kober, H., Epperson, C., Phillips, M., Ochsner, K., Gross, J., Blumberg, H., Pearlson, G., Stevens, M. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2022: S366

  View details for Web of Science ID 000789022201267

• Complex negative emotions induced by electrical stimulation of the human hypothalamus. Brain stimulation Parvizi, J., Veit, M. J., Barbosa, D. A., Kucyi, A., Perry, C., Parker, J. J., Shivacharan, R. S., Chen, F., Yih, J., Gross, J. J., Fisher, R., McNab, J. A., Falco-Walter, J., Halpern, C. H. 2022

  Abstract

  Stimulation of the ventromedial hypothalamic region in animals has been reported to cause attack behavior labeled as sham-rage without offering information about the internal affective state of the animal being stimulated.To examine the causal effect of electrical stimulation near the ventromedial region of the human hypothalamus on the human subjective experience and map the electrophysiological connectivity of the hypothalamus with other brain regions.We examined a patient (Subject S20_150) with intracranial electrodes implanted across 170 brain regions, including the hypothalamus. We combined direct electrical stimulation with tractography, cortico-cortical evoked potentials (CCEP), and functional connectivity using resting state intracranial electroencephalography (EEG).Recordings in the hypothalamus did not reveal any epileptic abnormalities. Electrical stimulations near the ventromedial hypothalamus induced profound shame, sadness, and fear but not rage or anger. When repeated single-pulse stimulations were delivered to the hypothalamus, significant responses were evoked in the amygdala, hippocampus, ventromedial-prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices, anterior cingulate, as well as ventral-anterior and dorsal-posterior insula. The time to first peak of these evoked responses varied and earliest propagations correlated best with the measures of resting-state EEG connectivity and tractography.This patient's case offers details about the affective state induced by the stimulation of the human hypothalamus and provides causal evidence relevant to current theories of emotion and the importance of subcortical structures in processing emotions. The complexity of affective state induced by the stimulation of the hypothalamus and the profile of hypothalamic electrophysiological connectivity suggest that the hypothalamus ought to be seen as a causally important functional unit, within a broader human telencephalon, for our human subjective experience.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.brs.2022.04.008

  View details for PubMedID 35413481

• Assessing and improving public mental health literacy concerning rTMS. BMC psychiatry Morrison, A. S., Uusberg, A., Ryan, J., Goldenberg, A., Etkin, A., Gross, J. J. 2022; 22 (1): 249

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has received empirical support as a viable treatment alternative for treatment-resistant major depressive disorder. Nevertheless, patients and the public-at-large may be hesitant to adopt rTMS. In three studies, we sought to (1) assess and (2) improve public perceptions of rTMS as a treatment for depression.METHODS: In Study 1 (N=107), we administered questionnaires on Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to individuals from the US and Canada in a cross-sectional design to assess perceptions of rTMS compared to psychopharmacology, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and talk therapy. In Study 2 (N=106), we again used an MTurk sample and a cross-sectional design to assess perceptions of rTMS after providing participants with a relatively long description of rTMS. In Study 3 (N=308), we conducted an experiment in undergraduate students. Participants were randomized to one of four experimental conditions manipulating participants' understanding of the causal mechanisms of depression prior to assessing their perceptions of rTMS.RESULTS: Public perceptions of rTMS were more negative than pharmacotherapy and talk therapy but not ECT (Study 1). rTMS perceptions were notably better when participants were given thorough information about rTMS procedures, pain, and side-effects (Study 2), compared to the previous study when they were given a very brief description of rTMS. Finally, perceptions of rTMS were significantly better when participants were given a brain circuitry-based causal explanation of depression compared to when they were given a psychological explanation of the causes of depression (Study 3).CONCLUSIONS: Public perceptions of rTMS are relatively poor. To improve rTMS acceptability, practitioners should carefully consider patients' prior attitudes and beliefs when explaining rTMS as a treatment alternative. Given that beliefs can have powerful effects on treatment outcome (e.g., placebo, nocebo), future research should explore whether rTMS effects on depression can be improved by facilitating less negative perceptions of rTMS.

  View details for DOI 10.1186/s12888-022-03880-9

  View details for PubMedID 35395758

• Emotion Regulation in Psychodynamic and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy: An Integrative Perspective. Clinical neuropsychiatry Palmieri, A., Fernandez, K. C., Cariolato, Y., Kleinbub, J. R., Salvatore, S., Gross, J. J. 2022; 19 (2): 103-113

  Abstract

  Objective: Psychotherapy fragmentation constitutes a significant barrier to progress. In the present article, we argue that emotion regulation processes operate across psychotherapy approaches, serving as an overarching meta-factor of therapeutic change.Method: Two major therapeutic approaches-psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioural-were examined through the lens of emotion regulation theory. In particular, key constructs within each approach were analyzed in terms of relevant emotion regulation processes.Results: Emotion regulation processes are an overarching meta-factor relevant to a wide range of therapeutic constructs (e.g., defence mechanisms, internal working models, coping strategies, ruptures/reparations of alliance). Different clinical traditions emphasize different aspects of emotion regulation, mainly in terms of implicit vs explicit emotion regulation processes.Conclusions: An integrative emotion regulation perspective contributes to our understanding of the core change mechanisms of psychotherapy, with significant implications both for research and clinical practice.

  View details for DOI 10.36131/cnfioritieditore20220204

  View details for PubMedID 35601247

• Why a Connectionist Perspective on Emotion is Helpful COMMENT EMOTION REVIEW Suri, G., Gross, J. J. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1177/17540739221089693

  View details for Web of Science ID 000773947800001

• How Caregivers Support Children's Emotion Regulation: Construct Validation of the Parental Assistance With Child Emotion Regulation (PACER) Questionnaire. Assessment Mancini, V. O., Heritage, B. J., Preece, D., Cohodes, E. M., Gross, J. J., Gee, D. G., Finlay-Jones, A. 2022: 10731911221082708

  Abstract

  Caregivers play a crucial role in supporting the development of their children's emotion regulation. This study validated the Parental Assistance with Child Emotion Regulation (PACER) Questionnaire in a sample of 491 caregivers (M = 32.89 years) of young children ≤ 5 years. Exploratory structural equation modeling provided evidence of the instrument's ability to assess parental support for 10 distinct emotion regulation strategies that match the intended design of the instrument. Latent profile analysis revealed three distinct caregiver profiles characterized by above-average support for strategies that previously have been shown to be predictive of adaptive outcomes, maladaptive outcomes, or mixed-outcomes, respectively. Results add to existing literature that suggests the PACER is a valid and reliable assessment of caregiver-implemented support of emotion regulation strategies for children ≤ 5 years old. Evidence of distinct caregiver profiles highlights opportunities for prevention and intervention efforts to bolster extrinsic support for adaptive emotion regulation strategies. This instrument may be well-suited to capturing changes throughout the early developmental period, in addition to monitoring caregiver-facing interventions promoting optimal emotion regulation in children.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/10731911221082708

  View details for PubMedID 35272507

• What is an Emotion? A Connectionist Perspective EMOTION REVIEW Suri, G., Gross, J. J. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1177/17540739221082203

  View details for Web of Science ID 000763523300001

• White Fragility: An Emotion Regulation Perspective AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST Ford, B. Q., Green, D. J., Gross, J. J. 2022

  Abstract

  To address anti-Black Racism, systemic change across many domains in American life will be necessary. There are many barriers to change, however, and progress requires identifying these barriers and developing tools to overcome them. Given that White individuals disproportionately occupy "gatekeeping" positions of power, one key barrier to systemic change is rooted in White individuals' emotional (and emotion-regulatory) responses when considering their own role in racism (e.g., involvement in racist systems, biased actions). White people often experience such moments as a jeopardy to their valued goals and are consequently highly motivated to reduce the negative emotions that they feel by denying or avoiding the issue-a multifaceted response known as a White fragility response. When White individuals enact a White fragility response, they can further damage the well-being of Black members of their community and weaken their own motivation for systemic change. Given its stark costs, it is critical to understand White fragility responses. In this article, we argue that White fragility can be usefully viewed through the lens of emotion and emotion regulation theory. In particular, we describe the emotion and emotion regulation responses that characterize White fragility, summarize the wide-ranging consequences of White fragility responses, highlight more sustainable ways forward, and end by considering a broader fragility framework that acknowledges multiple dimensions of power. Although emotion regulation lies at the heart of White fragility, emotion regulation is also a tool that can be leveraged for greater justice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/amp0000968

  View details for Web of Science ID 000751010000001

  View details for PubMedID 35130003

• Autonomic Nervous System Activity During Positive Emotions: A Meta-Analytic Review( ) EMOTION REVIEW Behnke, M., Kreibig, S. D., Kaczmarek, L. D., Assink, M., Gross, J. J. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1177/17540739211073084

  View details for Web of Science ID 000753364900001

• Gender Equality and Maternal Burnout: A 40-Country Study JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY Roskam, I., Gallee, L., Aguiar, J., Akgun, E., Arena, A., Arikan, G., Aunola, K., Bader, M., Barham, E. J., Besson, E., Beyers, W., Boujut, E., Brianda, M., Brytek-Matera, A., Carbonneau, N., Cesar, F., Chen, B., Dorard, G., dos Santos Elias, L., Dunsmuir, S., Egorova, N., Favez, N., Fontaine, A., Foran, H., Fricke, J., Furutani, K., Gannage, M., Gaspar, M., Godbout, L., Goldenberg, A., Gross, J. J., Gurza, M., Hashmi, M., Helmy, M., Huynh, M., Kaneza, E., Kawamoto, T., Kellou, N., Medjahdi, O., Knezevic, G., Lazarevic, L. B., Le Vigouroux, S., Lebert-Charron, A., Leme, V., Lin, G., MacCann, C., Manrique-Millones, D., Matias, M., Isabel Miranda-Orrego, M., Miscioscia, M., Morgades-Bamba, C., Mousavi, S., Moutassem-Mimouni, B., Muntean, A., Murphy, H., Ndayizigiye, A., Tenkue, J., Olderbak, S., Ornawka, S., Oyarce-Cadiz, D., Perez-Diaz, P. A., Petrides, K., Pineda-Marin, C., Prikhidko, A., Salinas-Quiroz, F., Sanchez-Rodriguez, R., Sarrionandia, A., Scola, C., Simonelli, A., Soenens, B., Sorbring, E., Sorkkila, M., Schrooyen, C., Stanculescu, E., Starchenkova, E., Szczygiel, D., Thi Minh Thuy Tri, Tremblay, M., Ustundag-Budak, A., Pacheco, M., van Bakel, H., Verhofstadt, L., Wendland, J., Yotanyamaneewong, S., Mikolajczak, M. 2022; 53 (2): 157-178

  View details for DOI 10.1177/00220221211072813

  View details for Web of Science ID 000758317200002

• Building a transdisciplinary expert consensus on the cognitive drivers of performance under pressure: An international multi-panel Delphi study. Frontiers in psychology Albertella, L., Kirkham, R., Adler, A. B., Crampton, J., Drummond, S. P., Fogarty, G. J., Gross, J. J., Zaichkowsky, L., Andersen, J. P., Bartone, P. T., Boga, D., Bond, J. W., Brunyé, T. T., Campbell, M. J., Ciobanu, L. G., Clark, S. R., Crane, M. F., Dietrich, A., Doty, T. J., Driskell, J. E., Fahsing, I., Fiore, S. M., Flin, R., Funke, J., Gatt, J. M., Hancock, P. A., Harper, C., Heathcote, A., Heatown, K. J., Helsen, W. F., Hussey, E. K., Jackson, R. C., Khemlani, S., Killgore, W. D., Kleitman, S., Lane, A. M., Loft, S., MacMahon, C., Marcora, S. M., McKenna, F. P., Meijen, C., Moulton, V., Moyle, G. M., Nalivaiko, E., O'Connor, D., O'Conor, D., Patton, D., Piccolo, M. D., Ruiz, C., Schücker, L., Smith, R. A., Smith, S. J., Sobrino, C., Stetz, M., Stewart, D., Taylor, P., Tucker, A. J., van Stralen, H., Vickers, J. N., Visser, T. A., Walker, R., Wiggins, M. W., Williams, A. M., Wong, L., Aidman, E., Yücel, M. 2022; 13: 1017675

  Abstract

  The ability to perform optimally under pressure is critical across many occupations, including the military, first responders, and competitive sport. Despite recognition that such performance depends on a range of cognitive factors, how common these factors are across performance domains remains unclear. The current study sought to integrate existing knowledge in the performance field in the form of a transdisciplinary expert consensus on the cognitive mechanisms that underlie performance under pressure.International experts were recruited from four performance domains [(i) Defense; (ii) Competitive Sport; (iii) Civilian High-stakes; and (iv) Performance Neuroscience]. Experts rated constructs from the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework (and several expert-suggested constructs) across successive rounds, until all constructs reached consensus for inclusion or were eliminated. Finally, included constructs were ranked for their relative importance.Sixty-eight experts completed the first Delphi round, with 94% of experts retained by the end of the Delphi process. The following 10 constructs reached consensus across all four panels (in order of overall ranking): (1) Attention; (2) Cognitive Control-Performance Monitoring; (3) Arousal and Regulatory Systems-Arousal; (4) Cognitive Control-Goal Selection, Updating, Representation, and Maintenance; (5) Cognitive Control-Response Selection and Inhibition/Suppression; (6) Working memory-Flexible Updating; (7) Working memory-Active Maintenance; (8) Perception and Understanding of Self-Self-knowledge; (9) Working memory-Interference Control, and (10) Expert-suggested-Shifting.Our results identify a set of transdisciplinary neuroscience-informed constructs, validated through expert consensus. This expert consensus is critical to standardizing cognitive assessment and informing mechanism-targeted interventions in the broader field of human performance optimization.

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1017675

  View details for PubMedID 36755983

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC9901503

• The role of cognitive appraisals in parental burnout: a preliminary analysis during the COVID-19 quarantine CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY Woine, A., Mikolajczak, M., Gross, J., van Bakel, H., Roskam, I. 2022: 1-14

  Abstract

  Counter-intuitively, sociodemographic characteristics account for a small proportion of explained variance in parental burnout. The present study conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic asks whether (i) sociodemographic characteristics are more predictive of parental burnout than usual in a situation of lockdown, (ii) situational factors, that is, the specific restrictive living conditions inherent in the context of lockdown, predict parental burnout better than sociodemographic characteristics do, and (iii) the impact of both sociodemographic and situational factors is moderated or mediated by the parents' subjective perception of the impact that the health crisis has had on their parenting circumstances. Results show that, within the context of lockdown, both sociodemographic and situational factors explain a negligible proportion of variance in parental burnout. By contrast, parents' cognitive appraisals of their parenthood within the context of the health crisis were found to play both a crucial mediating and moderating role in the prediction of parental burnout.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s12144-021-02629-z

  View details for Web of Science ID 000742288400003

  View details for PubMedID 35039737

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC8755972

• Social Interactivity in Live Video Experiences Reduces Loneliness. Frontiers in digital health Kaveladze, B. T., Morris, R. R., Dimitrova-Gammeltoft, R. V., Goldenberg, A., Gross, J. J., Antin, J., Sandgren, M., Thomas-Hunt, M. C. 2022; 4: 859849

  Abstract

  Background: Loneliness, especially when chronic, can substantially reduce one's quality of life. However, positive social experiences might help to break cycles of loneliness by promoting more prosocial cognitions and behaviors. Internet-mediated live video communication platforms (eg Zoom and Twitch) may offer an engaging and accessible medium to deliver such social experiences to people at scale. Despite these platforms' widespread use, there is a lack of research into how their socially interactive elements affect users' feelings of loneliness and connection.Objective: We aimed to experimentally evaluate whether socially interactivity in live video experience improves loneliness-related outcomes.Materials and Methods: We recruited participants from an online survey recruitment platform and assigned half to participate in a socially interactive live video experience with 6-12 strangers and the other half to a non-interactive control experience that was designed to be identical in every way but not socially interactive. Participants completed several baseline self-report measures of psychosocial wellbeing, participated in the hour-long video experience (an entertaining astronomy lesson), and then completed some baseline measures again. Four weeks later, we followed up with participants to evaluate their change in trait loneliness since baseline. We Pre-registered our hypotheses and analysis plan and provide our data, analysis code, and study materials online.Results: Two hundred and forty-nine participants completed the initial study and met inclusion criteria, 199 of whom also completed the 4-week follow-up. Consistent with our predictions, we found that directly after the more socially interactive experience, participants' feelings of connectedness increased more (p < 0.001), positive affect increased more (p = 0.002), feelings of loneliness decreased more (p < 0.001), social threat decreased more (p = 0.006), and negative affect decreased more (p = 0.003) than they did after the less interactive experience. However, change in trait loneliness between baseline and 4 weeks later did not differ between conditions (p = 0.953).Conclusions: Including socially interactive components in live video experiences can improve loneliness-related psychosocial outcomes for a short time. Future work should explore leveraging these benefits toward longer-term prosociality. Future work can also identify if the effects we observed generalize across different populations and kinds of online experiences.

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fdgth.2022.859849

  View details for PubMedID 35403096

• Exploring Situated & Embodied Support for Youth's Mental Health: Design Opportunities for Interactive Tangible Device Roquet, C., Theofanopoulou, N., Freeman, J. L., Schleider, J., Gross, J. J., Davis, K., Townsend, E., Slovak, P., ACM ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1145/3491102.3502135

  View details for Web of Science ID 000890212505014

• Digital Emotion Regulation in Everyday Life Smith, W., Wadley, G., Webber, S., Tag, B., Kostakos, V., Koval, P., Gross, J. J., ACM ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1145/3491102.3517573

  View details for Web of Science ID 000922929502040

• FAR: End-to-End Vibrotactile Distributed System Designed to Facilitate Affect Regulation in Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder Through Slow Breathing Miri, P., Arora, M., Malhotra, A., Flory, R., Hu, S., Lowber, A., Goyal, I., Nguyen, J., Hegarty, J., Kohn, M., Schneider, D., Culbertson, H., Yamins, D. L. K., Fung, L., Hardan, A., Gross, J. J., Marzullo, K., ACM ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1145/3491102.3517619

  View details for Web of Science ID 000922929503024

• Negative dream affect is associated with next-day affect level, but not with affect reactivity or affect regulation. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience Sikka, P., Engelbrektsson, H., Zhang, J., Gross, J. J. 2022; 16: 981289

  Abstract

  There is increasing evidence that sleep plays an important role in affective processing. However, it is unclear whether dreaming-the subjective experiences we have during sleep-also serves an affect regulation function. Here, we investigated the within-person relationship between negative affect experienced in dreams and next-day waking affect level, affect reactivity, and affect regulation. For 5 days, 40 participants reported their dreams and rated their dream affect and post-sleep waking affect level upon morning awakening. Thereafter, they performed an affect reactivity and regulation task which involved viewing neutral and negative pictures with the instruction either to simply view the pictures or to down-regulate the affect evoked by these pictures. Multilevel regression analyses showed that the more negative affect people experienced in their dreams at night, the more negative affect and the less positive affect they reported the next morning. However, negative dream affect was associated neither with affect reactivity to the pictures nor with the ability to down-regulate negative affect in response to these pictures. In fact, Bayesian analyses favored the null hypotheses. These findings fail to provide support for the affect regulation function of dreaming and, instead, speak for affective continuity between dreaming and post-sleep wakefulness.

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.981289

  View details for PubMedID 36338877

• Cognitive reappraisal training for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in psychiatry Enav, Y., Hardan, A. Y., Gross, J. J. 2022; 13: 995669

  Abstract

  Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience higher stress levels than those of typically developing children. The goal of the current study was to examine whether a mentalization-based intervention would enhance parental cognitive reappraisal, an adaptive form of emotion regulation associated with lower levels of stress. Findings from 27 parents who completed a short training indicated an improvement in cognitive reappraisal. In exploratory analyses, two different types of reappraisal were examined. The intervention-related improvement was found mainly with one type of reappraisal, namely reflective reappraisal that consist of cognitive reappraisal with mentalization characteristics. In light of the evidence indicating that high cognitive reappraisal and high reflective functioning are associated with quality caregiving, findings from the current study suggesting that a brief mentalization-based intervention supports ASD parents' cognitive reappraisal with mentalization characteristics are promising and warrant further investigation.

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.995669

  View details for PubMedID 36386964

• Megastudies improve the impact of applied behavioural science. Nature Milkman, K. L., Gromet, D., Ho, H., Kay, J. S., Lee, T. W., Pandiloski, P., Park, Y., Rai, A., Bazerman, M., Beshears, J., Bonacorsi, L., Camerer, C., Chang, E., Chapman, G., Cialdini, R., Dai, H., Eskreis-Winkler, L., Fishbach, A., Gross, J. J., Horn, S., Hubbard, A., Jones, S. J., Karlan, D., Kautz, T., Kirgios, E., Klusowski, J., Kristal, A., Ladhania, R., Loewenstein, G., Ludwig, J., Mellers, B., Mullainathan, S., Saccardo, S., Spiess, J., Suri, G., Talloen, J. H., Taxer, J., Trope, Y., Ungar, L., Volpp, K. G., Whillans, A., Zinman, J., Duckworth, A. L. 2021

  Abstract

  Policy-makers are increasingly turning to behavioural science for insights about how to improve citizens' decisions and outcomes1. Typically, different scientists test different intervention ideas in different samples using different outcomes over different time intervals2. The lack of comparability of such individual investigations limits their potential to inform policy. Here, to address this limitation and accelerate the pace of discovery, we introduce the megastudy-a massive field experiment in which the effects of many different interventions are compared in the same population on the same objectively measured outcome for the same duration. In a megastudy targeting physical exercise among 61,293 members of an American fitness chain, 30 scientists from 15 different US universities worked in small independent teams to design a total of 54 different four-week digital programmes(or interventions) encouraging exercise. We show that 45% of these interventions significantly increased weekly gym visits by 9% to 27%; the top-performing intervention offered microrewards for returning to the gym after a missed workout. Only 8% of interventions induced behaviour change that was significant and measurable after the four-week intervention. Conditioning on the 45% of interventions that increased exercise during the intervention, we detected carry-over effects that were proportionally similar to those measured in previous research3-6. Forecasts by impartial judges failed to predict which interventions would be most effective, underscoring the value of testing many ideas at once and, therefore, the potential for megastudies to improve the evidentiary value of behavioural science.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41586-021-04128-4

  View details for PubMedID 34880497

• Emotion regulation during the COVID-19 pandemic: risk and resilience factors for parental burnout (IIPB). Cognition & emotion Vertsberger, D., Roskam, I., Talmon, A., van Bakel, H., Hall, R., Mikolajczak, M., Gross, J. J. 2021: 1-6

  Abstract

  The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted families' lives around the world. The measures used to contain transmission have led to increased stress and put parents at increased risk for parental burnout (PB). The aim of the current study was to examine the association between COVID-related parental stress and PB, and to test whether emotion regulation (ER) moderated this association. We hypothesised that rumination, which is a generally maladaptive ER strategy, would act as a risk factor. In comparison, we hypothesised that reappraisal, which is a generally adaptive ER strategy, would act as a resilience factor. We assessed 8225 parents from 22 countries using an on-line survey, and focused on general stress and parenting stress. These stressors were associated with greater PB. Importantly, parental ER moderated these associations; rumination strengthened the link between stress-related variables and PB, whereas reappraisal weakened it. This study emphasises the negative effect COVID-19 has on parents and highlights key ER risk and resilience factors.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2021.2005544

  View details for PubMedID 34821543

• An In Situ, Child-Led Intervention to Promote Emotion Regulation Competence in Middle Childhood: Protocol for an Exploratory Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR research protocols Slovak, P., Ford, B. Q., Widen, S., Dauden Roquet, C., Theofanopoulou, N., Gross, J. J., Hankin, B., Klasnja, P. 2021; 10 (11): e28914

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Emotion regulation is a key transdiagnostic risk factor for a range of psychopathologies, making it a prime target for both prevention and treatment interventions in childhood. Existing interventions predominantly rely on workshops or in-person therapy-based approaches, limiting the ability to promote emotion regulation competence for children in everyday settings and at scale. Purrble is a newly developed, inexpensive, socially assistive robot-in the form of an interactive plush toy-that uses haptic feedback to support in-the-moment emotion regulation. It is accessible to children as needed in their daily lives, without the need for a priori training. Although qualitative data from previous studies show high engagement in situ and anecdotal evidence of the robot being incorporated into children's emotion regulation routines, there is no quantitative evidence of the intervention's impact on child outcomes.OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to examine the efficacy of a new intervention model for child-led emotion regulation-Purrble-that can be deployed across prevention and treatment contexts.METHODS: Overall, 134 children aged 8 to 10 years will be selected from an enriched nonclinical North American population; for inclusion, the cutoff for the parents' rating of child dysregulation will be ≥10 points in the total difficulties score on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. This cutoff was selected to obtain a measurable, but not necessarily clinical, level of the child's emotion regulatory difficulties. The selected families will be randomly assigned with .5 probability to receive either a Purrble or an active control (noninteractive plush toy). The primary outcome will be a daily ecological momentary assessment measure of child emotion regulation capability (as reported by parents) over a period of 4 weeks. Exploratory analyses will investigate the intervention impact on secondary outcomes of child emotion regulation, collected weekly over the same 4-week period, with follow-ups at 1 month and 6 months postdeployment. Quantitative data will be analyzed on an intent-to-treat basis. A proportion of families (approximately 30% of the sample) will be interviewed after deployment as part of the process analysis.RESULTS: The study is funded by the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (MR/T041897/1) and an in-kind contribution from the Committee for Children. This study received ethical approval from the Pearl institutional review board (#18-CFC-101). Participant recruitment started in February 2021, with the 1-month deployment in April-May 2021. The results of this analysis will be published in 2022.CONCLUSIONS: This study will be the first quantitative evaluation of the efficacy of an innovative, proof-of-concept intervention model for an in situ, child-led emotion regulation intervention. Insights into the trajectory of daily changes, complemented with weekly questionnaire batteries and postdeployment interviews, will result in an in-depth understanding of whether and how the hypothesized intervention logic model works, leading to further intervention optimization.TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04810455; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04810455.INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/28914.

  View details for DOI 10.2196/28914

  View details for PubMedID 34751666

• The role of parental emotion reactivity and regulation in child maltreatment and maltreatment risk: A meta-analytic review. Clinical psychology review Lavi, I., Ozer, E. J., Katz, L. F., Gross, J. J. 2021; 90: 102099

  Abstract

  The prevalence and impact of child maltreatment make the scientific investigation of this phenomenon a matter of vital importance. Prior research has examined associations between problematic patterns of parents' emotion reactivity and regulation and child maltreatment and maltreatment risk. However, the strength and specificity of these relationships is not yet clear. To address this, we conducted a systematic literature search of four databases from inception through February 2021 to identify studies that reported these relationships. Our resulting meta-analysis of maltreatment involved parents of children who are up to 18years of age (k=46, encompassing 6669 parents). Our focus was the magnitude of the difference in levels of emotion reactivity and regulation between parents who maltreat or are at risk of maltreating and parents who do not maltreat their children or are not at risk of maltreating their children. As expected, results from meta-analyses using robust variance estimation indicated significantly higher problems with reactivity and regulation in maltreating parents / parents at risk (r=0.40, k=140; 95% CI [0.34, 0.45]), indicating that maltreating / at risk parents were more likely to have overall worse measures of reactivity and regulation. In comparison to non-maltreating parents, maltreating / at risk parents experience more negative emotions, display more negative emotion behavior, and are more dysregulated. These effects were fairly stable with little to no remaining heterogeneity. The current review concludes with a theoretical framework outlining the role of emotion reactivity and regulation in multiple risk factors of maltreatment, aiming to guide future study in this area.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.cpr.2021.102099

  View details for PubMedID 34752992

• Loneliness and emotion regulation PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Preece, D. A., Goldenberg, A., Becerra, R., Boyes, M., Hasking, P., Gross, J. J. 2021; 180

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.paid.2021.110974

  View details for Web of Science ID 000658981200004

• Childhood Maltreatment and Mid-Life Adult Sexuality: A 10-Year Longitudinal Study. Archives of sexual behavior Talmon, A., Uysal, A., Gross, J. J. 2021

  Abstract

  One important long-term outcome of childhood maltreatment is thought to be impairments in intimate relationships. However, the specific nature of these impairments is not well understood. To address this gap, we examined the long-term relation of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse/neglect to four key aspects of sexuality in women and men: importance of sex, intimacy in sex, pain during sex, and pleasure during sex. As part of the U.S. longitudinal National Survey of Midlife Development, 807 participants in their mid-life (410 women, 397 men) completed measures of recollected childhood maltreatment and current aspects of adult sexuality. These measures were obtained at baseline (at which time the mean age was 53.28years (SD=10.97) and again 10years later. For women at baseline, emotional abuse was positively associated with pleasure, emotional neglect was negatively associated with intimacy and with pleasure, physical abuse was positively associated with pain, and physical neglect was associated with importance of sex. For men, no significant associations were found. Prospectively, for women, sexual abuse predicted increases in pleasure during sex, and physical abuse significantly predicted increases in pain during sex. For men, physical neglect significantly predicted increases in pain. We discuss these sex differences and the role these results may play in the detrimental long-term effects of childhood maltreatment.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10508-021-02030-8

  View details for PubMedID 34599467

• PHYSIOLOGICAL INDICATORS OF EMOTION DYSREGULATION IN SELF-REPORTED SLEEP BRUXISM Kreibig, S., Zhang, J., ten Brink, M., Gross, J. WILEY. 2021: S76

  View details for Web of Science ID 000706408100281

• Relationships among inflammation, social cognition, and social functioning in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia research Ospina, L. H., Beck-Felts, K., Ifrah, C., Shagalow, S., Lister, A., Russo, S. J., Gross, J. J., Kimhy, D. 2021

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.schres.2021.09.002

  View details for PubMedID 34561146

• A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nature human behaviour Wang, K., Goldenberg, A., Dorison, C. A., Miller, J. K., Uusberg, A., Lerner, J. S., Gross, J. J., Agesin, B. B., Bernardo, M., Campos, O., Eudave, L., Grzech, K., Ozery, D. H., Jackson, E. A., Garcia, E. O., Drexler, S. M., Jurkovic, A. P., Rana, K., Wilson, J. P., Antoniadi, M., Desai, K., Gialitaki, Z., Kushnir, E., Nadif, K., Bravo, O. N., Nauman, R., Oosterlinck, M., Pantazi, M., Pilecka, N., Szabelska, A., van Steenkiste, I. M., Filip, K., Bozdoc, A. I., Marcu, G. M., Agadullina, E., Adamkovic, M., Roczniewska, M., Reyna, C., Kassianos, A. P., Westerlund, M., Ahlgren, L., Pontinen, S., Adetula, G. A., Dursun, P., Arinze, A. I., Arinze, N. C., Ogbonnaya, C. E., Ndukaihe, I. L., Dalgar, I., Akkas, H., Macapagal, P. M., Lewis, S., Metin-Orta, I., Foroni, F., Willis, M., Santos, A. C., Mokady, A., Reggev, N., Kurfali, M. A., Vasilev, M. R., Nock, N. L., Parzuchowski, M., Espinoza Barria, M. F., Vranka, M., Kohlova, M. B., Ropovik, I., Harutyunyan, M., Wang, C., Yao, E., Becker, M., Manunta, E., Kaminski, G., Marko, D., Evans, K., Lewis, D. M., Findor, A., Landry, A. T., Aruta, J. J., Ortiz, M. S., Vally, Z., Pronizius, E., Voracek, M., Lamm, C., Grinberg, M., Li, R., Valentova, J. V., Mioni, G., Cellini, N., Chen, S., Zickfeld, J., Moon, K., Azab, H., Levy, N., Karababa, A., Beaudry, J. L., Boucher, L., Collins, W. M., Todsen, A. L., van Schie, K., Vintr, J., Bavolar, J., Kaliska, L., Krizanic, V., Samojlenko, L., Pourafshari, R., Geiger, S. J., Beitner, J., Warmelink, L., Ross, R. M., Stephen, I. D., Hostler, T. J., Azouaghe, S., McCarthy, R., Szala, A., Grano, C., Solorzano, C. S., Anjum, G., Jimenez-Leal, W., Bradford, M., Perez, L. C., Cruz Vasquez, J. E., Galindo-Caballero, O. J., Vargas-Nieto, J. C., Kacha, O., Arvanitis, A., Xiao, Q., Carcamo, R., Zorjan, S., Tajchman, Z., Vilares, I., Pavlacic, J. M., Kunst, J. R., Tamnes, C. K., von Bastian, C. C., Atari, M., Sharifian, M., Hricova, M., Kacmar, P., Schrotter, J., Rahal, R., Cohen, N., FatahModarres, S., Zrimsek, M., Zakharov, I., Koehn, M. A., Esteban-Serna, C., Calin-Jageman, R. J., Krafnick, A. J., Strukelj, E., Isager, P. M., Urban, J., Silva, J. R., Martoncik, M., Ocovaj, S. B., Sakan, D., Kuzminska, A. O., Djordjevic, J. M., Almeida, I. A., Ferreira, A., Lazarevic, L. B., Manley, H., Ricaurte, D. Z., Monteiro, R. P., Etabari, Z., Musser, E., Dunleavy, D., Chou, W., Godbersen, H., Ruiz-Fernandez, S., Reeck, C., Batres, C., Kirgizova, K., Muminov, A., Azevedo, F., Alvarez, D. S., Butt, M. M., Lee, J. M., Chen, Z., Verbruggen, F., Ziano, I., Tumer, M., Charyate, A. C., Dubrov, D., Tejada Rivera, M. D., Aberson, C., Palfi, B., Maldonado, M. A., Hubena, B., Sacakli, A., Ceary, C. D., Richard, K. L., Singer, G., Perillo, J. T., Ballantyne, T., Cyrus-Lai, W., Fedotov, M., Du, H., Wielgus, M., Pit, I. L., Hruska, M., Sousa, D., Aczel, B., Szaszi, B., Adamus, S., Barzykowski, K., Micheli, L., Schmidt, N., Zsido, A. N., Paruzel-Czachura, M., Bialek, M., Kowal, M., Sorokowska, A., Misiak, M., Mola, D., Ortiz, M. V., Correa, P. S., Belaus, A., Muchembled, F., Ribeiro, R. R., Arriaga, P., Oliveira, R., Vaughn, L. A., Szwed, P., Kossowska, M., Czarnek, G., Kielinska, J., Antazo, B., Betlehem, R., Stieger, S., Nilsonne, G., Simonovic, N., Taber, J., Gourdon-Kanhukamwe, A., Domurat, A., Ihaya, K., Yamada, Y., Urooj, A., Gill, T., Cadek, M., Bylinina, L., Messerschmidt, J., Kurfali, M., Adetula, A., Baklanova, E., Albayrak-Aydemir, N., Kappes, H. B., Gjoneska, B., House, T., Jones, M. V., Berkessel, J. B., Chopik, W. J., Coksan, S., Seehuus, M., Khaoudi, A., Bokkour, A., El Arabi, K. A., Djamai, I., Iyer, A., Parashar, N., Adiguzel, A., Kocalar, H. E., Bundt, C., Norton, J. O., Papadatou-Pastou, M., De la Rosa-Gomez, A., Ankushev, V., Bogatyreva, N., Grigoryev, D., Ivanov, A., Prusova, I., Romanova, M., Sarieva, I., Terskova, M., Hristova, E., Kadreva, V. H., Janak, A., Schei, V., Sverdrup, T. E., Askelund, A. D., Pineda, L. M., Krupic, D., Levitan, C. A., Johannes, N., Ouherrou, N., Say, N., Sinkolova, S., Janjic, K., Stojanovska, M., Stojanovska, D., Khosla, M., Thomas, A. G., Kung, F. Y., Bijlstra, G., Mosannenzadeh, F., Balci, B. B., Reips, U., Baskin, E., Ishkhanyan, B., Czamanski-Cohen, J., Dixson, B. J., Moreau, D., Sutherland, C. A., Chuan-Peng, H., Noone, C., Flowe, H., Anne, M., Janssen, S. M., Topor, M., Majeed, N. M., Kunisato, Y., Yu, K., Daches, S., Hartanto, A., Vdovic, M., Anton-Boicuk, L., Forbes, P. A., Kamburidis, J., Marinova, E., Nedelcheva-Datsova, M., Rachev, N. R., Stoyanova, A., Schmidt, K., Suchow, J. W., Koptjevskaja-Tamm, M., Jernsather, T., Olofsson, J. K., Bialobrzeska, O., Marszalek, M., Tatachari, S., Afhami, R., Law, W., Antfolk, J., Zuro, B., Van Doren, N., Soto, J. A., Searston, R., Miranda, J., Damnjanovic, K., Yeung, S. K., Krupic, D., Hoyer, K., Jaeger, B., Ren, D., Pfuhl, G., Klevjer, K., Corral-Frias, N. S., Frias-Armenta, M., Lucas, M. Y., Torres, A. O., Toro, M., Delgado, L. G., Vega, D., Solas, S. A., Vilar, R., Massoni, S., Frizzo, T., Bran, A., Vaidis, D. C., Vieira, L., Paris, B., Capizzi, M., Coelho, G. L., Greenburgh, A., Whitt, C. M., Tullett, A. M., Du, X., Volz, L., Bosma, M. J., Karaarslan, C., Sarioguz, E., Allred, T. B., Korbmacher, M., Colloff, M. F., Lima, T. J., Ribeiro, M. F., Verharen, J. P., Karekla, M., Karashiali, C., Sunami, N., Jaremka, L. M., Storage, D., Habib, S., Studzinska, A., Hanel, P. H., Holford, D. L., Sirota, M., Wolfe, K., Chiu, F., Theodoropoulou, A., Ahn, E. R., Lin, Y., Westgate, E. C., Brohmer, H., Hofer, G., Dujols, O., Vezirian, K., Feldman, G., Travaglino, G. A., Ahmed, A., Li, M., Bosch, J., Torunsky, N., Bai, H., Manavalan, M., Song, X., Walczak, R. B., Zdybek, P., Friedemann, M., Rosa, A. D., Kozma, L., Alves, S. G., Lins, S., Pinto, I. R., Correia, R. C., Babincak, P., Banik, G., Rojas-Berscia, L. M., Varella, M. A., Uttley, J., Beshears, J. E., Thommesen, K. K., Behzadnia, B., Geniole, S. N., Silan, M. A., Maturan, P. L., Vilsmeier, J. K., Tran, U. S., Izquierdo, S. M., Mensink, M. C., Sorokowski, P., Groyecka-Bernard, A., Radtke, T., Adoric, V. C., Carpentier, J., Ozdogru, A. A., Joy-Gaba, J. A., Hedgebeth, M. V., Ishii, T., Wichman, A. L., Roer, J. P., Ostermann, T., Davis, W. E., Suter, L., Papachristopoulos, K., Zabel, C., Ebersole, C. R., Chartier, C. R., Mallik, P. R., Urry, H. L., Buchanan, E. M., Coles, N. A., Primbs, M. A., Basnight-Brown, D. M., IJzerman, H., Forscher, P. S., Moshontz, H. 2021

  Abstract

  The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n=21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 12 May 2020. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4878591.v1.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41562-021-01173-x

  View details for PubMedID 34341554

• Frontoparietal and Default Mode Network Contributions to Self-Referential Processing in Social Anxiety Disorder. Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience Dixon, M. L., Moodie, C. A., Goldin, P. R., Farb, N., Heimberg, R. G., Zhang, J., Gross, J. J. 2021

  Abstract

  Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by negative self-referential processing, which triggers excessive emotional reactivity. In healthy individuals, positive self-views typically predominate and are supported by regions of the default mode network (DMN) that represent self-related information and regions of the frontoparietal control network (FPCN) that contribute to metacognitive awareness and emotion regulation. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine patterns of DMN and FPCN activation during positive and negative self-referential judgments in SAD patients (N = 97) and controls (N = 34). As expected, SAD patients demonstrated a striking difference in self-beliefs compared with non-anxious healthy controls, endorsing fewer positive traits and more negative traits. However, SAD patients and controls demonstrated largely similar patterns of DMN and FPCN recruitment during self-referential judgements. No significant group differences were observed. However, equivalence testing identified numerous regions demonstrating effect sizes that were not small enough to conclude that they were practically equivalent to zero, despite the nonsignificant null hypothesis test. These regions may be key targets to investigate in future studies using larger samples.

  View details for DOI 10.3758/s13415-021-00933-6

  View details for PubMedID 34341966

• Subjective social status and physical health: The role of negative affect and reappraisal. Social science & medicine (1982) O'Leary, D., Uysal, A., Rehkopf, D. H., Gross, J. J. 2021; 291: 114272

  Abstract

  RATIONALE: Having low subjective social status is associated with an array of negative health outcomes. However, the mechanisms linking subjective social status to health are not yet clear. One candidate mechanism is negative affect. Researchers have proposed that having low subjective social status may be associated with higher levels of negative affect, and these higher levels of negative affect may be associated with poor health. However, research demonstrating that status-related negative affect is prospectively associated with health in humans is limited.OBJECTIVE: We examined whether negative affect prospectively mediates the relationship between subjective social status and physical health. In addition, we tested whether reappraisal - an affect regulation strategy used to downregulate negative affect - moderates the links among subjective social status, negative affect, and physical health.METHOD: We used two-wave longitudinal data from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) project to conduct a series of regression, mediation, and moderated mediation analyses to examine the relationships among subjective social status, negative affect, reappraisal, and health (i.e., four outcomes, chronic conditions, somatic symptoms, self-reported health and mortality).RESULTS: Negative affect mediates the relationship between status and change in morbidity (n=3289; i.e., change in number of chronic conditions, somatic symptoms, self-reported health) and mortality (n=4953), such that subjective social status is inversely associated with negative affect, and negative affect is positively associated with poor health. Reappraisal moderates each of these relationships, such that individuals who are low on subjective social status and have high scores on a novel measure of reappraisal experience lower levels of negative affect and better health than individuals who are low on subjective social status but who have low scores on this measure.CONCLUSION: These results have important implications for our understanding of subjective social status and how it relates to physical health.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114272

  View details for PubMedID 34717282

• Evaluation of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy vs Mindfulness Meditation in Brain Changes During Reappraisal and Acceptance Among Patients With Social Anxiety Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA psychiatry Goldin, P. R., Thurston, M., Allende, S., Moodie, C., Dixon, M. L., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2021

  Abstract

  Importance: Cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBGT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) are thought to help patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) via distinct emotion-regulation mechanisms. However, no study has compared the effects of CBGT and MBSR on brain and negative emotion indicators of cognitive reappraisal and acceptance in patients with SAD.Objective: To investigate the effects of CBGT and MBSR on reappraisal and acceptance in patients with SAD and to test whether treatment-associated brain changes are associated with social anxiety symptoms 1 year posttreatment.Design, Setting, and Participants: In this randomized clinical trial, a total of 108 unmedicated adults diagnosed with generalized SAD were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of CBGT, MBSR, or waitlist. The final sample included 31 patients receiving CBGT, 32 patients receiving MBSR, and 32 waitlist patients. Data were collected at the psychology department at Stanford University from September 2012 to December 2014. Data were analyzed from February 2019 to December 2020.Interventions: CBGT and MBSR.Main Outcomes and Measures: Changes in self-reported negative emotion and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal within an a priori-defined brain search region mask derived from a meta-analysis of cognitive reappraisal and attention regulation 1 year posttreatment.Results: Of 108 participants, 60 (56%) were female. The mean (SD) age was 32.7 (8.0) years. Self-reported race and ethnicity data were collected to inform the generalizability of the study to the wider population and to satisfy the requirements of the National Institutes of Health. From the categories provided by the National Institutes of Health, 47 participants selected White (43.5%), 42 selected Asian (38.9%) 10 selected Latinx (9.3%), 1 selected Black (1%), 1 selected Native American (1%), and 7 selected more than 1 race (6.5%). CBGT and MBSR were associated with a significant decrease in negative emotion (partial eta2 range, 0.38 to 0.53) with no significant between-group differences when reacting (beta, -0.04; SE, 0.09; 95% CI, -0.11 to 0.08; t92=-0.37; P=.71), reappraising (beta, -0.15; SE, 0.09; 95% CI, -0.32 to 0.03; t92=-1.67; P=.10), or accepting (beta, -0.05; SE, 0.08; 95% CI, -0.20 to 0.11; t92=-0.59; P=.56). There was a significant increase in BOLD percentage signal change in cognitive and attention-regulation regions when reappraising (CBGT=0.031; MBSR=0.037) and accepting (CBGT=0.012; MBSR=0.077) negative self-beliefs. CBGT and MBSR did not differ in decreased negative emotion and increased reappraisal and acceptance BOLD responses. Reappraisal-associated MBSR (vs CBGT) negative emotions and CBGT (vs MBSR) brain responses were associated with social anxiety symptoms 1 year posttreatment.Conclusions and Relevance: The results of this study suggest that CBGT and MBSR may be effective treatments with long-term benefits for patients with SAD that recruit cognitive and attention-regulation brain networks. Despite contrasting models of therapeutic change, CBT and MBSR may both enhance reappraisal and acceptance emotion regulation strategies.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02036658.

  View details for DOI 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.1862

  View details for PubMedID 34287622

• Assessing Emotion Regulation Ability for Negative and Positive Emotions: Psychometrics of the Perth Emotion Regulation Competency Inventory in United States Adults. Journal of affective disorders Preece, D. A., Becerra, R., Sauer-Zavala, S., Boyes, M., McEvoy, P., Villanueva, C., Ibonie, S., Gruber, J., Hasking, P., Gross, J. J. 2021; 294: 558-567

  Abstract

  People regulate both negative and positive emotions, and their ability to do this successfully is a cornerstone of adaptive psychological functioning. However, few measures have been available to assess emotion regulation ability across both valence domains. The Perth Emotion Regulation Competency Inventory (PERCI) was recently developed for this purpose. Here we present the first psychometric study of the PERCI in the United States (N=508). Confirmatory factor analyses supported the intended eight-factor structure, which was invariant across age, gender, and education. PERCI scores had high internal consistency, and were associated with measures of psychopathology, emotional reactivity, and emotion regulation strategies in expected ways. These observed relationships between the PERCI and various regulation strategies may serve to establish a profile of what strategy patterns characterize differences in emotion regulation ability. Overall, the PERCI had strong psychometrics. Its capacity to assess both valence domains should enable more comprehensive assessments of emotion regulation ability.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2021.07.055

  View details for PubMedID 34330052

• The affective benefits of nature exposure SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS Bratman, G. N., Olvera-Alvarez, H. A., Gross, J. J. 2021

  View details for DOI 10.1111/spc3.12630

  View details for Web of Science ID 000668261900001

• Acceptability and Effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence Therapy for Anxiety and Depression (Youper): Longitudinal Observational Study. Journal of medical Internet research Mehta, A., Niles, A. N., Vargas, J. H., Marafon, T., Couto, D. D., Gross, J. J. 2021; 23 (6): e26771

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Youper is a widely used, commercially available mobile app that uses artificial intelligence therapy for the treatment of anxiety and depression.OBJECTIVE: Our study examined the acceptability and effectiveness of Youper. Further, we tested the cumulative regulation hypothesis, which posits that cumulative emotion regulation successes with repeated intervention engagement will predict longer-term anxiety and depression symptom reduction.METHODS: We examined data from paying Youper users (N=4517) who allowed their data to be used for research. To characterize the acceptability of Youper, we asked users to rate the app on a 5-star scale and measured retention statistics for users' first 4 weeks of subscription. To examine effectiveness, we examined longitudinal measures of anxiety and depression symptoms. To test the cumulative regulation hypothesis, we used the proportion of successful emotion regulation attempts to predict symptom reduction.RESULTS: Youper users rated the app highly (mean 4.36 stars, SD 0.84), and 42.66% (1927/4517) of users were retained by week 4. Symptoms decreased in the first 2 weeks of app use (anxiety: d=0.57; depression: d=0.46). Anxiety improvements were maintained in the subsequent 2 weeks, but depression symptoms increased slightly with a very small effect size (d=0.05). A higher proportion of successful emotion regulation attempts significantly predicted greater anxiety and depression symptom reduction.CONCLUSIONS: Youper is a low-cost, completely self-guided treatment that is accessible to users who may not otherwise access mental health care. Our findings demonstrate the acceptability and effectiveness of Youper as a treatment for anxiety and depression symptoms and support continued study of Youper in a randomized clinical trial.

  View details for DOI 10.2196/26771

  View details for PubMedID 34155984

• The rise of affectivism. Nature human behaviour Dukes, D., Abrams, K., Adolphs, R., Ahmed, M. E., Beatty, A., Berridge, K. C., Broomhall, S., Brosch, T., Campos, J. J., Clay, Z., Clement, F., Cunningham, W. A., Damasio, A., Damasio, H., D'Arms, J., Davidson, J. W., de Gelder, B., Deonna, J., de Sousa, R., Ekman, P., Ellsworth, P. C., Fehr, E., Fischer, A., Foolen, A., Frevert, U., Grandjean, D., Gratch, J., Greenberg, L., Greenspan, P., Gross, J. J., Halperin, E., Kappas, A., Keltner, D., Knutson, B., Konstan, D., Kret, M. E., LeDoux, J. E., Lerner, J. S., Levenson, R. W., Loewenstein, G., Manstead, A. S., Maroney, T. A., Moors, A., Niedenthal, P., Parkinson, B., Pavlidis, I., Pelachaud, C., Pollak, S. D., Pourtois, G., Roettger-Roessler, B., Russell, J. A., Sauter, D., Scarantino, A., Scherer, K. R., Stearns, P., Stets, J. E., Tappolet, C., Teroni, F., Tsai, J., Turner, J., Reekum, C. V., Vuilleumier, P., Wharton, T., Sander, D. 2021

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41562-021-01130-8

  View details for PubMedID 34112980

• Dynamic network organization of the self: implications for affective CURRENT OPINION IN BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES Dixon, M., Gross, J. J. 2021; 39: 1-9

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.11.004

  View details for Web of Science ID 000664653700002

• Argentinean Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). Psychological reports delValle, M. V., Andres, M. L., Urquijo, S., Zamora, E. V., Mehta, A., Gross, J. J. 2021: 332941211021343

  Abstract

  The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) is a self-report measure designed to assess the two most widely studied strategies of Gross' model: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Even though there are two Spanish adaptations of the ERQ, region-specific linguistic factors and dialects must also be considered when adapting a test for another country in order to ensure equivalent evaluations across cultures. The present work developed an Argentinean adaptation of the ERQ. Additionally, the study evaluated its psychometric properties and associations with theoretically related constructs. Study 1 consist of the translation the ERQ into Argentinean Spanish and the analysis of its internal structure and reliability in a sample of 2957 participants. The results supported a two-factor structure with good data fit, adequate factor loadings, and good test-retest reliability and internal consistency. Expected age and gender differences in the use of reappraisal and suppression were also observed. Study 2 analyzed the external validity (concurrent and convergent) of the ERQ adaptation in a sample of 2160 participants. Theory-consistent associations were found with emotion regulation mechanisms, anxiety, depression, and personality traits. In summary, the findings support the validity of a new ERQ adaptation and its use in Argentina.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/00332941211021343

  View details for PubMedID 34056981

• A Synergistic Mindsets Intervention Protects Adolescents from Social Stress. Research square Yeager, D., Bryan, C., Gross, J., Krettek, D., Santos, P., Murray, J., Graveling, H., Johnson, M., Jamieson, J. 2021

  Abstract

  Social stress poses a major threat to adolescent health via its effects on internalizing symptoms, such as anxiety and depression. Available interventions to help adolescents improve their stress responses, however, have not been effective in rigorous evaluation studies, or they have been difficult to administer widely. Here we show that replicable improvements in adolescent stress responses can be achieved with a short (~30-minute), scalable synergistic mindsets intervention. This intervention, which is a self-administered online training module, targets both growth mindsets (the idea that people's intelligence can be developed in response to challenge) and stress-can-be-enhancing mindsets (the idea that people's stress responses can be fuel for optimal performance). Its goal is to promote positive engagement with stressful events (e.g., learning from failure on a quiz or a conflict with a peer) and to encourage adolescents to use their responses to stressful events and even their bodily symptoms (e.g. racing heart, sweaty palms, butterflies in their stomach) to their advantage. In five double-blind, randomized, controlled trials (total N = 4,091 adolescents), the new synergistic mindsets intervention improved stress-related cognitions (Studies 1-2), cardiovascular reactivity (Study 3), daily internalizing symptoms and cortisol levels (Study 4), and generalized anxiety symptoms during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns (Study 5). Effects on downstream outcomes (in Studies 3-5) were stronger among individuals who, at baseline, held the two negative mindsets targeted by the intervention, providing evidence for the proposed mechanisms. Confidence in this conclusion comes from a conservative, Bayesian machine-learning method for detecting heterogeneity.

  View details for DOI 10.21203/rs.3.rs-551170/v1

  View details for PubMedID 34075372

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC8168396

• What moves you? Physical activity strategies in older women. Journal of health psychology Oppezzo, M., Wegner, L., Gross, J. J., Schwartz, D. L., Eckley, T., King, A. C., Mackey, S., Stefanick, M. L. 2021: 13591053211014593

  Abstract

  Physical activity improves quality of life and extends independence in older adults. Yet, how to motivate older adults to engage in physical activity is unclear. In the present study, 4108 older women, aged 70-99, reported how they motivated themselves to move when they did not feel like it, and their hours of physical activity and walking each week. Findings indicated that participants who endorsed more strategies had more hours of physical activity and walking. Strategic categories that correlated with more physical activity include focusing on the benefits and utilizing the surrounding environment to help motivate movement.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/13591053211014593

  View details for PubMedID 34006131

• Neurocognitive Heterogeneity in Social Anxiety Disorder: The Role of Self-Referential Processing and Childhood Maltreatment CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Talmon, A., Dixon, M., Goldin, P. R., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2021

  View details for DOI 10.1177/21677026211004452

  View details for Web of Science ID 000649496100001

• Happiness and the Propensity to Interact With Other People: Reply to Elmer (2021). Psychological science Quoidbach, J., Dercon, Q., Taquet, M., Desseilles, M., de Montjoye, Y., Gross, J. J. 2021: 9567976211012673

  View details for DOI 10.1177/09567976211012673

  View details for PubMedID 33950706

• Brain markers predicting response to cognitive-behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder: an independent replication of Whitfield-Gabrieli et al. 2015. Translational psychiatry Ashar, Y. K., Clark, J., Gunning, F. M., Goldin, P., Gross, J. J., Wager, T. D. 2021; 11 (1): 260

  Abstract

  Predictive brain markers promise a number of important scientific, clinical, and societal applications. Over 600 predictive brain markers have been described in published reports, but very few have been tested in independent replication attempts. Here, we conducted an independent replication of a previously published marker predicting treatment response to cognitive-behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder from patterns of resting-state fMRI amygdala connectivity1. The replication attempt was conducted in an existing dataset similar to the dataset used in the original report, by a team of independent investigators in consultation with the original authors. The precise model described in the original report positively predicted treatment outcomes in the replication dataset, but with marginal statistical significance, permutation test p=0.1. The effect size was substantially smaller in the replication dataset, with the model explaining 2% of the variance in treatment outcomes, as compared to 21% in the original report. Several lines of evidence, including the current replication attempt, suggest that features of amygdala function or structure may be able to predict treatment response in anxiety disorders. However, predictive models that explain a substantial amount of variance in independent datasets will be needed for scientific and clinical applications.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41398-021-01366-y

  View details for PubMedID 33934101

• Beyond willpower. The Behavioral and brain sciences Gross, J. J., Duckworth, A. L. 2021; 44: e37

  Abstract

  For all its popularity as a psychological construct, willpower is irremediably polysemous. A more helpful construct is self-control, defined as the self-regulation of conflicting impulses. We show how the process model of self-control provides a principled framework for examining how undesirable impulses may be weakened and desirable impulses may be strengthened.

  View details for DOI 10.1017/S0140525X20000722

  View details for PubMedID 33899714

• THE TEMPORAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NEGATIVE AFFECT AND SLEEP BRUXISM IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC BACK PAIN Hettie, G., You, D. S., Ziadni, M., Kong, J., Law, C., Gross, J., Manber, R., Darnall, B. D., Mackey, S. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2021: S478

  View details for Web of Science ID 000648922701161

• Parental Burnout Around the Globe: a 42-Country Study. Affective science Roskam, I., Aguiar, J., Akgun, E., Arikan, G., Artavia, M., Avalosse, H., Aunola, K., Bader, M., Bahati, C., Barham, E. J., Besson, E., Beyers, W., Boujut, E., Brianda, M. E., Brytek-Matera, A., Carbonneau, N., Cesar, F., Chen, B., Dorard, G., Dos Santos Elias, L. C., Dunsmuir, S., Egorova, N., Favez, N., Fontaine, A., Foran, H., Fricke, J., Furutani, K., Gallee, L., Gannage, M., Gaspar, M., Godbout, L., Goldenberg, A., Gross, J. J., Gurza, M. A., Hall, R., Hashmi, M. A., Hatta, O., Helmy, M., Hoang, T. V., Huynh, M. T., Kaneza, E., Kawamoto, T., Knezevic, G., Kpassagou, B. L., Lazarevic, L. B., Le Vigouroux, S., Lebert-Charron, A., Leme, V., Lin, G., MacCann, C., Manrique-Millones, D., Matias, M., Miranda-Orrego, M. I., Miscioscia, M., Morgades-Bamba, C., Mousavi, S. F., Moutassem-Mimouni, B., Muntean, A., Murphy, H., Ndayizigiye, A., Tenkue, J. N., Olderbak, S., Ornawka, S., Osman, F., Oyarce-Cadiz, D., Perez-Diaz, P. A., Petrides, K. V., Pineda-Marin, C., Prandstetter, K., Prikhidko, A., Ricci, R. T., Salinas-Quiroz, F., Sanchez-Rodriguez, R., Sarrionandia, A., Scola, C., Sezibera, V., Silva, P., Simonelli, A., Soenens, B., Sorbring, E., Sorkkila, M., Schrooyen, C., Stanculescu, E., Starchenkova, E., Szczygiel, D., Tapia, J., Tri, T. M., Tremblay, M., Ustundag-Budak, A. M., Pacheco, M. V., van Bakel, H., Verhofstadt, L., Wendland, J., Yotanyamaneewong, S., Mikolajczak, M. 2021: 1–22

  Abstract

  High levels of stress in the parenting domain can lead to parental burnout, a condition that has severe consequences for both parents and children. It is not yet clear, however, whether parental burnout varies by culture, and if so, why it might do so. In this study, we examined the prevalence of parental burnout in 42 countries (17,409 parents; 71% mothers; Mage = 39.20) and showed that the prevalence of parental burnout varies dramatically across countries. Analyses of cultural values revealed that individualistic cultures, in particular, displayed a noticeably higher prevalence and mean level of parental burnout. Indeed, individualism plays a larger role in parental burnout than either economic inequalities across countries, or any other individual and family characteristic examined so far, including the number and age of children and the number of hours spent with them. These results suggest that cultural values in Western countries may put parents under heightened levels of stress.Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-020-00028-4.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-020-00028-4

  View details for PubMedID 33758826

• Affective Benefits of Nature Contact: The Role of Rumination FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY Bratman, G. N., Young, G., Mehta, A., Lee Babineaux, I., Daily, G. C., Gross, J. J. 2021; 12

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.643866

  View details for Web of Science ID 000631818600001

• Affective Benefits of Nature Contact: The Role of Rumination. Frontiers in psychology Bratman, G. N., Young, G., Mehta, A., Lee Babineaux, I., Daily, G. C., Gross, J. J. 2021; 12: 643866

  Abstract

  Mounting evidence shows that nature contact is associated with affective benefits. However, the psychological mechanisms responsible for these effects are not well understood. In this study, we examined whether more time spent in nature was associated with higher levels of positive affect in general, and lower levels of negative affect and rumination in general. We also conducted a cross-sectional mediation analysis to examine whether rumination mediated the association of nature contact with affect. Participants (N = 617) reported their average time spent in nature each week, as well as their general levels of positive and negative affect, and the degree to which they typically engaged in rumination in daily life. We then used structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. Our results support the hypothesis that nature contact is associated with general levels of affect, and that rumination mediates this association for negative affect, and marginally mediates this association for positive affect.

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.643866

  View details for PubMedID 33776870

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7988226

• Regulating Road Rage. Social and personality psychology compass Bjureberg, J., Gross, J. J. 2021; 15 (3)

  Abstract

  Road rage has been a problem since the advent of cars. Given the ubiquity of road rage, and its potentially devastating consequences, understanding road rage and developing interventions to curb it are important priorities. Emerging theoretical and empirical advances in the study of emotion and emotion regulation have provided new insights into why people develop road rage and how it can be prevented and treated. In the current article, we suggest an integrative conceptual framework for understanding road rage, based upon a psychological analysis of emotion and emotion regulation. We begin by defining road rage and other key constructs. We then consider the interplay between road rage generation and road rage regulation. Using an emotion regulation framework, we describe key points at which emotion-regulation difficulties can lead to road rage, followed by strategies that may alleviate these difficulties. We suggest that this framework usefully organizes existing research on road rage, while exposing key directions for future research.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/spc3.12586

  View details for PubMedID 33995563

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC8114946

• Beyond Job Burnout: Parental Burnout! Trends in cognitive sciences Mikolajczak, M., Gross, J. J., Roskam, I. 2021

  Abstract

  Here, we lift the veil on an existing but long taboo phenomenon: parental burnout (PB), an exhaustion syndrome related to the parenting role. PB is caused by a perceived gap between parenting resources and demands, and has a host of serious consequences for both parents and their children.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.tics.2021.01.012

  View details for PubMedID 33714668

• The moderating effects of anger suppression and anger expression on cognitive behavioral group therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction among individuals with social anxiety disorder. Journal of affective disorders Kuo, J. R., Zeifman, R. J., Morrison, A. S., Heimberg, R. G., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2021; 285: 127–35

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: . Cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) are two prominent evidence-based treatments for social anxiety disorder (SAD). It is not clear, however, whether outcomes of these two treatments are moderated by similar factors. For example, whereas anger suppression and anger expression each predict outcomes in cognitive- behavioral group therapy (CBGT), it is unknown whether they differentially influence outcomes in CBGT versus MBSR.METHODS: . One hundred eight participants with SAD were randomized to CBGT, MBSR or Waitlist (WL). WL participants were later randomized to CBGT or MBSR, and their data were combined with data from those originally randomized to CBGT or MBSR. Anger suppression and anger expression were assessed at pre-treatment, and social anxiety was assessed at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and every 3 months throughout a 12-month follow-up period.RESULTS: . From pre- to post-treatment, higher anger suppression was associated with significantly greater reduction in social anxiety in CBGT compared with MBSR. From post-treatment through follow-up, higher anger expression was associated lesser reduction in social anxiety in MBSR but not in CBGT.LIMITATIONS: . Data are limited by sole reliance on self-report and it is unclear whether these findings generalize beyond group-based interventions.CONCLUSIONS: . Individuals with SAD who are higher in anger suppression and/or expression might be better suited to CBGT than MBSR.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2021.02.022

  View details for PubMedID 33647580

• Regulating road rage SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS Bjureberg, J., Gross, J. J. 2021

  View details for DOI 10.1111/spc3.12586

  View details for Web of Science ID 000614911100001

• The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Relations with Affective Symptoms in a United States General Community Sample. Journal of affective disorders Preece, D. A., Becerra, R., Hasking, P., McEvoy, P. M., Boyes, M., Sauer-Zavala, S., Chen, W., Gross, J. J. 2021; 284: 27–30

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Difficulties in emotion regulation are a key risk factor for affective disorders. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) is a 10-item measure of two emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. It is widely used tool in the United States, however, most psychometric studies of the ERQ have so far been conducted with college students and some researchers have recently questioned its factorial validity in non-student samples. In this study, we conducted the first confirmatory factor analysis study of the ERQ in a United States general community sample.METHOD: We examined the ERQ's factor structure, measurement invariance across age, education and gender categories, internal consistency reliability, and concurrent validity with a sample of 508 adults.RESULTS: The intended two-factor model (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression) was an excellent fit to the data, and this structure was invariant across different age, education, and gender categories. Both ERQ scale scores had good omega and alpha reliabilities, and correlated as expected with depression and anxiety symptoms. Cognitive reappraisal was negatively correlated with these symptoms, whereas expressive suppression was positively correlated with these symptoms.LIMITATIONS: We did not include a clinical sample and future psychometric studies of the ERQ in specialised clinical populations would be useful.CONCLUSIONS: The ERQ appears to have strong psychometric properties when used with general community members from the United States. ERQ scores can be confidently used and compared across adults of different ages, genders, and educational backgrounds.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2021.01.071

  View details for PubMedID 33582429

• Reductions in social anxiety during treatment predict lower levels of loneliness during follow-up among individuals with social anxiety disorder. Journal of anxiety disorders O'Day, E. B., Butler, R. M., Morrison, A. S., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J., Heimberg, R. G. 2021; 78: 102362

  Abstract

  INTRODUCTION: Individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) are at elevated risk of loneliness, yet little research has examined loneliness in this population. Cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) have demonstrated efficacy in treating SAD, yet research has not examined whether they lead to reductions in loneliness.METHODS: This sample comprised 108 individuals with SAD who were randomized to CBGT, MBSR, or a waitlist control (WL); WL participants were re-randomized to CBGT or MBSR following WL. Assessments were completed pre- and post-treatment, and 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month follow-up assessments.RESULTS: Compared to WL, individuals in CBGT and MBSR were less lonely at post-treatment; there was no difference between treatments after treatment or during follow-up. Greater reductions in social anxiety from pre- to post-treatment predicted lower levels of loneliness during follow-up. Greater reductions in loneliness from pre- to post-treatment also predicted lower levels of social anxiety during follow-up.DISCUSSION: Individuals who experience reductions in their social anxiety during treatment may also feel less lonely following treatment. Reductions in loneliness also lead to improvements in social anxiety. Future research should continue to examine the relationship between social anxiety and loneliness and how interventions for SAD may help reduce loneliness.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.janxdis.2021.102362

  View details for PubMedID 33486385

• Development and Validation of the Parental Assistance with Child Emotion Regulation (PACER) Questionnaire. Research on child and adolescent psychopathology Cohodes, E. M., Preece, D. A., McCauley, S., Rogers, M. K., Gross, J. J., Gee, D. G. 2021

  Abstract

  Caregivers play a central role in promoting emotion regulation throughout infancy, childhood, and adolescence. However, there are no existing psychometric measures to assess how parents assist children in employing emotion regulation strategies for negative emotions. We therefore developed the Parental Assistance with Child Emotion Regulation (PACER) Questionnaire to assess the degree to which parents assist their children in their use of ten different regulation strategies. In this paper, we describe the development of the PACER and examine its psychometric properties (N=407 parents of children ages birth to 17years). In so doing, we also use the PACER to comprehensively explore the links between parent-assisted emotion regulation and indices of parent and child stress, symptomatology, and attachment. Confirmatory factor analyses of the PACER items supported its intended ten-factor structure (corresponding to ten specific regulation strategies), which was invariant across different child age and sex categories. PACER scale scores had excellent internal consistency and generally acceptable test-retest reliability over a one-week period. Convergent validity was established via correlations between PACER scales and indices of parental emotion sensitivity, expressivity, and regulation, as well as parents' perception of the efficacy of their assistance with children's execution of emotion regulatory strategies. Lower parental facilitation of stereotypically adaptive emotion regulatory strategies was associated with higher child internalizing and externalizing problems and with poorer parent-child relationship quality. Overall, these findings suggest that the PACER may be a useful tool for the assessment of parental assistance with child emotion regulation across development.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10802-020-00759-9

  View details for PubMedID 33411232

• Modeling the Mindfulness-to-Meaning Theory's Mindful Reappraisal Hypothesis: Replication with Longitudinal Data from a Randomized Controlled Study. Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress Hanley, A. W., de Vibe, M. n., Solhaug, I. n., Farb, N. n., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J., Garland, E. L. 2021

  Abstract

  The Mindfulness to Meaning Theory provides a detailed process model of the mechanisms by which mindfulness may promote well-being. Central to the Mindfulness to Meaning Theory is the mindful reappraisal hypothesis (MRH), which suggests mindfulness training promotes well-being by facilitating positive reappraisal. Emerging evidence from interconnected domains of research supports the MRH. However, it remains unclear whether mindful reappraisal continues to develop after a mindfulness training course and whether this continued development encourages well-being over time. As such, this randomized control study compared participants receiving a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course with participants receiving no mindfulness training on positive reappraisal use and well-being over the course of six years. Latent growth curve modeling revealed that mindfulness training increased well-being by significantly increasing the trajectory of positive reappraisal over time. The MRH was then unpacked by examining whether MBSR involvement also stimulated decentering and broadened awareness, core components of the MRH. Multivariate path analysis revealed that mindfulness training increased decentering, which in turn broadened awareness, which was then associated with positive reappraisal, ultimately promoting well-being. Taken together, these findings suggest that MBSR cultivates a downstream cascade of adaptive psychological processes that continue to promote quality of life six-years after mindfulness training. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/smi.3035

  View details for PubMedID 33607697

• The Group-Malleability Intervention Addressing Intergroup Conflicts by Changing Perceptions of Outgroup Malleability HANDBOOK OF WISE INTERVENTIONS Goldenberg, A., Gross, J. J., Halperin, E. edited by Walton, G. M., Crum, A. J. 2021: 346-365

  View details for Web of Science ID 000647636100016

• Why is Alexithymia a Risk Factor for Affective Disorder Symptoms? The Role of Emotion Regulation. Journal of affective disorders Preece, D. A., Mehta, A., Becerra, R., Chen, W., Allan, A., Robinson, K., Boyes, M., Hasking, P., Gross, J. J. 2021

  Abstract

  Ever since alexithymia was defined in the 1970s, robust associations have been observed between alexithymia and a variety of symptoms of psychopathology. Alexithymia is now widely regarded as an important transdiagnostic risk factor, and it is frequently assessed in clinical and research settings. However, despite this strong interest, it remains unclear exactly why (i.e., by which mechanisms) alexithymia is linked to psychopathology. In this paper, we hypothesise that alexithymia is linked to affective disorder symptoms because alexithymia impairs people's ability to regulate their emotions, and we empirically test this hypothesis.We administered a battery of psychometric measures to 501 adults in the United States, and examined the direct and indirect effects between alexithymia (Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire), emotion regulation ability (Perth Emotion Regulation Competency Inventory), and affective disorder symptoms (Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21).In the Pearson bivariate correlation matrix, alexithymia, emotion regulation difficulties, and affective disorder symptoms were all significantly correlated. In the modelling of direct and indirect effects, alexithymia was indirectly associated with affective disorder symptoms through emotion regulation difficulties (no significant direct effect).Our online survey data were all self-report data and cross-sectional. Future longitudinal work would be beneficial.Our findings support contemporary theorising that alexithymia is linked to affective disorder symptoms via emotion regulation difficulties. These results help to clarify the mechanisms by which alexithymia may predispose people to affective disorder symptoms, and highlight the importance of considering the roles of alexithymia and emotion regulation in case conceptualisations and treatment planning.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2021.09.085

  View details for PubMedID 34606815

• Testing the impaired disengagement hypothesis: The role of attentional control and positive metacognitive beliefs in depression. Behaviour research and therapy Salguero, J. M., Ramos-Cejudo, J., García-Sancho, E., Arbulu, I., Zaccagnini, J. L., Bjureberg, J., Gross, J. J. 2021; 146: 103961

  Abstract

  The impaired disengagement hypothesis holds that people ruminate - and thus increase their risk for depression - due to impaired attentional control and conflict signaling. We tested this hypothesis by examining the role of attentional control and conflict signaling (operationalized as positive metacognitive beliefs) in rumination and depressive symptoms. We expected that attentional control and positive metacognitive beliefs would be associated with depressive symptoms and that these associations would be cross-sectionally mediated by rumination. We tested two community samples (Study 1, N = 289; Study 2, N = 292), assessing attentional control, positive metacognitive beliefs, rumination, and depressive symptoms. In both studies, attentional control and positive metacognitive beliefs were significantly associated with rumination and depression, and path analyses corroborated the proposed mediation model. Our findings support the impaired disengagement hypothesis, and suggest that attentional control and positive metacognitive beliefs may be informative in the personalization of depression assessment and treatment.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.brat.2021.103961

  View details for PubMedID 34543923

• Individual Differences in Perceived Sleep Quality Do Not Predict Negative Affect Reactivity or Regulation. Biological psychology Zhang, J., Ten Brink, M., Kreibig, S. D., Gilam, G., Goldin, P. R., Manber, R., Mackey, S., Gross, J. J. 2021: 108149

  Abstract

  Do people who have low-quality sleep tend to have more negative affect? This question is of great public interest, and many would assume the answer is "yes." However, previous findings have been mixed, possibly due to differing measures of sleep and affect, or to a failure to separately examine negative affect reactivity and regulation. Across two studies, we assessed adults' perceived sleep quality for at least two weeks and tested their negative affect reactivity and regulation in response to unpleasant pictures (Study 1) or painful thermal stimulation (Study 2) using both self-report and physiological measures. The relationships between perceived sleep quality, on the one hand, and negative affect reactivity and regulation, on the other, were non-significant. Furthermore, a Bayesian approach unanimously favored the null hypothesis. These results suggest that individual differences in perceived sleep quality may not predict negative affect reactivity or regulation across adult individuals.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108149

  View details for PubMedID 34284070

• Association between temporal summation and conditioned pain modulation in chronic low back pain: baseline results from 2 clinical trials. Pain reports Kong, J. T., You, D. S., Law, C. S., Darnall, B. D., Gross, J. J., Manber, R., Mackey, S. 2021; 6 (4): e975

  Abstract

  Temporal summation (TS) and conditioned pain modulation (CPM) represent different aspects of central pain processing. Their relationship and differential performance within distinct body locations are not well understood.To examine the association between TS and CPM in chronic low back pain and the influence of testing location on this relationship.We analyzed baseline data from 2 clinical trials on participants with chronic low back pain (n = 264; 47.3% female; mean age = 41 years, SD = 12; mean pain = 5.3/10, SD = 1.4). Measures used included questionnaires assessing pain and negative affect, phasic thermal TS at the hand (thenar) and the lower back (lumbar), followed by CPM that included a thermal testing stimulus (Heat-6, the temperature where pain rating is 6/10) and a cold-pressor conditioning stimulus. Nonparametric, proportional odds logistic regression was used to model thenar, and separately, lumbar TS, using CPM, Heat-6, negative affect, and demographics.Our models revealed a small association (βs = 0.17, P = 0.01) between reduced CPM and heightened TS at both testing sites, regardless of demographics or negative affect.Results suggest a modest association between TS and CPM, irrespective of anatomical testing location, demographics, and negative affect. These findings will help improve the methodology and interpretation of TS and CPM measurement in clinical pain populations.

  View details for DOI 10.1097/PR9.0000000000000975

  View details for PubMedID 34901679

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC8660006

• The Crowd-Emotion-Amplification Effect. Psychological science Goldenberg, A. n., Weisz, E. n., Sweeny, T. D., Cikara, M. n., Gross, J. J. 2021: 956797620970561

  Abstract

  How do people go about reading a room or taking the temperature of a crowd? When people catch a brief glimpse of an array of faces, they can focus their attention on only some of the faces. We propose that perceivers preferentially attend to faces exhibiting strong emotions and that this generates a crowd-emotion-amplification effect-estimating a crowd's average emotional response as more extreme than it actually is. Study 1 (N = 50) documented the crowd-emotion-amplification effect. Study 2 (N = 50) replicated the effect even when we increased exposure time. Study 3 (N = 50) used eye tracking to show that attentional bias to emotional faces drives amplification. These findings have important implications for many domains in which individuals must make snap judgments regarding a crowd's emotionality, from public speaking to controlling crowds.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0956797620970561

  View details for PubMedID 33626289

• Childhood Maltreatment and Narcissism: The Mediating Role of Dissociation. Journal of interpersonal violence Bertele, N., Talmon, A., Gross, J. J. 2020: 886260520984404

  Abstract

  Childhood maltreatment (CM) is thought to be linked to adult narcissistic traits. However, it remains unclear how CM is associated with each type of narcissism, vulnerable and grandiose, and what mechanism mediates these links. One potential candidate is dissociation. This study examines the relations among CM, dissociation, vulnerable narcissism, and grandiose narcissism. A total of 322 women completed self-reported questionnaires assessing CM, dissociation, vulnerable narcissism, and grandiose narcissism. To examine the relations among CM, dissociation, and each type of narcissism, we performed Pearson's correlations and mediation analyses. In secondary analyses, we conducted latent class analyses to classify different types of CM and to assess their relations with the study variables. We found small to moderate correlations between CM and vulnerable narcissism, (r = .35, p < .001) and CM and grandiose narcissism (r = .2, p < .001), with the former association being greater than the latter (z = -3.25, p < .001). Dissociation was found to mediate the link between CM and each type of narcissism (p < .001). Results suggest that CM may play a role in the etiology of vulnerable and grandiose narcissism, and that dissociation links CM to each type of narcissism. Findings highlight that CM may lead to different responses in terms of narcissism-through the same mediation process.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0886260520984404

  View details for PubMedID 33356780

• Stress, Sleep, and Coping Self-Efficacy in Adolescents. Journal of youth and adolescence Ten Brink, M., Lee, H. Y., Manber, R., Yeager, D. S., Gross, J. J. 2020

  Abstract

  Adults are thought to show a sleep-stress spiral in which greater stress worsens sleep quality, which amplifies stress, which leads to worse sleep. This study examined whether adolescents show a similar spiral, and if so, whether coping self-efficacy-believing one can cope with stress-interrupts the spiral. Temporal dynamics of perceived stress, sleep quality, and coping self-efficacy were tracked in 381 9th graders (49% female, mean age 14.43, age range 14-16) using daily surveys across two school weeks (3184 observations). Though expected associations were evident between individuals, only a unidirectional path was found within individuals from sleep quality to perceived stress via coping self-efficacy. This challenges the conventional bidirectional understanding of sleep-stress relations and suggests coping self-efficacy as an intervention target.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10964-020-01337-4

  View details for PubMedID 33141378

• Behavior Change. Organizational behavior and human decision processes Duckworth, A. L., Gross, J. J. 2020; 161 (Suppl): 39-49

  Abstract

  Despite rapid growth in the empirical research on behavior change, modern science has yet to produce a coherent set of recommendations for individuals and organizations eager to align everyday actions with enduringly valued goals. We propose the process model of behavior change as a parsimonious framework for organizing strategies according to where they have their primary impact in the generation of behavioral impulses. To begin, individuals exist in objective situations, only certain features of which attract attention, which in turn lead to subjective appraisals, then finally give rise to response tendencies. Unhealthy habits develop when conflicting impulses are consistently resolved in favor of momentary temptations instead of valued goals. To change behavior for the better, we can strategically modify objective situations, where we pay attention, how we construct appraisals, and how we enact responses. Crucially, behavior change strategies can be initiated either by the individual (i.e., self-control) or by others (e.g., a benevolent employer).

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.09.002

  View details for PubMedID 33716396

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7946166

• Assessing alexithymia: Psychometric properties of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire and 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale in United States adults PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Preece, D. A., Becerra, R., Allan, A., Robinson, K., Chen, W., Hasking, P., Gross, J. J. 2020; 166

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110138

  View details for Web of Science ID 000551465100003

• Behavior change ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR AND HUMAN DECISION PROCESSES Duckworth, A. L., Gross, J. J. 2020; 161: 39–49

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.09.002

  View details for Web of Science ID 000600120900005

• Emotion regulation to idiographic stimuli: Testing the Autobiographical Emotion Regulation Task NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA Speed, B. C., Levinson, A. R., Gross, J. J., Kiosses, D. N., Hajcak, G. 2020; 145

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.04.032

  View details for Web of Science ID 000576841200009

• Defense mechanism is predicted by attachment and mediates the maladaptive influence of insecure attachment on adolescent mental health CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY Laczkovics, C., Fonzo, G., Bendixsen, B., Shpigel, E., Lee, I., Skala, K., Prunas, A., Gross, J., Steiner, H., Huemer, J. 2020; 39 (4): 1388–96

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s12144-018-9839-1

  View details for Web of Science ID 000551116700030

• Digital Emotion Regulation CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Wadley, G., Smith, W., Koval, P., Gross, J. J. 2020

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0963721420920592

  View details for Web of Science ID 000542339900001

• Altered Frontal Cortex Functioning in Emotion Regulation and Hopelessness in Bipolar Disorder. Bipolar disorders Sankar, A., Purves, K., Colic, L., Lippard, E. T., Millard, H., Fan, S., Spencer, L., Wang, F., Pittman, B., Constable, R. T., Gross, J. J., Blumberg, H. P. 2020

  Abstract

  OBJECTIVES: Emotion regulationdifficulties precipitate and exacerbate acute mood symptoms in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD), and contribute tosuicidal behavior.However, few studies have examined regional brain responses in explicit emotion regulation during acute BD mood states, or hopelessness, a major suicide risk factor.We assessed brain responses during explicit emotion regulation, and their relationship with hopelessness, in acutely symptomatic and euthymic individuals with BD.METHODS: Functional MRI data were obtained from individuals with BDwho were either in acute negative (BD-A; n=24)or euthymic (BD-E; n=24) mood states, and from healthy volunteers (HV; n=55), while participants performed aparadigm that instructed them to downregulatetheir responses to fearful (EmReg-Fear) and happy(EmReg-Happy) facial stimuli. Emotion regulation-related differences in brain responses during negative and euthymic BD states,as well astheir associations withnegative affective symptoms (hopelessness and depression),were examined.RESULTS: Decreased responseswere observed in ventral and dorsal frontal regions, includingmedial orbitofrontal (mOFC)and dorsal anterior cingulate cortices,during EmReg-Fear across symptomatic and euthymic states in BD relative to HVs.The lowestresponses were observed in the BD-A group. Across BD participants, negative associations were observed between mOFC responses and hopelessness, particularly due to loss of motivation.Differences were not significant during EmReg-Happy.CONCLUSIONS: Lesser emotion regulation-related ventral and dorsal frontal engagement in BD could represent a trait abnormality that worsens during acute negative states.The reduced mOFC engagement in BD during explicit regulation of negative emotions may contribute tohopelessness particularly in the context of diminished motivation.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/bdi.12954

  View details for PubMedID 32521570

• Is Parental Burnout Distinct From Job Burnout and Depressive Symptoms? CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Mikolajczak, M., Gross, J. J., Stinglhamber, F., Norberg, A., Roskam, I. 2020

  View details for DOI 10.1177/2167702620917447

  View details for Web of Science ID 000537172000001

• Psychological Distress Mediates the Prospective Association of Household Income with Body Mass Index in Adolescent Girls. Affective science O'Leary, D., Gross, J. J., Rehkopf, D. H. 2020; 1 (2): 97-106

  Abstract

  The primary objective of this study was to examine whether psychological distress mediates the relationship between income and increases in body mass index in adolescent girls. To answer this question, we analyzed data from 2379 participants in the longitudinal NHLBI Growth and Health Study using regularized regression and path analysis. The exposure was household income at age 9-10 and the outcome was body mass index at age 18-19. Income negatively predicted psychological distress, which in turn predicted psychological and behavioral factors that were associated with increases in body mass index. Overall, psychological distress and related variables accounted for around 20% of the relationship between income and increases in body mass index in adolescent girls. The impacts of income on a complex constellation of psychological risks for obesity support the evaluation of income support policies for reducing economic inequalities in obesity. Obesity reduction programs focused on changing psychological distress should be developed with consideration of the household economic environment.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-020-00010-0

  View details for PubMedID 36042968

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC9383009

• The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties in General Community Samples JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT Preece, D. A., Becerra, R., Robinson, K., Gross, J. J. 2020; 102 (3): 348–56

  View details for DOI 10.1080/00223891.2018.1564319

  View details for Web of Science ID 000526149600005

• Neural Correlates of Non-Specific Skin Conductance Responses During Resting State fMRI Gertler, J., Novotny, S., Poppe, A., Chung, Y., Gross, J., Pearlson, G., Stevens, M. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2020: S313

  View details for Web of Science ID 000535308201007

• Mood Homeostasis, Low Mood, and History of Depression in 2 Large Population Samples. JAMA psychiatry Taquet, M., Quoidbach, J., Gross, J. J., Saunders, K. E., Goodwin, G. M. 2020

  Abstract

  Importance: Existing therapeutic options are insufficient to tackle the disease burden of depression, and new treatments are sorely needed. Defining new psychotherapeutic targets is challenging given the paucity of coherent mechanistic explanations for depression.Objective: To assess whether mood homeostasis (ie, the stabilization of one's mood by engaging in mood-modifying activities) is a possible new therapeutic target by testing the hypothesis that people with low (vs high) mean mood and people with (vs without) a history of depression have impaired mood homeostasis.Design, Setting, and Participants: The quantitative association between mood and daily activities was computed in 2 large case-control studies based on the 58sec data set (collected from December 1, 2012, to May 31, 2014, and analyzed from April 1 to 30, 2019), and the World Health Organization Study on Global Aging and Adult Health (WHO SAGE) data set (collected from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2010, and analyzed from June 1 to 30, 2019). The 58sec data set consists of self-enrolled participants from high-income countries. The WHO SAGE data set consists of nationally representative participants in low- and middle-income countries recruited via cluster sampling.Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcome (defined before data analysis) was the difference in mood homeostasis between people with high vs low mean mood (58sec data) and between people with vs without a history of depression (WHO SAGE data).Results: A total of 28 212 participants from the 58sec data set (65.8% female; mean [SD] age, 28.1 [9.0] years) and 30 116 from the WHO SAGE data set (57.0% female; mean [SD] age, 57.8 [14.7] years) were included, for an overall study population of 58 328 participants. Mood homeostasis was significantly lower in people with low (vs high) mean mood (0.63 [95% CI, 0.45 to 0.79] vs 0.96 [95% CI, 0.96 to 0.98]; P<.001) and in people with (vs without) a history of depression (0.03 [95% CI, -0.26 to 0.24] vs 0.68 [95% CI, 0.55 to 0.75]; P<.001). In dynamic simulations, lower mood homeostasis led to more depressive episodes (11.8% vs 3.8% yearly risk; P<.001) that lasted longer (4.19 vs 2.90 weeks; P=.006).Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, mood homeostasis appeared to have been impaired in people with low mood and in those with a history of depression. Mood homeostasis may therefore provide new insights to guide the development of treatments for depression.

  View details for DOI 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.0588

  View details for PubMedID 32320005

• Affective brain patterns as multivariate neural correlates of cardiovascular disease risk. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience Gianaros, P. J., Kraynak, T. E., Kuan, D. C., Gross, J. J., McRae, K., Hariri, A. R., Manuck, S. B., Rasero, J., Verstynen, T. D. 2020

  Abstract

  This study tested whether brain activity patterns evoked by affective stimuli relate to individual differences in an indicator of preclinical atherosclerosis: carotid artery intima-media thickness (CA-IMT). Adults (aged 30-54years) completed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tasks that involved viewing three sets of affective stimuli. Two sets included facial expressions of emotion, and one set included neutral and unpleasant images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). Cross-validated, multivariate, and machine-learning models showed that individual differences in CA-IMT were partially predicted by brain activity patterns evoked by unpleasant IAPS images, even after accounting for age, sex, and known cardiovascular disease risk factors. CA-IMT was also predicted by brain activity patterns evoked by angry and fearful faces from one of the two stimulus sets of facial expressions, but this predictive association did not persist after accounting for known cardiovascular risk factors. The reliability (internal consistency) of brain activity patterns evoked by affective stimuli may have constrained their prediction of CA-IMT. Distributed brain activity patterns could comprise affective neural correlates of preclinical atherosclerosis; however, the interpretation of such correlates may depend on their psychometric properties, as well as the influence of other cardiovascular risk factors and specific affective cues.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/scan/nsaa050

  View details for PubMedID 32301993

• The impact of emotion awareness and regulation on psychotic symptoms during daily functioning. NPJ schizophrenia Kimhy, D., Lister, A., Liu, Y., Vakhrusheva, J., Delespaul, P., Malaspina, D., Ospina, L. H., Mittal, V. A., Gross, J. J., Wang, Y. 2020; 6 (1): 7

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation (ER) difficulties are ubiquitous among individuals with schizophrenia and have been hypothesized to contribute to stress sensitivity and exacerbation of psychotic symptoms in this population. However, the evidence supporting this link is equivocal, potentially due to previous studies' reliance on retrospective assessments of ER and psychosis, as well as lack of consideration of putative moderators such as emotion awareness. To address these limitations, we employed experience sampling method using mobile electronic devices to investigate the links between momentary in vivo use of ER strategies (mER), emotion awareness, and psychotic symptoms during daily functioning. Fifty-four individuals with schizophrenia completed assessment of mER and psychotic symptoms, along with traditional retrospective measures of ER and symptoms. Use of mER suppression predicted significant increases in momentary experiences of thought insertion, mind reading, auditory and visual hallucinations. Use of mER reappraisal predicted significant increases in momentary experiences of suspiciousness, thought insertion, and mind reading. Emotion awareness, driven primarily by difficulties identifying feelings, moderated the impact of ER on psychotic symptoms. There were no associations between retrospective measures of ER and symptoms. Our results indicate that, among individuals with schizophrenia, emotion awareness significantly impacts the relationship between use of ER and exacerbations in psychotic symptoms during the course of daily functioning. Our results highlight the need to incorporate emotion awareness and regulation difficulties into the development of treatment models and interventions for psychosis. In addition, our results underscore the need to employ in vivo, high time-resolution assessment methods to study dynamic clinical phenomena such as ER and psychotic symptoms.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41537-020-0096-6

  View details for PubMedID 32210232

• Neural correlates of non-specific skin conductance responses during resting state fMRI. NeuroImage Gertler, J., Novotny, S., Poppe, A., Chung, Y. S., Gross, J. J., Pearlson, G., Stevens, M. C. 2020: 116721

  Abstract

  Skin conductance responses (SCRs) reliably occur in the absence of external stimulation. However, the neural correlates of these non-specific SCRs have been less explored than brain activity associated with stimulus-elicited SCRs. This study modeled spontaneous skin conductance responses observed during an unstructured resting state fMRI scan in 58 adolescents. A Finite Impulse Response (FIR) fMRI model was used to detect any type of hemodynamic response shape time-locked to non-specific SCRs; the shape of these responses was then carefully characterized. The strongest evidence for signal change was found in several sub-regions of sensorimotor cortex. There also was evidence for engagement of discrete areas within the lateral surfaces of the parietal lobe, cingulate cortex, fronto-insular operculum, and both visual and auditory primary processing areas. The hemodynamic profile measured by FIR modeling clearly resembled an event-related response. However, it was a complex response, best explained by two quickly successive, but opposing neuronal impulses across all brain regions - a brief positive response that begins several seconds prior to the SCR with a much longer negative neuronal impulse beginning shortly after the SCR onset. Post hoc exploratory analyses linked these two hemodynamic response phases to different emotion-related individual differences. In conclusion, this study shows the neural correlates of non-specific SCRs are a widespread, cortical network of brain regions engaged in a complex, seemingly biphasic fashion. This bimodal response profile should be considered in replication studies that attempt to directly link brain activity to possible homeostatic mechanisms or seek evidence for alternative mechanisms.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116721

  View details for PubMedID 32184189

• Contextual determinants of parental reflective functioning: Children with autism versus their typically developing siblings. Autism : the international journal of research and practice Enav, Y., Erhard-Weiss, D., Goldenberg, A., Knudston, M., Hardan, A. Y., Gross, J. J. 2020: 1362361320908096

  Abstract

  LAY ABSTRACT: In this study, we examined parental reflective functioning using the Parental Developmental Interview when parents were talking about their interactions with their child with autism versus the child's typically developing siblings. Our sample included 30 parents who had a child between the ages of 3 and 18years with a clinical diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and at least one typically developing child. Findings indicated that parents exhibited significantly higher reflective functioning when interacting with their child with autism spectrum disorder versus the typically developing siblings, and the difference was moderated by parental self-efficacy.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1362361320908096

  View details for PubMedID 32168987

• Treating Parental Burnout: Impact of Two Treatment Modalities on Burnout Symptoms, Emotions, Hair Cortisol, and Parental Neglect and Violence. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics Brianda, M. E., Roskam, I., Gross, J. J., Franssen, A., Kapala, F., Gerard, F., Mikolajczak, M. 2020: 1–3

  View details for DOI 10.1159/000506354

  View details for PubMedID 32155634

• The neural bases of cognitive emotion regulation: The roles of strategy and intensity. Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience Moodie, C. A., Suri, G., Goerlitz, D. S., Mateen, M. A., Sheppes, G., McRae, K., Lakhan-Pal, S., Thiruchselvam, R., Gross, J. J. 2020

  Abstract

  When confronted with unwanted negative emotions, individuals use a variety of cognitive strategies for regulating these emotions. The brain mechanisms underlying these emotion regulation strategies have not been fully characterized, and it is not yet clear whether these mechanisms vary as a function of emotion intensity. To address these issues, 30 community participants (17 females, 13 males, Mage = 24.3 years) completed a picture-viewing emotion regulation task with neutral viewing, reacting to negative stimuli, cognitive reappraisal, attentional deployment, and self-distancing conditions. Brain and behavioral data were simultaneously collected in a 3T GE MRI scanner. Findings indicated that prefrontal regions were engaged by all three regulation strategies, but reappraisal showed the least amount of increase in activity as a function of intensity. Overall, these results suggest that there are both brain and behavioral effects of intensity and that intensity is useful for probing strategy-specific effects and the relationships between the strategies. Furthermore, while these three strategies showed significant overlap, there also were specific strategy-intensity interactions, such as frontoparietal control regions being preferentially activated by reappraisal and self-distancing. Conversely, self-referential and attentional regions were preferentially recruited by self-distancing and distraction as intensity increased. Overall, these findings are consistent with the notion that there is a continuum of cognitive emotion regulation along which all three of these strategies lie.

  View details for DOI 10.3758/s13415-020-00775-8

  View details for PubMedID 32133586

• Affective Science. Affective science Gross, J. J., Levenson, R. W., Mendes, W. B. 2020; 1 (1): 1-3

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s42761-020-00008-8

  View details for PubMedID 36042944

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC9376792

• Collective Emotions CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Goldenberg, A., Garcia, D., Halperin, E., Gross, J. J. 2020

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0963721420901574

  View details for Web of Science ID 000515460800001

• Emotion regulation. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) McRae, K., Gross, J. J. 2020; 20 (1): 1–9

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation (ER) refers to attempts to influence emotions in ourselves or others. Over the past several decades, ER has become a popular topic across many subdisciplines within psychology. One framework that has helped to organize work on ER is the process model of ER, which distinguishes 5 families of strategies defined by when they impact the emotion generation process. The process model embeds these ER strategies in stages in which a need for regulation is identified, a strategy is selected and implemented, and monitoring occurs to track success. Much of the research to date has focused on a strategy called cognitive reappraisal, which involves changing how one thinks about a situation to influence one's emotional response. Reappraisal is thought to be generally effective and adaptive, but there are important qualifications. In this article, we use reappraisal as an example to illustrate how we might consider 4 interrelated issues: (a) the consequences of using ER, either when instructed or spontaneous; (b) how ER success and frequency are shaped by individual and environmental determinants; (c) the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms that make ER possible; and (d) interventions that might improve how well and how often people use ER. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0000703

  View details for PubMedID 31961170

• Beyond Emotional Similarity: The Role of Situation-Specific Motives JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-GENERAL Goldenberg, A., Garcia, D., Halperin, E., Zaki, J., Kong, D., Golarai, G., Gross, J. J. 2020; 149 (1): 138–59

  Abstract

  It is well established that people often express emotions that are similar to those of other group members. However, people do not always express emotions that are similar to other group members, and the factors that determine when similarity occurs are not yet clear. In the current project, we examined whether certain situations activate specific emotional motives that influence the tendency to show emotional similarity. To test this possibility, we considered emotional responses to political situations that either called for weak (Studies 1 and 3) or strong (Study 2 and 4) negative emotions. Findings revealed that the motivation to feel weak emotions led people to be more influenced by weaker emotions than their own, whereas the motivation to feel strong emotions led people to be more influenced by stronger emotions than their own. Intriguingly, these motivations led people to change their emotions even after discovering that others' emotions were similar to their initial emotional response. These findings are observed both in a lab task (Studies 1-3) and in real-life online interactions on Twitter (Study 4). Our findings enhance our ability to understand and predict emotional influence processes in different contexts and may therefore help explain how these processes unfold in group behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/xge0000625

  View details for Web of Science ID 000503451800010

  View details for PubMedID 31192635

• What Is the Relationship between Pain and Emotion? Bridging Constructs and Communities. Neuron Gilam, G. n., Gross, J. J., Wager, T. D., Keefe, F. J., Mackey, S. C. 2020

  Abstract

  Although pain is defined as a sensory and emotional experience, it is traditionally researched and clinically treated separately from emotion. Conceptual and mechanistic relationships between these constructs highlight the need for better understanding of their bi-directional influences and the value of bridging the pain and emotion research and clinical communities.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.05.024

  View details for PubMedID 32562660

• Incremental theories of emotion across time: Temporal dynamics and correlates of change. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Gutentag, T. n., John, O. P., Gross, J. J., Tamir, M. n. 2020

  Abstract

  Accumulating research points to the importance of incremental theories of emotion. Yet, little is known about whether these beliefs change in adulthood across long time spans, and if so, whether such changes are prospectively linked to emotion regulation outcomes. In the present investigation, we tested how incremental theories of emotion change during college, and whether such changes are linked to emotion regulation practices. We followed 394 undergraduates as they entered and ultimately graduated from college. Focusing on the temporal dynamics of incremental theories of emotion, we found that they were somewhat stable, and their mean-level increased over time. Focusing on the correlates of such changes, we found that students who during college came to believe that emotions (but not intelligence) are more controllable, ended up using more cognitive reappraisal (but not expressive suppression) at the end of college. Similarly, students who during college came to use cognitive reappraisal (but not expressive suppression) more frequently, ended up believing that emotion (but not intelligence) is more controllable at the end of college. This pattern could not be explained by differences in initial levels or by differences in underlying affective experiences. We discuss potential implications of these findings for understanding the interplay between beliefs and emotion regulation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0000945

  View details for PubMedID 33370149

• The Affective Benefits of Nature Exposure: What's Nature Got to Do with It? Journal of environmental psychology Meidenbauer, K. L., Stenfors, C. U., Bratman, G. N., Gross, J. J., Schertz, K. E., Choe, K. W., Berman, M. G. 2020: 101498

  Abstract

  Nature interactions have been demonstrated to produce reliable affective benefits. While adults demonstrate strong preferences for natural environments over urban ones, it is not clear whether these affective benefits result from exposure to nature stimuli per se, or result from viewing a highly preferred stimulus. In one set of studies (Study 1 and 2), state affect before and after image viewing was examined as a function of both preference level (high, low, very high, or very low aesthetic value) and environment type (nature or urban). When aesthetic value was matched, no differences in affect change were found between environments. However, affect change was predicted by individual participants' ratings for the images. The largest affective benefits occurred after viewing very high aesthetic nature images, but Study 2 lacked an equivalently preferred urban image set. In a second set of studies (Study 3 and 4), new sets of very highly preferred images in categories other than nature scenes (urban scenes and animals) were employed. As before, individual differences in preference for the images (but not image category) was predictive of changes in affect. In Study 5, the nature and urban images from Study 1were rated on beauty to assess whether the stimuli's preference ratings were capturing anything other than simple aesthetics. Results showed that beauty/aesthetics and preference ('liking') were nearly identical. Lastly, a replication of Study 2 (Study 6) was conducted to test whether priming preference accounted for these benefits, but this was not the case. Together, these results suggest that nature improves affective state because it is such a highly preferred environment.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101498

  View details for PubMedID 32982008

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7500282

• The Affect Regulation in Cancer framework: Understanding affective responding across the cancer trajectory JOURNAL OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY Kangas, M., Gross, J. J. 2020; 25 (1): 7–25

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1359105317748468

  View details for Web of Science ID 000505827600002

• What is Alexithymia? Using Factor Analysis to Establish its Latent Structure and Relationship with Fantasizing and Emotional Reactivity. Journal of personality Preece, D. A., Becerra, R. n., Robinson, K. n., Allan, A. n., Boyes, M. n., Chen, W. n., Hasking, P. n., Gross, J. J. 2020

  Abstract

  There is ongoing uncertainty about the structure and definition of alexithymia. Conceptually, alexithymia has traditionally been defined as a multidimensional trait with four components: difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, externally orientated thinking, and difficulty fantasizing. However, some authors suggest that difficulty fantasizing might not be a component, and others suggest low emotional reactivity is a fifth component. In this study, we sought to clarify this issue using factor analysis.In a sample of adults (N=508), we administered a comprehensive battery of psychometric measures and analyzed their latent structure using an exploratory factor analysis.Subscales assessing difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally orientated thinking all loaded well together on the alexithymia factor. However, none of the subscales assessing aspects of difficulty fantasizing (i.e., daydreaming frequency, vividness, content, or use of daydreams to regulate emotions) loaded on the alexithymia factor. Similarly, no emotional reactivity subscales loaded on the alexithymia factor, and alexithymia was associated with higher (not lower) levels of emotional reactivity for negative emotions.Difficulty fantasizing and low emotional reactivity are not components of the latent alexithymia construct. The traditional four-component definition of alexithymia likely warrants refinement to a more parsimonious three-component solution.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/jopy.12563

  View details for PubMedID 32463926

• What Is the Relationship between Pain and Emotion? Bridging Constructs and Communities. Neuron Gilam, G. n., Gross, J. J., Wager, T. D., Keefe, F. J., Mackey, S. C. 2020

  Abstract

  Although pain is defined as a sensory and emotional experience, it is traditionally researched and clinically treated separately from emotion. Conceptual and mechanistic relationships between these constructs highlight the need for better understanding of their bi-directional influences and the value of bridging the pain and emotion research and clinical communities.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.05.024

  View details for PubMedID 32562660

• Incremental theories of emotion across time: Temporal dynamics and correlates of change. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Gutentag, T. n., John, O. P., Gross, J. J., Tamir, M. n. 2020

  Abstract

  Accumulating research points to the importance of incremental theories of emotion. Yet, little is known about whether these beliefs change in adulthood across long time spans, and if so, whether such changes are prospectively linked to emotion regulation outcomes. In the present investigation, we tested how incremental theories of emotion change during college, and whether such changes are linked to emotion regulation practices. We followed 394 undergraduates as they entered and ultimately graduated from college. Focusing on the temporal dynamics of incremental theories of emotion, we found that they were somewhat stable, and their mean-level increased over time. Focusing on the correlates of such changes, we found that students who during college came to believe that emotions (but not intelligence) are more controllable, ended up using more cognitive reappraisal (but not expressive suppression) at the end of college. Similarly, students who during college came to use cognitive reappraisal (but not expressive suppression) more frequently, ended up believing that emotion (but not intelligence) is more controllable at the end of college. This pattern could not be explained by differences in initial levels or by differences in underlying affective experiences. We discuss potential implications of these findings for understanding the interplay between beliefs and emotion regulation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0000945

  View details for PubMedID 33370149

• The Affective Benefits of Nature Exposure: What's Nature Got to Do with It? Journal of environmental psychology Meidenbauer, K. L., Stenfors, C. U., Bratman, G. N., Gross, J. J., Schertz, K. E., Choe, K. W., Berman, M. G. 2020: 101498

  Abstract

  Nature interactions have been demonstrated to produce reliable affective benefits. While adults demonstrate strong preferences for natural environments over urban ones, it is not clear whether these affective benefits result from exposure to nature stimuli per se, or result from viewing a highly preferred stimulus. In one set of studies (Study 1 and 2), state affect before and after image viewing was examined as a function of both preference level (high, low, very high, or very low aesthetic value) and environment type (nature or urban). When aesthetic value was matched, no differences in affect change were found between environments. However, affect change was predicted by individual participants' ratings for the images. The largest affective benefits occurred after viewing very high aesthetic nature images, but Study 2 lacked an equivalently preferred urban image set. In a second set of studies (Study 3 and 4), new sets of very highly preferred images in categories other than nature scenes (urban scenes and animals) were employed. As before, individual differences in preference for the images (but not image category) was predictive of changes in affect. In Study 5, the nature and urban images from Study 1were rated on beauty to assess whether the stimuli's preference ratings were capturing anything other than simple aesthetics. Results showed that beauty/aesthetics and preference ('liking') were nearly identical. Lastly, a replication of Study 2 (Study 6) was conducted to test whether priming preference accounted for these benefits, but this was not the case. Together, these results suggest that nature improves affective state because it is such a highly preferred environment.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101498

  View details for PubMedID 32982008

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7500282

• The Affect Regulation in Cancer framework: Understanding affective responding across the cancer trajectory JOURNAL OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY Kangas, M., Gross, J. J. 2020; 25 (1): 7–25

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1359105317748468

  View details for Web of Science ID 000505827600002

• What is Alexithymia? Using Factor Analysis to Establish its Latent Structure and Relationship with Fantasizing and Emotional Reactivity. Journal of personality Preece, D. A., Becerra, R. n., Robinson, K. n., Allan, A. n., Boyes, M. n., Chen, W. n., Hasking, P. n., Gross, J. J. 2020

  Abstract

  There is ongoing uncertainty about the structure and definition of alexithymia. Conceptually, alexithymia has traditionally been defined as a multidimensional trait with four components: difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, externally orientated thinking, and difficulty fantasizing. However, some authors suggest that difficulty fantasizing might not be a component, and others suggest low emotional reactivity is a fifth component. In this study, we sought to clarify this issue using factor analysis.In a sample of adults (N=508), we administered a comprehensive battery of psychometric measures and analyzed their latent structure using an exploratory factor analysis.Subscales assessing difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally orientated thinking all loaded well together on the alexithymia factor. However, none of the subscales assessing aspects of difficulty fantasizing (i.e., daydreaming frequency, vividness, content, or use of daydreams to regulate emotions) loaded on the alexithymia factor. Similarly, no emotional reactivity subscales loaded on the alexithymia factor, and alexithymia was associated with higher (not lower) levels of emotional reactivity for negative emotions.Difficulty fantasizing and low emotional reactivity are not components of the latent alexithymia construct. The traditional four-component definition of alexithymia likely warrants refinement to a more parsimonious three-component solution.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/jopy.12563

  View details for PubMedID 32463926

• From affect to action: How pleasure shapes everyday decisions in Japan and the US MOTIVATION AND EMOTION Quoidbach, J., Sugitani, Y., Gross, J. J., Taquet, M., Akutsu, S. 2019; 43 (6): 948–55

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11031-019-09785-7

  View details for Web of Science ID 000493607100009

• SOCIAL ANXIETY, LONELINESS, AND THE MODERATING ROLE OF EMOTION REGULATION JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY O'Day, E. B., Morrison, A. S., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J., Heimberg, R. G. 2019; 38 (9): 751–73

  View details for DOI 10.1521/jscp.2019.38.9.751

  View details for Web of Science ID 000497743000002

• Changes in Empathy Mediate the Effects of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy but Not Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Social Anxiety Disorder. Behavior therapy Morrison, A. S., Mateen, M. A., Brozovich, F. A., Zaki, J., Goldin, P. R., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2019; 50 (6): 1098–1111

  Abstract

  Social anxiety disorder (SAD) has been shown to be associated with difficulty in the ability to vicariously share others' positive emotions (positive affective empathy). Mixed evidence also suggests potentially impaired recognition of the positive and negative emotions of others (cognitive empathy) and impaired or enhanced sharing of the negative emotions of others (negative affective empathy). Therefore, we examined whether two efficacious treatments for SAD, cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), improve empathy in SAD relative to a wait-list condition and whether improvements in empathy mediate improvements in social anxiety. In the context of a randomized controlled trial, participants with SAD completed an empathy task at baseline, posttreatment/wait-list (N = 81), and 1-year follow-up (N = 37). Relative to both MBSR and wait-list, CBGT resulted in significant improvements in positive affective empathy. CBGT-related changes in positive affective empathy also mediated improvements in social anxiety at both posttreatment/wait-list and at 1-year follow-up. Other indices of empathy did not change differentially across the three conditions. Therefore, one way in which CBGT may specifically confer benefits to individuals with SAD is through increasing their ability or willingness to share in the positive emotions of others.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.beth.2019.05.005

  View details for PubMedID 31735245

• The Dilemma of Dirty Money CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Tasimi, A., Gross, J. J. 2019

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0963721419884315

  View details for Web of Science ID 000493430500001

• The Croatian version of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Links with higher- and lower-level personality traits and mood. International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie Gracanin, A., Kardum, I., Gross, J. J. 2019

  Abstract

  The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) measures habitual use of two emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. The present study tested the psychometric properties and validity of a newly developed Croatian adaptation of the ERQ. In a sample of 347 participants, we first sought to confirm the ERQ's original factor structure. Next, we tested its convergent, divergent and incremental validity. In the first subsample (N =140), we linked the ERQ with a measure of the Five-Factor Model dimensions and their facets (Revised NEO Personality Inventory). In the second subsample (N =207), we tested its ability to predict personality dimensions assessed by a different measure (Big Five Inventory) as well as the traits of positive and negative affect, including its incremental validity in predicting the latter. The results corroborated earlier findings, showing that the Croatian ERQ has equivalent psychometrics and predictive validity as ERQs in other languages. Crucially, the observed links between the ERQ and the facets of the Five-Factor Model dimensions enrich our understanding of the personality mechanisms behind the employment of these emotion regulation strategies.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/ijop.12624

  View details for PubMedID 31598985

• To Reappraise or Not to Reappraise? Emotion Regulation Choice and Cognitive Energetics EMOTION Milyavsky, M., Webber, D., Fernandez, J., Kruglanski, A. W., Goldenberg, A., Suri, G., Gross, J. J. 2019; 19 (6): 964–81

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0000498

  View details for Web of Science ID 000483066400003

• Comment: An Appraisal Perspective on Neutral Affective States EMOTION REVIEW Yih, J., Uusberg, A., Qian, W., Gross, J. J. 2019

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1754073919868295

  View details for Web of Science ID 000484328300001

• Reappraising Reappraisal EMOTION REVIEW Uusberg, A., Taxer, J. L., Yih, J., Uusberg, H., Gross, J. J. 2019

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1754073919862617

  View details for Web of Science ID 000483376000001

• Emotion regulation goals: An individual difference perspective SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS Eldesouky, L., Gross, J. J. 2019

  View details for DOI 10.1111/spc3.12493

  View details for Web of Science ID 000481358300001

• Acceptance versus reappraisal: Behavioral, autonomic, and neural effects COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE Goldin, P. R., Moodie, C. A., Gross, J. J. 2019; 19 (4): 927–44

  View details for DOI 10.3758/s13415-019-00690-7

  View details for Web of Science ID 000483690400010

• Development of human emotion circuits investigated using a Big-Data analytic approach: Stability, reliability, and robustness. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience Zhang, Y., Padmanabhan, A., Gross, J. J., Menon, V. 2019

  Abstract

  Emotion perception is fundamental to affective and cognitive development and is thought to involve distributed brain circuits. Efforts to chart neurodevelopmental changes in emotion have been severely hampered by narrowly focused approaches centered on activation of individual brain regions and small sample sizes. Here we investigate the maturation of human functional brain circuits associated with identification of fear, anger, sadness, happiness, and neutral faces using a large sample of 759 children, adolescents, and adults (ages 8-23; female/male = 419/340). Network analysis of emotion-related brain circuits revealed three functional modules, encompassing lateral frontoparietal, medial prefrontal-posterior cingulate, and subcortical-posterior insular cortices, with hubs in medial prefrontal, but not posterior cingulate, cortex. This overall network architecture was stable by age eight, and it anchored maturation of circuits important for salience detection and cognitive control, as well as dissociable circuit patterns across distinct emotion categories. Our findings point to similarities and differences in functional circuits associated with identification of fearful, angry, sad, happy, and neutral faces, and reveal aspects of brain circuit organization underlying emotion perception that are stable over development as well as features that change with age. Reliability analyses demonstrated the robustness of our findings and highlighted the importance of large samples for probing functional brain circuit development. Our study emphasizes a need to focus beyond amygdala circuits and provides a robust neurodevelopmental template for investigating emotion perception and identification in psychopathology.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTEmotion perception is fundamental to cognitive and affective development. However, efforts to chart neurodevelopmental changes in emotion perception have been hampered by narrowly focused approaches centered on the amygdala and prefrontal cortex and small sample sizes. Using a large sample of 759 children, adolescents, and adults and a multipronged analytical strategy, we investigated the development of brain network organization underlying identification and categorization of fearful, happy, angry, sad, and neutral facial expressions. Results revealed a developmentally-stable modular architecture that anchored robust age-related and emotion category-related changes in brain connectivity across multiple brain systems that extend far beyond amygdala circuits and provide a new template for investigation of emotion processing in the developing brain.

  View details for DOI 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0220-19.2019

  View details for PubMedID 31332001

• Is this my group or not? The role of ensemble coding of emotional expressions in group categorization. Journal of experimental psychology. General Goldenberg, A., Sweeny, T. D., Shpigel, E., Gross, J. J. 2019

  Abstract

  When exposed to others' emotional responses, people often make rapid decisions as to whether these others are members of their group or not. These group categorization decisions have been shown to be extremely important to understanding group behavior. Yet, despite their prevalence and importance, we know very little about the attributes that shape these categorization decisions. To address this issue, we took inspiration from ensemble coding research and developed a task designed to reveal the influence of the mean and variance of group members' emotions on participants' group categorization. In Study 1, we verified that group categorization decreases when the group's mean emotion is different from the participant's own emotional response. In Study 2, we established that people identify a group's mean emotion more accurately when its variance is low rather than high. In Studies 3 and 4, we showed that participants were more likely to self-categorize as members of groups with low emotional variance, even if their own emotions fell outside of the range of group emotions they saw, and that this preference is seen for judgments of both positive and negative group emotions. In Study 5, we showed that this unique preference for low group emotional variance is special to group categorization and does not appear in a more basic face categorization task. Our studies reveal unexplored and important tendencies in group categorization based on group emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/xge0000651

  View details for PubMedID 31318257

• Promoting Psychological Well-Being Through an Evidence-Based Mindfulness Training Program FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE Tang, Y., Tang, R., Gross, J. J. 2019; 13

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00237

  View details for Web of Science ID 000474815200001

• Promoting Psychological Well-Being Through an Evidence-Based Mindfulness Training Program. Frontiers in human neuroscience Tang, Y. Y., Tang, R., Gross, J. J. 2019; 13: 237

  Abstract

  Psychological well-being is a core feature of mental health, and may be defined as including hedonic (enjoyment, pleasure) and eudaimonic (meaning, fulfillment) happiness, as well as resilience (coping, emotion regulation, healthy problem solving). To promote psychological well-being, it is helpful to understand the underlying mechanisms associated with this construct and then develop targeted and effective training programs. In this perspective article, we discuss key components and potential brain-body mechanisms related to psychological well-being and propose mindfulness training as a promising way to improve it. Based on a series of randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies of one form of mindfulness training in adolescents and adults, the integrative body-mind training (IBMT), we use IBMT as an exemplar to provide research evidence of the positive effects of mindfulness training on psychological well-being. We focus on one of the mechanisms by which IBMT enhances psychological well-being-the interaction between mind (mindfulness) and body (bodifulness)-which involves both the central nervous system (CNS) and the autonomic nervous system (ANS). We also highlight the role of brain self-control networks, including the anterior cingulate cortex/prefrontal cortex (ACC/PFC), in improving psychological well-being. We suggest that mindfulness training may be a promising program that promotes the synergistic engagement of mind and body to achieve the goals of enhancing psychological well-being.

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00237

  View details for PubMedID 31354454

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6635568

• Emotion Reactivity and Regulation in Maltreated Children: A Meta-Analysis. Child development Lavi, I., Katz, L. F., Ozer, E. J., Gross, J. J. 2019

  Abstract

  The many adverse effects of child maltreatment make the scientific investigation of this phenomenon a matter of vital importance. Although the relationship between maltreatment and problematic emotion reactivity and regulation has been studied, the strength and specificity of these associations are not yet clear. We examine the magnitude of the maltreatment-child-emotion reactivity/regulation link. Studies with substantiated maltreatment involving children aged up to 18 were included, along with a smaller number of longitudinal studies (58 papers reviewed, encompassing more than 11,900 children). In comparison to nonmaltreated children, maltreated children experience more negative emotions, behave in a manner indicative of more negative emotion, and display emotion dysregulation. We outline several theoretical implications of our results.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/cdev.13272

  View details for PubMedID 31281975

• Sleep quality and treatment of social anxiety disorder ANXIETY STRESS AND COPING Horenstein, A., Morrison, A. S., Goldin, P., ten Brink, M., Gross, J. J., Heimberg, R. G. 2019; 32 (4): 387–98

  View details for DOI 10.1080/10615806.2019.1617854

  View details for Web of Science ID 000469270400004

• A non randomized mentalization intervention for parents of children with autism AUTISM RESEARCH Enav, Y., Erhard-Weiss, D., Kopelman, M., Samson, A. C., Mehta, S., Gross, J. J., Hardan, A. Y. 2019; 12 (7): 1077–86

  View details for DOI 10.1002/aur.2108

  View details for Web of Science ID 000474485800008

• Nature and mental health: An ecosystem service perspective. Science advances Bratman, G. N., Anderson, C. B., Berman, M. G., Cochran, B., de Vries, S., Flanders, J., Folke, C., Frumkin, H., Gross, J. J., Hartig, T., Kahn, P. H., Kuo, M., Lawler, J. J., Levin, P. S., Lindahl, T., Meyer-Lindenberg, A., Mitchell, R., Ouyang, Z., Roe, J., Scarlett, L., Smith, J. R., van den Bosch, M., Wheeler, B. W., White, M. P., Zheng, H., Daily, G. C. 2019; 5 (7): eaax0903

  Abstract

  A growing body of empirical evidence is revealing the value of nature experience for mental health. With rapid urbanization and declines in human contact with nature globally, crucial decisions must be made about how to preserve and enhance opportunities for nature experience. Here, we first provide points of consensus across the natural, social, and health sciences on the impacts of nature experience on cognitive functioning, emotional well-being, and other dimensions of mental health. We then show how ecosystem service assessments can be expanded to include mental health, and provide a heuristic, conceptual model for doing so.

  View details for DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aax0903

  View details for PubMedID 31355340

• Broadening Our Field of View: The Role of Emotion Polyregulation EMOTION REVIEW Ford, B. Q., Gross, J. J., Gruber, J. 2019; 11 (3): 197–208

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1754073919850314

  View details for Web of Science ID 000475328500001

• Mental illness and well-being: an affect regulation perspective. World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Gross, J. J., Uusberg, H., Uusberg, A. 2019; 18 (2): 130–39

  Abstract

  Mental health crucially depends upon affective states such as emotions, stress responses, impulses and moods. These states shape how we think, feel and behave. Often, they support adaptive functioning. At other times, however, they can become detrimental to mental health via maladaptive affect generation processes and/or maladaptive affect regulation processes. Here, we present an integrative framework for considering the role of affect generation and regulation in mental illness and well-being. Our model views affect generation as an iterative cycle of attending to, appraising and responding to situations. It views affect regulation as an iterative series of decisions aimed at altering affect generation. Affect regulation decisions include identifying what, if anything, should be changed about affect, selecting where to intervene in the affect generation cycle, choosing how to implement this intervention, and monitoring the regulation attempt to decide whether to maintain, switch or stop it. Difficulties with these decisions, often arising from biased inputs to them, can contribute to manifestations of mental illness such as clinical symptoms, syndromes and disorders. The model has a number of implications for clinical assessment and treatment. Specifically, it offers a common set of concepts for characterizing different affective states; it highlights interactions between affect generation and affect regulation; it identifies assessment and treatment targets among the component processes of affect regulation; and it is applicable to prevention and treatment of mental illness as well as to promotion and restoration of psychological well-being.

  View details for PubMedID 31059626

• Mental illness and well-being: an affect regulation perspective WORLD PSYCHIATRY Gross, J. J., Uusberg, H., Uusberg, A. 2019; 18 (2): 130–39

  View details for DOI 10.1002/wps.20618

  View details for Web of Science ID 000467337100003

• Neural Markers of Successful In-Scanner Worry Reappraisal in Older Adults Karim, H., Gross, J., Aizenstein, H., Andreescu, C. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2019: S224–S225

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.03.569

  View details for Web of Science ID 000472661000547

• Sleep quality and treatment of social anxiety disorder. Anxiety, stress, and coping Horenstein, A., Morrison, A. S., Goldin, P., Ten Brink, M., Gross, J. J., Heimberg, R. G. 2019: 1–12

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Poor sleep is prevalent among individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and may affect treatment outcome. We examined whether: (1) individuals with SAD differed from healthy controls (HCs) in sleep quality, (2) baseline sleep quality moderated the effects of treatment (Cognitive-behavioral group therapy [CBGT] vs. mindfulness-based stress reduction [MBSR] vs. waitlist [WL]) on social anxiety, (3) sleep quality changed over treatment, and (4) changes in sleep quality predicted anxiety 12-months post-treatment.DESIGN: Participants were 108 adults with SAD from a randomized controlled trial of CBGT vs. MBSR vs. WL and 38 HCs.METHODS: SAD and sleep quality were assessed pre-treatment and post-treatment; SAD was assessed again 12-months post-treatment.RESULTS: Participants with SAD reported poorer sleep quality than HCs. The effect of treatment condition on post-treatment social anxiety did not differ as a function of baseline sleep quality. Sleep quality improved in MBSR, significantly more than WL, but not CBGT. Sleep quality change from pre- to post-treatment in CBGT or MBSR did not predict later social anxiety.CONCLUSIONS: MBSR, and not CBGT, improved sleep quality among participants. Other results were inconsistent with prior research; possible explanations, limitations, and implications for future research are discussed. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02036658.

  View details for PubMedID 31082285

• A non randomized mentalization intervention for parents of children with autism. Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research Enav, Y., Erhard-Weiss, D., Kopelman, M., Samson, A. C., Mehta, S., Gross, J. J., Hardan, A. Y. 2019

  Abstract

  Parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) report higher levels of stress and other negative affective states than parents of typically developing children. One important resource in managing these heightened levels of negative affect is emotion regulation, which in turn depends upon the ability to recognize and understand one's own and others' mental states (referred to as mentalization or reflective functioning). In this study, parents of children with ASD either participated in a mentalization-based group intervention (N=36) or a delayed treatment (N=28). Compared to delayed treatment participants, parents in the mentalization-based group had increases in reflective functioning and in the belief that emotions can change. Moreover, they reported decreased behavioral and emotional symptoms in their children, and greater parental self-efficacy. These preliminary findings support previous studies, which have shown that mentalization-based interventions for parents lead to positive outcomes, and suggest that these findings may apply to a diverse population of parents such as those of children with broader autism phenotype or children with different neurological disorders. Further studies to evaluate the effects of the intervention are recommended. Autism Res 2019. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: In this study, parents of children with ASD participated in a group intervention designed to increase their awareness of mental states (their own and their children's) and to enhance their emotion regulation. Compared to delayed treatment parents, those in the intervention group showed increased awareness of developmental states, and reported increased belief that emotions can change and decreased levels of behavioral and emotional symptoms in their children.

  View details for PubMedID 31002483

• Emotion Regulation in Achievement Situations: An Integrated Model EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST Harley, J. M., Pekrun, R., Taxer, J. L., Gross, J. J. 2019; 54 (2): 106–26

  View details for DOI 10.1080/00461520.2019.1587297

  View details for Web of Science ID 000468535800003

• STRESS, SLEEP, AND COPING SELF-EFFICACY IN ADOLESCENTS ten Brink, M., Lee, H., Manber, R., Gross, J., Yeager, D. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2019

  View details for Web of Science ID 000471071001028

• The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties in General Community Samples. Journal of personality assessment Preece, D. A., Becerra, R., Robinson, K., Gross, J. J. 2019: 1–9

  Abstract

  The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) is a 10-item self-report measure of 2 emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. It is a widely used measure of emotion regulation, but its factor structure has rarely been examined outside of university student samples, and some authors have recently questioned its factorial validity in general community samples. In this study, we examine the psychometric properties of the ERQ (original English version) in 3 Australian general community samples (N=300, 400, 348). Confirmatory factor analyses in each sample demonstrated that the traditional 2-factor model (comprised of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression factors) was replicable and an excellent fit to the data. In all samples, ERQ cognitive reappraisal (alpha = .89-.90) and expressive suppression (alpha = .76-.80) scores had acceptable to excellent levels of internal consistency reliability. As expected, cognitive reappraisal scores were significantly negatively correlated with psychological distress and alexithymia, whereas expressive suppression scores were significantly positively correlated with psychological distress and alexithymia. We conclude that, similar to previous findings in student samples, the ERQ has strong psychometric properties in general community samples and can therefore be used confidently regardless of participants' student status.

  View details for PubMedID 30714818

• Why Beliefs About Emotion Matter: An Emotion-Regulation Perspective CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Ford, B. Q., Gross, J. J. 2019; 28 (1): 74–81

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0963721418806697

  View details for Web of Science ID 000458864400011

• Acceptance versus reappraisal: Behavioral, autonomic, and neural effects. Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience Goldin, P. R., Moodie, C. A., Gross, J. J. 2019

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation (ER) is an important skill for well-being. Cognitive reappraisal is a goal-oriented cognitive change strategy. Acceptance involves decentering from immediate habits of reactivity, observing moment-to-moment shifts in thoughts, emotions, and sensations. These two regulation strategies are thought to have different effects on emotion; however, no study has examined the differential effects of reappraisal and acceptance on behavioral, autonomic, and brain responses in the context of ideographic personally salient negative self-beliefs. Thirty-five right-handed, healthy adults were presented idiographic negative self-beliefs embedded in autobiographical scripts. We measured negative emotion ratings, autonomic psychophysiology, and functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygen-level dependent responses while participants read neutral statements, reacted to their own negative self-beliefs, and implemented reappraisal and acceptance strategies. Compared with react, reappraisal resulted in significantly lesser negative emotion and respiration rate; no differences in heart rate and skin conductance level; greater brain responses implicated in cognitive control, language, and social cognition; and lesser amygdala responses. Compared with react, acceptance resulted in significantly lesser negative emotion, respiration rate, and heart rate; no difference in skin conductance level; and greater brain responses in networks implicated in cognitive control and attention. Compared with acceptance, reappraisal resulted in significantly lesser negative emotion; no difference in respiration rate and skin conductance level; higher heart rate; greater brain responses in brain regions implicated in cognitive control; and lesser brain responses in amygdala. Reappraisal is more effective than acceptance in down-regulating negative emotion, but may require greater recruitment of autonomic, cognitive, and brain resources. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02036658.

  View details for PubMedID 30656602

• Self-Control and Academic Achievement. Annual review of psychology Duckworth, A. L., Taxer, J. L., Eskreis-Winkler, L., Galla, B. M., Gross, J. J. 2019; 70: 373–99

  Abstract

  Self-control refers to the alignment of thoughts, feelings, and actions with enduringly valued goals in the face of momentarily more alluring alternatives. In this review, we examine the role of self-control in academic achievement. We begin by defining self-control and distinguishing it from related constructs. Next, we summarize evidence that nearly all students experience conflict between academic goals that they value in the long run and nonacademic goals that they find more gratifying in the moment. We then turn to longitudinal evidence relating self-control to academic attainment, course grades, and performance on standardized achievement tests. We use the process model of self-control to illustrate how impulses are generated and regulated, emphasizing opportunities for students to deliberately strengthen impulses that are congruent with, and dampen impulses that are incongruent with, academic goals. Finally, we conclude with future directions for both science and practice.

  View details for PubMedID 30609915

• Reappraising faces: effects on accountability appraisals, self-reported valence, and pupil diameter COGNITION & EMOTION Yih, J., Sha, H., Beam, D. E., Parvizi, J., Gross, J. J. 2019; 33 (5): 1041–50

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2018.1507999

  View details for Web of Science ID 000471013900013

• Corrigendum: Integrating emotion regulation and emotional intelligence traditions: a meta-analysis. Frontiers in psychology Pena-Sarrionandia, A., Mikolajczak, M., Gross, J. J. 2019; 10: 2610

  Abstract

  [This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00160.].

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02610

  View details for PubMedID 31824385

• Do sudden gains predict treatment outcome in social anxiety disorder? Findings from two randomized controlled trials. Behaviour research and therapy Butler, R. M., O'Day, E. B., Kaplan, S. C., Swee, M. B., Horenstein, A. n., Morrison, A. S., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J., Heimberg, R. G. 2019; 121: 103453

  Abstract

  Sudden gains (SGs) have been found to occur during randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for social anxiety disorder (SAD). Evidence is mixed whether SGs relate to treatment outcome in SAD. We examined SGs in two RCTs for SAD.Study 1 (N = 68) examined SGs in individual cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and Study 2 (N = 100) compared SGs in group CBT and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Weekly ratings of social anxiety were used to calculate SGs. The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale-Self-Report and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale were completed at pretreatment, posttreatment, and follow-up to assess outcome.In Study 1, 17.6% of participants experienced a SG. Participants with SGs started and ended treatment with lower social anxiety. SGs were not associated with greater decreases in social anxiety from pre-to posttreatment or 12-month follow-up. In Study 2, SGs occurred in 27% of participants and at comparable rates in MBSR and group CBT. SGs were not associated with changes in social anxiety during treatment in either condition.SGs occurred during treatment for SAD. In both RCTs, participants improved regardless of experiencing a SG, suggesting that SGs are not predictive of greater improvement during treatment for SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.brat.2019.103453

  View details for PubMedID 31430688

• Emotionally intelligent people reappraise rather than suppress their emotions. PloS one Megias-Robles, A., Gutierrez-Cobo, M. J., Gomez-Leal, R., Cabello, R., Gross, J. J., Fernandez-Berrocal, P. 2019; 14 (8): e0220688

  Abstract

  It has long been thought that emotional intelligence (EI) involves skillful emotion regulation, but surprisingly little is known about the precise links between EI and emotion regulation. To address this gap in the literature, we examined the relation between EI-operationalised as an ability-and the use of two common emotion regulation strategies-cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Seven hundred and twelve participants from a community sample in Spain were assessed on ability EI (using the MSCEIT) and emotion regulation (using the ERQ). Findings revealed that EI ability was positively associated with cognitive reappraisal and negatively associated with expressive suppression. These relationships were moderated by gender and age. The strength of the association between EI and cognitive reappraisal increased with age for men, while this strength decreased with age for women. Conversely, the strength of the association between EI and suppression decreased with age for men, but increased with age for women. These findings confirm the expectation that EI is associated with greater use of generally adaptive forms of emotion regulation (reappraisal), and lesser use of generally maladaptive forms of emotion regulation (suppression), although effect sizes were quite modest. Observed differences in the strength of associations between EI and emotion regulation may be the result of gender differences in the development of emotional skills along with cultural changes in emotional education and social norms.

  View details for DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0220688

  View details for PubMedID 31404096

• Value-based decision making: An interactive activation perspective. Psychological review Suri, G. n., Gross, J. J., McClelland, J. L. 2019

  Abstract

  Prominent theories of value-based decision making have assumed that choices are made via the maximization of some objective function (e.g., expected value) and that the process of decision making is serial and unfolds across modular subprocesses (e.g., perception, valuation, and action selection). However, the influence of a large number of contextual variables that are not related to expected value in any direct way and the ubiquitous reciprocity among variables thought to belong to different subprocesses suggest that these assumptions may not always hold. Here, we propose an interactive activation framework for value-based decision making that does not assume that objective function maximization is the only consideration affecting choice or that processing is modular or serial. Our framework holds that processing takes place via the interactive propagation of activation in a set of simple, interconnected processing elements. We use our framework to simulate a broad range of well-known empirical phenomena-primarily focusing on decision contexts that feature nonoptimal decision making and/or interactive (i.e., not serial or modular) processing. Our approach is constrained at Marr's (1982) algorithmic and implementational levels rather than focusing strictly on considerations of optimality at the computational theory level. It invites consideration of the possibility that choice is emergent and that its computation is distributed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/rev0000164

  View details for PubMedID 31524426

• Neural responses to social evaluation: The role of fear of positive and negative evaluation. Journal of anxiety disorders Birk, S. L., Horenstein, A. n., Weeks, J. n., Olino, T. n., Heimberg, R. n., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2019; 67: 102114

  Abstract

  One of the core features of social anxiety disorder (SAD) is the persistent fear of being evaluated. Fear of evaluation includes fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and fear of positive evaluation (FPE). Few studies have examined the relationship between self-reported FNE and FPE and neural responses to simulated negative and positive social evaluation. In the current study, 56 participants, 35 with SAD and 21 healthy controls, completed questionnaires to assess dimensions of social anxiety including FNE and FPE, as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression. Participants also completed a social evaluation task, which involved viewing people delivering criticism and praise, and a control task, which involved counting asterisks, during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Although whole-brain analyses did not reveal significant associations between self-reported constructs and neural responses to social evaluation, region of interest analyses for the sample as a whole revealed that both FNE and social anxiety symptoms were associated with greater neural responses to both criticism and praise in emotion-processing brain regions, including the amygdala and anterior insula. There were no significant associations between FPE or depressive symptoms and neural responses to criticism or praise for the sample as a whole. Future research should examine the relationship between FNE, FPE, and neural responses to self-referent social evaluation in an unselected sample to assess a full range of fear of evaluation.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.janxdis.2019.102114

  View details for PubMedID 31445390

• Motivation: A Valuation Systems Perspective Uusberg, A., Suri, G., Dweck, C., Gross, J. J. edited by Neta, M., Haas, I. J. SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG. 2019: 161–92

  View details for DOI 10.1007/978-3-030-27473-3_6

  View details for Web of Science ID 000537307300006

• Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder: Reappraisal and Acceptance of Negative Self-Beliefs. Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging Dixon, M. L., Moodie, C. A., Goldin, P. R., Farb, N. n., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2019

  Abstract

  Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by negative self-beliefs (NSBs) that are thought to maintain symptom severity-at least in part-by impairing emotion regulation. Few studies to date have investigated the neural basis of emotion regulation during NSBs in SAD. Moreover, different regulation strategies have not been directly compared, leaving open questions about the generality of emotion regulation deficits in SAD.Patients with SAD (n = 113) and healthy control subjects (n = 35) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while reacting to NSBs or attempting to downregulate negative emotions occasioned by NSBs using either reappraisal (reinterpreting negative beliefs) or acceptance (nonjudgmentally experiencing thoughts and emotions). Ratings of negative emotion were collected after each trial.When cued to do so, patients with SAD were able to downregulate negative emotions using both reappraisal and acceptance and demonstrated effective recruitment of frontoparietal regulatory regions. Patients with SAD demonstrated greater activation of default mode network and somatomotor regions for the react versus accept contrast. Both groups demonstrated reductions in frontoparietal and default mode network activation during acceptance relative to reappraisal. Greater SAD symptom severity was associated with lower activation in frontoparietal regions during both regulation conditions.There were no group differences in frontoparietal recruitment during two distinct emotion regulation strategies. However, individual differences in symptom severity within the SAD group were associated with frontoparietal regulation-related activation. Patients with SAD were differentiated from control subjects in default mode network recruitment patterns, suggesting that acceptance may be a useful task condition for revealing altered neural activity in SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.bpsc.2019.07.009

  View details for PubMedID 31547972

• The regulation of recurrent negative emotion in the aftermath of a lost election. Cognition & emotion Mehta, A. n., Formanowicz, M. n., Uusberg, A. n., Uusberg, H. n., Gross, J. J., Suri, G. n. 2019: 1–10

  Abstract

  For some American voters, the news of Mr. Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election caused recurrent emotions that were negative, persistent, and intense enough to elicit repeated attempts at emotion regulation. This afforded a rare opportunity to analyse the regulation of recurrent emotions in a natural, non-laboratory context. The regulation of recurrent emotion involves additional considerations relative to single-instance emotion, such as representations of past and future encounters with the emotion-eliciting variables, ongoing consequences of each regulatory episode, and a tendency to repeatedly deploy emotion regulation strategies that one is most familiar with in the context of the particular recurrent emotion. Despite the ubiquitous nature of recurrent emotions, its associated regulatory processes have been infrequently examined and are not well-understood. Over eight days (11/10/16-11/18/16), we administered four surveys to 202 participants who voted against Mr. Trump. We examined the determinants and outcomes of regulatory strategies in the context of recurrent emotion. We found that (1) reappraisal (compared to distraction and acceptance) was associated with greater decline in emotion intensity, (2) high-intensity emotions were more likely to be distracted, whereas low-intensity emotions were more likely to be reappraised, and (3) strategy variability was associated with greater affective adaptation.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2019.1682970

  View details for PubMedID 31701806

• A preliminary study of association between adolescent estradiol level and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity during emotion regulation. Psychoneuroendocrinology Chung, Y. S., Poppe, A. n., Novotny, S. n., Epperson, C. N., Kober, H. n., Granger, D. A., Blumberg, H. P., Ochsner, K. n., Gross, J. J., Pearlson, G. n., Stevens, M. C. 2019; 109: 104398

  Abstract

  Non-human primate models have been useful in clarifying estradiol's role in cognitive processing. These animal studies indicate estradiol impacts cognitive processes supported by regions within dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Although human functional neuroimaging studies have begun to find similar relationships between estradiol in women for some forms of 'cold' cognitive control, to date no studies have examined the relationship between estradiol and DLPFC function in the context of active attempts to regulate one's emotions. Here, we asked whether peripheral 17-beta estradiol levels in adolescent girls in different pubertal developmental stages (age = 14.9 years ± 1.74) were related to engagement of DLPFC regions during the use of a cognitive strategy for regulating emotion known as reappraisal using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Findings indicated that higher estradiol levels predicted greater DLPFC activity during the down-regulation of negative emotion using reappraisal. This is the first report of an association between estradiol level and DLPFC activity during cognitive reappraisal of negative emotion. The study suggests a possibility that estradiol might positively contribute to regulatory function of a cortical system important for emotional experiences.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104398

  View details for PubMedID 31394491

• Empathy and emotion regulation: An integrative account. Progress in brain research Thompson, N. M., Uusberg, A. n., Gross, J. J., Chakrabarti, B. n. 2019; 247: 273–304

  Abstract

  How we understand and respond to others' emotions (i.e., empathy) may be influenced by the regulatory processes that are used to shape which emotions we and others have (i.e., emotion regulation). Empathy and emotion regulation are complex multidimensional constructs and the relationship between their component processes is not well characterized. To enable future work to examine their relationship more closely, this chapter presents an integrative framework of empathy and emotion regulation. We begin by delineating the component processes that underlie empathy and emotion regulation, and the neural underpinnings of these processes. We then present an integrative framework describing the processes of empathy and how these may be acted upon by distinct regulatory strategies. We conclude with a brief consideration of contextual influences on empathy and emotion regulation using a reward-based heuristic.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/bs.pbr.2019.03.024

  View details for PubMedID 31196438

• Happiness and Social Behavior. Psychological science Quoidbach, J. n., Taquet, M. n., Desseilles, M. n., de Montjoye, Y. A., Gross, J. J. 2019: 956797619849666

  Abstract

  It is often assumed that there is a robust positive symmetrical relationship between happiness and social behavior: Social relationships are viewed as essential to happiness, and happiness is thought to foster social relationships. However, empirical support for this widely held view is surprisingly mixed, and this view does little to clarify which social partner a person will be motivated to interact with when happy. To address these issues, we monitored the happiness and social interactions of more than 30,000 people for a month. We found that patterns of social interaction followed the hedonic-flexibility principle, whereby people tend to engage in happiness-enhancing social relationships when they feel bad and sustain happiness-decreasing periods of solitude and less pleasant types of social relationships that might promise long-term payoff when they feel good. These findings demonstrate that links between happiness and social behavior are more complex than often assumed in the positive-emotion literature.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0956797619849666

  View details for PubMedID 31268832

• Broken bonds: A meta-analysis of emotion reactivity and regulation in emotionally maltreating parents. Child abuse & neglect Lavi, I., Manor-Binyamini, I., Seibert, E., Katz, L. F., Ozer, E. J., Gross, J. J. 2018; 88: 376–88

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Emotional maltreatment is the most pervasive but least studied form of abuse.OBJECTIVE: In the present study, we examined the role of emotion reactivity and emotion regulation in emotional child maltreatment.METHODS: We identified nine studies that compared levels of parental emotion reactivity and regulation in emotionally maltreating families with levels in non-maltreating families.RESULTS: Our meta-analytic findings revealed that, in comparison to non-maltreating parents, parents who are emotionally maltreating their children report higher levels of negative affect, depression, verbal aggression, and anger. We also found that in comparison to non-maltreating parents, emotionally maltreating parents report lower levels of emotional control, emotion regulation, and coping strategies.CONCLUSIONS: We outline the theoretical and practical implications of these results, and emphasize how research into the etiology of child maltreatment may provide the basis for more effective prevention, screening, and treatment practices designed to eradicate emotional maltreatment.

  View details for PubMedID 30579169

• Central mechanisms of real and sham electroacupuncture in the treatment of chronic low back pain: study protocol for a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Trials Kong, J., MacIsaac, B., Cogan, R., Ng, A., Law, C. S., Helms, J., Schnyer, R., Karayannis, N. V., Kao, M., Tian, L., Darnall, B. D., Gross, J. J., Mackey, S., Manber, R. 2018; 19 (1): 685

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is the most common chronic pain condition and is often resistant to conventional treatments. Acupuncture is a popular alternative for treating CLBP but its mechanisms of action remain poorly understood. Evidence suggests that pain regulatory mechanisms (particularly the ascending and secondarily the descending pain modulatory pathways) and psychological mechanisms (e.g., expectations, pain catastrophizing and self-efficacy) may be involved in the pathogenesis of CLBP and its response to treatments. We will examine these mechanisms in the treatment of CLBP by electroacupuncture (EA).METHODS: We present the aims and methods of a placebo-controlled, participant-blinded and assessor-blinded mechanistic study. Adult patients with CLBP will be randomized to receiving 16 sessions of real (active) or sham (placebo) EA over the course of 8weeks. The primary pain regulatory measure for which the study was powered is temporal summation (TS), which approximates ascending pain facilitation. Conditioned pain modulation (CPM), representing a descending pain modulatory pathway, will be our secondary pain regulatory measure. The primary psychological measure is expectations of benefit, and the secondary psychological measures are pain catastrophizing and self-efficacy in managing pain. Main clinical outcomes are back pain bothersomeness on a 0-100 visual analog scale (primary), Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (secondary), and relevant items from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Patient-Reported Outcome Measures Information System (secondary). We hypothesize that compared to sham, real EA will lead to greater reduction in TS after 8 treatment sessions (4weeks); and that reduction in TS (and secondarily, increase in CPM) after 8 treatment sessions will mediate reduction in back pain bothersomeness from baseline to week 10 (clinical response) to EA. We also hypothesize that the three psychological factors are moderators of clinical response. With 100 treatment completers, the study is designed to have 80% power to detect a medium-sized between-group effect (d=0.5) on temporal summation.DISCUSSION: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first appropriately powered, placebo-controlled clinical trial evaluating mechanisms of EA in the treatment of CLBP.TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02503475 . Registered on 15 July 15 2015. Retrospectively registered.

  View details for PubMedID 30541586

• Bending time: The role of affective appraisal in time perception. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Uusberg, A., Naar, R., Tamm, M., Kreegipuu, K., Gross, J. J. 2018; 18 (8): 1174–88

  Abstract

  Affective states are known to distort time perception, but it remains unclear why and how they do so. To test whether appraisal processes involved in affect may play a role in temporal distortions, we investigated bisection behavior during experimental events with varying appraisal values along three dimensions: goal relevance (high vs. low), goal type (approach vs. avoid), and goal congruence (conducive vs. obstructive). Forty female participants performed an incentive-compatible gambling task attempting to accumulate wins and avoid losses of small amounts of chocolate. On each trial, a prechoice stimulus first announced whether a win, a loss, or no change was available. Participants then made a choice that ostensibly determined the outcome of the trial, which was communicated by a postchoice stimulus. Participants also made temporal bisection decisions indicating whether the presentation durations of pre- and postchoice stimuli (which varied between 200, 320, 440, 560, 680, and 800 ms) were closer to a previously learned short (200 ms) or long (800 ms) standard. We analyzed appraisal effects on psychometric bisection point, response speed, and drift diffusion parameter variance using custom regression contrasts. Subjective durations were found to be lengthened by high goal relevance, conducive goal congruence, and approach goal type. Analysis of diffusion parameters suggested that these results reflected appraisal-related shifts in duration perception rather than in subsequent decision-making. These findings encourage further research into the possibility that temporal distortions are among the cognitive changes triggered by appraisal processes during affective states. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for PubMedID 29504799

• The Role of Working Alliance in CBT and MBSR for Social Anxiety Disorder MINDFULNESS Jazaieri, H., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2018; 9 (5): 1381–89

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s12671-017-0877-9

  View details for Web of Science ID 000444573800006

• Does Centrality in a Cross-Sectional Network Suggest Intervention Targets for Social Anxiety Disorder? JOURNAL OF CONSULTING AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Rodebaugh, T. L., Tonge, N. A., Piccirillo, M. L., Fried, E., Horenstein, A., Morrison, A. S., Goldin, P., Gross, J. J., Lim, M. H., Fernandez, K. C., Blanco, C., Schneier, F. R., Bogdan, R., Thompson, R. J., Heimberg, R. G. 2018; 86 (10): 831–44

  Abstract

  Network analysis allows us to identify the most interconnected (i.e., central) symptoms, and multiple authors have suggested that these symptoms might be important treatment targets. This is because change in central symptoms (relative to others) should have greater impact on change in all other symptoms. It has been argued that networks derived from cross-sectional data may help identify such important symptoms. We tested this hypothesis in social anxiety disorder.We first estimated a state-of-the-art regularized partial correlation network based on participants with social anxiety disorder (n = 910) to determine which symptoms were more central. Next, we tested whether change in these central symptoms were indeed more related to overall symptom change in a separate dataset of participants with social anxiety disorder who underwent a variety of treatments (n = 244). We also tested whether relatively superficial item properties (infrequency of endorsement and variance of items) might account for any effects shown for central symptoms.Centrality indices successfully predicted how strongly changes in items correlated with change in the remainder of the items. Findings were limited to the measure used in the network and did not generalize to three other measures related to social anxiety severity. In contrast, infrequency of endorsement showed associations across all measures.The transfer of recently published results from cross-sectional network analyses to treatment data is unlikely to be straightforward. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for PubMedID 30265042

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6166439

• To reappraise or not to reappraise? Emotion regulation choice and cognitive energetics. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Milyavsky, M., Webber, D., Fernandez, J. R., Kruglanski, A. W., Goldenberg, A., Suri, G., Gross, J. J. 2018

  Abstract

  Research shows that cognitive reappraisal is an effective emotion regulation (ER) strategy that often has clear benefits. Yet, surprisingly, recent findings demonstrate that people use cognitive reappraisal less frequently than might be expected (Suri, Whittaker, & Gross, 2015). We employ cognitive energetics theory (CET) to explain this puzzling behavior. CET posits that the likelihood of launching any cognitive process is a function of two opposing forces: the driving force (i.e., the motivation to launch the process) and the restraining force (i.e., task difficulty). We thus hypothesized that people choose to use cognitive reappraisal relatively rarely because of the difficulty of implementing it. We also postulated that the decision to reappraise (or not) does not simply depend on stimuli emotional intensity because the latter is associated with both the driving and the restraining forces. In support of our hypotheses, we found that when the images' emotional intensity posed difficulty for reappraisal (i.e., highly intense images), reducing this difficulty by asking participants to merely predict others' (Study 1) or their own choices (Study 2) increased reappraisal choice. Finally, in Study 3, we show that a relatively easy to implement reappraisal strategy was chosen more often than the more difficult one for high (but not low) intensity images. These findings illustrate the relevance of a CET-based motivational analysis to emotion regulation choice. (PsycINFO Database Record

  View details for PubMedID 30234328

• Relapse/Recurrence Prevention in Major Depressive Disorder: 26-Month Follow-Up of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Versus an Active Control BEHAVIOR THERAPY Shallcross, A. J., Willroth, E. C., Fisher, A., Dimidjian, S., Gross, J. J., Visvanathan, P. D., Mauss, I. B. 2018; 49 (5): 836–49

  Abstract

  We conducted a 26-month follow-up of a previously reported 12-month study that compared mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) to a rigorous active control condition (ACC) for depressive relapse/recurrence prevention and improvements in depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Participants in remission from major depression were randomized to an 8-week MBCT group (n = 46) or the ACC (n = 46). Outcomes were assessed at baseline; postintervention; and 6, 12, and 26 months. Intention-to-treat analyses indicated no differences between groups for any outcome over the 26-month follow-up. Time to relapse results (MBCT vs. ACC) indicated a hazard ratio = .82, 95% CI [.34, 1.99]. Relapse rates were 47.8% for MBCT and 50.0% for ACC. Piecewise analyses indicated that steeper declines in depressive symptoms in the MBCT vs. the ACC group from postintervention to 12 months were not maintained after 12 months. Both groups experienced a marginally significant rebound of depressive symptoms after 12 months but were still improved at 26 months compared to baseline (b = -4.12, p <= .008). Results for life satisfaction were similar. In sum, over a 26-month follow-up, MBCT was no more effective for preventing depression relapse/recurrence, reducing depressive symptoms, or improving life satisfaction than a rigorous ACC. Based on epidemiological data and evidence from prior depression prevention trials, we discuss the possibility that both MBCT and ACC confer equal therapeutic benefit. Future studies that include treatment as usual (TAU) control conditions are needed to confirm this possibility and to rule out the potential role of time-related effects. Overall findings underscore the importance of comparing MBCT to TAU as well as to ACCs.

  View details for PubMedID 30146148

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6112178

• Reappraising faces: effects on accountability appraisals, self-reported valence, and pupil diameter. Cognition & emotion Yih, J., Sha, H., Beam, D. E., Parvizi, J., Gross, J. J. 2018: 1–10

  Abstract

  Many of our emotions arise in social contexts, as we interact with and learn about others. What is not yet clear, however, is how such emotions unfold when we either react to others or attempt to regulate our emotions. To address this issue, 30 healthy volunteers reacted to or reappraised positive or negative information that was paired with neutral faces. While they were doing this task, we assessed pupillary responses. We also asked participants to provide ratings of accountability and experienced emotion. Findings indicated that appraised accountability increased in response to emotional information, and changes in accountability were associated with commensurate changes in valence reports and increased pupil diameter. During reappraisal, accountability and emotion decreased, but pupil diameter increased. The findings highlight the importance of accountability appraisals during the generation and regulation of emotional reactions to others, while also documenting pupillary increases during emotional reactivity and regulation.

  View details for PubMedID 30092708

• Emotion regulation in teachers: The "why" and "how" TEACHING AND TEACHER EDUCATION Taxer, J. L., Gross, J. J. 2018; 74: 180–89

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.tate.2018.05.008

  View details for Web of Science ID 000436650300016

• Better together: a unified perspective on appraisal and emotion regulation. Cognition & emotion Yih, J., Uusberg, A., Taxer, J. L., Gross, J. J. 2018: 1–7

  Abstract

  Advances in our understanding of appraisal processes and emotion regulation have been two of the most important contributions of research on cognition and emotion in recent decades. Interestingly, however, progress in these two areas has been less mutually informative than one might expect or desire. To help remedy this situation, we provide an integration of appraisal theory and the process model of emotion regulation by describing parallel, interacting and iterative systems for emotion generation and emotion regulation. Outputs of the emotion generation system are perceived by the emotion regulation system, and emotion regulation strategies then modulate emotion by intervening at specific stages of the emotion generation system, ultimately changing appraisal dimensions. We hope that our unified perspective will encourage and guide future research at the interface of cognition and emotion.

  View details for PubMedID 30058449

• Understanding dehumanization: The role of agency and communion JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Formanowicz, M., Goldenberg, A., Saguy, T., Pietraszkiewicz, A., Walker, M., Gross, J. J. 2018; 77: 102–16

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jesp.2018.04.003

  View details for Web of Science ID 000436886900009

• Evidence for Common and Unique Brain Structures Underlying Emotion Regulation With Different Strategies and Valence: A Developmental Study Poppe, A., Novotny, S., Chung, Y., Pearlson, G., Kober, H., Phillips, M., Ochsner, K., Gross, J., Stevens, M. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2018: S145–S146

  View details for Web of Science ID 000432466300358

• Reappraisal of Personal Criticism in Social Anxiety Disorder: A Brain Network Perspective Jacob, Y., Shany, O., Goldin, P., Gross, J., Hendler, T. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2018: S360–S361

  View details for Web of Science ID 000433001900322

• Is Neural Processing of Negative Stimuli Altered in Addiction Independent of Drug Effects? Findings From Drug-Naive Youth with Internet Gaming Disorder NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY Yip, S. W., Gross, J. J., Chawla, M., Ma, S., Shi, X., Liu, L., Yao, Y., Zhu, L., Worhunsky, P. D., Zhang, J. 2018; 43 (6): 1364–72

  Abstract

  Difficulties in emotion regulation are commonly reported among individuals with alcohol and drug addictions and contribute to the acquisition and maintenance of addictive behaviors. Alterations in neural processing of negative affective stimuli have further been demonstrated among individuals with addictions. However, it is unclear whether these alterations are a general feature of addictions or are a result of prolonged exposure to drugs of abuse. To test the hypothesis of altered negative affect processing independent of drug effects, this study assessed neural function among drug-naïve youth with a behavioral addiction-Internet gaming disorder (IGD). Fifty-six young adults (28 with IGD, 28 matched controls) participated in fMRI scanning during performance of a well-validated emotion regulation task. Between-group differences in neural activity during task performance were assessed using a whole-brain, mixed-effects ANOVA with correction for multiple comparisons at currently recommended thresholds (voxel-level p<0.001, pFWE<0.05). Compared to controls, youth with IGD exhibited significantly blunted neural responses within distributed subcortical and cortical regions including the striatum, insula, lateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate in response to negative affective cues, as well as during emotion regulation. Independent component analysis (ICA) further identified between-group differences in engagement of a fronto-cingulo-parietal network, involving decreased engagement in IGD youth relative to controls. Study findings are largely consistent with those from prior neuroimaging studies in substance-use disorders, thus raising the possibility that neural processing of negative affect may be blunted across drug and behavioral addictions independent of acute or chronic drug effects.

  View details for PubMedID 29154365

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5916358

• Estradiol Modulation of Female Adolescent Emotion Regulation Chung, Y., Poppe, A., Novotny, S., Epperson, C., Kober, H., Ochsner, K., Gross, J., Pearlson, G., Stevens, M. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2018: S362

  View details for Web of Science ID 000433001900326

• Individual Differences in Executive Functioning, Emotion Regulation Traits, and Their Neural Correlates During Successful Cognitive Reappraisal Novotny, S., Chung, Y., Poppe, A., Pearlson, G., Kober, H., Phillips, M. L., Ochsner, K., Gross, J., Stevens, M. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2018: S146

  View details for Web of Science ID 000432466300359

• Emotional clarity and attention to emotions in cognitive behavioral group therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction for social anxiety disorder JOURNAL OF ANXIETY DISORDERS Butler, R. M., Boden, M. T., Olino, T. M., Morrison, A. S., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J., Heimberg, R. G. 2018; 55: 31–38

  Abstract

  We examined (1) differences between controls and patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) in emotional clarity and attention to emotions; (2) changes in emotional clarity and attention to emotions associated with cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), or a waitlist (WL) condition; and (3) whether emotional clarity and attention to emotions moderated changes in social anxiety across treatment. Participants were healthy controls (n = 37) and patients with SAD (n = 108) who were assigned to CBGT, MBSR, or WL in a randomized controlled trial. At pretreatment, posttreatment, and 12-month follow-up, patients with SAD completed measures of social anxiety, emotional clarity, and attention to emotions. Controls completed measures at baseline only. At pretreatment, patients with SAD had lower levels of emotional clarity than controls. Emotional clarity increased significantly among patients receiving CBGT, and changes were maintained at 12-month follow-up. Emotional clarity at posttreatment did not differ between CBGT and MBSR or between MBSR and WL. Changes in emotional clarity predicted changes in social anxiety, but emotional clarity did not moderate treatment outcome. Analyses of attention to emotions were not significant. Implications for the role of emotional clarity in the treatment of SAD are discussed.

  View details for PubMedID 29558650

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5879018

• Reappraising Test Anxiety Increases Academic Performance of First-Year College Students JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY Brady, S. T., Hard, B., Gross, J. J. 2018; 110 (3): 395–406

  View details for DOI 10.1037/edu0000219

  View details for Web of Science ID 000429737200006

• Why do we do what we do? The Attention-Readiness-Motivation framework SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS Suri, G., Shine, J. M., Gross, J. J. 2018; 12 (4)

  View details for DOI 10.1111/spc3.12382

  View details for Web of Science ID 000429579200008

• Cognitive Reappraisal Intervention for Suicide Prevention (CRISP) for Middle-Aged and Older Adults Hospitalized for Suicidality AMERICAN JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY Kiosses, D. N., Alexopoulos, G. S., Hajcak, G., Apfeldorf, W., Duberstein, P. R., Putrino, D., Gross, J. J. 2018; 26 (4): 494–503

  Abstract

  Middle-aged and older adults constitute a high suicide-risk group. Among adults aged 50 years old and older, suicide rates increased and suicide deaths almost doubled during the period from 2000 to 2015. Suicide rates are elevated for patients hospitalized for suicidality (i.e., active suicidal ideation or suicide attempt) and the 3 months post-hospitalization is the time of the highest suicide risk. Psychosocial interventions for middle-aged and older adults hospitalized for suicidality are sparse. In this article, we present the main aspects, stages, techniques and a clinical case study of Cognitive Reappraisal Intervention for Suicide Prevention (CRISP), a psychosocial intervention targeting cognitive reappraisal to reduce suicide risk in middle-aged and older adults who have been recently hospitalized for suicidal ideation or a suicide attempt. CRISP is based on the theory that hospitalization for suicidality is preceded by an emotional crisis ("perfect storm"); this emotional crisis is related to personalized (patient- and situation-specific) triggers; and identifying these personalized triggers and the associated negative emotions and providing strategies for an adaptive response to these triggers and negative emotions will reduce suicidal ideation and improve suicide prevention. CRISP therapists identify these triggers of negative emotions and use cognitive reappraisal techniques to reduce these negative emotions. The cognitive reappraisal techniques have been selected from different psychosocial interventions and the affective neuroscience literature and have been simplified for use with middle-aged and older adults. CRISP may fill a treatment need for the post-discharge high-risk period for middle-aged and older adults hospitalized for suicidality.

  View details for PubMedID 29395858

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5860974

• An investigation into the drivers of avolition in schizophrenia PSYCHIATRY RESEARCH Suri, G., Lavaysse, L. M., Young, G., Moodie, C., Tersakyan, A., Gross, J. J., Gard, D. E. 2018; 261: 225–31

  Abstract

  Over a century of research has documented that avolition is a core symptom in schizophrenia. However, the drivers of avolition remain unclear. Conceptually, there are at least two potential mutually compatible drivers that could cause avolition in schizophrenia. First, people with schizophrenia might have differences in preferences that result in less goal-directed behavior than non-clinical populations (preference-differences). Second, people with schizophrenia might have difficulty translating their preferences into manifest behavior at rates similar to non-clinical populations (psychological-inertia). In the present work, we modified and validated a well-validated paradigm from the motivation/decision making literature to compare levels of preference-differences and psychological-inertia. To measure preference-differences, people with and without schizophrenia choose between a lower-valenced and higher-valenced image. We measured the rate at which the normatively lower-valenced image was preferred. To measure psychological-inertia, both groups were given the opportunity to volitionally switch from a lower-valenced image and view a higher-valenced image. Contrary to expectations, people with schizophrenia did not differ on either preference-differences or psychological-inertia. Statistical analysis revealed that the possibility of a Type II error for even a weak effect was small. The present data suggest new avenues for research investigating mechanisms underlying avolition and clinical interventions targeting avolition in schizophrenia.

  View details for PubMedID 29329039

• Emotion regulation choice: the role of orienting attention and action readiness CURRENT OPINION IN BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES Ghafur, R. D., Suri, G., Gross, J. J. 2018; 19: 31–35

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.08.016

  View details for Web of Science ID 000428954900007

• Profiling risk for depressive disorder by circuit, behavior and self-report measures of emotion function JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS Watters, A. J., Korgaonkar, M. S., Carpenter, J. S., Harris, A. W. F., Gross, J. J., Williams, L. M. 2018; 227: 595–602

  Abstract

  Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by maladaptions in affective brain circuitry and in emotion regulation. It remains unknown whether these maladaptions characterize first-degree relatives of probands who are unaffected yet have a higher risk of developing MDD.Participants were 72 unaffected first-degree relatives of probands with MDD and 66 matched non-relative controls. We investigated brain circuit function and self-reported emotion regulation strategies for reappraisal and suppression. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, we probed circuitry relevant to both negative and positive valence systems using facial expressions signaling potential threat, sadness and happiness, presented under both conscious and subliminal viewing conditions. We compared groups using a statistically controlled region of interest (ROI) approach including the amygdala, insula, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), ventromedial prefrontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. We also used a data-driven cluster analytic approach for characterizing the relatives by their brain function profiles.As a group, relatives were distinguished by hyper-reactivity of the pregenual ACC during subliminal viewing of threat-related expressions but hypo-activation of the amygdala, insula and dorsal ACC during explicit viewing of the same threat-related expressions and sadness. When considered individually, this brain function profile characterized two-thirds of relatives, and these relatives were also less likely to use reappraisal to regulate negative emotion.The design was cross-sectional and therefore does not provide direct evidence as to the trait- (versus state-) like profile observed in relatives.Familial risk for MDD may involve a disruption to the normal recruitment of neural circuits for appraising salient emotions, both implicit and explicit. Interventions targeting reappraisal strategies for regulating negative emotion may serve to buffer this risk.

  View details for PubMedID 29172052

• Emotion Regulation: Why Beliefs Matter CANADIAN PSYCHOLOGY-PSYCHOLOGIE CANADIENNE Ford, B. Q., Gross, J. J. 2018; 59 (1): 1–14

  View details for DOI 10.1037/cap0000142

  View details for Web of Science ID 000423875900001

• Altering the Trajectory of Affect and Affect Regulation: the Impact of Compassion Training MINDFULNESS Jazaieri, H., McGonigal, K., Lee, I. A., Jinpa, T., Doty, J. R., Gross, J. J., Goldin, P. R. 2018; 9 (1): 283–93

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s12671-017-0773-3

  View details for Web of Science ID 000422842100024

• Testing the impact and durability of a group malleability intervention in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Goldenberg, A., Cohen-Chen, S., Goyer, J., Dweck, C. S., Gross, J. J., Halperin, E. 2018; 115 (4): 696–701

  Abstract

  Fostering perceptions of group malleability (teaching people that groups are capable of change and improvement) has been shown to lead to short-term improvements in intergroup attitudes and willingness to make concessions in intractable conflicts. The present study, a field intervention involving 508 Israelis from three locations in Israel, replicated and substantially extended those findings by testing the durability of a group malleability intervention during a 6-month period of frequent violence. Three different 5-hour-long interventions were administered as leadership workshops. The group malleability intervention was compared with a neutral coping intervention and, importantly, with a state-of-the-art perspective-taking intervention. The group malleability intervention proved superior to the coping intervention in improving attitudes, hope, and willingness to make concessions, and maintained this advantage during a 6-month period of intense intergroup conflict. Moreover, it was as good as, and in some respects superior to, the perspective-taking intervention. These findings provide a naturalistic examination of the potential of group malleability interventions to increase openness to conflict resolution.

  View details for PubMedID 29311299

• Beliefs about emotion: implications for avoidance-based emotion regulation and psychological health COGNITION & EMOTION De Castella, K., Platow, M. J., Tamir, M., Gross, J. J. 2018; 32 (4): 773–95

  Abstract

  People's beliefs about their ability to control their emotions predict a range of important psychological outcomes. It is not clear, however, whether these beliefs are playing a causal role, and if so, why this might be. In the current research, we tested whether avoidance-based emotion regulation explains the link between beliefs and psychological outcomes. In Study 1 (N = 112), a perceived lack of control over emotions predicted poorer psychological health outcomes (increased self-reported avoidance, lower well-being, and higher levels of clinical symptoms), and avoidance strategies indirectly explained these links between emotion beliefs and psychological health. In Study 2 (N = 101), we experimentally manipulated participants' emotion beliefs by leading participants to believe that they struggled (low regulatory self-efficacy) or did not struggle (high regulatory self-efficacy) with controlling their emotions. Participants in the low regulatory self-efficacy condition reported increased intentions to engage in avoidance strategies over the next month and were more likely to avoid seeking psychological help. When asked if they would participate in follow-up studies, these participants were also more likely to display avoidance-based emotion regulation. These findings provide initial evidence for the causal role of emotion beliefs in avoidance-based emotion regulation, and document their impact on psychological health-related outcomes.

  View details for PubMedID 28737108

• Emotion regulation choice: the role of environmental affordances COGNITION & EMOTION Suri, G., Sheppes, G., Young, G., Abraham, D., McRae, K., Gross, J. J. 2018; 32 (5): 963–71

  Abstract

  Which emotion regulation strategy one uses in a given context can have profound affective, cognitive, and social consequences. It is therefore important to understand the determinants of emotion regulation choice. Many prior studies have examined person-specific, internal determinants of emotion regulation choice. Recently, it has become clear that external variables that are properties of the stimulus can also influence emotion regulation choice. In the present research, we consider whether reappraisal affordances, defined as the opportunities for re-interpretation of a stimulus that are inherent in that stimulus, can shape individuals' emotion regulation choices. We show that reappraisal affordances have stability across people and across time (Study 1), and are confounded with emotional intensity for a standardised set of picture stimuli (Study 2). Since emotional intensity has been shown to drive emotion regulation choice, we construct a context in which emotional intensity is separable from reappraisal affordances (Study 3) and use this context to show that reappraisal affordances powerfully influence emotion regulation choice even when emotional intensity and discrete emotions are taken into account (Study 4).

  View details for PubMedID 28862078

• Testing the mindfulness-to-meaning theory: Evidence for mindful positive emotion regulation from a reanalysis of longitudinal data PLOS ONE Garland, E. L., Hanley, A. W., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2017; 12 (12): e0187727

  Abstract

  The Mindfulness to Meaning Theory (MMT) provides a detailed process model of mindful positive emotion regulation.We conducted a post-hoc reanalysis of longitudinal data (N = 107) derived from a RCT of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) versus cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder to model the core constructs of the MMT (attentional control, decentering, broadened awareness, reappraisal, and positive affect) in a multivariate path analysis.Findings indicated that increases in attentional control from baseline to post-training predicted increases in decentering by 3 months post-treatment (p<.01) that in turn predicted increases in broadened awareness of interoceptive and exteroceptive data by 6 months post-treatment (p<.001). In turn, broadened awareness predicted increases in the use of reappraisal by 9 months post-treatment (p<.01), which culminated in greater positive affect at 12 months post-treatment (p<.001). MBSR led to significantly greater increases in decentering (p<.05) and broadened awareness than CBT (p<.05). Significant indirect effects indicated that increases in decentering mediated the effect of mindfulness training on broadening awareness, which in turn mediated enhanced reappraisal efficacy.Results suggest that the mechanisms of change identified by the MMT form an iterative chain that promotes long-term increases in positive affectivity. Though these mechanisms may reflect common therapeutic factors that cut across mindfulness-based and cognitive-behavioral interventions, MBSR specifically boosts the MMT cycle by producing significantly greater increases in decentering and broadened awareness than CBT, providing support for the foundational assumption in the MMT that mindfulness training may be a key means of stimulating downstream positive psychological processes.

  View details for PubMedID 29211754

• PTSD Psychotherapy Outcome Predicted by Brain Activation During Emotional Reactivity and Regulation AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY Fonzo, G. A., Goodkind, M. S., Oathes, D. J., Zaiko, Y. V., Harvey, M., Peng, K. K., Weiss, M., Thompson, A. L., Zack, S. E., Lindley, S. E., Arnow, B. A., Jo, B., Gross, J. J., Rothbaum, B. O., Etkin, A. 2017; 174 (12): 1163–74

  View details for DOI 10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.16091072

  View details for Web of Science ID 000417355900010

• Selective Effects of Psychotherapy on Frontopolar Cortical Function in PTSD. The American journal of psychiatry Fonzo, G. A., Goodkind, M. S., Oathes, D. J., Zaiko, Y. V., Harvey, M., Peng, K. K., Weiss, M. E., Thompson, A. L., Zack, S. E., Mills-Finnerty, C. E., Rosenberg, B. M., Edelstein, R., Wright, R. N., Kole, C. A., Lindley, S. E., Arnow, B. A., Jo, B., Gross, J. J., Rothbaum, B. O., Etkin, A. 2017; 174 (12): 1175-1184

  Abstract

  Exposure therapy is an effective treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but a comprehensive, emotion-focused perspective on how psychotherapy affects brain function is lacking. The authors assessed changes in brain function after prolonged exposure therapy across three emotional reactivity and regulation paradigms.Individuals with PTSD underwent functional MRI (fMRI) at rest and while completing three tasks assessing emotional reactivity and regulation. Individuals were then randomly assigned to immediate prolonged exposure treatment (N=36) or a waiting list condition (N=30) and underwent a second scan approximately 4 weeks after the last treatment session or a comparable waiting period, respectively.Treatment-specific changes were observed only during cognitive reappraisal of negative images. Psychotherapy increased lateral frontopolar cortex activity and connectivity with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex/ventral striatum. Greater increases in frontopolar activation were associated with improvement in hyperarousal symptoms and psychological well-being. The frontopolar cortex also displayed a greater variety of temporal resting-state signal pattern changes after treatment. Concurrent transcranial magnetic stimulation and fMRI in healthy participants demonstrated that the lateral frontopolar cortex exerts downstream influence on the ventromedial prefrontal cortex/ventral striatum.Changes in frontopolar function during deliberate regulation of negative affect is one key mechanism of adaptive psychotherapeutic change in PTSD. Given that frontopolar connectivity with ventromedial regions during emotion regulation is enhanced by psychotherapy and that the frontopolar cortex exerts downstream influence on ventromedial regions in healthy individuals, these findings inform a novel conceptualization of how psychotherapy works, and they identify a promising target for stimulation-based therapeutics.

  View details for DOI 10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.16091073

  View details for PubMedID 28715907

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5711612

• PTSD Psychotherapy Outcome Predicted by Brain Activation During Emotional Reactivity and Regulation. The American journal of psychiatry Fonzo, G. A., Goodkind, M. S., Oathes, D. J., Zaiko, Y. V., Harvey, M., Peng, K. K., Weiss, M. E., Thompson, A. L., Zack, S. E., Lindley, S. E., Arnow, B. A., Jo, B., Gross, J. J., Rothbaum, B. O., Etkin, A. 2017; 174 (12): 1163-1174

  Abstract

  Exposure therapy is an effective treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but many patients do not respond. Brain functions governing treatment outcome are not well characterized. The authors examined brain systems relevant to emotional reactivity and regulation, constructs that are thought to be central to PTSD and exposure therapy effects, to identify the functional traits of individuals most likely to benefit from treatment.Individuals with PTSD underwent functional MRI (fMRI) while completing three tasks assessing emotional reactivity and regulation. Participants were then randomly assigned to immediate prolonged exposure treatment (N=36) or a waiting list condition (N=30). A random subset of the prolonged exposure group (N=17) underwent single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) concurrent with fMRI to examine whether predictive activation patterns reflect causal influence within circuits. Linear mixed-effects modeling in line with the intent-to-treat principle was used to examine how baseline brain function moderated the effect of treatment on PTSD symptoms.At baseline, individuals with larger treatment-related symptom reductions (compared with the waiting list condition) demonstrated 1) greater dorsal prefrontal activation and 2) less left amygdala activation, both during emotion reactivity; 3) better inhibition of the left amygdala induced by single TMS pulses to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; and 4) greater ventromedial prefrontal/ventral striatal activation during emotional conflict regulation. Reappraisal-related activation was not a significant moderator of the treatment effect.Capacity to benefit from prolonged exposure in PTSD is gated by the degree to which prefrontal resources are spontaneously engaged when superficially processing threat and adaptively mitigating emotional interference, but not when deliberately reducing negative emotionality.

  View details for DOI 10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.16091072

  View details for PubMedID 28715908

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5711543

• The Affect Regulation in Cancer framework: Understanding affective responding across the cancer trajectory. Journal of health psychology Kangas, M., Gross, J. J. 2017: 1359105317748468

  Abstract

  Affective dimensions of cancer have long been a central concern in the field of psycho-oncology. Recent developments in the field of affective science suggest the value of incorporating insights from the burgeoning literature on affect regulation. Accordingly, the objective of this article is to build on prior work in this area by applying a process-oriented affect regulation framework to the various phases of the cancer trajectory. The Affect Regulation in Cancer framework is adapted from Gross' process model of emotion regulation, and its aim is to integrate recent advances in affective science with work in the field of psycho-oncology. The basic elements of the affect generative and affect regulatory processes are outlined across the various phases of the cancer trajectory. Our proposed model provides a useful heuristic framework in advancing research on the ways people manage their affective responses throughout the cancer trajectory.

  View details for PubMedID 29260595

• Selective Effects of Psychotherapy on Frontopolar Cortical Function in PTSD AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY Fonzo, G. A., Goodkind, M. S., Oathes, D. J., Zaiko, Y. V., Harvey, M., Peng, K. K., Weiss, M., Thompson, A. L., Zack, S. E., Mills-Finnerty, C. E., Rosenberg, B. M., Edelstein, R., Wright, R. N., Kole, C. A., Lindley, S. E., Arnow, B. A., Jo, B., Gross, J. J., Rothbaum, B. O., Etkin, A. 2017; 174 (12): 1175–84

  View details for DOI 10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.16091073

  View details for Web of Science ID 000417355900011

• The emotion regulation questionnaire in women with cancer: A psychometric evaluation and an item response theory analysis PSYCHO-ONCOLOGY Brandao, T., Schulz, M. S., Gross, J. J., Matos, P. 2017; 26 (10): 1647–53

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation is thought to play an important role in adaptation to cancer. However, the emotion regulation questionnaire (ERQ), a widely used instrument to assess emotion regulation, has not yet been validated in this context. This study addresses this gap by examining the psychometric properties of the ERQ in a sample of Portuguese women with cancer.The ERQ was administered to 204 women with cancer (mean age = 48.89 years, SD = 7.55). Confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory analysis were used to examine psychometric properties of the ERQ.Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the 2-factor solution proposed by the original authors (expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal). This solution was invariant across age and type of cancer. Item response theory analyses showed that all items were moderately to highly discriminant and that items are better suited for identifying moderate levels of expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal. Support was found for the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the ERQ. The pattern of relationships with emotional control, alexithymia, emotional self-efficacy, attachment, and quality of life provided evidence of the convergent and concurrent validity for both dimensions of the ERQ.Overall, the ERQ is a psychometrically sound approach for assessing emotion regulation strategies in the oncological context. Clinical implications are discussed.

  View details for PubMedID 28010039

• Trajectories of social anxiety, cognitive reappraisal, and mindfulness during an RCT of CBGT versus MBSR for social anxiety disorder BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH AND THERAPY Goldin, P. R., Morrison, A. S., Jazaieri, H., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2017; 97: 1–13

  Abstract

  Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy (CBGT) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) are efficacious in treating social anxiety disorder (SAD). It is not yet clear, however, whether they share similar trajectories of change and underlying mechanisms in the context of SAD. This randomized controlled study of 108 unmedicated adults with generalized SAD investigated the impact of CBGT vs. MBSR on trajectories of social anxiety, cognitive reappraisal, and mindfulness during 12 weeks of treatment. CBGT and MBSR produced similar trajectories showing decreases in social anxiety and increases in reappraisal (changing the way of thinking) and mindfulness (mindful attitude). Compared to MBSR, CBGT produced greater increases in disputing anxious thoughts/feelings and reappraisal success. Compared to CBGT, MBSR produced greater acceptance of anxiety and acceptance success. Granger Causality analyses revealed that increases in weekly reappraisal and reappraisal success predicted subsequent decreases in weekly social anxiety during CBGT (but not MBSR), and that increases in weekly mindful attitude and disputing anxious thoughts/feelings predicted subsequent decreases in weekly social anxiety during MBSR (but not CBGT). This examination of temporal dynamics identified shared and distinct changes during CBGT and MBSR that both support and challenge current conceptualizations of these clinical interventions. CLINICALTRIALS.NCT02036658.

  View details for PubMedID 28654771

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5600696

• Explicit and implicit emotion regulation: a multi-level framework SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE Braunstein, L., Gross, J. J., Ochsner, K. N. 2017; 12 (10): 1545–57

  Abstract

  The ability to adaptively regulate emotion is essential for mental and physical well-being. How should we organize the myriad ways people attempt to regulate their emotions? We explore the utility of a framework that distinguishes among four fundamental classes of emotion regulation strategies. The framework describes each strategy class in terms their behavioral characteristics, underlying psychological processes and supporting neural systems. A key feature of this multi-level framework is its conceptualization of the psychological processes in terms of two orthogonal dimensions that describe (i) the nature of the emotion regulation goal (ranging from to implicit to explicit) and (ii) the nature of the emotion change process (ranging from more automatic to more controlled). After describing the core elements of the framework, we use it to review human and animal research on the neural bases of emotion regulation and to suggest key directions for future research on emotion regulation.

  View details for PubMedID 28981910

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5647798

• Genetic and Environmental Influences on Emotion Regulation: A Twin Study of Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression EMOTION McRae, K., Rhee, S., Gatt, J. M., Godinez, D., Williams, L. M., Gross, J. J. 2017; 17 (5): 772–77

  Abstract

  Previous studies have established that personality traits related to emotionality are moderately heritable. However, the relative heritability of the strategies people use to regulate emotions is unknown. The present study compared the magnitude of additive genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental influences on 2 commonly used emotion regulation strategies: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. In 743 twin pairs (1,486 twins), we replicated previous estimates of heritability of neuroticism (a2 = .41). Furthermore, cognitive reappraisal was significantly less heritable and more influenced by nonshared environment (a2 = .20; e2 = .80) than either neuroticism or suppression (a2 = .35; e2 = .65), another emotion regulation strategy. Finally, Cholesky decomposition modeling suggested that while there were common genetic and environmental influences on neuroticism, reappraisal and suppression, there were also significant nonshared environmental influences common between reappraisal and adaptive emotional functioning after controlling for neuroticism and suppression. These findings highlight that different aspects of emotional processing, even the use of different emotion regulation strategies, are differentially heritable. The importance of the nonshared environmental influences specific to reappraisal and adaptive emotional functioning speaks to the potential impact of social context, social partners, and psychosocial interventions on reappraisal habits. (PsycINFO Database Record

  View details for PubMedID 28406678

• The Cognitive Distortions Questionnaire (CD-Quest): Validation in a Sample of Adults with Social Anxiety Disorder COGNITIVE THERAPY AND RESEARCH Kaplan, S. C., Morrison, A. S., Goldin, P. R., Olino, T. M., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2017; 41 (4): 576–87

  Abstract

  Cognitive distortions are thought to be central to the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders and are a widely acknowledged treatment target in cognitive-behavioral interventions. However, little research has focused on the measurement of cognitive distortions. The Cognitive Distortions Questionnaire (CD-Quest; de Oliveira, 2015), a brief, 15-item questionnaire, assesses the frequency and intensity of cognitive distortions. The CD-Quest has been shown to have sound psychometric properties in American, Australian, and Brazilian undergraduate samples and one Turkish-speaking outpatient clinical sample. The current study aimed to provide the first evaluation of the psychometric properties of the English version of the CD-Quest in a clinical sample and the first evaluation of any version of the CD-Quest in a sample of adults diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD). In a sample of treatment-seeking adults with SAD, the CD-Quest demonstrated good convergent validity, discriminant validity, known-groups validity, and treatment sensitivity. It also showed good internal consistency, and both confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses supported the previously reported unitary factor structure. Findings extend prior research indicating the reliability and validity of the CD-Quest.

  View details for PubMedID 28966414

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5617126

• Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Accuracy and Bias in Emotion Regulation Trait Judgments JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY Eldesouky, L., English, T., Gross, J. J. 2017; 85 (4): 543–52

  Abstract

  The current study examined accuracy and bias in judging trait-level emotion regulation strategy use in romantic relationships and tested emotion-related and global predictors of these judgments.Both members of 120 heterosexual couples (Mage  = 20.39 years; 56.3% Caucasian) completed measures of emotion regulation (self-reported and perceived partner use of suppression and reappraisal), emotionality, emotional expressivity, and relationship quality.Romantic partners were relatively accurate in judging suppression and reappraisal, although they had a tendency to underestimate use of both strategies. Reappraisal use was overestimated more among targets higher in positive expressivity, whereas suppression use was underestimated among targets higher in emotionality. In addition, women overestimated their partner's reappraisal use more than did men, and higher relationship quality predicted more positive biases in judging emotion regulation patterns.These findings suggest that romantic partners can judge each other's emotion regulation patterns with some degree of accuracy, but certain biases exist for specific strategies. The amount of accuracy and bias in emotion regulation judgments within romantic relationships may be influenced by both specific emotion-related characteristics of targets and global characteristics that broadly affect personality judgments.

  View details for PubMedID 27152655

• Treating Social Anxiety Disorder with CBT: Impact on Emotion Regulation and Satisfaction with Life COGNITIVE THERAPY AND RESEARCH Jazaieri, H., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2017; 41 (3): 406-416

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10608-016-9762-4

  View details for Web of Science ID 000400443500008

• In God we trust? Neural measures reveal lower social conformity among non-religious individuals SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE Thiruchselvam, R., Gopi, Y., Kilekwang, L., Harper, J., Gross, J. J. 2017; 12 (6): 956–64

  Abstract

  Even in predominantly religious societies, there are substantial individual differences in religious commitment. Why is this? One possibility is that differences in social conformity (i.e. the tendency to think and behave as others do) underlie inclination towards religiosity. However, the link between religiosity and conformity has not yet been directly examined. In this study, we tested the notion that non-religious individuals show dampened social conformity, using both self-reported and neural (EEG-based ERPs) measures of sensitivity to others' influence. Non-religious vs religious undergraduate subjects completed an experimental task that assessed levels of conformity in a domain unrelated to religion (i.e. in judgments of facial attractiveness). Findings showed that, although both groups yielded to conformity pressures at the self-report level, non-religious individuals did not yield to such pressures in their neural responses. These findings highlight a novel link between religiosity and social conformity, and hold implications for prominent theories about the psychological functions of religion.

  View details for PubMedID 28338784

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5472117

• Understanding mixed emotions: paradigms and measures CURRENT OPINION IN BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES Kreibig, S. D., Gross, J. J. 2017; 15: 62–71

  Abstract

  In this review, we examine the paradigms and measures available for experimentally studying mixed emotions in the laboratory. For eliciting mixed emotions, we describe a mixed emotions film library that allows for the repeated elicitation of a specific homogeneous mixed emotional state and appropriately matched pure positive, pure negative, and neutral emotional states. For assessing mixed emotions, we consider subjective and objective measures that fall into univariate, bivariate, and multivariate measurement categories. As paradigms and measures for objectively studying mixed emotions are still in their early stages, we conclude by outlining future directions that focus on the reliability, temporal dynamics, and response coherence of mixed emotions paradigms and measures. This research will build a strong foundation for future studies and significantly advance our understanding of mixed emotions.

  View details for PubMedID 28804752

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5548140

• Socioeconomic Status as a Predictor of Mortality in Patients Admitted With Atrial Fibrillation AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY Kargoli, F., Shulman, E., Aagaard, P., Briceno, D. F., Hoch, E., Di Biase, L., Fisher, J. D., Gross, J., Kim, S. G., Krumerman, A., Ferrick, K. J. 2017; 119 (9): 1378-1381

  Abstract

  Lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. However, the association between SES and mortality in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) is not clear. We examined whether SES predicts all-cause mortality in patients hospitalized with AF. This is a retrospective study of patients aged >18 years, admitted with a primary diagnosis of AF to Montefiore Medical Center between 2000 and 2010. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to determine predictors of survival adjusted for age, gender, heart failure, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, previous myocardial infraction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, peripheral vascular disease, and SES. SES was determined using the New York City Department of Health Standardized Score (a log composite score of household income, value of housing units, net rental income, household occupations, and educational level). The cohort was divided into quartiles based on SES score, with Q4 the highest and Q1 the lowest SES score. There were 4,503 patients identified with a mean follow up of 4.5 years in the following SES quartiles: Q1 (n = 1,132), Q2 (n = 1,119), Q3 (n = 1,126), and Q4 (n = 1,126). The unadjusted mortality varied across quartiles (Q1 to Q4), 54%, 58%, 56%, and 59%, respectively (p = 0.004). After controlling for other variables in the multivariable analysis, patients with the lowest SES (Q1) had a significantly higher mortality than patients in the quartile with the highest (Q4) SES (odds ratio 1.3, CI 1.1 to 1.5). In conclusion, patients admitted to the hospital with AF have varying mortality based on their SES. After controlling for co-morbidities, patients with AF and lower SES scores had higher mortality. Further research studies are warranted to study this risk of increased mortality in AF population.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.amjcard.2017.01.041

  View details for PubMedID 28400027

• Emotion regulation to idiographic stimuli: Testing the Autobiographical Emotion Regulation Task. Neuropsychologia Speed, B. C., Levinson, A. R., Gross, J. J., Kiosses, D. N., Hajcak, G. 2017

  Abstract

  Mounting evidence suggests that the ability to regulate emotion is crucial for psychological well-being. However, one important limitation of prior emotion regulation studies is that they rely on standardized stimuli low in personal relevance. To address this limitation, the current study employed a novel event-related potential (ERP) paradigm designed to investigate the late positive potential (LPP) as a measure of emotional reactivity and regulation to idiographic stimuli in 49 young adults. The Autobiographical Emotion Regulation Task (AERT) is a word-viewing task in which participants identify neutral and emotionally-charged autobiographical memories and generate keywords unique to each memory. First, participants are instructed to simply view the keywords. Then, participants are presented with keywords from negative memories and are either instructed to react normally (react condition), or to use cognitive reappraisal to decrease negative emotion (reappraise condition). Results indicate that the LPP was potentiated when initially viewing keywords for negative compared to neutral memories. Furthermore, the LPP was reduced during reappraise compared to react trials, demonstrating successful down-regulation of neural activity to negative idiographic stimuli. These findings suggest that the AERT is a feasible and effective probe of emotion regulation to idiographic stimuli.

  View details for PubMedID 28457978

• Reducing behavioural risk factors for cancer: An affect regulation perspective. Psychology & health O'Leary, D., Suri, G., Gross, J. J. 2017: 1-23

  Abstract

  Nearly half of all cancer deaths are attributable to preventable causes, primarily unhealthy behaviours such as tobacco use, alcohol use and overeating. In this review, we argue that people engage in these behaviours, at least in part, as a means of regulating their affective states. To better understand why people engage in these behaviours and how researchers might design interventions to promote the selection of healthier methods for regulating affect, we propose a conceptual model of affect regulation. We synthesise research from both the stress and coping tradition as well as the emotion and emotion regulation tradition, two literatures that are not typically integrated. In so doing, we indicate where researchers have made headway in understanding these behaviours as affect regulation and note how our model could be used to structure future work in a way that would be particularly advantageous to cancer control efforts.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/08870446.2017.1314480

  View details for PubMedID 28402140

• Emotion regulation strategy selection in daily life: The role of social context and goals MOTIVATION AND EMOTION English, T., Lee, I. A., John, O. P., Gross, J. J. 2017; 41 (2): 230-242

  Abstract

  Recent studies have begun to document the diversity of ways people regulate their emotions. However, one unanswered question is why people regulate their emotions as they do in everyday life. In the present research, we examined how social context and goals influence strategy selection in daily high points and low points. As expected, suppression was particularly tied to social features of context: it was used more when others were present, especially non-close partners, and when people had instrumental goals, especially more interpersonal ones (e.g., avoid conflict). Distraction and reappraisal were used more when regulating for hedonic reasons (e.g., to feel better), but these strategies were also linked to certain instrumental goals (e.g., getting work done). When contra-hedonic regulation occurred, it primarily took the form of dampening positive emotion during high points. Suppression was more likely to be used for contra-hedonic regulation, whereas reappraisal and distraction were used more for pro-hedonic regulation. Overall, these findings highlight the social nature of emotion regulation and underscore the importance of examining regulation in both positive and negative contexts.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11031-016-9597-z

  View details for Web of Science ID 000397476200007

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5482525

• Emotion regulation strategy selection in daily life: The role of social context and goals. Motivation and emotion English, T., Lee, I. A., John, O. P., Gross, J. J. 2017; 41 (2): 230-242

  Abstract

  Recent studies have begun to document the diversity of ways people regulate their emotions. However, one unanswered question is why people regulate their emotions as they do in everyday life. In the present research, we examined how social context and goals influence strategy selection in daily high points and low points. As expected, suppression was particularly tied to social features of context: it was used more when others were present, especially non-close partners, and when people had instrumental goals, especially more interpersonal ones (e.g., avoid conflict). Distraction and reappraisal were used more when regulating for hedonic reasons (e.g., to feel better), but these strategies were also linked to certain instrumental goals (e.g., getting work done). When contra-hedonic regulation occurred, it primarily took the form of dampening positive emotion during high points. Suppression was more likely to be used for contra-hedonic regulation, whereas reappraisal and distraction were used more for pro-hedonic regulation. Overall, these findings highlight the social nature of emotion regulation and underscore the importance of examining regulation in both positive and negative contexts.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11031-016-9597-z

  View details for PubMedID 28652647

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5482525

• Emotional compensation in parents JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Goldenberg, A., Enav, Y., Halperin, E., Saguy, T., Gross, J. J. 2017; 69: 150-155

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jesp.2016.10.008

  View details for Web of Science ID 000392774500016

• Why are Extraverts more Satisfied? Personality, Social Experiences, and Subjective Well-being in College EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY Harris, K., English, T., Harms, P. D., Gross, J. J., Jackson, J. J. 2017; 31 (2): 170-186

  View details for DOI 10.1002/per.2101

  View details for Web of Science ID 000399652000003

• Homesickness and Adjustment Across the First Year of College: A Longitudinal Study EMOTION English, T., Davis, J., Wei, M., Gross, J. J. 2017; 17 (1): 1-5

  Abstract

  Homesickness can put individuals at risk for a host of adjustment difficulties. The millions of students that leave home for college each year may be particularly susceptible to experiencing homesickness. There is little work, however, examining individual variation in homesickness over time and how these changes predict different outcomes in college. The present study examines weekly levels of homesickness during the first term of college and tests the associations between homesickness and various aspects of adjustment. Results showed that, on average, homesickness decreased slightly across the first semester of college, but there were individual differences in homesickness trajectories. Freshmen who reported higher levels of homesickness showed worse overall adjustment to college, even when controlling for negative emotional experience and prior adjustment. Homesickness was associated with poorer social outcomes, but these social difficulties were limited to interactions with others in the college environment. Academic outcomes were not adversely impacted by homesickness. Findings suggest that homesickness is a common experience for freshmen, and, despite its relatively transient nature, homesickness has important implications for college adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0000235

  View details for Web of Science ID 000394995500001

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5280212

• Homesickness and adjustment across the first year of college: A longitudinal study. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) English, T., Davis, J., Wei, M., Gross, J. J. 2017; 17 (1): 1-5

  Abstract

  Homesickness can put individuals at risk for a host of adjustment difficulties. The millions of students that leave home for college each year may be particularly susceptible to experiencing homesickness. There is little work, however, examining individual variation in homesickness over time and how these changes predict different outcomes in college. The present study examines weekly levels of homesickness during the first term of college and tests the associations between homesickness and various aspects of adjustment. Results showed that, on average, homesickness decreased slightly across the first semester of college, but there were individual differences in homesickness trajectories. Freshmen who reported higher levels of homesickness showed worse overall adjustment to college, even when controlling for negative emotional experience and prior adjustment. Homesickness was associated with poorer social outcomes, but these social difficulties were limited to interactions with others in the college environment. Academic outcomes were not adversely impacted by homesickness. Findings suggest that homesickness is a common experience for freshmen, and, despite its relatively transient nature, homesickness has important implications for college adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0000235

  View details for PubMedID 27775406

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5280212

• Emotion regulation related neural predictors of cognitive behavioral therapy response in social anxiety disorder. Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry Klumpp, H., Roberts, J., Kennedy, A. E., Shankman, S. A., Langenecker, S. A., Gross, J. J., Phan, K. L. 2017; 75: 106-112

  Abstract

  Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by aberrant prefrontal activity during reappraisal, an adaptive cognitive approach aimed at downregulating the automatic response evoked by a negative event. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is first-line psychotherapy for SAD, however, many remain symptomatic after treatment indicating baseline individual differences in neurofunctional activity may factor into CBT outcome. An emotion regulation strategy practiced in CBT is cognitive restructuring, a proxy for reappraisal. Therefore, neural response during reappraisal may serve as a brain-based predictor of CBT success. Prior to 12weeks of individual CBT, 34 patients with SAD completed a validated emotion regulation task during fMRI. Task instructions included 'Reappraise,' that is, use a cognitive approach to reduce affective state to a negative image, which was contrasted with looking at a negative image ('Look'). Regression results for Reappraise (vs. Look) revealed greater reduction in symptom severity was predicted by less pre-CBT activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Regarding predictive validity, DLPFC significantly classified responder status. Post-hoc analysis revealed DLPFC activity, but not demographic data, baseline clinical measures, or reappraisal-related affective state during fMRI, significantly accounted for the variance in symptom reduction. Findings indicate patients with SAD are more likely to benefit from CBT if there is less pre-treatment DLPFC recruitment, a region strongly implicated in emotion regulation. Patients with reduced baseline frontal activation when reappraising negative stimuli may be especially helped by explicit cognitive interventions. Further research is necessary to establish DLPFC as a stable brain-based marker of treatment outcome.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.01.010

  View details for PubMedID 28126372

• Negative Emotions and Suicidal Ideation during Psychosocial Treatments in Older Adults with Major Depression and Cognitive Impairment. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry Kiosses, D. N., Gross, J. J., Banerjee, S., Duberstein, P. R., Putrino, D., Alexopoulos, G. S. 2017

  Abstract

  To examine the relationship of negative emotions with suicidal ideation during 12 weeks of Problem Adaptation Therapy (PATH) versus Supportive Therapy of Cognitively Impaired Older Adults (ST-CI), hypothesizing that improved negative emotions are associated with reduced suicidal ideation, PATH improves negative emotions more than ST-CI, and improved negative emotions, rather than other depression symptoms, predict reduction in suicidal ideation.In a randomized controlled trial of two home-delivered psychosocial interventions, 74 older participants (65-95 years old) with major depressive disorder and cognitive impairment were recruited in collaboration with community agencies. The sample reported less intense feelings than suicidal intention. Interventions and assessments were conducted in participants' homes. PATH focuses on improving emotion regulation, whereas ST-CI focuses on nonspecific therapeutic factors, such as understanding and empathy. Improved negative emotions were measured as improvement in Montgomery Asberg's Depression Rating Scales' (MADRS) observer ratings of sadness, anxiety, guilt, hopelessness, and anhedonia. Suicidal ideation was assessed with the MADRS Suicide Item.MADRS Negative Emotions scores were significantly associated with suicidal ideation during the course of treatment (F[1,165] = 12.73, p = 0.0005). PATH participants had significantly greater improvement in MADRS emotions than ST-CI participants (treatment group by time: F[1,63.2] = 7.02, p = 0.0102). Finally, improved negative emotions, between lagged and follow-up interview, significantly predicted reduction in suicidal ideation at follow-up interview (F[1, 96] = 9.95, p = 0.0022).Findings thatimprovement in negative emotions mediates reduction in suicidal ideation may guide the development of psychosocial interventions for reduction of suicidal ideation (clinicaltrials.gov; NCT00368940).

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jagp.2017.01.011

  View details for PubMedID 28223082

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5429870

• Self-views in social anxiety disorder: The impact of CBT versus MBSR. Journal of anxiety disorders Thurston, M. D., Goldin, P., Heimberg, R., Gross, J. J. 2017

  Abstract

  This study examines the impact of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy (CBGT) versus Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) versus Waitlist (WL) on self-views in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). One hundred eight unmedicated patients with SAD were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of CBGT, MBSR, or WL, and completed a self-referential encoding task (SRET) that assessed self-endorsement of positive and negative self-views pre- and post-treatment. At baseline, 40 healthy controls (HCs) also completed the SRET. At baseline, patients with SAD endorsed greater negative and lesser positive self-views than HCs. Compared to baseline, patients in both CBGT and MBSR decreased negative self-views and increased positive self-views. Improvement in self-views, specifically increases in positive (but not decreases in negative) self-views, predicted CBGT- and MBSR-related decreases in social anxiety symptoms. Enhancement of positive self-views may be a shared therapeutic process for both CBGT and MBSR for SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.janxdis.2017.01.001

  View details for PubMedID 28108059

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5376221

• Making Intergroup Contact More Fruitful: Enhancing Cooperation Between Palestinian and Jewish-Israeli Adolescents by Fostering Beliefs About Group Malleability SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE Goldenberg, A., Endevelt, K., Ran, S., Dweck, C. S., Gross, J. J., Halperin, E. 2017; 8 (1): 3-10

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1948550616672851

  View details for Web of Science ID 000392867300001

• Why Do People Believe What They Do? A Functionalist Perspective REVIEW OF GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY Boden, M. T., Berenbaum, H., Gross, J. J. 2016; 20 (4): 399-411

  View details for DOI 10.1037/gpr0000085

  View details for Web of Science ID 000393206200004

• Why Do People Believe What They Do? A Functionalist Perspective. Review of general psychology : journal of Division 1, of the American Psychological Association Boden, M. T., Berenbaum, H., Gross, J. J. 2016; 20 (4): 399-411

  Abstract

  Why do people believe what they do? Scholars and laypeople alike tend to answer this question by focusing on the representational functions of beliefs (i.e., representing the world accurately). However, a growing body of theory and research indicates that beliefs also can serve important hedonic functions (i.e., decreasing/increasing negative or positive emotional states). In this manuscript, we describe: (1) the features of belief, (2) the functions served by beliefs, with a focus on the hedonic function, (3) an integrative framework highlighting the hedonic function and contrasting it with the representational function, (4) the implications of our framework, and related future research directions for individual differences in belief, belief change, and the ways in which beliefs contribute to adaptive versus maladaptive psychological functioning.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/gpr0000085

  View details for PubMedID 31680762

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6824436

• Brain Mechanisms and Predictors of Response to Prolonged Exposure Therapy in PTSD Fonzo, G., Goodkind, M., Oathes, D., Zaiko, Y., Harvey, M., Peng, K., Weiss, E., Mills-Finnerty, C., Thompson, A., Zack, S., Lindley, S., Arnow, B., Jo, B., Gross, J., Rothbaum, B., Etkin, A. NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. 2016: S291–S292

  View details for Web of Science ID 000440365600493

• Yes I can: Expected success promotes actual success in emotion regulation. Cognition & emotion Bigman, Y. E., Mauss, I. B., Gross, J. J., Tamir, M. 2016; 30 (7): 1380-1387

  Abstract

  People who expect to be successful in regulating their emotions tend to experience less frequent negative emotions and are less likely to suffer from depression. It is not clear, however, whether beliefs about the likelihood of success in emotion regulation can shape actual emotion regulation success. To test this possibility, we manipulated participants' beliefs about the likelihood of success in emotion regulation and assessed their subsequent ability to regulate their emotions during a negative emotion induction. We found that participants who were led to expect emotion regulation to be more successful were subsequently more successful in regulating their emotional responses, compared to participants in the control condition. Our findings demonstrate that expected success can contribute to actual success in emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2015.1067188

  View details for PubMedID 26219200

• Empathy for positive and negative emotions in social anxiety disorder. Behaviour research and therapy Morrison, A. S., Mateen, M. A., Brozovich, F. A., Zaki, J., Goldin, P. R., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2016; 87: 232-242

  Abstract

  Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is associated with elevated negative and diminished positive affective experience. However, little is known about the way in which individuals with SAD perceive and respond emotionally to the naturally-unfolding negative and positive emotions of others, that is, cognitive empathy and affective empathy, respectively. In the present study, participants with generalized SAD (n = 32) and demographically-matched healthy controls (HCs; n = 32) completed a behavioral empathy task. Cognitive empathy was indexed by the correlation between targets' and participants' continuous ratings of targets' emotions, whereas affective empathy was indexed by the correlation between targets' and participants' continuous self-ratings of emotion. Individuals with SAD differed from HCs only in positive affective empathy: they were less able to vicariously share others' positive emotions. Mediation analyses revealed that poor emotional clarity and negative interpersonal perceptions among those with SAD might account for this finding. Future research using experimental methodology is needed to examine whether this finding represents an inability or unwillingness to share positive affect.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.brat.2016.10.005

  View details for PubMedID 27816799

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5142818

• White matter structure in the uncinate fasciculus: Implications for socio-affective deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Psychiatry research Samson, A. C., Dougherty, R. F., Lee, I. A., Phillips, J. M., Gross, J. J., Hardan, A. Y. 2016; 255: 66-74

  Abstract

  Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have social and communication deficits and difficulties regulating emotions. The brain bases of these socio-affective deficits are not yet clear, but one candidate is structural connectivity in the left uncinate fasciculus, which connects limbic temporal and frontal areas thought to be involved in socio-affective processing. In this study, we assessed white matter structure in the left and right uncinate fasciculus in 18 high-functioning individuals with ASD and 18 group-matched typically developing (TD) controls using Diffusion Tensor Imaging. To test specificity of the associations, we also examined the association between both uncinate fasciculi and restricted and repetitive behaviors. Compared to TD individuals, individuals with ASD had significantly lower fractional anisotropy (FA) in the left and right uncinate. Group status significantly moderated the association between left uncinate and socio-affective deficits, indicating that within the ASD group, FA was associated with socio-affective deficits: Individuals with ASD with lower FA in the left uncinate had significantly more social and emotion regulation deficits. There was no association with restricted and repetitive behaviors. This study provides evidence that the left uncinate may play a critical role in socio-affective skills in individuals with ASD.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2016.08.004

  View details for PubMedID 27552717

• REAPPRAISAL WITH A TWIST: EXPERIENTIAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF EMOTIONAL COUNTER-REGULATION Kreibig, S. D., Samson, A. C., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2016: S73

  View details for Web of Science ID 000393672300276

• EMOTION REGULATION TO IDIOGRAPHIC STIMULI: TESTING A NOVEL ERP PARADIGM Speed, B. C., Gross, J. J., Kiosses, D. N., Hajcak, G. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2016: S43

  View details for Web of Science ID 000393672300159

• Hedonism and the choice of everyday activities PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Taquet, M., Quoidbach, J., de Montjoye, Y., Desseilles, M., Gross, J. J. 2016; 113 (35): 9769–73

  Abstract

  Most theories of motivation have highlighted that human behavior is guided by the hedonic principle, according to which our choices of daily activities aim to minimize negative affect and maximize positive affect. However, it is not clear how to reconcile this idea with the fact that people routinely engage in unpleasant yet necessary activities. To address this issue, we monitored in real time the activities and moods of over 28,000 people across an average of 27 d using a multiplatform smartphone application. We found that people's choices of activities followed a hedonic flexibility principle. Specifically, people were more likely to engage in mood-increasing activities (e.g., play sports) when they felt bad, and to engage in useful but mood-decreasing activities (e.g., housework) when they felt good. These findings clarify how hedonic considerations shape human behavior. They may explain how humans overcome the allure of short-term gains in happiness to maximize long-term welfare.

  View details for PubMedID 27528666

• Neural processing of emotional-intensity predicts emotion regulation choice. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience Shafir, R., Thiruchselvam, R., Suri, G., Gross, J. J., Sheppes, G. 2016

  Abstract

  Emotional-intensity is a core characteristic of affective events that strongly determines how individuals choose to regulate their emotions. Our conceptual framework suggests that in high emotional-intensity situations, individuals prefer to disengage attention using distraction, which can more effectively block highly potent emotional information, as compared with engagement reappraisal, which is preferred in low emotional-intensity. However, existing supporting evidence remains indirect because prior intensity categorization of emotional stimuli was based on subjective measures that are potentially biased and only represent the endpoint of emotional-intensity processing. Accordingly, this study provides the first direct evidence for the role of online emotional-intensity processing in predicting behavioral regulatory-choices. Utilizing the high temporal resolution of event-related potentials, we evaluated online neural processing of stimuli's emotional-intensity (late positive potential, LPP) prior to regulatory-choices between distraction and reappraisal. Results showed that enhanced neural processing of intensity (enhanced LPP amplitudes) uniquely predicted (above subjective measures of intensity) increased tendency to subsequently choose distraction over reappraisal. Additionally, regulatory-choices led to adaptive consequences, demonstrated in finding that actual implementation of distraction relative to reappraisal-choice resulted in stronger attenuation of LPPs and self-reported arousal.

  View details for PubMedID 27522091

• Emotion regulation involves both model-based and model-free processes. Nature reviews. Neuroscience Etkin, A., Büchel, C., Gross, J. J. 2016; 17 (8): 532-?

  View details for DOI 10.1038/nrn.2016.79

  View details for PubMedID 27277866

• Emotion Regulation: A Transdiagnostic Perspective on a New RDoC Domain COGNITIVE THERAPY AND RESEARCH Fernandez, K. C., Jazaieri, H., Gross, J. J. 2016; 40 (3): 426-440

  Abstract

  It is widely agreed that emotion regulation plays an important role in many psychological disorders. We make the case that emotion regulation is in fact a key transdiagnostic factor, using the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) as an organizing framework. In particular, we first consider how transdiagnostic and RDoC approaches have extended categorical views. Next, we examine links among emotion generation, emotion regulation, and psychopathology, with particular attention to key emotion regulation stages including identification, strategy selection, implementation, and monitoring. We then propose that emotion regulation be viewed as a sixth domain in the RDoC matrix, and provide a brief overview of how the literature has used the RDoC units of analyses to study emotion regulation. Finally, we highlight opportunities for future research and make recommendations for assessing and treating psychopathology.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10608-016-9772-2

  View details for Web of Science ID 000374853300014

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4979607

• Emotion Regulation: A Transdiagnostic Perspective on a New RDoC Domain. Cognitive therapy and research Fernandez, K. C., Jazaieri, H., Gross, J. J. 2016; 40 (3): 426-440

  Abstract

  It is widely agreed that emotion regulation plays an important role in many psychological disorders. We make the case that emotion regulation is in fact a key transdiagnostic factor, using the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) as an organizing framework. In particular, we first consider how transdiagnostic and RDoC approaches have extended categorical views. Next, we examine links among emotion generation, emotion regulation, and psychopathology, with particular attention to key emotion regulation stages including identification, strategy selection, implementation, and monitoring. We then propose that emotion regulation be viewed as a sixth domain in the RDoC matrix, and provide a brief overview of how the literature has used the RDoC units of analyses to study emotion regulation. Finally, we highlight opportunities for future research and make recommendations for assessing and treating psychopathology.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10608-016-9772-2

  View details for PubMedID 27524846

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4979607

• The Interaction of Testosterone and Cortisol Is Associated With Attained Status in Male Executives JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Sherman, G. D., Lerner, J. S., Josephs, R. A., Renshon, J., Gross, J. J. 2016; 110 (6): 921-929

  Abstract

  Are hormone levels associated with the attainment of social status? Although endogenous testosterone predicts status-seeking social behaviors, research suggests that the stress hormone cortisol may inhibit testosterone's effects. Thus, individuals with both high testosterone and low cortisol may be especially likely to occupy high-status positions in social hierarchies while individuals with high testosterone and high cortisol may not. We tested this hypothesis by recruiting a sample of real executives and examining testosterone, cortisol, and a concrete indicator of attained status: the number of subordinates over which the executive has authority. Despite the myriad nonhormonal factors that determine organizational promotion, the executives' endogenous testosterone and cortisol interacted to significantly predict hierarchical position: Testosterone positively predicted executives' number of subordinates, but only among low-cortisol executives. The results imply that reducing cortisol levels via stress reduction may be a critical goal not only because doing so will improve health but also because doing so may enhance leadership potential. (PsycINFO Database Record

  View details for DOI 10.1037/pspp0000063

  View details for Web of Science ID 000378233700009

  View details for PubMedID 26302434

• Pre-treatment social anxiety severity moderates the impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction and aerobic exercise. Psychology and psychotherapy Jazaieri, H., Lee, I. A., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2016; 89 (2): 229-234

  Abstract

  We examined whether social anxiety severity at pre-treatment would moderate the impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) or aerobic exercise (AE) for generalized social anxiety disorder. MBSR and AE produced equivalent reductions in weekly social anxiety symptoms. Improvements were moderated by pre-treatment social anxiety severity.Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and aerobic exercise (AE) are effective in reducing symptoms of social anxiety. Pre-treatment social anxiety severity can be used to inform treatment recommendations. Both MBSR and AE produced equivalent reductions in weekly levels of social anxiety symptoms. MBSR appears to be most effective for patients with lower pre-treatment social anxiety symptom severity. AE appears to be most effective for patients with higher pre-treatment social anxiety symptom severity.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/papt.12060

  View details for PubMedID 25684277

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4537407

• The Process Model of Group-Based Emotion: Integrating Intergroup Emotion and Emotion Regulation Perspectives. Personality and social psychology review Goldenberg, A., Halperin, E., van Zomeren, M., Gross, J. J. 2016; 20 (2): 118-141

  Abstract

  Scholars interested in emotion regulation have documented the different goals and strategies individuals have for regulating their emotions. However, little attention has been paid to the regulation of group-based emotions, which are based on individuals' self-categorization as a group member and occur in response to situations perceived as relevant for that group. We propose a model for examininggroup-based emotion regulationthat integrates intergroup emotions theory and the process model of emotion regulation. This synergy expands intergroup emotion theory by facilitating further investigation of different goals (i.e., hedonic or instrumental) and strategies (e.g., situation selection and modification strategies) used to regulate group-based emotions. It also expands emotion regulation research by emphasizing the role of self-categorization (e.g., as an individual or a group member) in the emotional process. Finally, we discuss the promise of this theoretical synergy and suggest several directions for future research on group-based emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1088868315581263

  View details for PubMedID 25870386

• Group CBT Versus MBSR for Social Anxiety Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial JOURNAL OF CONSULTING AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Goldin, P. R., Morrison, A., Jazaieri, H., Brozovich, F., Heimberg, R., Gross, J. J. 2016; 84 (5): 427-437

  Abstract

  The goal of this study was to investigate treatment outcome and mediators of cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT) versus mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) versus waitlist (WL) in patients with generalized social anxiety disorder (SAD).One hundred eight unmedicated patients (55.6% female; mean age = 32.7 years, SD = 8.0; 43.5% Caucasian, 39% Asian, 9.3% Hispanic, 8.3% other) were randomized to CBGT versus MBSR versus WL and completed assessments at baseline, posttreatment/WL, and at 1-year follow-up, including the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale-Self-Report (primary outcome; Liebowitz, 1987) as well as measures of treatment-related processes.Linear mixed model analysis showed that CBGT and MBSR both produced greater improvements on most measures compared with WL. Both treatments yielded similar improvements in social anxiety symptoms, cognitive reappraisal frequency and self-efficacy, cognitive distortions, mindfulness skills, attention focusing, and rumination. There were greater decreases in subtle avoidance behaviors following CBGT than MBSR. Mediation analyses revealed that increases in reappraisal frequency, mindfulness skills, attention focusing, and attention shifting, and decreases in subtle avoidance behaviors and cognitive distortions, mediated the impact of both CBGT and MBSR on social anxiety symptoms. However, increases in reappraisal self-efficacy and decreases in avoidance behaviors mediated the impact of CBGT (vs. MBSR) on social anxiety symptoms.CBGT and MBSR both appear to be efficacious for SAD. However, their effects may be a result of both shared and unique changes in underlying psychological processes.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/ccp0000092

  View details for Web of Science ID 000374765200005

  View details for PubMedID 26950097

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4837056

• X Emotional suppression in early marriage: Actor, partner, and similarity effects on marital quality JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS Velotti, P., Balzarotti, S., Tagliabue, S., English, T., Zavattini, G. C., Gross, J. J. 2016; 33 (3): 277-302

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0265407515574466

  View details for Web of Science ID 000373921100001

• A Stitch in Time: Strategic Self-Control in High School and College Students JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY Duckworth, A. L., White, R. E., Matteucci, A. J., Shearer, A., Gross, J. J. 2016; 108 (3): 329–41

  Abstract

  A growing body of research indicates that self-control is critical to academic success. Surprisingly little is known, however, about the diverse strategies students use to implement self-control or how well these strategies work. To address these issues, we conducted a naturalistic investigation of self-control strategies (Study 1) and two field experiments (Studies 2 and 3). In Study 1, high school students described the strategies they use to manage interpersonal conflicts, get academic work done, eat healthfully, and manage other everyday self-control challenges. The majority of strategies in these self-nominated incidents as well as in three hypothetical academic scenarios (e.g., studying instead of texting friends) were reliably classified using the process model of self-control. As predicted by the process model, students rated strategies deployed early in the impulse-generation process (situation selection, situation modification) as being dramatically more effective than strategies deployed later (attentional deployment, cognitive change, response modulation). In Study 2, high school students randomly assigned to implement situation modification were more likely to meet their academic goals during the following week than students assigned either to implement response modulation or no strategy at all. In Study 3, college students randomly assigned to implement situation modification were also more successful in meeting their academic goals, and this effect was partially mediated by decreased feelings of temptation throughout the week. Collectively, these findings suggest that students might benefit from learning to initiate self-control when their impulses are still nascent.

  View details for PubMedID 27158155

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4856169

• Age Differences in Emotion Regulation Choice: Older Adults Use Distraction Less Than Younger Adults in High-Intensity Positive Contexts. journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences Martins, B., Sheppes, G., Gross, J. J., Mather, M. 2016

  Abstract

  Previous research demonstrates that younger and older adults prefer distraction over engagement (reappraisal) when regulating high-intensity negative emotion. Older adults also demonstrate a greater bias for positive over negative information in attention and memory compared with younger adults. In this study, we investigated whether emotion regulation choice preferences may differ as a function of stimulus valence with age.The effect of stimulus intensity on negative and positive emotion regulation strategy preferences was investigated in younger and older men. Participants indicated whether they favored distraction or reappraisal to attenuate emotional reactions to negative and positive images that varied in intensity.Men in both age-groups preferred distraction over reappraisal when regulating high-intensity emotion. As no age-related strategic differences were found in negative emotion regulation preferences, older men chose to distract less from high-intensity positive images than did younger men.Older men demonstrated greater engagement with highly positive emotional contexts than did younger men. Thus, age differences in emotion regulation goals when faced with intense emotional stimuli depend on the valence of the emotional stimuli.

  View details for PubMedID 27013535

• Anxiety trajectories in response to a speech task in social anxiety disorder: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial of CBT. Journal of anxiety disorders Morrison, A. S., Brozovich, F. A., Lee, I. A., Jazaieri, H., Goldin, P. R., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2016; 38: 21-30

  Abstract

  The subjective experience of anxiety plays a central role in cognitive behavioral models of social anxiety disorder (SAD). However, much remains to be learned about the temporal dynamics of anxiety elicited by feared social situations. The aims of the current study were: (1) to compare anxiety trajectories during a speech task in individuals with SAD (n=135) versus healthy controls (HCs; n=47), and (2) to compare the effects of CBT on anxiety trajectories with a waitlist control condition. SAD was associated with higher levels of anxiety and greater increases in anticipatory anxiety compared to HCs, but not differential change in anxiety from pre- to post-speech. CBT was associated with decreases in anxiety from pre- to post-speech but not with changes in absolute levels of anticipatory anxiety or rates of change in anxiety during anticipation. The findings suggest that anticipatory experiences should be further incorporated into exposures.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.janxdis.2015.12.006

  View details for PubMedID 26760456

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4764396

• Attentional blink impairment in social anxiety disorder: Depression comorbidity matters JOURNAL OF BEHAVIOR THERAPY AND EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHIATRY Morrison, A. S., Brozovich, F. A., Lakhan-Pal, S., Jazaieri, H., Goldin, P. R., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2016; 50: 209-214

  Abstract

  Difficulties with attentional control have long been thought to play a key role in anxiety and depressive disorders. However, the nature and extent of attentional control difficulties in social anxiety disorder (SAD) are not yet well understood. The current study was designed to assess whether attentional control for non-emotional information is impaired in SAD when taking comorbid depression into account..Individuals with SAD and healthy controls (HCs) were administered an attentional blink (AB) task in which they identified number targets in a rapid serial visual presentation stream of letters.Individuals with SAD and current comorbid depression exhibited reduced accuracy to identify a target that fell within the AB window after the presentation of a first target compared to individuals with SAD without current comorbid depression, as well as to HCs. The latter two groups did not differ from each other, and the three groups did not differ in accuracy for the second target when it was presented after the AB window.Although we included two clinical groups and the sample size for the non-comorbid SAD group was large, the comorbid SAD group was relatively small.These results suggest that impaired attentional control among individuals with SAD may be limited to those suffering from current comorbid depression..

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jbtep.2015.08.006

  View details for Web of Science ID 000367213200028

  View details for PubMedID 26370394

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4679612

• A wandering mind is a less caring mind: Daily experience sampling during compassion meditation training JOURNAL OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Jazaieri, H., Lee, I. A., McGonigal, K., Jinpa, T., Doty, J. R., Gross, J. J., Goldin, P. R. 2016; 11 (1): 37-50

  View details for DOI 10.1080/17439760.2015.1025418

  View details for Web of Science ID 000364555300004

• Social-Psychological Interventions for Intergroup Reconciliation: An Emotion Regulation Perspective PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY Cehajic-Clancy, S., Goldenberg, A., Gross, J. J., Halperin, E. 2016; 27 (2): 73-88

  View details for DOI 10.1080/1047840X.2016.1153945

  View details for Web of Science ID 000375293200001

• Situational Strategies for Self-Control PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Duckworth, A. L., Gendler, T., Gross, J. J. 2016; 11 (1): 35–55

  Abstract

  Exercising self-control is often difficult, whether declining a drink in order to drive home safely, passing on the chocolate cake to stay on a diet, or ignoring text messages to finish reading an important paper. But enacting self-control is not always difficult, particularly when it takes the form of proactively choosing or changing situations in ways that weaken undesirable impulses or potentiate desirable ones. Examples of situational self-control include the partygoer who chooses a seat far from where drinks are being poured, the dieter who asks the waiter not to bring around the dessert cart, and the student who goes to the library without a cell phone. Using the process model of self-control, we argue that the full range of self-control strategies can be organized by considering the timeline of the developing tempting impulse. Because impulses tend to grow stronger over time, situational self-control strategies-which can nip a tempting impulse in the bud-may be especially effective in preventing undesirable action. Ironically, we may underappreciate situational self-control for the same reason it is so effective-namely, that by manipulating our circumstances to advantage, we are often able to minimize the in-the-moment experience of intrapsychic struggle typically associated with exercising self-control.

  View details for PubMedID 26817725

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4736542

• Eliciting positive, negative and mixed emotional states: A film library for affective scientists COGNITION & EMOTION Samson, A. C., Kreibig, S. D., Soderstrom, B., Wade, A. A., Gross, J. J. 2016; 30 (5): 827-856

  Abstract

  We describe the creation of a film library designed for researchers interested in positive (amusing), negative (repulsive), mixed (amusing and repulsive) and neutral emotional states. Three hundred 20- to 33-second film clips videotaped by amateurs were selected from video-hosting websites and screened in laboratory studies by 75 female participants on self-reported amusement and repulsion (Experiments 1 and 2). On the basis of pre-defined cut-off values, 51 positive, 39 negative, 59 mixed and 50 neutral film clips were selected. These film clips were then presented to 411 male and female participants in a large online study to identify film clips that reliably induced the target emotions (Experiment 3). Depending on the goal of the study, researchers may choose positive, negative, mixed or neutral emotional film clips on the basis of Experiments 1 and 2 or Experiment 3 ratings.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2015.1031089

  View details for Web of Science ID 000375942100001

  View details for PubMedID 25929696

• Emotion Regulation in Alcohol Dependence ALCOHOLISM-CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH Petit, G., Luminet, O., Maurage, F., Tecco, J., Lechantre, S., Ferauge, M., Gross, J. J., de Timary, P. 2015; 39 (12): 2471-2479

  Abstract

  The main aim of this study was to investigate, in alcohol-dependent (AD) patients, the use of the 5 emotion regulation strategies specified in Gross's (1998, Rev Gen Psychol, 2, 271) process model of emotion regulation with the use of a semi-structured interview allowing a detailed and high-quality assessment of emotion regulation strategies. A secondary aim was to examine the possible influence of protracted abstinence and detoxification on emotion dysregulation. Finally, the association between the level of craving and the types of regulation strategies was investigated.Forty-four treatment-seeking AD patients with varying time spent in rehabilitation, and 26 healthy controls were interviewed using a version of the Emotion Regulation Interview (Werner et al., 2011, J Psychopathol Behav Assess, 33, 346) adapted to alcohol dependence.Compared to controls, AD patients reported significantly greater use of response modulation and attentional deployment, but lesser use of cognitive change. Among patients, (1) rehabilitation duration was positively correlated with the use of cognitive change and (2) the use of response modulation was positively associated with the level of craving.These findings clarify the specific pattern of emotion dysregulation associated with alcohol dependence. They also suggest that (1) abstinence is associated with a shift toward more adaptive emotion regulation patterns and that (2) inefficient regulation strategies may lead to craving and the maintenance of alcohol use. If these findings are confirmed through longitudinal and mediation designs, they will have important clinical implications.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/acer.12914

  View details for Web of Science ID 000368140200023

• Emotion Regulation in Alcohol Dependence. Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research Petit, G., Luminet, O., Maurage, F., Tecco, J., Lechantre, S., Ferauge, M., Gross, J. J., de Timary, P. 2015; 39 (12): 2471-9

  Abstract

  The main aim of this study was to investigate, in alcohol-dependent (AD) patients, the use of the 5 emotion regulation strategies specified in Gross's (1998, Rev Gen Psychol, 2, 271) process model of emotion regulation with the use of a semi-structured interview allowing a detailed and high-quality assessment of emotion regulation strategies. A secondary aim was to examine the possible influence of protracted abstinence and detoxification on emotion dysregulation. Finally, the association between the level of craving and the types of regulation strategies was investigated.Forty-four treatment-seeking AD patients with varying time spent in rehabilitation, and 26 healthy controls were interviewed using a version of the Emotion Regulation Interview (Werner et al., 2011, J Psychopathol Behav Assess, 33, 346) adapted to alcohol dependence.Compared to controls, AD patients reported significantly greater use of response modulation and attentional deployment, but lesser use of cognitive change. Among patients, (1) rehabilitation duration was positively correlated with the use of cognitive change and (2) the use of response modulation was positively associated with the level of craving.These findings clarify the specific pattern of emotion dysregulation associated with alcohol dependence. They also suggest that (1) abstinence is associated with a shift toward more adaptive emotion regulation patterns and that (2) inefficient regulation strategies may lead to craving and the maintenance of alcohol use. If these findings are confirmed through longitudinal and mediation designs, they will have important clinical implications.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/acer.12914

  View details for PubMedID 26613633

• The Role of Action Readiness in Motivated Behavior JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-GENERAL Suri, G., Sheppes, G., Gross, J. J. 2015; 144 (6): 1105-1113

  Abstract

  According to many theories of motivation and decision making, the principal driver of human behavior is the valuation of actions. Action value is computed as the difference between stimulus value (the benefits and costs inherent in the stimulus that is the target of the action) and action costs (the effort required to perform the action). In the present work, we propose that action costs are crucially influenced by the readiness to perform a given action. We define action readiness as the ease with which an action may be initiated given the preaction launch state of the individual. An action that has been frequently or recently performed or rehearsed has a high level of action readiness, whereas an action that has not been frequently or recently performed or rehearsed has a low level of action readiness. By our account, if action readiness levels are high for a given action, decreased action costs may result in action even when the stimulus value is relatively low. Conversely, if action readiness levels are low for a given action, even action costs that appear negligible can dominate positive stimulus values, resulting in seemingly puzzling instances of inaction. We develop and test these ideas in 3 studies across 233 participants using an image-viewing decision context and a logistic prediction model.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/xge0000114

  View details for Web of Science ID 000365615200012

  View details for PubMedID 26436428

• Maladaptive Behavior in Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Role of Emotion Experience and Emotion Regulation. Journal of autism and developmental disorders Samson, A. C., Hardan, A. Y., Lee, I. A., Phillips, J. M., Gross, J. J. 2015; 45 (11): 3424-3432

  Abstract

  Maladaptive behavior is common in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, the factors that give rise to maladaptive behavior in this context are not well understood. The present study examined the role of emotion experience and emotion regulation in maladaptive behavior in individuals with ASD and typically developing (TD) participants. Thirty-one individuals with ASD and 28 TD participants and their parents completed questionnaires assessing emotion experience, regulation, and maladaptive behavior. Compared to TD participants, individuals with ASD used cognitive reappraisal less frequently, which was associated with increased negative emotion experience, which in turn was related to greater levels of maladaptive behavior. By decreasing negative emotions, treatments targeting adaptive emotion regulation may therefore reduce maladaptive behaviors in individuals with ASD.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10803-015-2388-7

  View details for PubMedID 25711546

• The neural bases of emotion regulation NATURE REVIEWS NEUROSCIENCE Etkin, A., Buechel, C., Gross, J. J. 2015; 16 (11): 693-?

  Abstract

  Emotions are powerful determinants of behaviour, thought and experience, and they may be regulated in various ways. Neuroimaging studies have implicated several brain regions in emotion regulation, including the ventral anterior cingulate and ventromedial prefrontal cortices, as well as the lateral prefrontal and parietal cortices. Drawing on computational approaches to value-based decision-making and reinforcement learning, we propose a unifying conceptual framework for understanding the neural bases of diverse forms of emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/nrn4044

  View details for Web of Science ID 000363273000010

• The neural bases of emotion regulation. Nature reviews. Neuroscience Etkin, A., Büchel, C., Gross, J. J. 2015; 16 (11): 693-700

  Abstract

  Emotions are powerful determinants of behaviour, thought and experience, and they may be regulated in various ways. Neuroimaging studies have implicated several brain regions in emotion regulation, including the ventral anterior cingulate and ventromedial prefrontal cortices, as well as the lateral prefrontal and parietal cortices. Drawing on computational approaches to value-based decision-making and reinforcement learning, we propose a unifying conceptual framework for understanding the neural bases of diverse forms of emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/nrn4044

  View details for PubMedID 26481098

• Relapse Prevention in Major Depressive Disorder: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Versus an Active Control Condition JOURNAL OF CONSULTING AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Shallcross, A. J., Gross, J. J., Visvanathan, P. D., Kumar, N., Palfrey, A., Ford, B. Q., Dimidjian, S., Shirk, S., Holm-Denoma, J., Goode, K. M., Cox, E., Chaplin, W., Mauss, I. B. 2015; 83 (5): 964-975

  Abstract

  We evaluated the comparative effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) versus an active control condition (ACC) for depression relapse prevention, depressive symptom reduction, and improvement in life satisfaction.Ninety-two participants in remission from major depressive disorder with residual depressive symptoms were randomized to either an 8-week MBCT or a validated ACC that is structurally equivalent to MBCT and controls for nonspecific effects (e.g., interaction with a facilitator, perceived social support, treatment outcome expectations). Both interventions were delivered according to their published manuals.Intention-to-treat analyses indicated no differences between MBCT and ACC in depression relapse rates or time to relapse over a 60-week follow-up. Both groups experienced significant and equal reductions in depressive symptoms and improvements in life satisfaction. A significant quadratic interaction (Group × Time) indicated that the pattern of depressive symptom reduction differed between groups. The ACC experienced immediate symptom reduction postintervention and then a gradual increase over the 60-week follow-up. The MBCT group experienced a gradual linear symptom reduction. The pattern for life satisfaction was identical but only marginally significant.MBCT did not differ from an ACC on rates of depression relapse, symptom reduction, or life satisfaction, suggesting that MBCT is no more effective for preventing depression relapse and reducing depressive symptoms than the active components of the ACC. Differences in trajectory of depressive symptom improvement suggest that the intervention-specific skills acquired may be associated with differential rates of therapeutic benefit. This study demonstrates the importance of comparing psychotherapeutic interventions to active control conditions.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/ccp0000050

  View details for Web of Science ID 000361226400011

  View details for PubMedID 26371618

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4571290

• Adolescent Defense Style as Correlate of Problem Behavior. Zeitschrift fu¨r Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie Huemer, J., Shaw, R. J., Prunas, A., Hall, R., Gross, J., Steiner, H. 2015; 43 (5): 345-350

  Abstract

  Adolescent problem behaviors are often the visible results of intrapsychic distress. Defensive reactions are the unconscious means of managing intrapsychic distress. This cross-sectional study examines the strength of defensive style as measured by self-report on the Response Evaluation Measure (REM-71) relative to age, sex, and SES, as a correlate of internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors, as assessed by the Youth Self Report (YSR).A sample of 1,487 students from two suburban high schools completed self-report measures of defense style, self-esteem, and internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Demographic variables (age, sex, and SES) were included as covariates.Mature and immature defense style correlated as expected with problem behaviors. Demographic variables contributed minimally to the variance in the outcome variable.Defense style, as assessed by the REM-71, is a significant correlate of clinically elevated internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors in youth as in adults. This study adds to the convergent validity of the REM-71.

  View details for DOI 10.1024/1422-4917/a000368

  View details for PubMedID 26373385

• Who Turns Green with Envy? Conceptual and Empirical Perspectives on Dispositional Envy EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY Rentzsch, K., Gross, J. J. 2015; 29 (5): 530–47

  View details for DOI 10.1002/per.2012

  View details for Web of Science ID 000363455800003

• Emotion regulation in autism spectrum disorder: evidence from parent interviews and children's daily diaries. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines Samson, A. C., Wells, W. M., Phillips, J. M., Hardan, A. Y., Gross, J. J. 2015; 56 (8): 903-913

  Abstract

  Although emotion dysregulation is not a defining feature of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), there is a growing consensus that emotional problems play a prominent role in this disorder.The present study examined a wide range of emotion regulation (ER) strategies in 32 individuals with ASD compared to 31 group-matched typically developing (TD) participants in three emotional domains (anger, anxiety, and amusement). Parents of individuals with ASD and TD individuals were interviewed about their child's emotional experience and the use and efficacy of 10 ER strategies. In addition, participants filled out daily diaries on experience and regulation in the same emotional domains.Compared to TD individuals, parents reported that individuals with ASD experienced more anger and anxiety and less amusement, made less frequent use of a variety of adaptive ER strategies (e.g. problem solving, cognitive reappraisal), and made more frequent use of maladaptive strategies (e.g. repetitive behavior). Moreover, individuals with ASD were less effective at utilizing adaptive ER strategies. Self-reports showed differences in experience of amusement and in ER strategies for anger and anxiety, but not in experience of anger and anxiety.This study provides evidence that individuals with ASD less frequently use adaptive - but more frequently use maladaptive - ER strategies. Implications for ASD treatments that focus on increasing the use of adaptive strategies are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/jcpp.12370

  View details for PubMedID 25442191

• The Role of Attention in Motivated Behavior JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-GENERAL Suri, G., Gross, J. J. 2015; 144 (4): 864-872

  Abstract

  All too frequently, people fail to take actions that are in their best interest (e.g., not taking necessary medications). Researchers have attempted to explain such behaviors by identifying subtle motivational forces that foster an avoidance of attractive outcomes. However, in many cases, such motivational forces have been difficult to identify. We propose that failures such as these to act in valued ways are in some cases caused by insufficient levels of orienting attention. To test this hypothesis, we first created a laboratory analog of real-world failures to act in valued ways, 1 in which participants persisted in viewing lower-valenced images even though they could have, at no cost, viewed a higher-valenced image. When we experimentally increased their orienting attention toward a caption stating they had the option to switch, participants more frequently elected to view the higher valenced image (Studies 1a-c). In real-world behavioral contexts, increasing attention, without an apparent change in valuation, also led to increased levels of approach motivation in behavioral contexts involving purchasing apples (Study 2) and electing to take the stairs instead of the escalator (Studies 3a-c). In light of these findings, we consider the role of orienting attention in motivated behavior.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/xge0000088

  View details for Web of Science ID 000358693000017

• Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Bratman, G. N., Hamilton, J. P., Hahn, K. S., Daily, G. C., Gross, J. J. 2015; 112 (28): 8567-8572

  Abstract

  Urbanization has many benefits, but it also is associated with increased levels of mental illness, including depression. It has been suggested that decreased nature experience may help to explain the link between urbanization and mental illness. This suggestion is supported by a growing body of correlational and experimental evidence, which raises a further question: what mechanism(s) link decreased nature experience to the development of mental illness? One such mechanism might be the impact of nature exposure on rumination, a maladaptive pattern of self-referential thought that is associated with heightened risk for depression and other mental illnesses. We show in healthy participants that a brief nature experience, a 90-min walk in a natural setting, decreases both self-reported rumination and neural activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex (sgPFC), whereas a 90-min walk in an urban setting has no such effects on self-reported rumination or neural activity. In other studies, the sgPFC has been associated with a self-focused behavioral withdrawal linked to rumination in both depressed and healthy individuals. This study reveals a pathway by which nature experience may improve mental well-being and suggests that accessible natural areas within urban contexts may be a critical resource for mental health in our rapidly urbanizing world.

  View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.1510459112

  View details for PubMedID 26124129

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4507237

• The psychophysiology of mixed emotional states: Internal and external replicability analysis of a direct replication study PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Kreibig, S. D., Samson, A. C., Gross, J. J. 2015; 52 (7): 873-886

  Abstract

  The replicability of emotion-related physiological changes constitutes a fundamental issue in affective science. We undertook a direct replication of the physiological differentiation of amusement, disgust, and a mixed emotional state as previously reported (Kreibig, Samson, & Gross, 2013). In the current study, 48 women watched 54 amusing, disgusting, and mixed emotional film clips while cardiovascular, electrodermal, and respiratory measures were obtained. Primary analyses indicated physiological differentiation of the mixed emotional state from amusement and disgust. We evaluated (a) the probability that future replications of the current study would yield similar results using bootstrapped confidence intervals of effect sizes, and (b) the stability of results of physiological reactivity between actual replications using correlation and regression analyses. Findings suggest replicable differentiation of amusement, disgust, and a mixed emotional state.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/psyp.12425

  View details for Web of Science ID 000356069700002

  View details for PubMedID 25959633

• The benefits of nature experience: Improved affect and cognition LANDSCAPE AND URBAN PLANNING Bratman, G. N., Daily, G. C., Levy, B. J., Gross, J. J. 2015; 138: 41-50

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.02.005

  View details for Web of Science ID 000355023000005

• The quartet theory: Implications for autism spectrum disorder Comment on "The quartet theory of human emotions: An integrative and neurofunctional model" by S. Koelsch et al. PHYSICS OF LIFE REVIEWS Pehrs, C., Samson, A. C., Gross, J. J. 2015; 13: 77–79

  View details for PubMedID 25912770

• Emotion Regulation Flexibility COGNITIVE THERAPY AND RESEARCH Aldao, A., Sheppes, G., Gross, J. J. 2015; 39 (3): 263-278

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10608-014-9662-4

  View details for Web of Science ID 000354200800001

• Seated movement indexes emotion and its regulation in posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychophysiology Woodward, S. H., Shurick, A. A., Alvarez, J., Kuo, J., Nonyieva, Y., Blechert, J., McRae, K., Gross, J. J. 2015; 52 (5): 679-686

  Abstract

  This paper reports the results of a study that administered an emotion regulation task to Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (27) and to healthy controls (23). Seated movement and postural responses were transduced with a sensitive accelerometer attached to the underside of a low-mass cantilevered chair. Consistent with prior studies in which subjects stood on force plates, aversive photographs induced attenuation of nondirectional movement in patients and controls. Regarding seated postural responses, controls leaned towards neutral photographs and away from aversive ones, while participants with PTSD did the opposite. Regulation had no impact on seated movement but was associated with a seated postural withdrawal from the computer screen.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/psyp.12386

  View details for PubMedID 25440497

• Positive Interventions: An Emotion Regulation Perspective PSYCHOLOGICAL BULLETIN Quoidbach, J., Mikolajczak, M., Gross, J. J. 2015; 141 (3): 655-693

  Abstract

  The rapid growth of the literature on positive interventions to increase "happiness" has suggested the need for an overarching conceptual framework to integrate the many and apparently disparate findings. In this review, we used the process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 1998) to organize the existing literature on positive interventions and to advance theory by clarifying the mechanisms underlying their effectiveness. We have proposed that positive emotions can be increased both in the short- and longer-term through 5 families of emotion regulation strategies (i.e., situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation), showing how these emotion regulation strategies can be applied before, during, and after positive emotional events. Regarding short-term increases in positive emotions, our review found that attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation strategies have received the most empirical support, whereas more work is needed to establish the effectiveness of situation selection and situation modification strategies. Regarding longer-term increases in positive emotions, strategies such as situation selection during an event and attentional deployment before, during, and after an event have received strong empirical support and are at the center of many positive interventions. However, more work is needed to establish the specific benefits of the other strategies, especially situation modification. We argue that our emotion regulation framework clarifies existing interventions and points the way for new interventions that might be used to increase positive emotions in both nonclinical and clinical populations.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0038648

  View details for Web of Science ID 000353725000006

  View details for PubMedID 25621978

• The temporal dynamics of emotional acceptance: Experience, expression, and physiology BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY Dan-Glauser, E. S., Gross, J. J. 2015; 108: 1-12

  Abstract

  Emotional acceptance has begun to attract considerable attention from researchers and clinicians alike. It is not yet clear, however, what effects emotional acceptance has on early emotion response dynamics. To address this question, participants (N = 37) were shown emotional pictures and cued either to simply attend to them, or to accept or suppress their emotional responses. Continuous measures of emotion experience, expressive behavior, and autonomic responses were obtained. Results indicated that, compared to no regulation, acceptance led to more positive emotions, transiently enhanced expressivity, and lowered respiratory rate. Compared to suppression, acceptance led to more positive emotions, stronger expressivity, and smaller changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and pulse amplitude, as well as greater oxygenation. Acceptance and suppression thus have opposite effects on emotional response dynamics. Because acceptance enhances positive emotion experience and expression, this strategy may be particularly useful in facilitating social interactions.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.03.005

  View details for Web of Science ID 000353996100001

  View details for PubMedID 25782407

• A psychophysiological investigation of emotion regulation in chronic severe posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychophysiology Woodward, S. H., Shurick, A. A., Alvarez, J., Kuo, J., Nonyieva, Y., Blechert, J., McRae, K., Gross, J. J. 2015; 52 (5): 667-678

  Abstract

  There have been few direct examinations of the volitional control of emotional responses to provocative stimuli in PTSD. To address this gap, an emotion regulation task was administered to 27 Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom combat veterans and 23 healthy controls. Neutral and aversive photographs were presented to participants who did or did not employ emotion regulation strategies. Objective indices included corrugator electromyogram, the late positive potential, and the electrocardiogram. On uninstructed trials, participants with PTSD exhibited blunted cardiac reactivity rather than the exaggerated cardioacceleratory responses seen in trauma cue reactivity studies. On interleaved regulation trials, no measure evidenced group differences in voluntary emotion regulation. Persons with PTSD may not differ from normals in their capacity to voluntarily regulate normative emotional responses to provocative stimuli in the laboratory, though they may nevertheless respond differentially on uninstructed trials and endorse symptoms of dyscontrol pathognomonic of the disorder outside of the laboratory.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/psyp.12392

  View details for PubMedID 25516381

• Choosing How to Feel: Emotion Regulation Choice in Bipolar Disorder EMOTION Hay, A. C., Sheppes, G., Gross, J. J., Gruber, J. 2015; 15 (2): 139-145

  Abstract

  Individuals with bipolar disorder experience emotion regulation difficulties, even during remission, but are able to effectively employ emotion regulation strategies when instructed. We hypothesized that this puzzling discrepancy might be due to their maladaptive emotion regulation choices. To test this hypothesis, we used a previously validated paradigm (Sheppes, Scheibe, Suri, & Gross, 2011; Sheppes et al., 2014), and asked remitted individuals with bipolar I disorder (n = 25) and healthy individuals (n = 26) to view standardized positive and negative images of high and low intensity, and choose reappraisal or distraction to decrease their emotion intensity. Replicating and extending prior results, participants across both groups showed a pattern of choosing distraction more for high versus low intensity positive and negative images, but no between-groups differences were evident. These results suggest that emotion regulation choice patterns may be robust across samples, and add to growing evidence that several basic emotion regulation elements may remain intact in bipolar disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0000024

  View details for Web of Science ID 000351948200003

  View details for PubMedID 25313669

• EVpedia: a community web portal for extracellular vesicles research BIOINFORMATICS Kim, D., Lee, J., Kim, S. R., Choi, D., Yoon, Y. J., Kim, J. H., Go, G., Nhung, D., Hong, K., Jang, S. C., Kim, S., Park, K., Kim, O. Y., Park, H. T., Seo, J. H., Aikawa, E., Baj-Krzyworzeka, M., van Balkom, B. W., Belting, M., Blanc, L., Bond, V., Bongiovanni, A., Borras, F. E., Buee, L., Buzas, E. I., Cheng, L., Clayton, A., Cocucci, E., Dela Cruz, C. S., Desiderio, D. M., Di Vizio, D., Ekstrom, K., Falcon-Perez, J. M., Gardiner, C., Giebel, B., Greening, D. W., Gross, J. C., Gupta, D., Hendrix, A., Hill, A. F., Hill, M. M., 't Hoen, E. N., Hwang, D. W., Inal, J., Jagannadham, M. V., Jayachandran, M., Jee, Y., Jorgensen, M., Kim, K. P., Kim, Y., Kislinger, T., Lasser, C., Lee, D. S., Lee, H., Van Leeuwen, J., Lener, T., Liu, M., Lotvall, J., Marcilla, A., Mathivanan, S., Moeller, A., Morhayim, J., Mullier, F., Nazarenko, I., Nieuwland, R., Nunes, D. N., Pang, K., Park, J., Patel, T., Pocsfalvi, G., del Portillo, H., Putz, U., Ramirez, M. I., Rodrigues, M. L., Roh, T., Royo, F., Sahoo, S., Schiffelers, R., Sharma, S., Siljander, P., Simpson, R. J., Soekmadji, C., Stahl, P., Stensballe, A., Stepien, E., Tahara, H., Trummer, A., Valadi, H., Vella, L. J., Wai, S. N., Witwer, K., Yanez-Mo, M., Youn, H., Zeidler, R., Gho, Y. S. 2015; 31 (6): 933-939

  Abstract

  Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are spherical bilayered proteolipids, harboring various bioactive molecules. Due to the complexity of the vesicular nomenclatures and components, online searches for EV-related publications and vesicular components are currently challenging.We present an improved version of EVpedia, a public database for EVs research. This community web portal contains a database of publications and vesicular components, identification of orthologous vesicular components, bioinformatic tools and a personalized function. EVpedia includes 6879 publications, 172 080 vesicular components from 263 high-throughput datasets, and has been accessed more than 65 000 times from more than 750 cities. In addition, about 350 members from 73 international research groups have participated in developing EVpedia. This free web-based database might serve as a useful resource to stimulate the emerging field of EV research.The web site was implemented in PHP, Java, MySQL and Apache, and is freely available at http://evpedia.info.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/bioinformatics/btu741

  View details for Web of Science ID 000352268900018

  View details for PubMedID 25388151

• Emotion beliefs and cognitive behavioural therapy for social anxiety disorder. Cognitive behaviour therapy De Castella, K., Goldin, P., Jazaieri, H., Heimberg, R. G., Dweck, C. S., Gross, J. J. 2015; 44 (2): 128-141

  Abstract

  Despite strong support for the efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD), little is known about mechanisms of change in treatment. Within the context of a randomized controlled trial of CBT, this study examined patients' beliefs about the fixed versus malleable nature of anxiety-their 'implicit theories'-as a key variable in CBT for SAD. Compared to waitlist (n = 29; 58% female), CBT (n = 24; 52% female) led to significantly lower levels of fixed beliefs about anxiety (Mbaseline = 11.70 vs. MPost = 7.08, d = 1.27). These implicit beliefs indirectly explained CBT-related changes in social anxiety symptoms (κ(2) = .28, [95% CI = 0.12, 0.46]). Implicit beliefs also uniquely predicted treatment outcomes when controlling for baseline social anxiety and other kinds of maladaptive beliefs (perceived social costs, perceived social self-efficacy, and maladaptive interpersonal beliefs). Finally, implicit beliefs continued to predict social anxiety symptoms at 12 months post-treatment. These findings suggest that changes in patients' beliefs about their emotions may play an important role in CBT for SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/16506073.2014.974665

  View details for PubMedID 25380179

• The neural correlates of social connection COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE Hutcherson, C. A., Seppala, E. M., Gross, J. J. 2015; 15 (1): 1-14

  Abstract

  Cultivating social connection has long been a goal of psychology, philosophy, religion, and public policy. Yet the psychological and neural responses that accompany a feeling of connection to others remain unclear. In the present study, we used functional neuroimaging to shed light on the neural correlates of self- and other-focused processes during the successful self-generation of feelings of social connection. To do this, we used a trait judgment task to localize functional activation related to self-focused thought. We then examined brain responses during guided exercises designed both to encourage feeling love and connection from others (i.e., self-focused) and to generate feelings of love and connection toward others (i.e., other-focused). Our results indicated that generating feelings of social connection recruited a portion of the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) implicated in thinking about both the self and others. Within this larger area, we observed distinct profiles of activation within different subregions. Although rostral anterior cingulate cortex was more strongly activated by other-focused components of the task, a more dorsal portion of MPFC was comparatively more active during primarily self-focused components of the task. Somewhat surprisingly, stronger feelings of social connection were not associated with greater activation in the anterior cingulate, but rather with less activation in the dorsal region of the MPFC related to self-focused thought. These results are consistent with the possibility that reducing certain kinds of self-focused thought might yield a greater sense of social connection to and care for others.

  View details for DOI 10.3758/s13415-014-0304-9

  View details for Web of Science ID 000349757700001

  View details for PubMedID 24984693

• The Effect of Rumination and Reappraisal on Social Anxiety Symptoms During Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Brozovich, F. A., Goldin, P., Lee, I., Jazaieri, H., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2015; 71 (3): 208-218

  Abstract

  There is growing interest in the role of transdiagnostic processes in the onset, maintenance, and treatment of mental disorders (Nolen-Hoeksema & Watkins, 2011). Two such transdiagnostic processes-rumination and reappraisal-are the focus of the present study. The main objective was to examine the roles of rumination (thought to be harmful) and reappraisal (thought to be helpful) in adults with social anxiety disorder (SAD).We conducted a randomized controlled trial of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) with 75 adults with SAD and examined pre- to post-CBT changes as well as weekly fluctuations in rumination, reappraisal, and social anxiety symptoms.Socially anxious individuals' baseline rumination (brooding) scores predicted weekly levels of social anxiety, rumination, and reappraisal, whereas baseline reappraisal scores did not. Greater weekly rumination was associated with greater weekly social anxiety, but reappraisal was not related to social anxiety.These findings suggest that rumination may have a more significant role than reappraisal in understanding fluctuations in social anxiety during CBT for SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/jclp.22132

  View details for Web of Science ID 000349780200002

  View details for PubMedID 25311952

• Reappraisal facilitates extinction in healthy and socially anxious individuals JOURNAL OF BEHAVIOR THERAPY AND EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHIATRY Blechert, J., Wilhelm, F. H., Williams, H., Braams, B. R., Jou, J., Gross, J. J. 2015; 46: 141-150

  Abstract

  Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) combines cognitive restructuring with exposure to feared stimuli in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Due to the complexities of cognition–emotion interactions during ongoing CBT, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear, which hinders treatment optimization.We created a laboratory analogue by combining reappraisal, a key ingredient of cognitive restructuring, with Pavlovian conditioning, a key ingredient in behavioral treatments. The novel differential Pavlovian acquisition and extinction task featured social stimuli as conditioned and unconditioned stimuli under unregulated and reappraisal instructions.Findings indicated that reappraising the conditioned stimuli attenuated acquisition (Study 1) and facilitated extinction (Study 2) of conditioned negative valence. In Study 3, highly socially anxious individuals showed deficient extinction learning relative to low socially anxious individuals but compensated for this by using reappraisal.Diagnostic status of participants was not assessed in structured clinical interviews.Reappraisal of feared stimuli could be useful in prevention and treatment of social anxiety.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.10.001

  View details for Web of Science ID 000346625200021

  View details for PubMedID 25460260

• Integrating emotion regulation and emotional intelligence traditions: a meta-analysis FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY Pena-Sarrionandia, A., Mikolajczak, M., Gross, J. J. 2015; 6

  Abstract

  Two relatively independent research traditions have developed that address emotion management. The first is the emotion regulation (ER) tradition, which focuses on the processes which permit individuals to influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express these emotions. The second is the emotional intelligence (EI) tradition, which focuses-among other things-on individual differences in ER. To integrate these two traditions, we employed the process model of ER (Gross, 1998b) to review the literature on EI. Two key findings emerged. First, high EI individuals shape their emotions from the earliest possible point in the emotion trajectory and have many strategies at their disposal. Second, high EI individuals regulate their emotions successfully when necessary but they do so flexibly, thereby leaving room for emotions to emerge. We argue that ER and EI traditions stand to benefit substantially from greater integration.

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00160

  View details for Web of Science ID 000349838100001

  View details for PubMedID 25759676

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4338658

• Emotion regulation in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Autism research Samson, A. C., Hardan, A. Y., Podell, R. W., Phillips, J. M., Gross, J. J. 2015; 8 (1): 9-18

  Abstract

  Emotion dysregulation is not a formal criterion for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, parents and clinicians have long noted the importance of emotional problems in individuals with ASD (e.g. tantrums and "meltdowns"). In this study, 21 high-functioning children and adolescents with ASD and 22 age and gender group-matched typically developing (TD) controls completed a Reactivity and Regulation Situation Task. This task assesses emotional reactivity and spontaneous use of emotion regulation strategies (problem solving, cognitive reappraisal, avoidance, distraction, venting, suppression, and relaxation) in the context of age-appropriate ambiguous and potentially threatening negative scenarios. After the concept of cognitive reappraisal was explained, the scenarios were presented again to participants, and they were prompted to use this strategy. Results indicated that individuals with ASD exhibited the same level of reactivity to negative stimuli as TD participants. Furthermore, youth with ASD had a different emotion regulation profile than TD individuals, characterized by a less frequent use of cognitive reappraisal and more frequent use of suppression. When prompted to use cognitive reappraisal, participants with ASD were less able to implement reappraisal, but benefitted from this strategy when they were able to generate a reappraisal. Findings from this study suggest that cognitive reappraisal strategies may be useful to children and adolescents with ASD. Therefore, the development of treatment programs that focus on enhancing the use of adaptive forms of emotion regulation might decrease emotional problems and optimize long-term outcomes in youth with ASD. Autism Res 2014, ●●: ●●-●●. © 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/aur.1387

  View details for PubMedID 24863869

• Emotion Regulation in Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder AUTISM RESEARCH Samson, A. C., Hardan, A. Y., Podell, R. W., Phillips, J. M., Gross, J. J. 2015; 8 (1): 9-18

  Abstract

  Emotion dysregulation is not a formal criterion for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, parents and clinicians have long noted the importance of emotional problems in individuals with ASD (e.g. tantrums and "meltdowns"). In this study, 21 high-functioning children and adolescents with ASD and 22 age and gender group-matched typically developing (TD) controls completed a Reactivity and Regulation Situation Task. This task assesses emotional reactivity and spontaneous use of emotion regulation strategies (problem solving, cognitive reappraisal, avoidance, distraction, venting, suppression, and relaxation) in the context of age-appropriate ambiguous and potentially threatening negative scenarios. After the concept of cognitive reappraisal was explained, the scenarios were presented again to participants, and they were prompted to use this strategy. Results indicated that individuals with ASD exhibited the same level of reactivity to negative stimuli as TD participants. Furthermore, youth with ASD had a different emotion regulation profile than TD individuals, characterized by a less frequent use of cognitive reappraisal and more frequent use of suppression. When prompted to use cognitive reappraisal, participants with ASD were less able to implement reappraisal, but benefitted from this strategy when they were able to generate a reappraisal. Findings from this study suggest that cognitive reappraisal strategies may be useful to children and adolescents with ASD. Therefore, the development of treatment programs that focus on enhancing the use of adaptive forms of emotion regulation might decrease emotional problems and optimize long-term outcomes in youth with ASD. Autism Res 2014, ●●: ●●-●●. © 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/aur.1387

  View details for Web of Science ID 000350458000002

  View details for PubMedID 24863869

• Launching Reappraisal: It's Less Common Than You Might Think EMOTION Suri, G., Whittaker, K., Gross, J. J. 2015; 15 (1): 73-77

  Abstract

  Cognitive reappraisal is thought to be ubiquitous. However, no studies have quantified how frequently people reappraise (vs. letting their emotional response go unregulated). To address this issue, the authors created a laboratory decision context in which participants watched a series of negatively valenced images, and in each case had the option of electing to reappraise to decrease negative affect. Given the many benefits and few costs associated with reappraisal, we expected that most images would be reappraised. However, to our surprise, participants implemented reappraisals for only 16% of images (Study 1). Regulatory rates remained low for both low- and high-intensity images, even when another regulatory option (i.e., distraction) was available (Study 2). The authors hypothesized that participants did not proactively reappraise because there were hidden costs associated with reappraisal. They considered 2 classes of costs: overcoming default bias and cognitive effort, and they measured the percentage of trials for which participants chose to reappraise using a fully crossed 2 × 2 design that examined the effects of removing defaults and of providing support in creating reappraisals. Removing defaults, but not providing reappraisal support, increased rates of reappraisal (Study 3). Everyday decision-making frequently involves default options. These results suggest that contextual variables (such as the presence of defaults) may play a large role in the decision to regulate emotions.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/emo0000011

  View details for Web of Science ID 000349612400008

  View details for PubMedID 24999912

• Emotion Reactivity and Regulation in Late-Life Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Functional Connectivity at Baseline and Post-Treatment AMERICAN JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY Andreescu, C., Sheu, L. K., Tudorascu, D., Gross, J. J., Walker, S., Banihashemi, L., Aizenstein, H. 2015; 23 (2): 200-214

  Abstract

  Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most prevalent mental disorders in the elderly, but its functional neuroanatomy is not well understood. Given the role of emotion dysregulation in GAD, we sought to describe the neural bases of emotion regulation in late-life GAD by analyzing the functional connectivity (FC) in the Salience Network and the Executive Control Network during worry induction and worry reappraisal.The study included 28 elderly GAD and 31 non-anxious comparison participants. Twelve elderly GAD completed a 12-week pharmacotherapy trial. We used an in-scanner worry script that alternates blocks of worry induction and reappraisal. We assessed network FC, using the following seeds: anterior insula (AI), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), the bed nucleus of stria terminalis (BNST), and the paraventricular nucleus (PVN).GAD participants exhibited greater FC during worry induction between the left AI and the right orbitofrontal cortex, and between the BNST and the subgenual cingulate. During worry reappraisal, the non-anxious participants had greater FC between the left dlPFC and the medial PFC, as well as between the left AI and the medial PFC, and elderly GAD patients had greater FC between the PVN and the amygdala. Following 12 weeks of pharmacotherapy, GAD participants had greater connectivity between the dlPFC and several prefrontal regions during worry reappraisal.FC during worry induction and reappraisal points toward abnormalities in both worry generation and worry reappraisal. Following successful pharmacologic treatment, we observed greater connectivity in the prefrontal nodes of the Executive Control Network during reappraisal of worry.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jagp.2014.05.003

  View details for Web of Science ID 000347467700010

  View details for PubMedID 24996397

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4234701

• Emotion Regulation: Current Status and Future Prospects PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY Gross, J. J. 2015; 26 (1): 1-26

  View details for DOI 10.1080/1047840X.2014.940781

  View details for Web of Science ID 000350648700001

• The Extended Process Model of Emotion Regulation: Elaborations, Applications, and Future Directions REPLY PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY Gross, J. J. 2015; 26 (1): 130-137

  View details for DOI 10.1080/1047840X.2015.989751

  View details for Web of Science ID 000350648700015

• The role of emotion and emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder. Current psychiatry reports Jazaieri, H., Morrison, A. S., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2015; 17 (1): 531-?

  Abstract

  Many psychiatric disorders involve problematic patterns of emotional reactivity and regulation. In this review, we consider recent findings regarding emotion and emotion regulation in the context of social anxiety disorder (SAD). We first describe key features of SAD which suggest altered emotional and self-related processing difficulties. Next, we lay the conceptual foundation for a discussion of emotion and emotion regulation and present a common framework for understanding emotion regulation, the process model of emotion regulation. Using the process model, we evaluate the recent empirical literature spanning self-report, observational, behavioral, and physiological methods across five specific families of emotion regulation processes-situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation. Next, we examine the empirical evidence behind two psychosocial interventions for SAD: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Throughout, we present suggestions for future directions in the continued examination of emotion and emotion regulation in SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11920-014-0531-3

  View details for PubMedID 25413637

• Problem Adaptation Therapy for Older Adults With Major Depression and Cognitive Impairment A Randomized Clinical Trial JAMA PSYCHIATRY Kiosses, D. N., Ravdin, L. D., Gross, J. J., Raue, P., Kotbi, N., Alexopoulos, G. S. 2015; 72 (1): 22-30

  Abstract

  Problem adaptation therapy (PATH) is a treatment for older adults with major depression, cognitive impairment (from mild cognitive deficits to moderate dementia), and disability. Antidepressants have limited efficacy in this population and psychosocial interventions are inadequately investigated.To test the efficacy of 12-week PATH vs supportive therapy for cognitively impaired patients (ST-CI) in reducing depression and disability in 74 older adults with major depression, cognitive impairment, and disability.A randomized clinical trial at the Weill Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry from April 1, 2006, to September 31, 2011. Interventions were administered at the participants' homes. Participants included 74 older individuals (age ≥ 65 years) with major depression and cognitive impairment to the level of moderate dementia. They were recruited through collaborating community agencies of Weill Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry and were randomly assigned to 12 weekly sessions of PATH or ST-CI (14.8% attrition rate).Home-delivered PATH vs home-delivered ST-CI. Problem adaptation therapy integrates a problem-solving approach with compensatory strategies, environmental adaptations, and caregiver participation to improve patients' emotion regulation. Supportive therapy for cognitively impaired patients focuses on expression of affect, understanding, and empathy.Mixed-effects models for longitudinal data compared the efficacy of PATH with that of ST-CI in reducing depression (Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale) and disability (World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II) during 12 weeks of treatment.Participants in PATH had significantly greater reduction in depression (Cohen d, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.13-1.06; treatment × time, F(1,179) = 8.03; P = .005) and disability (Cohen d, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.20-1.14; treatment × time, F(1,169) = 14.86; P = .001) than ST-CI participants during the 12-week period (primary outcomes). Furthermore, PATH participants had significantly greater depression remission rates than ST-CI participants (37.84% vs 13.51%; χ(2) = 5.74; P = .02; number needed to treat = 4.11) (secondary outcome).Problem adaptation therapy was more efficacious than ST-CI in reducing depression and disability. Problem adaptation therapy may provide relief to a large group of depressed and cognitively impaired older adults who have few treatment options.Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00368940.

  View details for DOI 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2014.1305

  View details for Web of Science ID 000347610700004

  View details for PubMedID 25372657

• The Role of Emotion and Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder CURRENT PSYCHIATRY REPORTS Jazaieri, H., Morrison, A. S., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2015; 17 (1)

  Abstract

  Many psychiatric disorders involve problematic patterns of emotional reactivity and regulation. In this review, we consider recent findings regarding emotion and emotion regulation in the context of social anxiety disorder (SAD). We first describe key features of SAD which suggest altered emotional and self-related processing difficulties. Next, we lay the conceptual foundation for a discussion of emotion and emotion regulation and present a common framework for understanding emotion regulation, the process model of emotion regulation. Using the process model, we evaluate the recent empirical literature spanning self-report, observational, behavioral, and physiological methods across five specific families of emotion regulation processes-situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation. Next, we examine the empirical evidence behind two psychosocial interventions for SAD: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Throughout, we present suggestions for future directions in the continued examination of emotion and emotion regulation in SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11920-014-0531-3

  View details for Web of Science ID 000350651900004

  View details for PubMedID 25413637

• Emotion Regulation and Psychopathology ANNUAL REVIEW OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, VOL 11 Sheppes, G., Suri, G., Gross, J. J. 2015; 11: 379-405

  Abstract

  Emotional problems figure prominently in many clinical conditions. Recent efforts to explain and treat these conditions have emphasized the role of emotion dysregulation. However, emotional problems are not always the result of emotion dysregulation, and even when emotional problems do arise from emotion dysregulation, it is necessary to specify precisely what type of emotion dysregulation might be operative. In this review, we present an extended process model of emotion regulation, and we use this model to describe key points at which emotion-regulation difficulties can lead to various forms of psychopathology. These difficulties are associated with (a) identification of the need to regulate emotions, (b) selection among available regulatory options, (c) implementation of a selected regulatory tactic, and (d) monitoring of implemented emotion regulation across time. Implications and future directions for basic research, assessment, and intervention are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032814-112739

  View details for Web of Science ID 000352014000016

  View details for PubMedID 25581242

• Stairs or Escalator? Using Theories of Persuasion and Motivation to Facilitate Healthy Decision Making JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-APPLIED Suri, G., Sheppes, G., Leslie, S., Gross, J. J. 2014; 20 (4): 295-302

  Abstract

  To encourage an increase in daily activity, researchers have tried a variety of health-related communications, but with mixed results. In the present research-using the stair escalator choice context-we examined predictions derived from the Heuristic Systematic Model (HSM), Self Determination Theory (SDT), and related theories. Specifically, we tested whether (as predicted by HSM) signs that encourage heuristic processing ("Take the Stairs") would have greatest impact when placed at the stair/escalator point of choice (when processing time is limited), whereas signs that encourage systematic processing ("Will You Take the Stairs?") would have greatest impact when placed at some distance from the point of choice (when processing time is less limited). We also tested whether (as predicted by SDT) messages promoting autonomy would be more likely to result in sustained motivated behavior (i.e., stair taking at subsequent uncued choice points) than messages that use commands. A series of studies involving more than 9,000 pedestrians provided support for these predictions.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/xap0000026

  View details for Web of Science ID 000345705500001

  View details for PubMedID 25180946

• Impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder on the neural bases of emotional reactivity to and regulation of social evaluation BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH AND THERAPY Goldin, P. R., Ziv, M., Jazaieri, H., Weeks, J., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2014; 62: 97-106

  Abstract

  We examined whether Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD) would modify self-reported negative emotion and functional magnetic resonance imaging brain responses when reacting to and reappraising social evaluation, and tested whether changes would predict treatment outcome in 59 patients with SAD who completed CBT or waitlist groups. For reactivity, compared to waitlist, CBT resulted in (a) increased brain responses in right superior frontal gyrus (SFG), inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and middle occipital gyrus (MOG) when reacting to social praise, and (b) increases in right SFG and IPL and decreases in left posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) when reacting to social criticism. For reappraisal, compared to waitlist, CBT resulted in greater (c) reductions in self-reported negative emotion, and (d) increases in brain responses in right SFG and MOG, and decreases in left pSTG. A linear regression found that after controlling for CBT-induced changes in reactivity and reappraisal negative emotion ratings and brain changes in reactivity to praise and criticism, reappraisal of criticism brain response changes predicted 24% of the unique variance in CBT-related reductions in social anxiety. Thus, one mechanism underlying CBT for SAD may be changes in reappraisal-related brain responses to social criticism.NCT00380731. http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00380731?term=social+anxiety+cognitive+behavioral+therapy+Stanford&rank=1.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.brat.2014.08.005

  View details for Web of Science ID 000345471000010

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4253719

• Effect of emotion reappraisal on phasic cardiovascular responses to affective pictures Krygier, J. R., Heathers, J. A. J., Gross, J. J., Abbott, M., Kemp, A. H. ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV. 2014: 187

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.783

  View details for Web of Science ID 000343385400201

• Impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder on the neural bases of emotional reactivity to and regulation of social evaluation. Behaviour research and therapy Goldin, P. R., Ziv, M., Jazaieri, H., Weeks, J., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2014; 62: 97-106

  Abstract

  We examined whether Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD) would modify self-reported negative emotion and functional magnetic resonance imaging brain responses when reacting to and reappraising social evaluation, and tested whether changes would predict treatment outcome in 59 patients with SAD who completed CBT or waitlist groups. For reactivity, compared to waitlist, CBT resulted in (a) increased brain responses in right superior frontal gyrus (SFG), inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and middle occipital gyrus (MOG) when reacting to social praise, and (b) increases in right SFG and IPL and decreases in left posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) when reacting to social criticism. For reappraisal, compared to waitlist, CBT resulted in greater (c) reductions in self-reported negative emotion, and (d) increases in brain responses in right SFG and MOG, and decreases in left pSTG. A linear regression found that after controlling for CBT-induced changes in reactivity and reappraisal negative emotion ratings and brain changes in reactivity to praise and criticism, reappraisal of criticism brain response changes predicted 24% of the unique variance in CBT-related reductions in social anxiety. Thus, one mechanism underlying CBT for SAD may be changes in reappraisal-related brain responses to social criticism.NCT00380731. http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00380731?term=social+anxiety+cognitive+behavioral+therapy+Stanford&rank=1.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.brat.2014.08.005

  View details for PubMedID 25193002

• The Eyes Have It: The Role of Attention in Cognitive Reappraisal of Social Stimuli EMOTION Manera, V., Samson, A. C., Pehrs, C., Lee, I. A., Gross, J. J. 2014; 14 (5): 833-839

  Abstract

  Cognitive reappraisal (CR) is a commonly used emotion-regulation strategy that has been shown to influence affective, cognitive, and social outcomes. Although progress has been made in elucidating the mechanisms underlying CR, the role of attention remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated the role of attention in CR by tracking participants' gazes during the presentation of videos depicting people in negative moods. Participants were asked to attend naturally or to use reappraisal to increase or decrease their emotions while viewing the videos. After each video, they rated their negative emotion experience. Results showed that participants spent more time looking at the emotional regions in the target's face (eyes and mouth) when asked to up-regulate their emotions, compared with when they simply attended to the videos. The reverse pattern was found for down-regulation of emotions. In addition, the effects of cognitive reappraisal on negative emotion experience were mediated by the time spent looking at the emotional regions, with a stronger effect for the down-regulation instruction. Finally, direct effects of regulation instruction on negative emotion were observed even when controlling for time spent viewing emotional regions, which suggests that attention and CR are distinct components that uniquely influence negative emotions. These results complement and extend previous findings on the role of attention in CR, and highlight the importance of taking attentional mechanisms into account when designing CR training.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0037350

  View details for Web of Science ID 000342502900001

• The eyes have it: the role of attention in cognitive reappraisal of social stimuli. Emotion (Washington, D.C.) Manera, V., Samson, A. C., Pehrs, C., Lee, I. A., Gross, J. J. 2014; 14 (5): 833-9

  Abstract

  Cognitive reappraisal (CR) is a commonly used emotion-regulation strategy that has been shown to influence affective, cognitive, and social outcomes. Although progress has been made in elucidating the mechanisms underlying CR, the role of attention remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated the role of attention in CR by tracking participants' gazes during the presentation of videos depicting people in negative moods. Participants were asked to attend naturally or to use reappraisal to increase or decrease their emotions while viewing the videos. After each video, they rated their negative emotion experience. Results showed that participants spent more time looking at the emotional regions in the target's face (eyes and mouth) when asked to up-regulate their emotions, compared with when they simply attended to the videos. The reverse pattern was found for down-regulation of emotions. In addition, the effects of cognitive reappraisal on negative emotion experience were mediated by the time spent looking at the emotional regions, with a stronger effect for the down-regulation instruction. Finally, direct effects of regulation instruction on negative emotion were observed even when controlling for time spent viewing emotional regions, which suggests that attention and CR are distinct components that uniquely influence negative emotions. These results complement and extend previous findings on the role of attention in CR, and highlight the importance of taking attentional mechanisms into account when designing CR training.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0037350

  View details for PubMedID 25046244

• Social integration and mortality in patients with coronary heart disease: findings from the Heart and Soul Study. Psychosomatic medicine Kreibig, S. D., Whooley, M. A., Gross, J. J. 2014; 76 (8): 659-668

  Abstract

  To determine why lower social integration predicts higher mortality in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).The association between social integration and mortality was examined prospectively in 1019 outpatients with stable CHD from the Heart and Soul Study. Baseline social integration was assessed with the Berkman Social Network Index. Cox proportional hazards models were used to determine the extent to which demographic and disease-relevant confounders and potential biological, behavioral, and psychological mediators explained the association between social integration and mortality.During a mean (standard deviation) follow-up period of 6.7 (2.3) years, the age-adjusted annual rate of mortality was 6.3% among socially isolated patients and 4.1% among nonisolated patients (age-adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.61, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.26-2.05, p < .001). After adjustment for demographic and disease-relevant confounders, socially isolated patients had a 50% greater risk of death than did nonisolated patients (HR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.07-2.10). Separate adjustment for potential biological (HR = 1.53, CI = 1.05-2.25) and psychological mediators (HR = 1.52, CI = 1.08-2.14) did not significantly attenuate this association, whereas adjustment for potential behavioral mediators did (HR = 1.30, CI = 0.91-1.86). C-reactive protein and hemoglobin A1c were identified as important biological and omega-3 fatty acids, smoking, and medication adherence as important behavioral potential mediators, with smoking making the largest contribution.In this sample of outpatients with baseline stable CHD, the association between social integration and mortality was largely explained by health-related behavioral pathways, particularly smoking.

  View details for DOI 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000100

  View details for PubMedID 25264970

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4197069

• Self-Control and Grit: Related but Separable Determinants of Success CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Duckworth, A., Gross, J. J. 2014; 23 (5): 319-325

  Abstract

  Other than talent and opportunity, what makes some people more successful than others? One important determinant of success is self-control - the capacity to regulate attention, emotion, and behavior in the presence of temptation. A second important determinant of success is grit - the tenacious pursuit of a dominant superordinate goal despite setbacks. Self-control and grit are strongly correlated, but not perfectly so. This means that some people with high levels of self-control capably handle temptations but do not consistently pursue a dominant goal. Likewise, some exceptional achievers are prodigiously gritty but succumb to temptations in domains other than their chosen life passion. Understanding how goals are hierarchically organized clarifies how self-control and grit are related but distinct: Self-control entails aligning actions with any valued goal despite momentarily more-alluring alternatives; grit, in contrast, entails having and working assiduously toward a single challenging superordinate goal through thick and thin, on a timescale of years or even decades. Although both self-control and grit entail aligning actions with intentions, they operate in different ways and at different time scales. This hierarchical goal framework suggests novel directions for basic and applied research on success.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0963721414541462

  View details for Web of Science ID 000343993700002

  View details for PubMedID 26855479

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4737958

• Social Integration and Mortality in Patients With Coronary Heart Disease: Findings From the Heart and Soul Study PSYCHOSOMATIC MEDICINE Kreibig, S. D., Whooley, M. A., Gross, J. J. 2014; 76 (8): 659-668

  Abstract

  To determine why lower social integration predicts higher mortality in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).The association between social integration and mortality was examined prospectively in 1019 outpatients with stable CHD from the Heart and Soul Study. Baseline social integration was assessed with the Berkman Social Network Index. Cox proportional hazards models were used to determine the extent to which demographic and disease-relevant confounders and potential biological, behavioral, and psychological mediators explained the association between social integration and mortality.During a mean (standard deviation) follow-up period of 6.7 (2.3) years, the age-adjusted annual rate of mortality was 6.3% among socially isolated patients and 4.1% among nonisolated patients (age-adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.61, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.26-2.05, p < .001). After adjustment for demographic and disease-relevant confounders, socially isolated patients had a 50% greater risk of death than did nonisolated patients (HR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.07-2.10). Separate adjustment for potential biological (HR = 1.53, CI = 1.05-2.25) and psychological mediators (HR = 1.52, CI = 1.08-2.14) did not significantly attenuate this association, whereas adjustment for potential behavioral mediators did (HR = 1.30, CI = 0.91-1.86). C-reactive protein and hemoglobin A1c were identified as important biological and omega-3 fatty acids, smoking, and medication adherence as important behavioral potential mediators, with smoking making the largest contribution.In this sample of outpatients with baseline stable CHD, the association between social integration and mortality was largely explained by health-related behavioral pathways, particularly smoking.

  View details for DOI 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000100

  View details for Web of Science ID 000343883900011

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4197069

• Emotion Regulation and the Cultivation of Political Tolerance: Searching for a New Track for Intervention JOURNAL OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION Halperin, E., Pliskin, R., Saguy, T., Liberman, V., Gross, J. J. 2014; 58 (6): 1110-1138

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0022002713492636

  View details for Web of Science ID 000342576500008

• EMOTION REGULATION AND HEART RATE VARIABILITY: EFFECT OF REAPPRAISAL ON CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSES TO AFFECTIVE PICTURES Krygier, J. R., Heathers, J. A. J., Gross, J. J., Abbott, M., Kemp, A. H. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2014: S29

  View details for Web of Science ID 000339479500157

• PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL QUANTIFICATION OF EMOTION REGULATION FLEXIBILITY: EXPERIENTIAL, EXPRESSIVE, AND PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF REGULATING PURE AND MIXED EMOTIONS Kreibig, S. D., Samson, A. C., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2014: S69

  View details for Web of Science ID 000339479500380

• ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE FOR A DISTINCT PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE OF MIXED EMOTIONAL STATES Kreibig, S. D., Samson, A. C., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2014: S69

  View details for Web of Science ID 000339479500379

• Implicit associations in social anxiety disorder: The effects of comorbid depression. Journal of anxiety disorders Wong, J., Morrison, A. S., Heimberg, R. G., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2014; 28 (6): 537-546

  Abstract

  Implicit associations of the self to concepts like "calm" have been shown to be weaker in persons with social anxiety than in non-anxious healthy controls. However, other implicit self associations, such as those to acceptance or rejection, have been less studied in social anxiety, and none of this work has been conducted with clinical samples. Furthermore, the importance of depression in these relationships has not been well investigated. We addressed these issues by administering two Implicit Association Tests (IATs; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998), one examining the implicit association of self/other to anxiety/calmness and the other examining the association of self/other to rejection/acceptance, to individuals with generalized social anxiety disorder (SAD, n=85), individuals with generalized SAD and a current or past diagnosis of major depressive disorder or current dysthymic disorder (n=47), and non-anxious, non-depressed healthy controls (n=44). The SAD and SAD-depression groups showed weaker implicit self-calmness associations than healthy controls, with the comorbid group showing the weakest self-calmness associations. The SAD-depression group showed the weakest implicit self-acceptance associations; no difference was found between non-depressed individuals with SAD and healthy controls. Post hoc analyses revealed that differences appeared to be driven by those with current depression. The SAD-only and SAD-depression groups did not differ in self-reported (explicit) social anxiety. The implications of these findings for the understanding of SAD-depression comorbidity and for the treatment of SAD are considered.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.05.008

  View details for PubMedID 24983794

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4134987

• Humorous Coping and Serious Reappraisal: Short-Term and Longer-Term Effects EUROPES JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY Samson, A. C., Glassco, A. L., Lee, I. A., Gross, J. J. 2014; 10 (3): 571–81

  View details for DOI 10.5964/ejop.v10i3.730

  View details for Web of Science ID 000217832000013

• Behavioral and neural correlates of increased self-control in the absence of increased willpower PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Magen, E., Kim, B., Dweck, C. S., Gross, J. J., McClure, S. M. 2014; 111 (27): 9786-9791

  Abstract

  People often exert willpower to choose a more valuable delayed reward over a less valuable immediate reward, but using willpower is taxing and frequently fails. In this research, we demonstrate the ability to enhance self-control (i.e., forgoing smaller immediate rewards in favor of larger delayed rewards) without exerting additional willpower. Using behavioral and neuroimaging data, we show that a reframing of rewards (i) reduced the subjective value of smaller immediate rewards relative to larger delayed rewards, (ii) increased the likelihood of choosing the larger delayed rewards when choosing between two real monetary rewards, (iii) reduced the brain reward responses to immediate rewards in the dorsal and ventral striatum, and (iv) reduced brain activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (a correlate of willpower) when participants chose the same larger later rewards across the two choice frames. We conclude that reframing can promote self-control while avoiding the need for additional willpower expenditure.

  View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.1408991111

  View details for Web of Science ID 000338514800030

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4103380

• Behavioral and neural correlates of increased self-control in the absence of increased willpower. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Magen, E., Kim, B., Dweck, C. S., Gross, J. J., McClure, S. M. 2014; 111 (27): 9786-9791

  Abstract

  People often exert willpower to choose a more valuable delayed reward over a less valuable immediate reward, but using willpower is taxing and frequently fails. In this research, we demonstrate the ability to enhance self-control (i.e., forgoing smaller immediate rewards in favor of larger delayed rewards) without exerting additional willpower. Using behavioral and neuroimaging data, we show that a reframing of rewards (i) reduced the subjective value of smaller immediate rewards relative to larger delayed rewards, (ii) increased the likelihood of choosing the larger delayed rewards when choosing between two real monetary rewards, (iii) reduced the brain reward responses to immediate rewards in the dorsal and ventral striatum, and (iv) reduced brain activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (a correlate of willpower) when participants chose the same larger later rewards across the two choice frames. We conclude that reframing can promote self-control while avoiding the need for additional willpower expenditure.

  View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.1408991111

  View details for PubMedID 24958892

• Emotion dysregulation and the core features of autism spectrum disorder. Journal of autism and developmental disorders Samson, A. C., Phillips, J. M., Parker, K. J., Shah, S., Gross, J. J., Hardan, A. Y. 2014; 44 (7): 1766-1772

  Abstract

  The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between emotion dysregulation and the core features of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which include social/communication deficits, restricted/repetitive behaviors, and sensory abnormalities. An 18-item Emotion Dysregulation Index was developed on the basis of expert ratings of the Child Behavior Checklist. Compared to typically developing controls, children and adolescents with ASD showed more emotion dysregulation and had significantly greater symptom severity on all scales. Within ASD participants, emotion dysregulation was related to all core features of the disorder, but the strongest association was with repetitive behaviors. These findings may facilitate the development of more effective therapeutic strategies targeting emotion dysregulation in order to optimize long-term outcomes for individuals with ASD.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10803-013-2022-5

  View details for PubMedID 24362795

• Emotion, Emotion Regulation, and Psychopathology: An Affective Science Perspective CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Gross, J. J., Jazaieri, H. 2014; 2 (4): 387–401

  View details for DOI 10.1177/2167702614536164

  View details for Web of Science ID 000409460000002

• Self-Control in School-Age Children EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST Duckworth, A. L., Gendler, T. S., Gross, J. J. 2014; 49 (3): 199-217

  View details for DOI 10.1080/00461520.2014.926225

  View details for Web of Science ID 000340119600003

• Fluid cognitive ability is a resource for successful emotion regulation in older and younger adults FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY Opitz, P. C., Lee, I. A., Gross, J. J., Urry, H. L. 2014; 5

  Abstract

  The Selection, Optimization, and Compensation with Emotion Regulation (SOC-ER) framework suggests that (1) emotion regulation (ER) strategies require resources and that (2) higher levels of relevant resources may increase ER success. In the current experiment, we tested the specific hypothesis that individual differences in one internal class of resources, namely cognitive ability, would contribute to greater success using cognitive reappraisal (CR), a form of ER in which one reinterprets the meaning of emotion-eliciting situations. To test this hypothesis, 60 participants (30 younger and 30 older adults) completed standardized neuropsychological tests that assess fluid and crystallized cognitive ability, as well as a CR task in which participants reinterpreted the meaning of sad pictures in order to alter (increase or decrease) their emotions. In a control condition, they viewed the pictures without trying to change how they felt. Throughout the task, we indexed subjective emotional experience (self-reported ratings of emotional intensity), expressive behavior (corrugator muscle activity), and autonomic physiology (heart rate and electrodermal activity) as measures of emotional responding. Multilevel models were constructed to explain within-subjects variation in emotional responding as a function of ER contrasts comparing increase or decrease conditions with the view control condition and between-subjects variation as a function of cognitive ability and/or age group (older, younger). As predicted, higher fluid cognitive ability-indexed by perceptual reasoning, processing speed, and working memory-was associated with greater success using reappraisal to alter emotional responding. Reappraisal success did not vary as a function of crystallized cognitive ability or age group. Collectively, our results provide support for a key tenet of the SOC-ER framework that higher levels of relevant resources may confer greater success at emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00609

  View details for Web of Science ID 000338675800002

  View details for PubMedID 24987387

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4060296

• Emotion beliefs in social anxiety disorder: Associations with stress, anxiety, and well-being AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY De Castella, K., Goldin, P., Jazaieri, H., Ziv, M., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2014; 66 (2): 139-148

  View details for DOI 10.1111/ajpy.12053

  View details for Web of Science ID 000335402400009

• Emotional granularity and social functioning in individuals with schizophrenia: An experience sampling study JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH Kimhy, D., Vakhrusheva, J., Khan, S., Chang, R. W., Hansen, M. C., Ballon, J. S., Malaspina, D., Gross, J. J. 2014; 53: 141-148

  Abstract

  Previous research has shown that healthy individuals who fail to differentiate among emotional states (i.e., those with low emotional granularity; EG) have poorer social functioning (SF) than those with high EG. It is unknown, however, whether these associations extend to clinical disorders characterized by impaired SF, such as schizophrenia. In the present study, we compared SF and EG in individuals with schizophrenia and healthy controls, and then, within the schizophrenia group, we examined the links between EG and SF. Employing an Experience Sampling Method approach, 77 individuals with schizophrenia and 27 healthy controls rated their momentary emotions (sadness, anxiety, anger, and happiness) up to 10 times/day over a two-day period using mobile electronic devices. For each participant, we then calculated the within-subject average correlations among the momentary emotion ratings, producing two EG indices - EGIall for all emotions and EGIneg for negative ones. A subsample of participants with schizophrenia also completed self-report, interview, and ability-based measures of SF. Compared to healthy controls, individuals with schizophrenia displayed significantly poorer SF and lower EGIall, but comparable EGIneg. Within the schizophrenia group, hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that EGIall, but not EGIneg, significantly predicted social dysfunction after controlling for emotional awareness, symptoms, and emotional intensity and variability. Our findings indicate that individuals with schizophrenia have a relatively intact ability to differentiate among negative emotions in everyday life. However, they experience significant difficulties differentiating between positive and negative emotions, and this may contribute to their social difficulties.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2014.01.020

  View details for PubMedID 24561000

• Adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies: Interactive effects during CBT for social anxiety disorder JOURNAL OF ANXIETY DISORDERS Aldao, A., Jazaieri, H., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2014; 28 (4): 382-389

  Abstract

  There has been a increasing interest in understanding emotion regulation deficits in social anxiety disorder (SAD; e.g., Hofmann, Sawyer, Fang, & Asnaani, 2012). However, much remains to be understood about the patterns of associations among regulation strategies in the repertoire. Doing so is important in light of the growing recognition that people's ability to flexibly implement strategies is associated with better mental health (e.g., Kashdan et al., 2014). Based on previous work (Aldao & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2012), we examined whether putatively adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies interacted with each other in the prediction of social anxiety symptoms in a sample of 71 participants undergoing CBT for SAD. We found that strategies interacted with each other and that this interaction was qualified by a three-way interaction with a contextual factor, namely treatment study phase. Consequently, these findings underscore the importance of modeling contextual factors when seeking to understand emotion regulation deficits in SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.03.005

  View details for Web of Science ID 000337017300006

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4089517

• An Inflammatory Pathway Links Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk to Neural Activity Evoked by the Cognitive Regulation of Emotion BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY Gianaros, P. J., Marsland, A. L., Kuan, D. C., Schirda, B. L., Jennings, J. R., Sheu, L. K., Hariri, A. R., Gross, J. J., Manuck, S. B. 2014; 75 (9): 738-745

  Abstract

  Cognitive reappraisal is a form of emotion regulation that alters emotional responding by changing the meaning of emotional stimuli. Reappraisal engages regions of the prefrontal cortex that support multiple functions, including visceral control functions implicated in regulating the immune system. Immune activity plays a role in the preclinical pathophysiology of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD), an inflammatory condition that is highly comorbid with affective disorders characterized by problems with emotion regulation. Here, we tested whether prefrontal engagement by reappraisal would be associated with atherosclerotic CVD risk and whether this association would be mediated by inflammatory activity.Community volunteers (n = 157; 30-54 years of age; 80 women) without DSM-IV Axis-1 psychiatric diagnoses or cardiovascular or immune disorders performed a functional neuroimaging task involving the reappraisal of negative emotional stimuli. Carotid artery intima-media thickness and inter-adventitial diameter were measured by ultrasonography and used as markers of preclinical atherosclerosis. Also measured were circulating levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), an inflammatory cytokine linked to CVD risk and prefrontal neural activity.Greater reappraisal-related engagement of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex was associated with greater preclinical atherosclerosis and IL-6. Moreover, IL-6 mediated the association of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex engagement with preclinical atherosclerosis. These results were independent of age, sex, race, smoking status, and other known CVD risk factors.The cognitive regulation of emotion might relate to CVD risk through a pathway involving the functional interplay between the anterior cingulate region of the prefrontal cortex and inflammatory activity.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.10.012

  View details for Web of Science ID 000334102400011

  View details for PubMedID 24267410

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3989430

• Adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies: interactive effects during CBT for social anxiety disorder. Journal of anxiety disorders Aldao, A., Jazaieri, H., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2014; 28 (4): 382-389

  Abstract

  There has been a increasing interest in understanding emotion regulation deficits in social anxiety disorder (SAD; e.g., Hofmann, Sawyer, Fang, & Asnaani, 2012). However, much remains to be understood about the patterns of associations among regulation strategies in the repertoire. Doing so is important in light of the growing recognition that people's ability to flexibly implement strategies is associated with better mental health (e.g., Kashdan et al., 2014). Based on previous work (Aldao & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2012), we examined whether putatively adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies interacted with each other in the prediction of social anxiety symptoms in a sample of 71 participants undergoing CBT for SAD. We found that strategies interacted with each other and that this interaction was qualified by a three-way interaction with a contextual factor, namely treatment study phase. Consequently, these findings underscore the importance of modeling contextual factors when seeking to understand emotion regulation deficits in SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.03.005

  View details for PubMedID 24742755

• Trajectories of change in emotion regulation and social anxiety during cognitive-behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH AND THERAPY Goldin, P. R., Lee, I., Ziv, M., Jazaieri, H., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2014; 56: 7-15

  Abstract

  Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD) may decrease social anxiety by training emotion regulation skills. This randomized controlled trial of CBT for SAD examined changes in weekly frequency and success of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, as well as weekly intensity of social anxiety among patients receiving 16 weekly sessions of individual CBT. We expected these variables to (1) differ from pre-to-post-CBT vs. Waitlist, (2) have differential trajectories during CBT, and (3) covary during CBT. We also expected that weekly changes in emotion regulation would predict (4) subsequent weekly changes in social anxiety, and (5) changes in social anxiety both during and post-CBT. Compared to Waitlist, CBT increased cognitive reappraisal frequency and success, decreased social anxiety, but had no impact on expressive suppression. During CBT, weekly cognitive reappraisal frequency and success increased, whereas weekly expressive suppression frequency and social anxiety decreased. Weekly decreases in social anxiety were associated with concurrent increases in reappraisal success and decreases in suppression frequency. Granger causality analysis showed that only reappraisal success increases predicted decreases in subsequent social anxiety during CBT. Reappraisal success increases pre-to-post-CBT predicted reductions in social anxiety symptom severity post-CBT. The trajectory of weekly changes in emotion regulation strategies may help clinicians understand whether CBT is effective and predict decreases in social anxiety.NCT00380731; http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00380731?term=social+anxiety+cognitive+behavioral+therapy+Stanford&rank=1.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.brat.2014.02.005

  View details for Web of Science ID 000337017400002

• Trajectories of change in emotion regulation and social anxiety during cognitive-behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder. Behaviour research and therapy Goldin, P. R., Lee, I., Ziv, M., Jazaieri, H., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2014; 56: 7-15

  Abstract

  Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD) may decrease social anxiety by training emotion regulation skills. This randomized controlled trial of CBT for SAD examined changes in weekly frequency and success of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, as well as weekly intensity of social anxiety among patients receiving 16 weekly sessions of individual CBT. We expected these variables to (1) differ from pre-to-post-CBT vs. Waitlist, (2) have differential trajectories during CBT, and (3) covary during CBT. We also expected that weekly changes in emotion regulation would predict (4) subsequent weekly changes in social anxiety, and (5) changes in social anxiety both during and post-CBT. Compared to Waitlist, CBT increased cognitive reappraisal frequency and success, decreased social anxiety, but had no impact on expressive suppression. During CBT, weekly cognitive reappraisal frequency and success increased, whereas weekly expressive suppression frequency and social anxiety decreased. Weekly decreases in social anxiety were associated with concurrent increases in reappraisal success and decreases in suppression frequency. Granger causality analysis showed that only reappraisal success increases predicted decreases in subsequent social anxiety during CBT. Reappraisal success increases pre-to-post-CBT predicted reductions in social anxiety symptom severity post-CBT. The trajectory of weekly changes in emotion regulation strategies may help clinicians understand whether CBT is effective and predict decreases in social anxiety.NCT00380731; http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00380731?term=social+anxiety+cognitive+behavioral+therapy+Stanford&rank=1.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.brat.2014.02.005

  View details for PubMedID 24632110

• Effects of antidepressant medication on emotion regulation in depressed patients: An iSPOT-D report JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS McRae, K., Rekshan, W., Williams, L. M., Cooper, N., Gross, J. J. 2014; 159: 127-132

  Abstract

  Antidepressant medication (ADM) is thought to reduce depressive symptoms by altering emotion-generative brain systems. However, it is unknown whether successful ADM treatment is associated with changes in psychobehavioral strategies used to regulate emotions. We examined depressive symptoms and emotion regulation strategies before and after ADM in the international Study to Predict Optimized Treatment in Depression (iSPOT-D).The study enrolled 1008 adult patients with MDD (18-65 years old) from 18 primary and psychiatric care sites worldwide. Patients were randomly assigned to an 8-week course of escitalopram, sertraline, or venlafaxine-extended-release. We examined whether ADM is associated with changes in suppression, usually associated with maladaptive outcomes, and reappraisal, usually associated with adaptive outcomes. We also tested whether changes in emotion regulation predict changes in depressive symptoms following ADM.We observed more adaptive emotion regulation (decreased use of suppression and increased use of reappraisal) following ADM. Furthermore, the largest improvements in emotion regulation were associated with the best treatment outcomes.Because we assessed acute outcomes, it is not yet known if the effects of ADM on emotion regulation would persist over time.ADMs are associated with acute, adaptive changes in the psychobehavioral strategies used to regulate emotions.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2014.12.037

  View details for Web of Science ID 000333398400019

  View details for PubMedID 24679400

• Testing the effects of suppression and reappraisal on emotional concordance using a multivariate multilevel model BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY Butler, E. A., Gross, J. J., Barnard, K. 2014; 98: 6-18

  Abstract

  In theory, the essence of emotion is coordination across experiential, behavioral, and physiological systems in the service of functional responding to environmental demands. However, people often regulate emotions, which could either reduce or enhance cross-system concordance. The present study tested the effects of two forms of emotion regulation (expressive suppression, positive reappraisal) on concordance of subjective experience (positive-negative valence), expressive behavior (positive and negative), and physiology (inter-beat interval, skin conductance, blood pressure) during conversations between unacquainted young women. As predicted, participants asked to suppress showed reduced concordance for both positive and negative emotions. Reappraisal instructions also reduced concordance for negative emotions, but increased concordance for positive ones. Both regulation strategies had contagious interpersonal effects on average levels of responding. Suppression reduced overall expression for both regulating and uninstructed partners, while reappraisal reduced negative experience. Neither strategy influenced the uninstructed partners' concordance. These results suggest that emotion regulation impacts concordance by altering the temporal coupling of phasic subsystem responses, rather than by having divergent effects on subsystem tonic levels.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.09.003

  View details for Web of Science ID 000335499900002

  View details for PubMedID 24055556

• Emotion response coherence: A dual-process perspective BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY Evers, C., Hopp, H., Gross, J. J., Fischer, A. H., Manstead, A. S., Mauss, I. B. 2014; 98: 43-49

  Abstract

  Emotions are widely thought to involve coordinated responses across multiple responses (e.g., experiential, behavioral, and physiological). However, empirical support for this general "response coherence" postulate is inconsistent. The present research takes a dual-process perspective, suggesting that response coherence might be conditional upon response system (i.e., automatic versus reflective). In particular, we tested the hypothesis that response coherence should be maximal within each system and minimal across the two systems. To test this prediction, 36 participants underwent an anger provocation while two relatively automatic (anger accessibility and physiology) and two relatively reflective (anger experience and instrumental behavior) responses were measured. As predicted, coherence was found within the automatic and reflective systems, but not across them. Implications for emotion response coherence, dual-process frameworks, and the functions of emotions are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.11.003

  View details for Web of Science ID 000335499900005

  View details for PubMedID 24239595

• The Ideal of the Dispassionate Judge: An Emotion Regulation Perspective EMOTION REVIEW Maroney, T. A., Gross, J. J. 2014; 6 (2): 142-151

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1754073913491989

  View details for Web of Science ID 000333451200011

• Rethinking emotion: Cognitive reappraisal is an effective positive and negative emotion regulation strategy in bipolar disorder. Emotion Gruber, J., Hay, A. C., Gross, J. J. 2014; 14 (2): 388-396

  Abstract

  Bipolar disorder involves difficulties with emotion regulation, yet the precise nature of these emotion regulatory difficulties is unclear. The current study examined whether individuals with remitted bipolar I disorder (n = 23) and healthy controls (n = 23) differ in their ability to use one effective and common form of emotion regulation, cognitive reappraisal. Positive, negative, and neutral films were used to elicit emotion, and participants were cued to watch the film carefully (i.e., uninstructed condition) or reappraise while measures of affect, behavior, and psychophysiology were obtained. Results showed that reappraisal was associated with reductions in emotion reactivity across subjective (i.e., positive and negative affect), behavioral (i.e., positive facial displays), and physiological (i.e., skin conductance) response domains across all participants. Results suggest that reappraisal may be an effective regulation strategy for both negative and positive emotion across both healthy adults and individuals with bipolar disorder. Discussion focuses on clinical and treatment implications for bipolar disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0035249

  View details for PubMedID 24364852

• Academic and emotional functioning in middle school: The role of implicit theories. Emotion Romero, C., Master, A., Paunesku, D., Dweck, C. S., Gross, J. J. 2014; 14 (2): 227-234

  Abstract

  Adolescents face many academic and emotional challenges in middle school, but notable differences are evident in how well they adapt. What predicts adolescents' academic and emotional outcomes during this period? One important factor might be adolescents' implicit theories about whether intelligence and emotions can change. The current study examines how these theories affect academic and emotional outcomes. One hundred fifteen students completed surveys throughout middle school, and their grades and course selections were obtained from school records. Students who believed that intelligence could be developed earned higher grades and were more likely to move to advanced math courses over time. Students who believed that emotions could be controlled reported fewer depressive symptoms and, if they began middle school with lower well-being, were more likely to feel better over time. These findings illustrate the power of adolescents' implicit theories, suggesting exciting new pathways for intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0035490

  View details for PubMedID 24512251

• Reappraisal generation after acquired brain damage: the role of laterality and cognitive control FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY Salas, C. E., Gross, J. J., Turnbull, O. H. 2014; 5

  Abstract

  In the past decade, there has been growing interest in the neuroanatomical and neuropsychological bases of reappraisal. Findings suggest that reappraisal activates a set of areas in the left hemisphere (LH), which are commonly associated with language abilities and verbally mediated cognitive control. The main goal of this study was to investigate whether individuals with focal damage to the LH (n = 8) were more markedly impaired on a reappraisal generation task than individuals with right hemisphere lesions (RH, n = 8), and healthy controls (HC, n = 14). The reappraisal generation task consisted of a set of ten pictures from the IAPS, depicting negative events of different sorts. Participants were asked to quickly generate as many positive reinterpretations as possible for each picture. Two scores were derived from this task, namely difficulty and productivity. A second goal of this study was to explore which cognitive control processes were associated with performance on the reappraisal task. For this purpose, participants were assessed on several measures of cognitive control. Findings indicated that reappraisal difficulty - defined as the time taken to generate a first reappraisal - did not differ between LH and RH groups. However, differences were found between patients with brain injury (LH + RH) and HC, suggesting that brain damage in either hemisphere influences reappraisal difficulty. No differences in reappraisal productivity were found across groups, suggesting that neurological groups and HC are equally productive when time constraints are not considered. Finally, only two cognitive control processes inhibition and verbal fluency- were inversely associated with reappraisal difficulty. Implications for the neuroanatomical and neuropsychological bases of reappraisal generation are discussed, and implications for neuro-rehabilitation are considered.

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00242

  View details for Web of Science ID 000333162400001

  View details for PubMedID 24711799

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3968762

• Using distraction to regulate emotion: Insights from EEG theta dynamics INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Uusberg, A., Thiruchselvam, R., Gross, J. J. 2014; 91 (3): 254-260

  Abstract

  Distraction is a powerful and widely-used emotion regulation strategy. Although distraction regulates emotion sooner than other cognitive strategies (Thiruchselvam, Blechert, Sheppes, Rydstrom, & Gross, 2011), it is not yet clear whether it is capable of blocking the earliest stages of emotion generation. To address this issue, we capitalized on the excellent temporal resolution of EEG by focusing on occipital theta dynamics which were associated with distinct stages of visual processing of emotional stimuli. Individually defined theta band dynamics were extracted from a previously published EEG dataset (Thiruchselvam et al., 2011) in which participants attended to unpleasant (and neutral) images or regulated emotion using distraction and reappraisal. Results revealed two peaks within early theta power increase, both of which were increased by emotional stimuli. Distraction did not affect theta power during an early peak (150-350 ms), but did successfully decrease activity in a second peak (350-550 ms). These results suggest that although distraction acts relatively early in the emotion-generative trajectory, it does not block fast detection of emotional significance. Given that theta dynamics were uncorrelated with Late Positive Potential activity, the present results also encourage researchers to add the occipital theta to the growing toolkit of EEG-based measures of emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.01.006

  View details for Web of Science ID 000333497000013

  View details for PubMedID 24440597

• Emotion regulation choice: a conceptual framework and supporting evidence. Journal of experimental psychology. General Sheppes, G., Scheibe, S., Suri, G., Radu, P., Blechert, J., Gross, J. J. 2014; 143 (1): 163-181

  Abstract

  Choice behavior is considered the fundamental means by which individuals exert control over their environments. One important choice domain that remains virtually unexplored is that of emotion regulation. This is surprising given that healthy adaptation requires flexibly choosing between regulation strategies in a manner that is responsive to differing situational demands. In the present article, we provide a broad conceptual framework that systematically evaluates the rules that govern the ways individuals choose between different emotion regulation strategies. This conceptual account is buttressed by empirical findings from 6 studies that show the effects of hypothesized emotional, cognitive, and motivational determinants of regulation choice (Studies 1-3) and illuminate the mechanisms that underlie choices between different emotion regulation strategies (Studies 4-6). Broad implications and future directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0030831

  View details for PubMedID 23163767

• Emotion regulation choice: A conceptual framework and supporting evidence. Journal of experimental psychology. General Sheppes, G., Scheibe, S., Suri, G., Radu, P., Blechert, J., Gross, J. J. 2014; 143 (1): 163-181

  Abstract

  Choice behavior is considered the fundamental means by which individuals exert control over their environments. One important choice domain that remains virtually unexplored is that of emotion regulation. This is surprising given that healthy adaptation requires flexibly choosing between regulation strategies in a manner that is responsive to differing situational demands. In the present article, we provide a broad conceptual framework that systematically evaluates the rules that govern the ways individuals choose between different emotion regulation strategies. This conceptual account is buttressed by empirical findings from 6 studies that show the effects of hypothesized emotional, cognitive, and motivational determinants of regulation choice (Studies 1-3) and illuminate the mechanisms that underlie choices between different emotion regulation strategies (Studies 4-6). Broad implications and future directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0030831

  View details for PubMedID 23163767

• A randomized controlled trial of compassion cultivation training: Effects on mindfulness, affect, and emotion regulation MOTIVATION AND EMOTION Jazaieri, H., McGonigal, K., Jinpa, T., Doty, J. R., Gross, J. J., Goldin, P. R. 2014; 38 (1): 23-35

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11031-013-9368-z

  View details for Web of Science ID 000330382800002

• Emotional suppression explains the link between early life stress and plasma oxytocin. Anxiety, stress, and coping Mohiyeddini, C., Opacka-Juffry, J., Gross, J. J. 2014; 27 (4): 466-475

  Abstract

  Early life stress (ELS) has been found to be associated with lower concentrations of plasma oxytocin (OT) in adulthood. It is not yet clear, however, what mechanisms underlie this association. The goal of the present study was to test the role of emotional suppression as an intervening variable between ELS in childhood and plasma OT. In a nonclinical sample of 90 men, ELS, emotional suppression, and plasma OT were assessed. Emotional suppression was positively associated with ELS (r = 0.37, p < 0.001) and negatively associated with plasma OT concentrations (r = -0.30, p < 0.01). In contrast, cognitive reappraisal - an alternative emotion regulation strategy - was not correlated with ELS or plasma OT concentrations. Cross-sectional regression analyses revealed that the ELS explained variance in plasma OT via emotional suppression. Moderation analyses revealed that the combination of high ELS and high emotional suppression was associated with the lowest concentrations of plasma oxytocin. These findings are consistent with the view that emotional suppression may be one pathway linking ELS and OT.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/10615806.2014.887696

  View details for PubMedID 24479658

• EMOTION REGULATION IN EDUCATION Conceptual Foundations, Current Applications, and Future Directions INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK OF EMOTIONS IN EDUCATION Jacobs, S. E., Gross, J. J. edited by Pekrun, R., LinnenbrinkGarcia, L. 2014: 183–201

  View details for Web of Science ID 000340401000011

• Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder SOCIAL ANXIETY: CLINICAL, DEVELOPMENTAL, AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES, 3RD EDITION Goldin, P. R., Jazaieri, H., Gross, J. J. edited by Hofmann, S. G., DiBartolo, P. M. 2014: 511–29

  View details for DOI 10.1016/B978-0-12-394427-6.00017-0

  View details for Web of Science ID 000340832300018

• Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: An Emotion Regulation Perspective PSYCHOPATHOLOGY McKenzie, K. C., Gross, J. J. 2014; 47 (4): 207-219

  Abstract

  Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is widely thought to serve an emotion-regulatory function.The focus of the present paper is to provide a conceptual framework for understanding how NSSI might modify a person's emotions.Drawing upon the process model of emotion regulation, we argue that 5 families of emotion regulation strategies may be engaged by NSSI. Individuals may engage in NSSI as an alternative to more distressing situations. They also may use NSSI to modify their social environment. Individuals may shift their attention away from unpleasant emotions or thoughts via NSSI. NSSI may change cognitions about the self via self-punishment or transformation of the self from higher-order to lower-order awareness. NSSI may also bring about various physiological effects, such as changes in endogenous opioids or parasympathetic nervous system activation, as a way of modulating emotional responses.Simply labeling NSSI as 'emotion regulatory' does not tell us precisely what is going on. This is because at any given moment, NSSI can serve to regulate emotions in many different ways. One key challenge is to clarify the precise functions NSSI may be serving for a given individual in a particular context.

  View details for DOI 10.1159/000358097

  View details for Web of Science ID 000337660800001

• The dark and light sides of humor: An emotion regulation perspective. The dark and light sides of positive emotion Samson, A. C., Gross, J. J. edited by Gruber, J., Moskowitz, J. New York, NY: Oxford.. 2014: 169–182
• The neural bases of emotion and emotion regulation: A valuation perspective Handbook of emotion regulation Ochsner, K. N., Gross, J. J. New York, NY: Guilford. 2014; 2: 23–42
• Handbook of emotion regulation edited by Gross, J. J. New York, NY: Guilford. 2014
• Hope in the Middle East: Malleability Beliefs, Hope, and the Willingness to Compromise for Peace SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE Cohen-Chen, S., Halperin, E., Crisp, R. J., Gross, J. J. 2014; 5 (1): 67-75

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1948550613484499

  View details for Web of Science ID 000336437300010

• Emotion generation and emotion regulation: Moving beyond traditional dual-process accounts Dualprocess theories of the social mind Sheppes, G., Gross, J. J. edited by Sherman, J. W., Gawronski, B., Trope, Y. New York, NY: Guilford. 2014: 483–493
• Emotion regulation: Conceptual and empirical foundations Handbook of emotion regulation Gross, J. J. edited by Gross, J. J. New York, NY: Guilford. 2014; 2: 3–20
• Emotion regulation in education: Conceptual foundations, current applications, and future directions International handbook of emotions in education Jacob, S., Gross, J. J. edited by Pekrun, R., Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. New York, NY: Routledge. 2014: 183–201
• Resolving intractable intergroup conflicts: The role of implicit theories about groups The handbook of conflict resolution Halperin, E., Gross, J. J., Dweck, C. S. edited by Deutsch, M., Coleman, P., Marcus, E. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 2014: 384–399
• Emotional suppression explains the link between early life stress and plasma oxytocin ANXIETY STRESS AND COPING Mohiyeddini, C., Opacka-Juffry, J., Gross, J. J. 2014; 27 (4): 466-475

  Abstract

  Early life stress (ELS) has been found to be associated with lower concentrations of plasma oxytocin (OT) in adulthood. It is not yet clear, however, what mechanisms underlie this association. The goal of the present study was to test the role of emotional suppression as an intervening variable between ELS in childhood and plasma OT. In a nonclinical sample of 90 men, ELS, emotional suppression, and plasma OT were assessed. Emotional suppression was positively associated with ELS (r = 0.37, p < 0.001) and negatively associated with plasma OT concentrations (r = -0.30, p < 0.01). In contrast, cognitive reappraisal - an alternative emotion regulation strategy - was not correlated with ELS or plasma OT concentrations. Cross-sectional regression analyses revealed that the ELS explained variance in plasma OT via emotional suppression. Moderation analyses revealed that the combination of high ELS and high emotional suppression was associated with the lowest concentrations of plasma oxytocin. These findings are consistent with the view that emotional suppression may be one pathway linking ELS and OT.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/10615806.2014.887696

  View details for Web of Science ID 000337358500008

• A Prospective Investigation of Mindfulness Skills and Changes in Emotion Regulation Among Military Veterans in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment MINDFULNESS Reber, C. A., Boden, M. T., Mitragotri, N., Alvarez, J., Gross, J. J., Bonn-Miller, M. O. 2013; 4 (4): 311-317

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s12671-012-0131-4

  View details for Web of Science ID 000339617300004

• Cognitive-affective Remediation Training Intervention in Anxiety and Depression Gyurak, A., Gross, J., Chan, L., Etkin, A. NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. 2013: S231

  View details for Web of Science ID 000209477100389

• Effects of Antidepressant Medication on Emotion Regulation in Major Depressive Disorder: An iSPOT-D Report Williams, L., McRae, K., Rekshan, W., Gross, J. NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. 2013: S391

  View details for Web of Science ID 000209477100619

• Reappraisal as a Mediator in the Link Between 5-HTTLPR and Social Anxiety Symptoms EMOTION Miu, A. C., Vulturar, R., Chis, A., Ungureanu, L., Gross, J. J. 2013; 13 (6): 1012-1022

  Abstract

  Social anxiety symptoms have been related to (a) polymorphisms in the serotonin-transporter gene-promoter region (also, serotonin-transporter-linked polymorphic region; 5-HTTLPR) and (b) reduced use of adaptive forms of emotion regulation such as reappraisal. It is not known, however, whether reappraisal functions as a mediator in the link between 5-HTTLPR and social anxiety. To address this issue, 182 unselected community volunteers were tested for 5-HTTLPR status, and self-report measures of social anxiety symptoms and reappraisal use were obtained. Relative to other participants, those with two low-expressing alleles displayed increased social anxiety and decreased reappraisal. As predicted, the influence of 5-HTTLPR on social anxiety symptoms was transmitted via reappraisal, and this effect of 5-HTTLPR was observed using two different measures of reappraisal. These findings suggest that cognitive reappraisal may be an intermediate phenotype of the social anxiety spectrum, and that individuals with low-expressing 5-HTTLPR genotypes may benefit the most from cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy because they do not appear to engage as frequently as others in reappraisal.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0033383

  View details for Web of Science ID 000328291400004

  View details for PubMedID 23795589

• Emotion Regulation in Intractable Conflicts CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Gross, J. J., Halperin, E., Porat, R. 2013; 22 (6): 423-429

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0963721413495871

  View details for Web of Science ID 000327758400001

• The Emerging Field of Affective Science EMOTION Gross, J. J., Barrett, L. F. 2013; 13 (6): 997-998

  Abstract

  This commentary discusses the emerging field of affective science. The authors note that there have been more publications containing the phrase "affective science" in the past few years than in all prior years combined. The importance accorded to this field is evidenced by the attention it is now receiving in our field's highest tier journals, most notably right here in the pages of Emotion, as well as in the several dozen recent volumes on affective science, not to mention the growing number of journals dedicated to research in affective science. To provide an integrated professional home for the emerging field of affective science, the Society for Affective Science was founded in 2012, and will host its first meeting in April 2014 in Washington DC. The authors remark that these are exciting times in affective science, and it is very clear that the best is yet to come.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0034512

  View details for Web of Science ID 000328291400001

  View details for PubMedID 24320711

• Beliefs About Emotion: Links to Emotion Regulation, Well-Being, and Psychological Distress BASIC AND APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY De Castella, K., Goldin, P., Jazaieri, H., Ziv, M., Dweck, C. S., Gross, J. J. 2013; 35 (6): 497-505

  View details for DOI 10.1080/01973533.2013.840632

  View details for Web of Science ID 000327235400001

• Emotion Regulation and Emotion Coherence: Evidence for Strategy-Specific Effects EMOTION Dan-Glauser, E. S., Gross, J. J. 2013; 13 (5): 832-842

  Abstract

  One of the central tenets of emotion theory is that emotions involve coordinated changes across experiential, behavioral, and physiological response domains. Surprisingly little is known, however, about how the strength of this emotion coherence is altered when people try to regulate their emotions. To address this issue, we recorded experiential, behavioral, and physiological responses while participants watched negative and positive pictures. Cross-correlations were used to quantify emotion coherence. Study 1 tested how two types of suppression (expressive and physiological) influence coherence. Results showed that both strategies decreased the response coherence measured in negative and positive contexts. Study 2 tested how multichannel suppression (simultaneously targeting expressive and physiological responses) and acceptance influence emotion coherence. Results again showed that suppression decreased coherence. By contrast, acceptance was not significantly different from the unregulated condition. These findings help to clarify the nature of emotion response coherence by showing how different forms of emotion regulation may differentially affect it.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0032672

  View details for Web of Science ID 000325467200005

  View details for PubMedID 23731438

• Multisystem resiliency moderates the major depression-Telomere length association: Findings from the Heart and Soul Study BRAIN BEHAVIOR AND IMMUNITY Puterman, E., Epel, E. S., Lin, J., Blackburn, E. H., Gross, J. J., Whooley, M. A., Cohen, B. E. 2013; 33: 65-73

  Abstract

  Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been associated with reduced leukocyte telomere length (LTL). It is not known, however, whether psychosocial and behavioral protective factors moderate this association. In the current study, we examine whether multisystem resiliency--defined by healthy emotion regulation, strong social connections, and health behaviors (sleep and exercise)--predicts LTL and mitigates previously demonstrated associations between depression diagnosis and LTL. LTL was measured, using a quantitative PCR assay, in 954 patients with stable cardiovascular disease in the Heart and Soul Study. In a fully adjusted model, high multisystem resiliency predicted longer LTL (b=80.00, SE=27.17, p=.003), whereas each individual factor did not. Multisystem resiliency significantly moderated the MDD-LTL association (p=.02). Specifically, MDD was significantly related to LTL at 1 SD below the mean of multisystem resiliency (b=-142.86, SE=56.46, p=.01), but not at 1 SD above the mean (b=49.07, SE=74.51, p=.51). This study suggests that MDD associations with biological outcomes should be examined within a psychosocial-behavioral context, because this context shapes the nature of the direct relationship. Further research should explore the cognitive, neural, and other physiological pathways through which multisystem resiliency may confer biological benefit.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.bbi.2013.05.008

  View details for Web of Science ID 000324788300010

  View details for PubMedID 23727245

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3855878

• Impact of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder on the Neural Dynamics of Cognitive Reappraisal of Negative Self-beliefs Randomized Clinical Trial JAMA PSYCHIATRY Goldin, P. R., Ziv, M., Jazaieri, H., Hahn, K., Heimberg, R., Gross, J. J. 2013; 70 (10): 1048-1056

  Abstract

  Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD) is thought to enhance cognitive reappraisal in patients with SAD. Such improvements should be evident in cognitive reappraisal-related prefrontal cortex responses.To determine whether CBT for SAD modifies cognitive reappraisal-related prefrontal cortex neural signal magnitude and timing when implementing cognitive reappraisal with negative self-beliefs. DESIGN Randomized clinical trial of CBT for SAD vs wait-list control group during a study that enrolled patients from 2007 to 2010.University psychology department.Seventy-five patients with generalized SAD randomly assigned to CBT or wait list.Sixteen sessions of individual CBT for SAD.Negative emotion ratings and functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygen-level dependent signal when reacting to and cognitively reappraising negative self-beliefs embedded in autobiographical social anxiety situations. RESULTS During reactivity trials, compared with wait list, CBT produced (1) greater reduction in negative emotion ratings and (2) greater blood oxygen-level dependent signal magnitude in the medial prefrontal cortex. During cognitive reappraisal trials, compared with wait list, CBT produced (3) greater reduction in negative emotion ratings, (4) greater blood oxygen level-dependent signal magnitude in the dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, (5) earlier temporal onset of dorsomedial prefrontal cortex activity, and (6) greater dorsomedial prefrontal cortex-amygdala inverse functional connectivity.Modulation of cognitive reappraisal-related brain responses, timing, and functional connectivity may be important brain changes that contribute to the effectiveness of CBT for social anxiety. This study demonstrates that clinically applied neuroscience investigations can elucidate neurobiological mechanisms of change in psychiatric conditions.clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00380731.

  View details for DOI 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.234

  View details for Web of Science ID 000325184100009

  View details for PubMedID 23945981

• Impact of cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder on the neural dynamics of cognitive reappraisal of negative self-beliefs: randomized clinical trial. JAMA psychiatry Goldin, P. R., Ziv, M., Jazaieri, H., Hahn, K., Heimberg, R., Gross, J. J. 2013; 70 (10): 1048-1056

  Abstract

  Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD) is thought to enhance cognitive reappraisal in patients with SAD. Such improvements should be evident in cognitive reappraisal-related prefrontal cortex responses.To determine whether CBT for SAD modifies cognitive reappraisal-related prefrontal cortex neural signal magnitude and timing when implementing cognitive reappraisal with negative self-beliefs. DESIGN Randomized clinical trial of CBT for SAD vs wait-list control group during a study that enrolled patients from 2007 to 2010.University psychology department.Seventy-five patients with generalized SAD randomly assigned to CBT or wait list.Sixteen sessions of individual CBT for SAD.Negative emotion ratings and functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygen-level dependent signal when reacting to and cognitively reappraising negative self-beliefs embedded in autobiographical social anxiety situations. RESULTS During reactivity trials, compared with wait list, CBT produced (1) greater reduction in negative emotion ratings and (2) greater blood oxygen-level dependent signal magnitude in the medial prefrontal cortex. During cognitive reappraisal trials, compared with wait list, CBT produced (3) greater reduction in negative emotion ratings, (4) greater blood oxygen level-dependent signal magnitude in the dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, (5) earlier temporal onset of dorsomedial prefrontal cortex activity, and (6) greater dorsomedial prefrontal cortex-amygdala inverse functional connectivity.Modulation of cognitive reappraisal-related brain responses, timing, and functional connectivity may be important brain changes that contribute to the effectiveness of CBT for social anxiety. This study demonstrates that clinically applied neuroscience investigations can elucidate neurobiological mechanisms of change in psychiatric conditions.clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00380731.

  View details for DOI 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.234

  View details for PubMedID 23945981

• Patient inertia and the status quo bias: when an inferior option is preferred. Psychological science Suri, G., Sheppes, G., Schwartz, C., Gross, J. J. 2013; 24 (9): 1763-1769

  Abstract

  Medical noncompliance is a major public-health problem. One potential source of this noncompliance is patient inertia. It has been hypothesized that one cause of patient inertia might be the status quo bias-which is the tendency to select the default choice among a set of options. To test this hypothesis, we created a laboratory analogue of the decision context that frequently occurs in situations involving patient inertia, and we examined whether participants would stay with a default option even when it was clearly inferior to other available options. Specifically, in Studies 1 and 2, participants were given the option to reduce their anxiety while waiting for an electric shock. When doing nothing was the status quo option, participants frequently did not select the option that would reduce their anxiety. In Study 3, we demonstrated a simple way to overcome status quo bias in a context relevant to patient inertia.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0956797613479976

  View details for PubMedID 23873580

• Mindfulness meditation, well-being, and heart rate variability: A preliminary investigation into the impact of intensive Vipassana meditation INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Krygier, J. R., Heathers, J. A. J., Shahrestani, S., Abbott, M., Gross, J. J., Kemp, A. H. 2013; 89 (3): 305–13

  Abstract

  Mindfulness meditation has beneficial effects on brain and body, yet the impact of Vipassana, a type of mindfulness meditation, on heart rate variability (HRV) - a psychophysiological marker of mental and physical health - is unknown. We hypothesised increases in measures of well-being and HRV, and decreases in ill-being after training in Vipassana compared to before (time effects), during the meditation task compared to resting baseline (task effects), and a time by task interaction with more pronounced differences between tasks after Vipassana training. HRV (5-minute resting baseline vs. 5-minute meditation) was collected from 36 participants before and after they completed a 10-day intensive Vipassana retreat. Changes in three frequency-domain measures of HRV were analysed using 2 (Time; pre- vs. post-Vipassana)× 2 (Task; resting baseline vs. meditation) within subjects ANOVA. These measures were: normalised high-frequency power (HF n.u.), a widely used biomarker of parasympathetic activity; log-transformed high frequency power (ln HF), a measure of RSA and required to interpret normalised HF; and Traube-Hering-Mayer waves (THM), a component of the low frequency spectrum linked to baroreflex outflow. As expected, participants showed significantly increased well-being, and decreased ill-being. ln HF increased overall during meditation compared to resting baseline, while there was a time∗task interaction for THM. Further testing revealed that pre-Vipassana only ln HF increased during meditation (vs. resting baseline), consistent with a change in respiration. Post-Vipassana, the meditation task increased HF n.u. and decreased THM compared to resting baseline, suggesting post-Vipassana task-related changes are characterised by a decrease in absolute LF power, not parasympathetic-mediated increases in HF power. Such baroreflex changes are classically associated with attentional load, and our results are interpreted in light of the concept of 'flow' - a state of positive and full immersion in an activity. These results are also consistent with changes in normalised HRV reported in other meditation studies.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2013.06.017

  View details for Web of Science ID 000326432200004

  View details for PubMedID 23797150

• Patient Inertia and the Status Quo Bias When an Inferior Option Is Preferred PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Suri, G., Sheppes, G., Schwartz, C., Gross, J. J. 2013; 24 (9): 1763-1769

  Abstract

  Medical noncompliance is a major public-health problem. One potential source of this noncompliance is patient inertia. It has been hypothesized that one cause of patient inertia might be the status quo bias-which is the tendency to select the default choice among a set of options. To test this hypothesis, we created a laboratory analogue of the decision context that frequently occurs in situations involving patient inertia, and we examined whether participants would stay with a default option even when it was clearly inferior to other available options. Specifically, in Studies 1 and 2, participants were given the option to reduce their anxiety while waiting for an electric shock. When doing nothing was the status quo option, participants frequently did not select the option that would reduce their anxiety. In Study 3, we demonstrated a simple way to overcome status quo bias in a context relevant to patient inertia.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0956797613479976

  View details for Web of Science ID 000324403000017

• The psychophysiology of mixed emotional states. Psychophysiology Kreibig, S. D., Samson, A. C., Gross, J. J. 2013; 50 (8): 799-811

  Abstract

  How to conceptualize mixed emotional states is a central issue in the field of affective science. Nondifferentiation, additive, and emergence accounts of mixed emotions make divergent predictions regarding physiological responses in mixed emotions. To test these predictions, 43 women watched film clips that elicited amusement, disgust, or mixed emotions while feeling self-report, facial electromyography, cardiovascular, electrodermal, and respiratory measures were assessed. Simultaneous self-reports of amusement and disgust confirmed elicitation of a mixed emotional state. Physiologically, mixed emotions differed from pure amusement and pure disgust both in intensity and pattern. This suggests a distinct physiological response of the mixed emotional state, as predicted by the emergence account of mixed emotions. Implications for emotion theory and research are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/psyp.12064

  View details for PubMedID 23730872

• Oxytocin increases willingness to socially share one's emotions INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY Lane, A., Luminet, O., Rime, B., Gross, J. J., de Timary, P., Mikolajczak, M. 2013; 48 (4): 676-681

  Abstract

  Oxytocin (OT) is a neuropeptide that is attracting growing attention from researchers interested in human emotional and social behavior. There is indeed increasing evidence that OT has a calming effect and that it facilitates pair-bonding and social interactions. Some of OT's effects are thought to be direct, but it has been suggested that OT also may have indirect effects, mediated by changes in behavior. One potentially relevant behavioral change is an increased propensity for "emotional sharing" as this behavior, like OT, is known to have both calming and bonding effects. In this study, 60 healthy young adult men were randomly assigned to receive either intranasal placebo (PL; n = 30) or oxytocin (OT; n = 30). Participants were then instructed to retrieve a painful memory. Subsequently, OT and placebo participants' willingness to disclose to another person event-related facts (factual sharing) vs. event-related emotions (emotional sharing) was evaluated. Whereas the two groups were equally willing to disclose event-related facts, oxytocin was found to specifically increase the willingness to share event-related emotions. This study provides the first evidence that OT increases people's willingness to share their emotions. Importantly, OT did not make people more talkative (word counts were comparable across the two groups) but instead increased the willingness to share the specific component that is responsible for the calming and bonding effects of social sharing: emotions. Findings suggest that OT may shape the form of social sharing so as to maximize its benefits. This might help explain the calming and bonding effects of OT.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/00207594.2012.677540

  View details for Web of Science ID 000322696600021

  View details for PubMedID 22554106

• Concrete behaviour and reappraisal deficits after a left frontal stroke: A case study NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL REHABILITATION Salas, C. E., Gross, J. J., Rafal, R. D., Vinas-Guasch, N., Turnbull, O. H. 2013; 23 (4): 467-500

  Abstract

  Concrete behaviour, the inability to disengage from immediate experience in order to manipulate ideas and thoughts, has long been understood to be a common problem after frontal lobe lesions. However, there has been little consideration of the impact that concreteness may have on emotional functioning, specifically in the use of thinking to manipulate emotional responses. One widely studied emotion regulation strategy is reappraisal, which depends on several frontal lobe related cognitive control processes. While there have been numerous neuroimaging findings on reappraisal, no study has used brain injured patients to investigate this issue. The present case study is the first to describe the capacity to generate reappraisals in a patient (Mrs M), whose behaviour became concrete after a left prefrontal stroke. Using a picture-based reappraisal paradigm, her performance was compared to non-concrete brain-lesioned patients, and neurologically healthy controls. Although Mrs M showed relatively preserved overall cognitive function, she was completely unable to spontaneously generate reappraisals. In striking contrast, once external support was offered, in the form of prompts, her capacity to reappraise dramatically improved. The results are analysed in terms of three neuropsychological capacities - all compromised in Mrs M - previously proposed as reappraisal components: response inhibition, abstraction, and verbal fluency. A number of implications for rehabilitation are discussed, including how the use of prompting may facilitate reappraisal capacity.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/09602011.2013.784709

  View details for Web of Science ID 000322151600001

  View details for PubMedID 23551078

• Enhancing Compassion: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Compassion Cultivation Training Program JOURNAL OF HAPPINESS STUDIES Jazaieri, H., Jinpa, G. T., McGonigal, K., Rosenberg, E. L., Finkelstein, J., Simon-Thomas, E., Cullen, M., Doty, J. R., Gross, J. J., Goldin, P. R. 2013; 14 (4): 1113-1126

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10902-012-9373-z

  View details for Web of Science ID 000323740500002

• A Brief Intervention to Promote Conflict Reappraisal Preserves Marital Quality Over Time PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Finkel, E. J., Slotter, E. B., Luchies, L. B., Walton, G. M., Gross, J. J. 2013; 24 (8): 1595-1601

  Abstract

  Marital quality is a major contributor to happiness and health. Unfortunately, marital quality normatively declines over time. We tested whether a novel 21-min intervention designed to foster the reappraisal of marital conflicts could preserve marital quality in a sample of 120 couples enrolled in an intensive 2-year study. Half of the couples were randomly assigned to receive the reappraisal intervention in Year 2 (following no intervention in Year 1); half were not. Both groups exhibited declines in marital quality over Year 1. This decline continued in Year 2 among couples in the control condition, but it was eliminated among couples in the reappraisal condition. This effect of the reappraisal intervention on marital quality over time was mediated through reductions in conflict-related distress over time. This study illustrates the potential of brief, theory-based, social-psychological interventions to preserve the quality of intimate relationships over time.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0956797612474938

  View details for Web of Science ID 000322904700025

  View details for PubMedID 23804960

• Maladaptive Cognitive Emotion Regulation Prospectively Predicts Subclinical Paranoia COGNITIVE THERAPY AND RESEARCH Westermann, S., Boden, M. T., Gross, J. J., Lincoln, T. M. 2013; 37 (4): 881-885

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10608-013-9523-6

  View details for Web of Science ID 000322272100024

• Predicting Affective Choice JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-GENERAL Suri, G., Sheppes, G., Gross, J. J. 2013; 142 (3): 627-632

  Abstract

  Affect is increasingly recognized as central to decision making. However, it is not clear whether affect can be used to predict choice. To address this issue, we conducted 4 studies designed to create and test a model that could predict choice from affect. In Study 1, we used an image rating task to develop a model that predicted approach-avoidance motivations. This model quantified the role of two basic dimensions of affect-valence and arousal-in determining choice. We then tested the predictive power of this model for two types of decisions involving images: preference based selections (Study 2) and risk-reward trade-offs (Study 3). In both cases, the model derived in Study 1 predicted choice and outperformed competing models drawn from well-established theoretical views. Finally, we showed that this model has ecological validity: It predicted choices between news articles on the basis of headlines (Study 4). These findings have implications for diverse fields, including neuroeconomics and judgment and decision making. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0029900

  View details for Web of Science ID 000322353600004

  View details for PubMedID 22924884

• Childhood maltreatment and response to cognitive behavioral therapy among individuals with social anxiety disorder. Depression and anxiety Bruce, L. C., Heimberg, R. G., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2013; 30 (7): 662-669

  Abstract

  The association between childhood maltreatment-particularly emotional maltreatment-and social anxiety disorder (SAD) has been established by research. Only recently have researchers begun to look at the impact of childhood maltreatment on treatment outcomes, and findings have been mixed. Because prior studies have focused on pharmacotherapy outcomes, or used global measures of childhood adversity or abuse, it is not clear how specific types of maltreatment impact outcomes in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for SAD. The current study reports on how specific types of childhood maltreatment such as physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect impact response to CBT in adults with SAD.Sixty-eight individuals with a primary diagnosis of SAD completed the childhood trauma questionnaire, along with measures of social anxiety, disability, and life satisfaction.Childhood maltreatment did not affect the rate of response to CBT, but there is evidence for its negative impact. Patients with histories of emotional abuse and emotional neglect reported greater social anxiety, less satisfaction, and greater disability over the course of treatment. Sexual abuse also predicted greater social anxiety.Childhood abuse and/or neglect did not result in differential rates of improvement during CBT; however, those reporting histories of emotional and sexual forms of maltreatment evidenced greater symptoms and/or impairment at pre- and posttreatment. Additional attention to the role of traumatic experiences within CBT for SAD may be warranted.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/da.22112

  View details for PubMedID 23554134

• Changes in Positive Self-Views Mediate the Effect of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder. Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science Goldin, P. R., Jazaieri, H., Ziv, M., Kraemer, H., Heimberg, R., Gross, J. J. 2013; 1 (3): 301-310

  Abstract

  Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is thought to be characterized by maladaptive self-views. This study investigated whether (1) patients with SAD (n=75) differ at baseline from healthy controls (HC; n=43) in negative and positive self-views, (2) Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for SAD vs. waitlist control (WL) produces statistically and clinically significant changes in negative and positive self-views, (3) changes in self-views mediate the effect of CBT on social anxiety symptoms, and (4) changes in self-views during CBT related to social anxiety symptoms at 1-year post-CBT. As expected, patients endorsed more negative and fewer positive self-views than HC at baseline. Compared to WL, CBT yielded statistically and clinically significant changes, specifically, fewer negative and more positive self-views. Mediational analysis indicated that increased positive (but not reduced negative) self-views mediated the effect of CBT on social anxiety reduction. Correlational analyses determined that increased positive self-views were associated with social anxiety symptom reduction at 1-year-post-CBT.

  View details for PubMedID 25541599

• There's More to Anxiety Than Meets the Eye: Isolating Threat-Related Attentional Engagement and Disengagement Biases EMOTION Sheppes, G., Luria, R., Fukuda, K., Gross, J. J. 2013; 13 (3): 520-528

  Abstract

  Threat-related attentional biases represent a basic survival mechanism. These biases include an engagement bias involving rapid direction of attention toward threat and a disengagement bias involving slow direction of attention away from threat. The exact nature of these biases in healthy and anxious individuals remains controversial because of the challenges associated with accurately isolating each of these attentional biases. Combining a cognitive attentional task with classical conditioning using electric stimulation, we created a new paradigm that makes it possible to more clearly isolate these attentional biases. Utilizing this novel paradigm, we detected both types of attentional bias and differentiated between levels of trait anxiety, in which low- and high-trait anxiety individuals showed equal levels of engagement bias, but only high-trait anxiety individuals showed impaired disengagement from threat.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0031236

  View details for PubMedID 23356563

• United We Stand: Emphasizing Commonalities Across Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies BEHAVIOR THERAPY Mennin, D. S., Ellard, K. K., Fresco, D. M., Gross, J. J. 2013; 44 (2): 234–48

  Abstract

  Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has a rich history of alleviating the suffering associated with mental disorders. Recently, there have been exciting new developments, including multicomponent approaches, incorporated alternative therapies (e.g., meditation), targeted and cost-effective technologies, and integrated biological and behavioral frameworks. These field-wide changes have led some to emphasize the differences among variants of CBT. Here, we draw attention to commonalities across cognitive-behavioral therapies, including shared goals, change principles, and therapeutic processes. Specifically, we offer a framework for examining common CBT characteristics that emphasizes behavioral adaptation as a unifying goal and three core change principles, namely (a) context engagement to promote adaptive imagining and enacting of new experiences; (b) attention change to promote adaptive sustaining, shifting, and broadening of attention; and (c) cognitive change to promote adaptive perspective taking on events so as to alter verbal meanings. Further, we argue that specific intervention components, including behavioral exposure/activation, attention training, acceptance/tolerance, decentering/defusion, and cognitive reframing, may be emphasized to a greater or lesser degree by different treatment packages but are still fundamentally common therapeutic processes that are present across approaches and are best understood by their relationships to these core CBT change principles. We conclude by arguing for shared methodological and design frameworks for investigating unique and common characteristics to advance a unified and strong voice for CBT in a widening, increasingly multimodal and interdisciplinary, intervention science.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.beth.2013.02.004

  View details for Web of Science ID 000318319600008

  View details for PubMedID 23611074

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4992341

• Emotion Regulation: Taking Stock and Moving Forward EMOTION Gross, J. J. 2013; 13 (3): 359-365

  Abstract

  The field of emotion regulation has now come of age. However, enthusiasm for the topic continues to outstrip conceptual clarity. In this article, I review the state of the field. I do this by asking--and attempting to succinctly answer--10 fundamental questions concerning emotion regulation, ranging from what emotion regulation is, to why it matters, to how we can change it. I conclude by considering some of the challenges that confront this rapidly growing field.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0032135

  View details for Web of Science ID 000320064900001

  View details for PubMedID 23527510

• Affective Science and Health: The Importance of Emotion and Emotion Regulation HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY DeSteno, D., Gross, J. J., Kubzansky, L. 2013; 32 (5): 474-486

  Abstract

  The goal of this article is to provide insight into how recent findings from affective science may be translated into the health arena.We first review definitional issues related to the key concepts of emotion and stress. We then review relevant research that informs our understanding of the affect-health relationship. Subsequently, we highlight findings that are the most informative and also ripe for translation into the domains of health and health-related behaviors.We identify several domains of affect-relevant processes (e.g., emotion-regulation, stress response) that would benefit from increased elaboration. Three themes may guide how best to broaden our understanding across multiple domains: the need to use a differentiated emotion-based approach, the need to consider potential synergistic and oppositional effects of emotion that can occur in parallel, and the need to examine the impact of emotions with respect to regulation and coping at both the intra- and interindividual levels. Building on insights derived from these themes, we suggest a broad integrative framework for use with future investigations. This framework categorizes potential emotion-related effects on health according to whether they influence health directly (e.g., shaping physiological responses) or indirectly (e.g., guiding decision making and behavior). Using this approach will allow researchers to examine systematically the often simultaneous and sometimes opposing influences of emotion on distinct health-relevant cognitive and physiological mechanisms, and to integrate across potentially disparate findings.We conclude by suggesting opportunities for future work that we see as most fruitful based on the presented framework.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0030259

  View details for Web of Science ID 000318523400003

  View details for PubMedID 23646831

• EMOTION REGULATION AND POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER: A PROSPECTIVE INVESTIGATION JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Boden, M. T., Westermann, S., McRae, K., Kuo, J., Alvarez, J., Kulkarni, M. R., Gross, J. J., Bonn-Miller, M. O. 2013; 32 (3): 296-314

  View details for Web of Science ID 000315675300003

• Friend or Foe? Age Moderates Time-Course Specific Responsiveness to Trustworthiness Cues JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B-PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Petrican, R., English, T., Gross, J. J., Grady, C., Hai, T., Moscovitch, M. 2013; 68 (2): 215-223

  Abstract

  There is growing evidence of a greater focus on positive relative to negative information in older adulthood. Up to date, the age-related positivity effect in affective processing has been only investigated with respect to explicit emotional cues. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether similar age-related differences would be observed in reference to subtler cues, such as emotionally suggestive structural facial characteristics.We used a gaze following paradigm and investigated the temporal dynamics of responding to facial trustworthiness cues in younger and older adults.Both age groups provided similar trustworthiness evaluations. Nonetheless, under responding conditions that allowed for volitional modulatory influences (600 ms), older (but not younger) adults with superior cognitive resources showed more gaze following in response to trustworthy than to untrustworthy looking faces.This study provided initial evidence that the age-related positivity effect in affective processing extends to subtle emotional cues, generally interpreted as being reflective of socially relevant personality traits. Implications for aging theories of motivated cognition and developmental changes in reliance on superficial affective cues are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/geronb/gbs064

  View details for Web of Science ID 000315050900008

  View details for PubMedID 22929388

• The interactive effects of emotional clarity and cognitive reappraisal on problematic cannabis use among medical cannabis users ADDICTIVE BEHAVIORS Boden, M. T., Gross, J. J., Babson, K. A., Bonn-Miller, M. O. 2013; 38 (3): 1663-1668

  Abstract

  This study examined whether emotional clarity (i.e., the extent to which one can identify and understand the type and source of emotions one experiences) and cognitive reappraisal (i.e., altering how potentially emotion-eliciting situations are construed to change their emotional impact) would individually or jointly be associated with problematic cannabis use among individuals receiving cannabis for medical reasons (n=153). Findings indicated that problematic cannabis use was predicted by the interaction between emotional clarity and cognitive reappraisal. In particular, low levels of emotional clarity combined with high levels of cognitive reappraisal predicted problematic cannabis use. The current study is the first to demonstrate the interactive effects of emotional clarity and the use of cognitive reappraisal in predicting substance use disorder outcomes. Such findings are important given the lack of empirical data demonstrating for whom and for which conditions cannabis is either beneficial or detrimental.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.addbeh.2012.09.001

  View details for Web of Science ID 000315369800012

  View details for PubMedID 23254215

• Emotion Regulation in Adolescence: A Prospective Study of Expressive Suppression and Depressive Symptoms JOURNAL OF EARLY ADOLESCENCE Larsen, J. K., Vermulst, A. A., Geenen, R., van Middendorp, H., English, T., Gross, J. J., Thao Ha, T., Evers, C., Engels, R. C. 2013; 33 (2): 184-200

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0272431611432712

  View details for Web of Science ID 000313732800002

• MBSR vs aerobic exercise in social anxiety: fMRI of emotion regulation of negative self-beliefs SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE Goldin, P., Ziv, M., Jazaieri, H., Hahn, K., Gross, J. J. 2013; 8 (1): 65-72

  Abstract

  Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is thought to reduce emotional reactivity and enhance emotion regulation in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). The goal of this study was to examine the neural correlates of deploying attention to regulate responses to negative self-beliefs using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants were 56 patients with generalized SAD in a randomized controlled trial who were assigned to MBSR or a comparison aerobic exercise (AE) stress reduction program. Compared to AE, MBSR yielded greater (i) reductions in negative emotion when implementing regulation and (ii) increases in attention-related parietal cortical regions. Meditation practice was associated with decreases in negative emotion and social anxiety symptom severity, and increases in attention-related parietal cortex neural responses when implementing attention regulation of negative self-beliefs. Changes in attention regulation during MBSR may be an important psychological factor that helps to explain how mindfulness meditation training benefits patients with anxiety disorders.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/scan/nss054

  View details for Web of Science ID 000313649700009

  View details for PubMedID 22586252

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3541489

• EMOTION REGULATION: CONCEPTUAL AND EMPIRICAL FOUNDATIONS Gross, J. MIT PRESS. 2013: 16

  View details for Web of Science ID 000317030500003

• Affective Disturbance and Psychopathology: An Emotion Regulation Perspective JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY Jazaieri, H., Urry, H. L., Gross, J. J. 2013; 4 (5): 584-599

  View details for DOI 10.5127/jep.030312

  View details for Web of Science ID 000209729400009

• Can Emotion Regulation Change Political Attitudes in Intractable Conflicts? From the Laboratory to the Field PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Halperin, E., Porat, R., Tamir, M., Gross, J. J. 2013; 24 (1): 106-111

  Abstract

  We hypothesized that an adaptive form of emotion regulation-cognitive reappraisal-would decrease negative emotion and increase support for conflict-resolution policies. In Study 1, Israeli participants were invited to a laboratory session in which they were randomly assigned to either a cognitive-reappraisal condition or a control condition; they were then presented with anger-inducing information related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Participants in the reappraisal condition were more supportive of conciliatory policies and less supportive of aggressive policies compared with participants in the control condition. In Study 2, we replicated these findings in responses to a real political event (the recent Palestinian bid for United Nations recognition). When assessed 1 week after training, participants trained in cognitive reappraisal showed greater support for conciliatory policies and less support for aggressive policies toward Palestinians compared with participants in a control condition. These effects persisted when participants were reassessed 5 months after training, and at both time points, negative emotion mediated the effects of reappraisal.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0956797612452572

  View details for Web of Science ID 000315099700015

  View details for PubMedID 23211565

• Emotion regulation and cognition Handbook of cognition and emotion Suri, G., Sheppes, G., Gross, J. J. edited by Robinson, M. D., Watkins, E. R., Harmon-Jones, E. New York, NY: Guilford. 2013: 195–209
• A Spanish Adaptation of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT Cabello, R., Salguero, J. M., Fernandez-Berrocal, P., Gross, J. J. 2013; 29 (4): 234-240

  View details for DOI 10.1027/1015-5759/a000150

  View details for Web of Science ID 000326165900002

• An emotion regulation perspective on belief change Oxford handbook of cognitive psychology Boden, M. T., Gross, J. J. edited by Reseiberg, D. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2013: 585–599
• An emotion regulation perspective on belief change Oxford handbook of cognitive psychology Boden, M. T., Gross, J. J. edited by Reisberg, D. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2013
• Emotion regulation Enclopedia of the mind McRae, K., Gross, J. J. edited by Pashler, H. Washington D.C.: Sage. 2013: 310–313
• Oxytocin increases the willingness to socially share one’s emotions International Journal of Psychology Lane, A., Luminet, O., Rime, B., Gross, J. J., de Timary, P., Mikolajczak, M. 2013; 48: 676-681
• What time can tell us The temporal dynamics of emotion regulation Conference on Changing Emotions Thiruchselvam, R., Gross, J. J. PSYCHOLOGY PRESS. 2013: 166–173

  View details for Web of Science ID 000315701500023

• Reappraisal mediates the link between 5-HTTLPR and social anxiety symptoms Emotion Miu, A. C., Vulturar, R., Chis, A., Ungureanu, L., Gross, J. J. 2013; 6: 1012-1022
• Conceptualizing emotional labor: An emotion regulation perspective Emotional labor in the 21st century: Diverse perspectives on the psychology of emotion regulation at work Gross, J. J. edited by Grandey, A. A., Diefendorff, J. M., Rupp, D. E. New York, NY: Psychology Press/Routledge. 2013: 288–294
• Emotion regulation in close relationships The Oxford handbook of close relationships English, T., John, O. P., Gross, J. J. edited by Simpson, J. A., Campbell, L. Oxford University Press. 2013: 500–513
• Responding to trauma and loss: An emotion regulation perspective The resilience handbook: Approaches to stress and trauma Boden, M. T., Kulkarni, M., Shurick, A., Bonn-Miller, M., Gross, J. J. edited by Kent, M., Davis, M. C., Reich, J. W. Routledge: New York. 2013: 86–99
• Affective disturbance and psychopathology: An emotion regulation perspective Journal of Experimental Psychopathology Jazaieri, H., Urry, H. L., Gross, J. J. 2013; 4: 584-599
• Changes in positive self-views mediate the effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder Clinical Psychological Science Goldin, P. R., Jazaieri, H., Ziv, M., Kraemer, J., Heimberg, R., Gross, J. J. 2013; 1: 301-310
• Emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder: behavioral and neural responses to three socio-emotional tasks. Biology of mood & anxiety disorders Ziv, M., Goldin, P. R., Jazaieri, H., Hahn, K. S., Gross, J. J. 2013; 3 (1): 20-?

  Abstract

  Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is thought to involve deficits in emotion regulation, and more specifically, deficits in cognitive reappraisal. However, evidence for such deficits is mixed.Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal, we examined reappraisal-related behavioral and neural responses in 27 participants with generalized SAD and 27 healthy controls (HC) during three socio-emotional tasks: (1) looming harsh faces (Faces); (2) videotaped actors delivering social criticism (Criticism); and (3) written autobiographical negative self-beliefs (Beliefs).Behaviorally, compared to HC, participants with SAD had lesser reappraisal-related reduction in negative emotion in the Beliefs task. Neurally, compared to HC, participants with SAD had lesser BOLD responses in reappraisal-related brain regions when reappraising faces, in visual and attention related regions when reappraising criticism, and in the left superior temporal gyrus when reappraising beliefs. Examination of the temporal dynamics of BOLD responses revealed late reappraisal-related increased responses in HC, compared to SAD. In addition, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), which showed reappraisal-related increased activity in both groups, had similar temporal dynamics in SAD and HC during the Faces and Criticism tasks, but greater late response increases in HC, compared to SAD, during the Beliefs task. Reappraisal-related greater late DMPFC responses were associated with greater percent reduction in negative emotion ratings in SAD patients.These results suggest a dysfunction of cognitive reappraisal in SAD patients, with overall reduced late brain responses in prefrontal regions, particularly when reappraising faces. Decreased late activity in the DMPFC might be associated with deficient reappraisal and greater negative reactivity.ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00380731.

  View details for DOI 10.1186/2045-5380-3-20

  View details for PubMedID 24517388

• Is there less to social anxiety than meets the eye? Behavioral and neural responses to three socio-emotional tasks. Biology of mood & anxiety disorders Ziv, M., Goldin, P. R., Jazaieri, H., Hahn, K. S., Gross, J. J. 2013; 3 (1): 5-?

  Abstract

  Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is widely thought to be characterized by heightened behavioral and limbic reactivity to socio-emotional stimuli. However, although behavioral findings are clear, neural findings are surprisingly mixed.Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined behavioral and brain responses in a priori emotion generative regions of interest (amygdala and insula) in 67 patients with generalized SAD and in 28 healthy controls (HC) during three distinct socio-emotional tasks. We administered these socio-emotional tasks during one fMRI scanning session: 1) looming harsh faces (Faces); 2) videotaped actors delivering social criticism (Criticism); and 3) written negative self-beliefs (Beliefs).In each task, SAD patients reported heightened negative emotion, compared to HC. There were, however, no SAD versus HC differential brain responses in the amygdala and insula. Between-group whole-brain analyses confirmed no group differences in the responses of the amygdala and insula, and indicated different brain networks activated during each of the tasks. In SAD participants, social anxiety symptom severity was associated with increased BOLD signal in the left insula during the Faces task.The similar responses in amygdala and insula in SAD and HC participants suggest that heightened negative emotion responses reported by patients with SAD may be related to dysfunction in higher cognitive processes (e.g., distorted appraisal, attention biases, or ineffective cognitive reappraisal). In addition, the findings of this study emphasize the differential effects of socio-emotional experimental tasks.

  View details for DOI 10.1186/2045-5380-3-5

  View details for PubMedID 23448192

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3608942

• Emotional reactivity and regulation in panic disorder: insights from a functional magnetic resonance imaging study of cognitive behavioral therapy. Biological psychiatry Shurick, A. A., Gross, J. J. 2013; 73 (1): 5-6

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.10.008

  View details for PubMedID 23217459

• Emotion awareness and regulation in individuals with schizophrenia: Implications for social functioning PSYCHIATRY RESEARCH Kimhy, D., Vakhrusheva, J., Jobson-Ahmed, L., Tarrier, N., Malaspina, D., Gross, J. J. 2012; 200 (2-3): 193-201

  Abstract

  Successful social functioning requires adaptive forms of emotion awareness and regulation. However, despite well-documented deficits in social functioning in individuals with schizophrenia, little is known about emotion awareness and regulation in this population. Therefore, we compared emotion awareness and regulation in individuals with schizophrenia and healthy controls, and then, within the schizophrenia group, we examined their impact on social functioning. Forty-four individuals with schizophrenia and 20 healthy controls completed measures of emotion awareness, emotion regulation, and social functioning, in addition to control measures, including neurocognitive functioning. Compared to controls, individuals with schizophrenia displayed significant deficits describing and identifying their emotions and used significantly less reappraisal and more suppression to regulate their emotions. Among the schizophrenia group, better social functioning was associated with the ability to identify, and in particular to describe emotions, better emotion management, as well as greater use of reappraisal and less use of suppression. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that, after controlling for age and neurocognition, difficulties describing feelings accounted for 35% of the social functioning variance. The present study highlights the importance of emotion awareness and regulation in schizophrenia, pointing to their substantial influence on social functioning above and beyond the impact of neurocognitive functioning.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.psychres.2012.05.029

  View details for Web of Science ID 000313764700021

  View details for PubMedID 22749227

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3469754

• Emotion regulation and peer-rated social functioning: A 4-year longitudinal study JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY English, T., John, O. P., Srivastava, S., Gross, J. J. 2012; 46 (6): 780-784

  Abstract

  Different emotion regulation strategies have been linked to distinct social outcomes, but only concurrently or in the short-term. The present research employed a four-year longitudinal design with peer-reported measures of social functioning to examine the long-term social effects of emotion regulation. Individual differences in suppression before entering college predicted weaker social connections (e.g., less close relationships) at the end of college, whereas reappraisal predicted stronger social connections and more favorable sociometric standing (e.g., higher social status). These effects of emotion regulation remained intact even when controlling for baseline social functioning and Big Five personality traits. These findings suggest that individual differences in the use of particular emotion regulation strategies have an enduring impact, shaping the individual's social environment over time.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jrp.2012.09.006

  View details for Web of Science ID 000312626100018

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3587109

• Trait Rumination Is Associated with Enhanced Recollection of Negative Words. Cognitive therapy and research Kuo, J. R., Edge, I. G., Ramel, W., Edge, M. D., Drabant, E. M., Dayton, W. M., Gross, J. J. 2012; 36 (6): 722-730

  Abstract

  Rumination is associated with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). To better understand this association, researchers have begun to investigate the relationship between rumination and cognitive biases that are linked to MDD. To date, several studies have found that rumination is related to negatively biased memory, but it is not clear whether this relationship is independent of depressive symptoms. To address this question, the present study examined 97 healthy Caucasian women between the ages of 18 and 25. Participants performed an encoding task of self-referent adjectives, followed by a recognition task. The recognition task utilized a remember/know paradigm to separately examine recollection-based memory and familiarity-based memory. Trait rumination was assessed using the ruminative response scale (RRS). Results indicate that high trait rumination is associated with selective enhancement of recollection for negative words compared to neutral words and a trend toward selective enhancement for recollection for negative words compared to positive words. Trait rumination does not affect biases in overall recognition sensitivity or familiarity.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10608-011-9430-7

  View details for PubMedID 25587202

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4289628

• Emotion Regulation and Peer-Rated Social Functioning: A Four-Year Longitudinal Study. Journal of research in personality English, T., John, O. P., Srivastava, S., Gross, J. J. 2012; 46 (6): 780-784

  Abstract

  Different emotion regulation strategies have been linked to distinct social outcomes, but only concurrently or in the short-term. The present research employed a four-year longitudinal design with peer-reported measures of social functioning to examine the long-term social effects of emotion regulation. Individual differences in suppression before entering college predicted weaker social connections (e.g., less close relationships) at the end of college, whereas reappraisal predicted stronger social connections and more favorable sociometric standing (e.g., higher social status). These effects of emotion regulation remained intact even when controlling for baseline social functioning and Big Five personality traits. These findings suggest that individual differences in the use of particular emotion regulation strategies have an enduring impact, shaping the individual's social environment over time.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jrp.2012.09.006

  View details for PubMedID 23471162

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3587109

• Experiential Versus Analytical Emotion Regulation and Sleep: Breaking the Link Between Negative Events and Sleep Disturbance EMOTION Vandekerckhove, M., Kestemont, J., Weiss, R., Schotte, C., Exadaktylos, V., Haex, B., Verbraecken, J., Gross, J. J. 2012; 12 (6): 1415-1421

  Abstract

  Despite a long history of interest in emotion regulation as well as in the mechanisms that regulate sleep, the relationship between emotion regulation and sleep is not yet well understood. The present study investigated whether "an experiential approach"-defined by coping through affectively acknowledging, understanding, and expressing actual emotional experience and affective feeling about a situation-compared with a "cognitive analytical approach"-defined by the cognitive analysis of the causes, meanings and implications of the situation for the own self-would buffer the impact of an emotional failure experience on (1) emotional experience and (2) sleep structure assessed by EEG polysomnography. Twenty-eight healthy volunteers participated in this study. A direct comparison of the two emotion regulation strategies revealed that participants who were instructed to apply an experiential approach showed less fragmentation of sleep than participants who were instructed to apply an analytical approach. The use of an experiential approach resulted in a longer sleep time, higher sleep efficiency, fewer awakenings, less % time awake, and fewer minutes wake after sleep onset. Implications of the differential effects of these two forms of emotion regulation on sleep are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0028501

  View details for Web of Science ID 000311878700029

  View details for PubMedID 22775124

• Social Coping by Masking? Parental Support and Peer Victimization as Mediators of the Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms and Expressive Suppression in Adolescents JOURNAL OF YOUTH AND ADOLESCENCE Larsen, J. K., Vermulst, A. A., Eisinga, R., English, T., Gross, J. J., Hofman, E., Scholte, R. H., Engels, R. C. 2012; 41 (12): 1628-1642

  Abstract

  Expressive suppression is regarded as a generally ineffective emotion regulation strategy and appears to be associated with the development of depressive symptoms among adolescents. However, the mechanisms linking suppression to depressive symptoms are not well understood. The main aim of this study was to examine two potential mediators of the prospective relationship from depressive symptoms to expressive suppression among adolescents: parental support and peer victimization. Structural equation modelling was used to construct a three-wave cross-lagged model (n = 2,051 adolescents, 48.5 % female, at baseline; 1,465 with data at all three time points) with all possible longitudinal linkages. Depressive symptoms preceded decreases in perceived parental support 1 year later. Decreases in parental support mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms and increases in expressive suppression over a 2-year period. Multi-group analyses show that the mediation model tested was significant for girls, but not for boys. No evidence for other mediating models was found. Although initial suppression preceded increases in depressive symptoms 1 year later, we did not find any evidence for the reversed link from suppression to depressive symptoms. Clear evidence for a reciprocal relationship between depressive symptoms and parental support was found. However, only limited and inconsistent support was found for a reciprocal relationship between depressive symptoms and peer victimization. Finally, although some evidence for a unidirectional relationship from parental support to increases in suppression was found, no significant prospective relationship was found between peer victimization and suppression. The implications of our clear results for parental support, and mostly lacking results for peer victimization, are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10964-012-9782-7

  View details for Web of Science ID 000310871800007

  View details for PubMedID 22739935

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3492695

• Promoting Intergroup Contact by Changing Beliefs: Group Malleability, Intergroup Anxiety, and Contact Motivation EMOTION Halperin, E., Crisp, R. J., Husnu, S., Trzesniewski, K. H., Dweck, C. S., Gross, J. J. 2012; 12 (6): 1192-1195

  Abstract

  Intergroup contact plays a crucial role in moderating long-term conflicts. Unfortunately, the motivation to make contact with outgroup members is usually very low in such conflicts. We hypothesized that one limiting factor is the belief that groups cannot change, which leads to increased intergroup anxiety and decreased contact motivation. To test this hypothesis, we experimentally manipulated beliefs about group malleability in the context of the conflict between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and then assessed intergroup anxiety and motivation to engage in intergroup contact. Turkish Cypriots who were led to believe that groups can change (with no mention of the specific groups involved) reported lower levels of intergroup anxiety and higher motivation to interact and communicate with Greek Cypriots in the future, compared with those who were led to believe that groups cannot change. This effect of group malleability manipulation on contact motivation was mediated by intergroup anxiety.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0028620

  View details for Web of Science ID 000311878700003

  View details for PubMedID 22642339

• Trait Rumination is Associated with Enhanced Recollection of Negative Words COGNITIVE THERAPY AND RESEARCH Kuo, J. R., Edge, I. G., Ramel, W., Edge, M. D., Drabant, E. M., Dayton, W. M., Gross, J. J. 2012; 36 (6): 722-730

  Abstract

  Rumination is associated with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). To better understand this association, researchers have begun to investigate the relationship between rumination and cognitive biases that are linked to MDD. To date, several studies have found that rumination is related to negatively biased memory, but it is not clear whether this relationship is independent of depressive symptoms. To address this question, the present study examined 97 healthy Caucasian women between the ages of 18 and 25. Participants performed an encoding task of self-referent adjectives, followed by a recognition task. The recognition task utilized a remember/know paradigm to separately examine recollection-based memory and familiarity-based memory. Trait rumination was assessed using the ruminative response scale (RRS). Results indicate that high trait rumination is associated with selective enhancement of recollection for negative words compared to neutral words and a trend toward selective enhancement for recollection for negative words compared to positive words. Trait rumination does not affect biases in overall recognition sensitivity or familiarity.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10608-011-9430-7

  View details for Web of Science ID 000310741700013

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4289628

• Looking Inward: Shifting Attention Within Working Memory Representations Alters Emotional Responses PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Thiruchselvam, R., Hajcak, G., Gross, J. J. 2012; 23 (12): 1461-1466

  Abstract

  Selective attention plays a fundamental role in emotion regulation. To date, research has examined individuals' use of selective attention to regulate emotional responses during stimulus presentation. In the present study, we examined whether selective attention can be used to regulate emotional responses during a poststimulus period when representations are active within working memory (WM). On each trial, participants viewed either a negative or a neutral image. After the offset of the image, they maintained a representation of it in WM and were cued to focus their attention on either neutral or arousing aspects of that representation. Results showed that, relative to focusing on an arousing portion of a negative-image representation within WM, focusing on a neutral portion of the representation reduced both self-reported negative emotion and the late positive potential, a robust neural measure of emotional reactivity. These data suggest that selective attention can alter emotional responses arising from affective representations active within WM.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0956797612449838

  View details for Web of Science ID 000314502600004

  View details for PubMedID 23137969

• The effects of acceptance and suppression on anticipation and receipt of painful stimulation JOURNAL OF BEHAVIOR THERAPY AND EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHIATRY Braams, B. R., Blechert, J., Boden, M. T., Gross, J. J. 2012; 43 (4): 1014-1018

  Abstract

  Previous research has found that in some contexts, suppression increases distress, whereas acceptance decreases distress. It is not clear, however, whether these two common forms of emotion regulation have comparable or divergent physiological and behavioral effects during the anticipation and receipt of a painful stimulus.To address this issue, we randomized participants to suppression, acceptance, or no instruction control groups, and assessed their cardiovascular and behavioral responses while they anticipated and then received electric shocks.Findings revealed that compared to the control condition (1) acceptance and suppression led to comparable reductions in pain reports and cardiac defense responses; and (2) acceptance led to greater reductions in reports of anticipatory anxiety than suppression.The current study tested only two emotion regulation techniques in the context of a pain-inducing stimulus that has limited ecological validity.In contrast to previous research, we found that both acceptance and suppression are effective in reducing pain and anxiety in response to experimentally induced pain.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jbtep.2012.04.001

  View details for Web of Science ID 000306625200006

  View details for PubMedID 22580070

• Durable Effects of Cognitive Restructuring on Conditioned Fear EMOTION Shurick, A. A., Hamilton, J. R., Harris, L. T., Roy, A. K., Gross, J. J., Phelps, E. A. 2012; 12 (6): 1393-1397

  Abstract

  Studies of cognitive reappraisal have demonstrated that reinterpreting a stimulus can alter emotional responding, yet few studies have examined the durable effects associated with reinterpretation-based emotion regulation strategies. Evidence for the enduring effects of emotion regulation may be found in clinical studies that use cognitive restructuring (CR) techniques in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to alleviate anxiety. These techniques are based on cognitive theories of anxiety that suggest these disorders arise from biased cognitions; therefore, changing a person's thoughts will elicit durable changes in an individual's emotional responses. Despite the considerable success of CBT for anxiety disorders, durable effects associated with emotion regulation have not been thoroughly examined in the context of a laboratory paradigm. The goal of this study was to determine whether CR, a technique used in CBT and similar to cognitive reappraisal, could attenuate conditioned fear responses, and whether the effect would persist over time (24 hr). We conditioned participants using images of snakes or spiders that were occasionally paired with a mild shock to the wrist while we obtained subjective fear reports and electrodermal activity (EDA). After conditioning, half of the participants were randomly assigned to CR training aimed at decreasing their emotional response to the shock and the conditioned stimuli, while the other half received no such training. All participants returned 24 hr later to repeat the conditioning session. Compared with control participants, CR participants demonstrated a reduction in fear and EDA across sessions. These findings suggest that CR has durable effects on fear responding.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0029143

  View details for Web of Science ID 000311878700026

  View details for PubMedID 22775125

• Cognitive Reappraisal Self-Efficacy Mediates the Effects of Individual Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder JOURNAL OF CONSULTING AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Goldin, P. R., Ziv, M., Jazaieri, H., Werner, K., Kraemer, H., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2012; 80 (6): 1034-1040

  Abstract

  To examine whether changes in cognitive reappraisal self-efficacy (CR-SE) mediate the effects of individually administered cognitive-behavioral therapy (I-CBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD) on severity of social anxiety symptoms.A randomized controlled trial in which 75 adult patients (21-55 years of age; 53% male; 57% Caucasian) with a principal diagnosis of generalized SAD were randomly assigned to 16 sessions of I-CBT (n = 38) or a wait-list control (WL) group (n = 37). All patients completed self-report inventories measuring CR-SE and social anxiety symptoms at baseline and post-I-CBT/post-WL, and I-CBT completers were also assessed at 1-year posttreatment.Compared with WL, I-CBT resulted in greater increases in CR-SE and greater decreases in social anxiety. Increases in CR-SE during I-CBT mediated the effect of I-CBT on social anxiety. Gains achieved by patients receiving I-CBT were maintained 1-year posttreatment, and I-CBT-related increases in CR-SE were also associated with reduction in social anxiety at the 1-year follow-up.Increasing CR-SE may be an important mechanism by which I-CBT for SAD produces both immediate and long-term reductions in social anxiety.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0028555

  View details for Web of Science ID 000311817500007

  View details for PubMedID 22582765

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3424305

• Age-Related Differences in Emotional Reactivity, Regulation, and Rejection Sensitivity in Adolescence EMOTION Silvers, J. A., McRae, K., Gabrieli, J. D., Gross, J. J., Remy, K. A., Ochsner, K. N. 2012; 12 (6): 1235-1247

  Abstract

  Although adolescents' emotional lives are thought to be more turbulent than those of adults, it is unknown whether this difference is attributable to developmental changes in emotional reactivity or emotion regulation. Study 1 addressed this question by presenting healthy individuals aged 10-23 with negative and neutral pictures and asking them to respond naturally or use cognitive reappraisal to down-regulate their responses on a trial-by-trial basis. Results indicated that age exerted both linear and quadratic effects on regulation success but was unrelated to emotional reactivity. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings using a different reappraisal task and further showed that situational (i.e., social vs. nonsocial stimuli) and dispositional (i.e., level of rejection sensitivity) social factors interacted with age to predict regulation success: young adolescents were less successful at regulating responses to social than to nonsocial stimuli, particularly if the adolescents were high in rejection sensitivity. Taken together, these results have important implications for the inclusion of emotion regulation in models of emotional and cognitive development.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0028297

  View details for Web of Science ID 000311878700009

  View details for PubMedID 22642356

• Randomized controlled trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction versus aerobic exercise: effects on the self-referential brain network in social anxiety disorder FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE Goldin, P., Ziv, M., Jazaieri, H., Gross, J. J. 2012; 6

  Abstract

  Background: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by distorted self-views. The goal of this study was to examine whether mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) alters behavioral and brain measures of negative and positive self-views. Methods: Fifty-six adult patients with generalized SAD were randomly assigned to MBSR or a comparison aerobic exercise (AE) program. A self-referential encoding task was administered at baseline and post-intervention to examine changes in behavioral and neural responses in the self-referential brain network during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Patients were cued to decide whether positive and negative social trait adjectives were self-descriptive or in upper case font. Results: Behaviorally, compared to AE, MBSR produced greater decreases in negative self-views, and equivalent increases in positive self-views. Neurally, during negative self versus case, compared to AE, MBSR led to increased brain responses in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). There were no differential changes for positive self versus case. Secondary analyses showed that changes in endorsement of negative and positive self-views were associated with decreased social anxiety symptom severity for MBSR, but not AE. Additionally, MBSR-related increases in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) activity during negative self-view versus case were associated with decreased social anxiety related disability and increased mindfulness. Analysis of neural temporal dynamics revealed MBSR-related changes in the timing of neural responses in the DMPFC and PCC for negative self-view versus case. Conclusion: These findings suggest that MBSR attenuates maladaptive habitual self-views by facilitating automatic (i.e., uninstructed) recruitment of cognitive and attention regulation neural networks. This highlights potentially important links between self-referential and cognitive-attention regulation systems and suggests that MBSR may enhance more adaptive social self-referential processes in patients with SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00295

  View details for Web of Science ID 000311226900001

  View details for PubMedID 23133411

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3488800

• Leadership is associated with lower levels of stress PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Sherman, G. D., Lee, J. J., Cuddy, A. J., Renshon, J., Oveis, C., Gross, J. J., Lerner, J. S. 2012; 109 (44): 17903-17907

  Abstract

  As leaders ascend to more powerful positions in their groups, they face ever-increasing demands. As a result, there is a common perception that leaders have higher stress levels than nonleaders. However, if leaders also experience a heightened sense of control--a psychological factor known to have powerful stress-buffering effects--leadership should be associated with reduced stress levels. Using unique samples of real leaders, including military officers and government officials, we found that, compared with nonleaders, leaders had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and lower reports of anxiety (study 1). In study 2, leaders holding more powerful positions exhibited lower cortisol levels and less anxiety than leaders holding less powerful positions, a relationship explained significantly by their greater sense of control. Altogether, these findings reveal a clear relationship between leadership and stress, with leadership level being inversely related to stress.

  View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.1207042109

  View details for Web of Science ID 000311149900050

  View details for PubMedID 23012416

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3497788

• The Stranger Effect: The Rejection of Affective Deviants PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Szczurek, L., Monin, B., Gross, J. J. 2012; 23 (10): 1105-1111

  Abstract

  What happens when affective displays deviate from normative expectations? In this study, participants evaluated target individuals displaying flat, incongruent, or congruent expressions seemingly in response to pictures eliciting positive, neutral, or negative affect. Relative to targets who displayed normative reactions, those who violated affective norms (affective deviants) were rated more negatively on various dimensions of social judgment. Participants also preferred greater social distance from affective deviants, reported more moral outrage in response to them, and inferred that these targets did not share their moral values. Incongruent affect resulted in more negative social judgment than did flat affect, and this relationship was moderated by stimulus valence. Finally, the relationship between targets' affective expressions and participants' avoidant intentions was mediated by the extent to which participants thought the targets shared their moral values. These findings demonstrate the interpersonal costs of affective deviance, revealing the pervasiveness and force of affective norms.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0956797612445314

  View details for Web of Science ID 000314499600008

  View details for PubMedID 22961772

• When Trying Is Not Enough: Emotion Regulation and the Effort-Success Gap in Bipolar Disorder EMOTION Gruber, J., Harvey, A. G., Gross, J. J. 2012; 12 (5): 997-1003

  Abstract

  Bipolar disorder (BD) is presumed to involve difficulties in emotion regulation. Little is known, however, about the specific emotion regulation profile associated with this disorder. The present study examined the use of specific emotion regulation strategies among individuals with BD (n = 37) and healthy controls (n = 38). Participants' spontaneous use of reappraisal and suppression, as well as their associated effort and success at regulating their emotions, was measured in the context of three emotionally evocative films (neutral, happy, sad). Results indicated that the BD participants made greater use of spontaneous suppression and reappraisal across all films compared to the control group. BD participants also reported greater effort, but less success, when spontaneously regulating emotions. These findings suggest that bipolar disorder is associated with less success when regulating emotions despite a widespread engagement of regulatory efforts. Discussion focuses on the disjunction between troubled emotion functioning in bipolar disorder and sustained efforts to modify intense emotions.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0026822

  View details for Web of Science ID 000309946200018

  View details for PubMedID 22251049

• You don't like me, do you? Enhanced ERP responses to averted eye gaze in social anxiety BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY Schmitz, J., Scheel, C. N., Rigon, A., Gross, J. J., Blechert, J. 2012; 91 (2): 263-269

  Abstract

  Social anxiety is associated with an attentional bias toward angry and fearful faces, along with an enhanced processing of faces per se. However, little is known about the processing of gaze direction, a subtle but important social cue. Participants with high or low social anxiety (HSA/LSA) observed eye pairs with direct or averted gaze while subjective ratings and event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured. Behaviorally, all participants rated averted gaze as more unpleasant than direct gaze. Neurally, only HSA participants showed a trend for higher P100 amplitudes to averted gaze and significantly enhanced processing at late latencies (Late positive potential [LPP]), indicative of a specific processing bias for averted gaze. Furthermore, HSA individuals showed enhanced processing of both direct and averted gaze relative to the LSA group at intermediate latencies (Early posterior negativity [EPN]). Both general and specific attentional biases play a role in social anxiety. Averted gaze--potential sign of disinterest--deserves more attention in the attentional bias literature.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2012.07.004

  View details for Web of Science ID 000310418600012

  View details for PubMedID 22820039

• Cognitive Regulation during Decision Making Shifts Behavioral Control between Ventromedial and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Value Systems JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE Hutcherson, C. A., Plassmann, H., Gross, J. J., Rangel, A. 2012; 32 (39): 13543-13554

  Abstract

  Cognitive regulation is often used to influence behavioral outcomes. However, the computational and neurobiological mechanisms by which it affects behavior remain unknown. We studied this issue using an fMRI task in which human participants used cognitive regulation to upregulate and downregulate their cravings for foods at the time of choice. We found that activity in both ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) correlated with value. We also found evidence that two distinct regulatory mechanisms were at work: value modulation, which operates by changing the values assigned to foods in vmPFC and dlPFC at the time of choice, and behavioral control modulation, which operates by changing the relative influence of the vmPFC and dlPFC value signals on the action selection process used to make choices. In particular, during downregulation, activation decreased in the value-sensitive region of dlPFC (indicating value modulation) but not in vmPFC, and the relative contribution of the two value signals to behavior shifted toward the dlPFC (indicating behavioral control modulation). The opposite pattern was observed during upregulation: activation increased in vmPFC but not dlPFC, and the relative contribution to behavior shifted toward the vmPFC. Finally, ventrolateral PFC and posterior parietal cortex were more active during both upregulation and downregulation, and were functionally connected with vmPFC and dlPFC during cognitive regulation, which suggests that they help to implement the changes to the decision-making circuitry generated by cognitive regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6387-11.2012

  View details for Web of Science ID 000309506300024

  View details for PubMedID 23015444

• THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY OF MIXED EMOTIONS 52nd Annual Meeting of the Society-for-Psychophysiological-Research Kreibig, S. D., Samson, A. C., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2012: S40–S40

  View details for Web of Science ID 000314272300221

• EVIDENCE OF BLUNTING OF TASK-DRIVEN COORDINATED CARDIAC AND SOMATIC MOVEMENT RESPONSES IN PTSD 52nd Annual Meeting of the Society-for-Psychophysiological-Research Woodward, S. H., Shurick, A. A., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2012: S116–S116

  View details for Web of Science ID 000314272300625

• Emotion regulation and successful aging TRENDS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCES Suri, G., Gross, J. J. 2012; 16 (8): 409-410

  Abstract

  Despite normative declines in old age, healthy elderly typically report surprisingly high levels of well-being. It is not clear why this is so. A study by Brassen and colleagues suggests that one factor may be reduced responsiveness to regret. These findings highlight the role of emotion regulation in successful aging.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.tics.2012.06.007

  View details for Web of Science ID 000307696400007

  View details for PubMedID 22739000

• Emotion Regulation in Asperger's Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism EMOTION Samson, A. C., Huber, O., Gross, J. J. 2012; 12 (4): 659-665

  Abstract

  It is generally thought that individuals with Asperger's syndrome and high-functioning autism (AS/HFA) have deficits in theory of mind. These deficits have been previously linked to problems with social cognition. However, we reasoned that AS/HFA individuals' Theory of Mind deficits also might lead to problems with emotion regulation. To assess emotional functioning in AS/HFA, 27 AS/HFA adults (16 women) and 27 age-, gender-, and education-matched typically developing (TD) participants completed a battery of measures of emotion experience, labeling, and regulation. With respect to emotion experience, individuals with AS/HFA reported higher levels of negative emotions, but similar levels of positive emotions, compared with TD individuals. With respect to emotion labeling, individuals with AS/HFA had greater difficulties identifying and describing their emotions, with approximately two-thirds exceeding the cutoff for alexithymia. With respect to emotion regulation, individuals with AS/HFA used reappraisal less frequently than TD individuals and reported lower levels of reappraisal self-efficacy. Although AS/HFA individuals used suppression more frequently than TD individuals, no difference in suppression self-efficacy was found. It is important to note that these differences in emotion regulation were evident even when controlling for emotion experience and labeling. Implications of these deficits are discussed, and future research directions are proposed.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0027975

  View details for Web of Science ID 000307085800001

  View details for PubMedID 22642342

• Lead Me Not into Temptation: Using Cognitive Reappraisal to Reduce Goal Inconsistent Behavior PLOS ONE Leroy, V., Gregoire, J., Magen, E., Gross, J. J., Mikolajczak, M. 2012; 7 (7)

  Abstract

  Temptations besiege us, and we must resist their appeal if we are to achieve our long-term goals. In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that cognitive reappraisal could be used to successfully maintain performance in a task embedded in temptation. In Study 1, 62 participants had to search for information on the Internet while resisting attractive task-irrelevant content on preselected sites. In Study 2, 58 participants had to count target words in a funny TV sequence. Compared to the no-reappraisal condition, participants who understood the situation as a test of willpower (the reappraisal condition) (1) performed better at the task (Studies 1 and 2), and (2) were less tempted by the attractive content of the TV sequence (Study 2). These findings suggest that, by making the temptation less attractive and the task more appealing, cognitive reappraisal can help us resist temptation.

  View details for DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0039493

  View details for Web of Science ID 000306751300005

  View details for PubMedID 22911686

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3404050

• A Randomized Trial of MBSR Versus Aerobic Exercise for Social Anxiety Disorder JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Jazaieri, H., Goldin, P. R., Werner, K., Ziv, M., Gross, J. J. 2012; 68 (7): 715-731

  Abstract

  OBJECTIVE: Effective treatments for social anxiety disorder (SAD) exist, but additional treatment options are needed for nonresponders as well as those who are either unable or unwilling to engage in traditional treatments. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is one nontraditional treatment that has demonstrated efficacy in treating other mood and anxiety disorders, and preliminary data suggest its efficacy in SAD as well. METHOD: Fifty-six adults (52% female; 41% Caucasian; age mean [M] ± standard deviation [SD]: 32.8 ± 8.4) with SAD were randomized to MBSR or an active comparison condition, aerobic exercise (AE). At baseline and post-intervention, participants completed measures of clinical symptoms (Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Social Interaction Anxiety Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Perceived Stress Scale) and subjective well-being (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Self-Compassion Scale, and UCLA-8 Loneliness Scale). At 3 months post-intervention, a subset of these measures was readministered. For clinical significance analyses, 48 healthy adults (52.1% female; 56.3% Caucasian; age [M ± SD]: 33.9 ± 9.8) were recruited. MBSR and AE participants were also compared with a separate untreated group of 29 adults (44.8% female; 48.3% Caucasian; age [M ± SD]: 32.3 ± 9.4) with generalized SAD who completed assessments over a comparable time period with no intervening treatment. RESULTS: A 2 (Group) x 2 (Time) repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) on measures of clinical symptoms and well-being were conducted to examine pre-intervention to post-intervention and pre-intervention to 3-month follow-up. Both MBSR and AE were associated with reductions in social anxiety and depression and increases in subjective well-being, both immediately post-intervention and at 3 months post-intervention. When participants in the randomized controlled trial were compared with the untreated SAD group, participants in both interventions exhibited improvements on measures of clinical symptoms and well-being. CONCLUSION: Nontraditional interventions such as MBSR and AE merit further exploration as alternative or complementary treatments for SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/jclp.21863

  View details for Web of Science ID 000305293300001

• Psychometric Evaluation of the Fear of Positive Evaluation Scale in Patients With Social Anxiety Disorder PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT Weeks, J. W., Heimberg, R. G., Rodebaugh, T. L., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2012; 24 (2): 301-312

  Abstract

  The Fear of Positive Evaluation Scale (FPES; J. W. Weeks, R. G. Heimberg, & T. L. Rodebaugh, 2008) was designed to assess fear of positive evaluation, a proposed cognitive component of social anxiety. Although previous findings on the psychometric properties of the FPES have been highly encouraging, only 1 previous study has examined the psychometric profile of the FPES in a sample of patients with social anxiety disorder (T. A. Fergus et al., 2009). The primary purpose of the present study was to conduct a large multisite examination of the psychometric profile of the FPES among patients with a principal diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (n = 226; generalized subtype = 97.8%). Responses of nonanxious control participants (n = 42) were also examined. The factorial validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity, and treatment sensitivity of the FPES were strongly supported by our findings. Furthermore, an FPES cutoff score was identified for distinguishing levels of fear of positive evaluation characteristic of patients with social anxiety disorder from those characteristic of the control group. Results provide additional support for the psychometric properties of the FPES in clinical samples.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0025723

  View details for Web of Science ID 000304842200004

  View details for PubMedID 21966932

• A Randomized Trial of MBSR Versus Aerobic Exercise for Social Anxiety Disorder. Journal of clinical psychology Jazaieri, H., Goldin, P. R., Werner, K., Ziv, M., Gross, J. J. 2012

  Abstract

  OBJECTIVE: Effective treatments for social anxiety disorder (SAD) exist, but additional treatment options are needed for nonresponders as well as those who are either unable or unwilling to engage in traditional treatments. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is one nontraditional treatment that has demonstrated efficacy in treating other mood and anxiety disorders, and preliminary data suggest its efficacy in SAD as well. METHOD: Fifty-six adults (52% female; 41% Caucasian; age mean [M] ± standard deviation [SD]: 32.8 ± 8.4) with SAD were randomized to MBSR or an active comparison condition, aerobic exercise (AE). At baseline and post-intervention, participants completed measures of clinical symptoms (Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Social Interaction Anxiety Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Perceived Stress Scale) and subjective well-being (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Self-Compassion Scale, and UCLA-8 Loneliness Scale). At 3 months post-intervention, a subset of these measures was readministered. For clinical significance analyses, 48 healthy adults (52.1% female; 56.3% Caucasian; age [M ± SD]: 33.9 ± 9.8) were recruited. MBSR and AE participants were also compared with a separate untreated group of 29 adults (44.8% female; 48.3% Caucasian; age [M ± SD]: 32.3 ± 9.4) with generalized SAD who completed assessments over a comparable time period with no intervening treatment. RESULTS: A 2 (Group) x 2 (Time) repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) on measures of clinical symptoms and well-being were conducted to examine pre-intervention to post-intervention and pre-intervention to 3-month follow-up. Both MBSR and AE were associated with reductions in social anxiety and depression and increases in subjective well-being, both immediately post-intervention and at 3 months post-intervention. When participants in the randomized controlled trial were compared with the untreated SAD group, participants in both interventions exhibited improvements on measures of clinical symptoms and well-being. CONCLUSION: Nontraditional interventions such as MBSR and AE merit further exploration as alternative or complementary treatments for SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/jclp.21863

  View details for PubMedID 22623316

• The role of maladaptive beliefs in cognitive-behavioral therapy: Evidence from social anxiety disorder BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH AND THERAPY Boden, M. T., John, O. P., Goldin, P. R., Werner, K., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2012; 50 (5): 287-291

  Abstract

  Beliefs that are negatively biased, inaccurate, and rigid are thought to play a key role in the mood and anxiety disorders. Our goal in this study was to examine whether a change in maladaptive beliefs mediated the outcome of individual cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD). In a sample of 47 individuals with SAD receiving CBT, we measured maladaptive interpersonal beliefs as well as emotional and behavioral components of social anxiety, both at baseline and after treatment completion. We found that (a) maladaptive interpersonal beliefs were associated with social anxiety at baseline and treatment completion; (b) maladaptive interpersonal beliefs were significantly reduced from baseline to treatment completion; and (c) treatment-related reductions in maladaptive interpersonal beliefs fully accounted for reductions in social anxiety after CBT. These results extend the literature by providing support for cognitive models of mental disorders, broadly, and SAD, specifically.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.brat.2012.02.007

  View details for PubMedID 22445947

• See What You Think: Reappraisal Modulates Behavioral and Neural Responses to Social Stimuli PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Blechert, J., Sheppes, G., Di Tella, C., Williams, H., Gross, J. J. 2012; 23 (4): 346-353

  Abstract

  The social environment requires people to quickly form contextually appropriate social evaluations. Models of social cognition suggest that this ability depends on the interaction of automatic and controlled evaluative systems. However, controlled processes, such as reappraisal of an initial response, have rarely been studied in the context of social evaluation. In the two studies reported here, participants reappraised or simply observed angry or neutral faces. In Study 1, reappraisal modulated evaluations of angry faces on explicit as well as implicit behavioral levels. In Study 2, reappraisal altered both early and late phases of evaluative electrocortical processing. These studies suggest that controlled processes, such as reappraisal, can quickly and substantially modulate early evaluative processes in the context of biologically significant social stimuli.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0956797612438559

  View details for Web of Science ID 000303209300002

  View details for PubMedID 22431908

• Unpacking Cognitive Reappraisal: Goals, Tactics, and Outcomes EMOTION McRae, K., Ciesielski, B., Gross, J. J. 2012; 12 (2): 250-255

  Abstract

  Studies of emotion regulation typically contrast two or more strategies (e.g., reappraisal vs. suppression) and ignore variation within each strategy. To address such variation, we focused on cognitive reappraisal and considered the effects of goals (i.e., what people are trying to achieve) and tactics (i.e., what people actually do) on outcomes (i.e., how affective responses change). To examine goals, we randomly assigned participants to either increase positive emotion or decrease negative emotion to a negative stimulus. To examine tactics, we categorized participants' reports of how they reappraised. To examine reappraisal outcomes, we measured experience and electrodermal responding. Findings indicated that (a) the goal of increasing positive emotion led to greater increases in positive affect and smaller decreases in skin conductance than the goal of decreasing negative emotion, and (b) use of the reality challenge tactic was associated with smaller increases in positive affect during reappraisal. These findings suggest that reappraisal can be implemented in the service of different emotion goals, using different tactics. Such differences are associated with different outcomes, and they should be considered in future research and applied attempts to maximize reappraisal success.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0026351

  View details for Web of Science ID 000302200000009

  View details for PubMedID 22148990

• Resisting the sirens of temptation while studying: Using reappraisal to increase focus, enthusiasm, and performance LEARNING AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Leroy, V., Gregoire, J., Magen, E., Gross, J. J., Mikolajczak, M. 2012; 22 (2): 263-268

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.lindif.2011.10.003

  View details for Web of Science ID 000301691200012

• Resisting the sirens of temptation while studying: Using reappraisal to increase focus, enthusiasm, and performance LEARNING AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Leroy, V., Gregoire, J., Magen, E., Gross, J. J., Mikolajczak, M. 2012; 22 (2): 263-268

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.lindif.2011.10.003

  View details for Web of Science ID 000301691200012

• Bottom-up and top-down emotion generation: implications for emotion regulation SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE McRae, K., Misra, S., Prasad, A. K., Pereira, S. C., Gross, J. J. 2012; 7 (3): 253-262

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation plays a crucial role in adaptive functioning and mounting evidence suggests that some emotion regulation strategies are often more effective than others. However, little attention has been paid to the different ways emotions can be generated: from the 'bottom-up' (in response to inherently emotional perceptual properties of the stimulus) or 'top-down' (in response to cognitive evaluations). Based on a process priming principle, we hypothesized that mode of emotion generation would interact with subsequent emotion regulation. Specifically, we predicted that top-down emotions would be more successfully regulated by a top-down regulation strategy than bottom-up emotions. To test this hypothesis, we induced bottom-up and top-down emotions, and asked participants to decrease the negative impact of these emotions using cognitive reappraisal. We observed the predicted interaction between generation and regulation in two measures of emotional responding. As measured by self-reported affect, cognitive reappraisal was more successful on top-down generated emotions than bottom-up generated emotions. Neurally, reappraisal of bottom-up generated emotions resulted in a paradoxical increase of amygdala activity. This interaction between mode of emotion generation and subsequent regulation should be taken into account when comparing of the efficacy of different types of emotion regulation, as well as when reappraisal is used to treat different types of clinical disorders.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/scan/nsq103

  View details for Web of Science ID 000302810100001

  View details for PubMedID 21296865

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3304475

• Individual differences in reappraisal ability: Links to reappraisal frequency, well-being, and cognitive control JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY McRae, K., Jacobs, S. E., Ray, R. D., John, O. P., Gross, J. J. 2012; 46 (1): 2-7

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jrp.2011.10.003

  View details for Web of Science ID 000301685500001

• Selection, Optimization, and Compensation in the Domain of Emotion Regulation: Applications to Adolescence, Older Age, and Major Depressive Disorder SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS Opitz, P. C., Gross, J. J., Urry, H. L. 2012; 6 (2): 142–55

  View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00413.x

  View details for Web of Science ID 000214640300003

• Humour as emotion regulation: The differential consequences of negative versus positive humour COGNITION & EMOTION Samson, A. C., Gross, J. J. 2012; 26 (2): 375-384

  Abstract

  Humour is often seen as an adaptive coping strategy; however, the empirical literature is inconclusive. One possible explanation is that different types of humour have different adaptive consequences. In the present research, we predicted that positive (good-natured) humour would be more effective at regulating negative emotions than negative (mean-spirited) humour. In Study 1, participants were shown negative pictures two times. First, they simply viewed the pictures and rated their levels of positive and negative emotions. Second, they were instructed to: (a) view; (b) use positive humour; or (c) use negative humour, and then rate their reactions. Compared to negative humour, positive humour was more successful at down-regulating negative and up-regulating positive emotion. In Study 2, we replicated these findings and showed that these effects cannot be explained by differences in difficulty between the two humour conditions, participants' expectations, or social desirability. Taken together, these findings suggest that positive (but not negative) humour may be an effective form of emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2011.585069

  View details for Web of Science ID 000301650700015

  View details for PubMedID 21756218

• What good are emotions, anyway? Should I strap a battery to my head? (and other questions about emotion) Suri, G., Gross, J. J. edited by Totterdell, P., Niven, K. Charleston, VA: Createspace Independent Publishing. 2012: 9–17
• Selfcompassion and social anxiety disorder Anxiety, Stress, & Coping Werener, K. H., Jazaieri, H., Goldin, P. R., Ziv, M., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2012; 25: 543-558

  View details for DOI 10.1080/10615806.2011.608842

• Selection, optimization, and compensation in the domain of emotion regulation: Applications to adolescence, older age, and major depressive disorder. Social and Personality Psychology Compass Opitz, P., Gross, J. J., Urry, H. L. 2012; 6: 142-155
• The interactive effects of emotional clarity and cognitive reappraisal in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder JOURNAL OF ANXIETY DISORDERS Boden, M. T., Bonn-Miller, M. O., Kashdan, T. B., Alvarez, J., Gross, J. J. 2012; 26 (1): 233-238

  Abstract

  The goal of this investigation was to examine how emotional clarity and a specific emotion regulation strategy, cognitive reappraisal, interact to predict Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptom severity and positive affect among treatment seeking military Veterans (N=75, 93% male) diagnosed with PTSD. PTSD is a highly relevant context because PTSD features include heightened stress reactivity, diminished ability to differentiate and understand emotions, and reliance on maladaptive forms of emotion regulation. We found that the combination of high levels of emotional clarity and frequent use of cognitive reappraisal were associated with (a) lesser total PTSD severity after accounting for shared variance with positive affect and the extent to which emotions are attended to (attention to emotions), and (b) greater positive affect after accounting for shared variance with total PTSD severity and attention to emotions. This is the first study to demonstrate interactive effects of emotional clarity and cognitive reappraisal.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.janxdis.2011.11.007

  View details for Web of Science ID 000299361800030

  View details for PubMedID 22169054

• Sleep quality and neural circuit function supporting emotion regulation. Biology of mood & anxiety disorders Minkel, J. D., McNealy, K., Gianaros, P. J., Drabant, E. M., Gross, J. J., Manuck, S. B., Hariri, A. R. 2012; 2 (1): 22-?

  Abstract

  Recent laboratory studies employing an extended sleep deprivation model have mapped sleep-related changes in behavior onto functional alterations in specific brain regions supporting emotion, suggesting possible biological mechanisms for an association between sleep difficulties and deficits in emotion regulation. However, it is not yet known if similar behavioral and neural changes are associated with the more modest variability in sleep observed in daily life.We examined relationships between sleep and neural circuitry of emotion using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and fMRI data from a widely used emotion regulation task focusing on cognitive reappraisal of negative emotional stimuli in an unselected sample of 97 adult volunteers (48 women; mean age 42.78±7.37 years, range 30-54 years old).Emotion regulation was associated with greater activation in clusters located in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), and inferior parietal cortex. Only one subscale from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, use of sleep medications, was related to BOLD responses in the dmPFC and dlPFC during cognitive reappraisal. Use of sleep medications predicted lesser BOLD responses during reappraisal, but other aspects of sleep, including sleep duration and subjective sleep quality, were not related to neural activation in this paradigm.The relatively modest variability in sleep that is common in the general community is unlikely to cause significant disruption in neural circuits supporting reactivity or regulation by cognitive reappraisal of negative emotion. Use of sleep medication however, may influence emotion regulation circuitry, but additional studies are necessary to determine if such use plays a causal role in altering emotional responses.

  View details for DOI 10.1186/2045-5380-2-22

  View details for PubMedID 23216889

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3542038

• The development of emotion regulation: an fMRI study of cognitive reappraisal in children, adolescents and young adults SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE McRae, K., Gross, J. J., Weber, J., Robertson, E. R., Sokol-Hessner, P., Ray, R. D., Gabrieli, J. D., Ochsner, K. N. 2012; 7 (1): 11-22

  Abstract

  The ability to use cognitive reappraisal to regulate emotions is an adaptive skill in adulthood, but little is known about its development. Because reappraisal is thought to be supported by linearly developing prefrontal regions, one prediction is that reappraisal ability develops linearly. However, recent investigations into socio-emotional development suggest that there are non-linear patterns that uniquely affect adolescents. We compared older children (10-13), adolescents (14-17) and young adults (18-22) on a task that distinguishes negative emotional reactivity from reappraisal ability. Behaviorally, we observed no age differences in self-reported emotional reactivity, but linear and quadratic relationships between reappraisal ability and age. Neurally, we observed linear age-related increases in activation in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, previously identified in adult reappraisal. We observed a quadratic pattern of activation with age in regions associated with social cognitive processes like mental state attribution (medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, anterior temporal cortex). In these regions, we observed relatively lower reactivity-related activation in adolescents, but higher reappraisal-related activation. This suggests that (i) engagement of the cognitive control components of reappraisal increases linearly with age and (ii) adolescents may not normally recruit regions associated with mental state attribution, but (iii) this can be reversed with reappraisal instructions.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/scan/nsr093

  View details for Web of Science ID 000298891400002

  View details for PubMedID 22228751

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3252634

• Self-compassion and social anxiety disorder ANXIETY STRESS AND COPING Werner, K. H., Jazaieri, H., Goldin, P. R., Ziv, M., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2012; 25 (5): 543-558

  Abstract

  Self-compassion refers to having an accepting and caring orientation towards oneself. Although self-compassion has been studied primarily in healthy populations, one particularly compelling clinical context in which to examine self-compassion is social anxiety disorder (SAD). SAD is characterized by high levels of negative self-criticism as well as an abiding concern about others' evaluation of one's performance. In the present study, we tested the hypotheses that: (1) people with SAD would demonstrate less self-compassion than healthy controls (HCs), (2) self-compassion would relate to severity of social anxiety and fear of evaluation among people with SAD, and (3) age would be negatively correlated with self-compassion for people with SAD, but not for HC. As expected, people with SAD reported less self-compassion than HCs on the Self-Compassion Scale and its subscales. Within the SAD group, lesser self-compassion was not generally associated with severity of social anxiety, but it was associated with greater fear of both negative and positive evaluation. Age was negatively correlated with self-compassion for people with SAD, whereas age was positively correlated with self-compassion for HC. These findings suggest that self-compassion may be a particularly important target for assessment and treatment in persons with SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/10615806.2011.608842

  View details for Web of Science ID 000307643100005

  View details for PubMedID 21895450

• A two-dimensional approach to assessing affective states in good and poor sleepers JOURNAL OF SLEEP RESEARCH Ong, J. C., Carde, N. B., Gross, J. J., Manber, R. 2011; 20 (4): 606-610

  Abstract

  This study examined a two-dimensional approach to assessing affective states among good and poor sleepers using the self-assessment manikin (SAM), a brief non-verbal self-report measure of affective states with separate ratings of valence and arousal. A sample of 286 undergraduate students completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the SAM. Participants were classified post hoc as either good (PSQI ≤ 5) or poor sleepers (PSQI > 5) using the PSQI and used the SAM to rate their current affective states (day) and their affective state at bedtime (night) the previous night. Compared to good sleepers, poor sleepers reported more negative affect and arousal at night and more negative affect during the day. Among poor sleepers, lower sleep quality and shorter sleep duration on the components of the PSQI were associated with more negative daytime valence. Among good sleepers, higher scores on the sleep medication and daytime dysfunction components of the PSQI were associated with more negative daytime valence. These findings indicate that the SAM appears to detect differences between good and poor sleepers on both valence and arousal of current daytime and retrospective night-time emotional states. This approach could be useful for the assessment of affective states related to sleep disturbance.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2011.00907.x

  View details for Web of Science ID 000297412700017

  View details for PubMedID 21244540

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3119723

• Emotion-Regulation Choice PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Sheppes, G., Scheibe, S., Suri, G., Gross, J. J. 2011; 22 (11): 1391-1396

  Abstract

  Despite centuries of speculation about how to manage negative emotions, little is actually known about which emotion-regulation strategies people choose to use when confronted with negative situations of varying intensity. On the basis of a new process conception of emotion regulation, we hypothesized that in low-intensity negative situations, people would show a relative preference to choose to regulate emotions by engagement reappraisal, which allows emotional processing. However, we expected people in high-intensity negative situations to show a relative preference to choose to regulate emotions by disengagement distraction, which blocks emotional processing at an early stage before it gathers force. In three experiments, we created emotional contexts that varied in intensity, using either emotional pictures (Experiments 1 and 2) or unpredictable electric stimulation (Experiment 3). In response to these emotional contexts, participants chose between using either reappraisal or distraction as an emotion-regulation strategy. Results in all experiments supported our hypothesis. This pattern in the choice of emotion-regulation strategies has important implications for the understanding of healthy adaptation.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0956797611418350

  View details for Web of Science ID 000300826400006

  View details for PubMedID 21960251

• Is Timing Everything? Temporal Considerations in Emotion Regulation PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW Sheppes, G., Gross, J. J. 2011; 15 (4): 319-331

  Abstract

  It is often said that timing is everything. The process model of emotion regulation has taken this aphorism to heart, suggesting that down-regulating emotions before they are "up and running" is always easier than down-regulating emotions once they have gathered force (i.e., generic timing hypothesis). But does timing (i.e., emotion intensity) matter equally for all forms of regulation? In this article, the authors offer an alternative process-specific timing hypothesis, in which emotion-generative and emotion-regulatory processes compete at either earlier or later stages of information processing. Regulation strategies that target early processing stages require minimal effort. Therefore, their efficacy should be relatively unaffected by emotion intensity. By contrast, regulation strategies that target later processing stages require effort that is proportional to the intensity of the emotional response. Therefore, their efficacy should be determined by the relative strength of regulatory versus emotional processes. Implications of this revised conception are considered.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1088868310395778

  View details for Web of Science ID 000295178600001

  View details for PubMedID 21233326

• A MECHANISM FOR REDUCING DELAY DISCOUNTING BY ALTERING TEMPORAL ATTENTION JOURNAL OF THE EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR Radu, P. T., Yi, R., Bickel, W. K., Gross, J. J., McClure, S. M. 2011; 96 (3): 363-385

  Abstract

  Rewards that are not immediately available are discounted compared to rewards that are immediately available. The more a person discounts a delayed reward, the more likely that person is to have a range of behavioral problems, including clinical disorders. This latter observation has motivated the search for interventions that reduce discounting. One surprisingly simple method to reduce discounting is an "explicit-zero" reframing that states default or null outcomes. Reframing a classical discounting choice as "something now but nothing later" versus "nothing now but more later" decreases discount rates. However, it is not clear how this "explicit-zero" framing intervention works. The present studies delineate and test two possible mechanisms to explain the phenomenon. One mechanism proposes that the explicit-zero framing creates the impression of an improving sequence, thereby enhancing the present value of the delayed reward. A second possible mechanism posits an increase in attention allocation to temporally distant reward representations. In four experiments, we distinguish between these two hypothesized mechanisms and conclude that the temporal attention hypothesis is superior for explaining our results. We propose a model of temporal attention whereby framing affects intertemporal preferences by modifying present bias.

  View details for DOI 10.1901/jeab.2011.96-363

  View details for Web of Science ID 000297609500005

  View details for PubMedID 22084496

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3213002

• Promoting the Middle East Peace Process by Changing Beliefs About Group Malleability SCIENCE Halperin, E., Russell, A. G., Trzesniewski, K. H., Gross, J. J., Dweck, C. S. 2011; 333 (6050): 1767-1769

  Abstract

  Four studies showed that beliefs about whether groups have a malleable versus fixed nature affected intergroup attitudes and willingness to compromise for peace. Using a nationwide sample (N = 500) of Israeli Jews, the first study showed that a belief that groups were malleable predicted positive attitudes toward Palestinians, which in turn predicted willingness to compromise. In the remaining three studies, experimentally inducing malleable versus fixed beliefs about groups among Israeli Jews (N = 76), Palestinian citizens of Israel (N = 59), and Palestinians in the West Bank (N = 53)--without mentioning the adversary--led to more positive attitudes toward the outgroup and, in turn, increased willingness to compromise for peace.

  View details for DOI 10.1126/science.1202925

  View details for Web of Science ID 000295121500049

  View details for PubMedID 21868627

• Assessing Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder: The Emotion Regulation Interview JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT Werner, K. H., Goldin, P. R., Ball, T. M., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2011; 33 (3): 346-354

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10862-011-9225-x

  View details for Web of Science ID 000293139100006

• RESOURCES FOR EMOTION REGULATION IN OLDER AGE Urry, H. L., Opitz, P. C., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2011: S2

  View details for Web of Science ID 000293389200003

• COGNITIVE RESOURCES PREDICT EMOTION REGULATION SUCCESS IN YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS Opitz, P. C., Urry, H. L., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2011: S70–S71

  View details for Web of Science ID 000293389200393

• BETWEEN AMUSEMENT AND DISGUST: BLENDING OF CARDIOVASCULAR AMUSEMENT AND ELECTRODERMAL DISGUST RESPONSES IN MIXED EMOTIONS 51st Annual Meeting of the Society-of-Psychophysiological-Research Kreibig, S. D., Samson, A. C., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2011: S18–S18

  View details for Web of Science ID 000293389200102

• Feeling bad about screwing up: emotion regulation and action monitoring in the anterior cingulate cortex COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE Ichikawa, N., Siegle, G. J., Jones, N. P., Kamishima, K., Thompson, W. K., Gross, J. J., Ohira, H. 2011; 11 (3): 354-371

  Abstract

  This study examined neural features of emotional responses to errors. We specifically examined whether directed emotion regulation of negative emotion associated with error modulates action-monitoring functions of anterior cingulate cortex, including conflict monitoring, error processing, and error prevention. Seventeen healthy adults performed a continuous performance task during assessment by fMRI. In each block, participants were asked either to increase or decrease their negative emotional responses or to react naturally after error commission. Emotion regulation instructions were associated with modulation of rostral and dorsal anterior activity and of their effective connectivity following errors and conflict. Cingulate activity and connectivity predicted subsequent errors. These data may suggest that responses to errors are affected by emotion and that aspects of emotion and cognition are inextricably linked, even during a nominally cognitive task.

  View details for DOI 10.3758/s13415-011-0028-z

  View details for Web of Science ID 000293238700007

  View details for PubMedID 21590316

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4128506

• The temporal dynamics of two response-focused forms of emotion regulation: Experiential, expressive, and autonomic consequences PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Dan-Glauser, E. S., Gross, J. J. 2011; 48 (9): 1309-1322

  Abstract

  This study examines the early affective consequences of two close forms of suppression. Participants (N=37) were shown negative, positive, and neutral pictures and cued either to attend to the pictures, or to perform expressive or physiological suppression (i.e., reduce body reactions). Continuous measures of experience, expressivity, and autonomic responses showed that both suppression strategies produced rapid response modulation. Common effects of the two strategies included a transient increase in negative feeling, a durable decrease in positive feeling, and a decrease in expressivity, cardiovascular activity, and oxygenation. The two strategies were significantly different only in response to positive stimuli, with physiological suppression showing a larger decrease in experience intensity and blood pressure. These results suggest a strong overlap between the two suppression strategies in terms of their early impact on emotional responses.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01191.x

  View details for Web of Science ID 000293228800015

  View details for PubMedID 21361967

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3136552

• Emotion regulation and brain plasticity: Expressive suppression use predicts anterior insula volume NEUROIMAGE Giuliani, N. R., Drabant, E. M., Bhatnagar, R., Gross, J. J. 2011; 58 (1): 10-15

  Abstract

  Expressive suppression is an emotion regulation strategy that requires interoceptive and emotional awareness. These processes both recruit the anterior insula. It is not known, however, whether increased use of expressive suppression is associated with increased anterior insula volume. In the present study, high-resolution anatomical MRI images were used to calculate insula volumes in a set of 50 healthy female subjects (mean 21.9 years) using both region of interest (ROI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) approaches. Participants also completed trait measures of expressive suppression usage, cognitive reappraisal usage, and negative emotional reactivity (the latter two served as control measures). As predicted, both ROI and VBM methods found that expressive suppression usage, but not negative affect and cognitive reappraisal, was positively related to anterior insula volume. These findings are consistent with the idea that trait patterns of emotion processing are related to brain structure.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.06.028

  View details for Web of Science ID 000293548500002

  View details for PubMedID 21704173

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3161031

• An affective computing approach to physiological emotion specificity: Toward subject-independent and stimulus-independent classification of film-induced emotions PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Kolodyazhniy, V., Kreibig, S. D., Gross, J. J., Roth, W. T., Wilhelm, F. H. 2011; 48 (7): 908-922

  Abstract

  The hypothesis of physiological emotion specificity has been tested using pattern classification analysis (PCA). To address limitations of prior research using PCA, we studied effects of feature selection (sequential forward selection, sequential backward selection), classifier type (linear and quadratic discriminant analysis, neural networks, k-nearest neighbors method), and cross-validation method (subject- and stimulus-(in)dependence). Analyses were run on a data set of 34 participants watching two sets of three 10-min film clips (fearful, sad, neutral) while autonomic, respiratory, and facial muscle activity were assessed. Results demonstrate that the three states can be classified with high accuracy by most classifiers, with the sparsest model having only five features, even for the most difficult task of identifying the emotion of an unknown subject in an unknown situation (77.5%). Implications for choosing PCA parameters are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2010.01170.x

  View details for Web of Science ID 000291255500004

  View details for PubMedID 21261632

• Intergroup anger in intractable conflict: Long-term sentiments predict anger responses during the Gaza War GROUP PROCESSES & INTERGROUP RELATIONS Halperin, E., Gross, J. J. 2011; 14 (4): 477-488

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1368430210377459

  View details for Web of Science ID 000291587600003

• Childhood trauma and current psychological functioning in adults with social anxiety disorder JOURNAL OF ANXIETY DISORDERS Kuo, J. R., Goldin, P. R., Werner, K., Heimberg, R. G., Gross, J. J. 2011; 25 (4): 467-473

  Abstract

  Etiological models of social anxiety disorder (SAD) suggest that early childhood trauma contributes to the development of this disorder. However, surprisingly little is known about the link between different forms of childhood trauma and adult clinical symptoms in SAD. This study (1) compared levels of childhood trauma in adults with generalized SAD versus healthy controls (HCs), and (2) examined the relationship between specific types of childhood trauma and adult clinical symptoms in SAD. Participants were 102 individuals with generalized SAD and 30 HCs who completed measures of childhood trauma, social anxiety, trait anxiety, depression, and self-esteem. Compared to HCs, individuals with SAD reported greater childhood emotional abuse and emotional neglect. Within the SAD group, childhood emotional abuse and neglect, but not sexual abuse, physical abuse, or physical neglect, were associated with the severity of social anxiety, trait anxiety, depression, and self-esteem.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.11.011

  View details for Web of Science ID 000289588000001

  View details for PubMedID 21183310

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3074005

• The Moral Emotions: A Social-Functionalist Account of Anger, Disgust, and Contempt JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Hutcherson, C. A., Gross, J. J. 2011; 100 (4): 719-737

  Abstract

  Recent research has highlighted the important role of emotion in moral judgment and decision making (Greene, Sommerville, Nystrom, Darley, & Cohen, 2001; Haidt, 2001). What is less clear is whether distinctions should be drawn among specific moral emotions. Although some have argued for differences among anger, disgust, and contempt (Rozin, Lowery, Imada, & Haidt, 1999), others have suggested that these terms may describe a single undifferentiated emotional response to morally offensive behavior (Nabi, 2002). In this article, we take a social-functionalist perspective, which makes the prediction that these emotions should be differentiable both in antecedent appraisals and in consequent actions and judgments. Studies 1-3 tested and found support for our predictions concerning distinctions among antecedent appraisals, including (a) a more general role for disgust than has been previously been described, (b) an effect of self-relevance on anger but not other emotions, and (c) a role for contempt in judging incompetent actions. Studies 4 and 5 tested and found support for our specific predictions concerning functional outcomes, providing evidence that these emotions are associated with different consequences. Taken together, these studies support a social-functionalist account of anger, disgust, and contempt and lay the foundation for future research on the negative interpersonal emotions.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0022408

  View details for Web of Science ID 000288776100011

  View details for PubMedID 21280963

• Psychological Distance and Emotional Experience: What You See Is What You Get EMOTION Davis, J. I., Gross, J. J., Ochsner, K. N. 2011; 11 (2): 438-444

  Abstract

  Recent research suggests that perceiving negative emotion-eliciting scenes approaching intensifies the associated felt emotion, while perceiving emotion-eliciting scenes receding weakens the associated felt emotion (Muhlberger, Neumann, Wieser, & Pauli, 2008). In the present studies, we sought to extend these findings by examining the effects of imagining rather than perceiving such changes to negative emotion-eliciting scenes. Across three studies, we found that negative scenes generally elicited less negative responses and lower levels of arousal when imagined moving away from participants and shrinking, and more negative responses and higher levels of arousal when imagined moving toward participants and growing, as compared to the responses elicited by negative scenes when imagined unchanged. Patterns in responses to neutral scenes undergoing the same imagined transformations were similar on ratings of emotional arousal, but differed on valence-generally eliciting greater positivity when imagined moving toward participants and growing, and less positivity when imagined moving away from participants and shrinking. Moreover, for these effects to emerge, participants reported it necessary to explicitly imagine scenes moving closer or farther. These findings have implications for emotion regulation, and suggest that imagined spatial distance plays a role in mental representations of emotionally salient events.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0021783

  View details for Web of Science ID 000289272000023

  View details for PubMedID 21500912

• Don't Hide Your Happiness! Positive Emotion Dissociation, Social Connectedness, and Psychological Functioning JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Mauss, I. B., Shallcross, A. J., Troy, A. S., Ferrer, E., John, O. P., Wilhelm, F. H., Gross, J. J. 2011; 100 (4): 738-748

  Abstract

  It is now clear that positive emotion leads to enhanced psychological functioning. What is less clear, however, is just why this is so. Drawing on a social-functional perspective, we argue that positive emotional behavior that accurately signals to others the individual's internal state will enhance social connectedness. Positive emotional behavior that does not accurately signal a person's experience--such as a smile that is not felt--may impede social connectedness and, in turn, psychological functioning. This perspective suggests that (a) the degree to which experience and behavior are dissociated during positive emotional episodes, over and above level of positive behavior, should predict worse psychological functioning and (b) the effect of dissociation should be mediated by social connectedness. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a short-term prospective longitudinal study, with a baseline assessment of depressive symptoms and well-being at Time 1. Six months later, at Time 2, we used a novel within-individual laboratory paradigm to measure the degree to which positive emotional behavior was dissociated from (vs. coherent with) a participant's positive emotional experience. We also assessed level of positive behavior and experience. Then, another 6 months later, we assessed social connectedness as a mediator and depressive symptoms and well-being as outcomes at Time 3. Even when controlling for baseline functioning and for level of positive emotion behavior and experience, we found that greater positive experience-behavior dissociation at Time 2 predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms and lower levels of well-being at Time 3. As predicted, these associations were mediated by social connectedness.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0022410

  View details for Web of Science ID 000288776100012

  View details for PubMedID 21280962

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3265161

• Anger, Hatred, and the Quest for Peace: Anger Can Be Constructive in the Absence of Hatred JOURNAL OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION Halperin, E., Russell, A. G., Dweck, C. S., Gross, J. J. 2011; 55 (2): 274-291

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0022002710383670

  View details for Web of Science ID 000289616700005

• The temporal dynamics of emotion regulation: An EEG study of distraction and reappraisal BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY Thiruchselvam, R., Blechert, J., Sheppes, G., Rydstrom, A., Gross, J. J. 2011; 87 (1): 84-92

  Abstract

  Distraction and reappraisal are two widely used forms of emotion regulation. The process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 1998) holds that they differ (1) in when they act on the emotion-generative process, and (2) in their impact on subsequent responses to regulated stimuli. We tested these two predictions by measuring electrocortical responses to neutral and emotional images during two phases. In the regulation phase, images were watched or regulated using distraction or reappraisal. During the re-exposure phase, the same images were passively watched. As predicted, during regulation, distraction reduced the late positive potential (LPP) earlier than reappraisal. Upon re-exposure, images with a distraction (but not reappraisal) history elicited a larger LPP than images with an attend history. This pattern of results suggests that distraction and reappraisal intervene at separate stages during emotion generation, a feature which may have distinct consequences that extend beyond the regulatory episode.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.02.009

  View details for Web of Science ID 000290195100010

  View details for PubMedID 21354262

• Affective modulation of the acoustic startle: Does sadness engage the defensive system? BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY Kreibig, S. D., Wilhelm, F. H., Roth, W. T., Gross, J. J. 2011; 87 (1): 161-163

  Abstract

  It has been suggested that high arousal negative affective states, but not low arousal negative affective states, potentiate the startle response. Because sadness has generally been studied as a low arousal emotion, it remains unclear whether high arousal sadness would produce startle potentiation to a similar degree as high arousal fear. To address this issue, 32 participants viewed two sets of 10-min film clips selected to induce two affective states of high subjective arousal (fear, sadness) and a neutral state of low subjective arousal, while the eyeblink startle response associated with brief noise bursts was assessed using orbicularis oculi EMG. Larger blink magnitude was found for fearful than for sad or neutral clips. Implications for conceptualizing sadness are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.02.008

  View details for Web of Science ID 000290195100020

  View details for PubMedID 21352887

• Anterior cingulate cortex volume and emotion regulation: Is bigger better? BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY Giuliani, N. R., Drabant, E. M., Gross, J. J. 2011; 86 (3): 379-382

  Abstract

  Emotion dysregulation is a key feature of mood and anxiety disorders. Many of these disorders also involve volumetric reductions in brain regions implicated in emotion regulation, including the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). Investigating this relationship in healthy individuals may clarify the link between emotion regulation and volumetric reductions in this key brain region. High-resolution anatomical MRI images were used to calculate dACC volumes in 50 healthy female subjects. Trait measures of emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) and negative affect were also obtained. As predicted, cognitive reappraisal was positively related to dACC volume, but not the volume of a control region, the ventral ACC. Expressive suppression, negative affect, and age were not related to dACC volume. These findings indicate that individual differences in cognitive reappraisal are related to individual differences in dACC volume in healthy participants.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.11.010

  View details for Web of Science ID 000289137500027

  View details for PubMedID 21138751

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3051027

• ALTERED CEREBRAL BLOOD FLOW PATTERNS ASSOCIATED WITH PATHOLOGIC WORRY IN THE ELDERLY DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY Andreescu, C., Gross, J. J., Lenze, E., Edelman, K. D., Snyder, S., Tanase, C., Aizenstein, H. 2011; 28 (3): 202-209

  Abstract

  Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the most prevalent anxiety disorder among the elderly and has high functional and cognitive morbidity. However, late-life GAD is relatively understudied and its functional neuroanatomy is uncharted. Several imaging studies have suggested abnormalities in the cognitive control systems of emotion regulation in anxiety disorders in young adults. The aim of this study was to examine the neural correlates of emotion regulation in late-life GAD.We compared 7 elderly GAD subjects and 10 elderly nonanxious comparison subjects using functional MRI. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured using pulsed arterial spin labeling perfusion MRI at rest and during an emotion regulation paradigm.Relative to the rest condition, elderly nonanxious comparison subjects had increased rCBF during worry induction (WI) in the right insula, bilateral amygdala, and associative temporooccipital areas. Elderly GAD subjects had increased rCBF during WI in the associative temporooccipital areas, but not in the insula or the amygdala. During worry suppression (WS), elderly nonanxious comparison subjects had increased rCBF in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and dorsal ACC. Elderly GAD subjects had no changes in rCBF during WS in the PFC.When attempting to regulate their emotional responses, elderly anxious subjects failed to activate prefrontal regions involved in the downregulation of negative emotions. These results, showing that elderly anxious subjects are not effectively engaging the PFC in suppressing worry, may be clinically relevant for developing personalized therapeutic strategies for the treatment of late-life GAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/da.20799

  View details for Web of Science ID 000288331700004

  View details for PubMedID 21394853

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3225118

• Experiential, autonomic, and neural responses during threat anticipation vary as a function of threat intensity and neuroticism NEUROIMAGE Drabant, E. M., Kuo, J. R., Ramel, W., Blechert, J., Edge, M. D., Cooper, J. R., Goldin, P. R., Hariri, A. R., Gross, J. J. 2011; 55 (1): 401-410

  Abstract

  Anticipatory emotional responses play a crucial role in preparing individuals for impending challenges. They do this by triggering a coordinated set of changes in behavioral, autonomic, and neural response systems. In the present study, we examined the biobehavioral impact of varying levels of anticipatory anxiety, using a shock anticipation task in which unpredictable electric shocks were threatened and delivered to the wrist at variable intervals and intensities (safe, medium, strong). This permitted investigation of a dynamic range of anticipatory anxiety responses. In two studies, 95 and 51 healthy female participants, respectively, underwent this shock anticipation task while providing continuous ratings of anxiety experience and electrodermal responding (Study 1) and during fMRI BOLD neuroimaging (Study 2). Results indicated a step-wise pattern of responding in anxiety experience and electrodermal responses. Several brain regions showed robust responses to shock anticipation relative to safe trials, including the hypothalamus, periaqueductal gray, caudate, precentral gyrus, thalamus, insula, ventrolateral PFC, dorsomedial PFC, and ACC. A subset of these regions demonstrated a linear pattern of increased responding from safe to medium to strong trials, including the bilateral insula, ACC, and inferior frontal gyrus. These responses were modulated by individual differences in neuroticism, such that those high in neuroticism showed exaggerated anxiety experience across the entire task, and reduced brain activation from medium to strong trials in a subset of brain regions. These findings suggest that individual differences in neuroticism may influence sensitivity to anticipatory threat and provide new insights into the mechanism through which neuroticism may confer risk for developing anxiety disorders via dysregulated anticipatory responses.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.11.040

  View details for Web of Science ID 000287008900040

  View details for PubMedID 21093595

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3031673

• Stimulation at dorsal and ventral electrode contacts targeted at the subthalamic nucleus has different effects on motor and emotion functions in Parkinson's disease NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA Greenhouse, I., Gould, S., Houser, M., Hicks, G., Gross, J., Aron, A. R. 2011; 49 (3): 528-534

  Abstract

  Motor and emotion processing depend on different fronto-basal ganglia circuits. Distinct sub-regions of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) may modulate these circuits. We evaluated whether stimulation targeted at separate territories in the STN region would differentially affect motor and emotion function. In a double-blind design, we studied twenty Parkinson's disease patients who had deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrodes implanted bilaterally in the STN. We stimulated either dorsal or ventral contacts of the STN electrodes on separate days in each patient and acquired behavioral measures. Dorsal contact stimulation improved motor function by reducing scores on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and by reducing both reaction time and reaction time variability compared to ventral contact stimulation. By contrast, ventral contact stimulation led to an increase in positive emotion compared to dorsal contact stimulation. These results support the hypothesis that different territories within the STN region implement motor and emotion functions.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.12.030

  View details for Web of Science ID 000287909900025

  View details for PubMedID 21184765

• Context-Dependent Emotion Regulation: Suppression and Reappraisal at the Burning Man Festival BASIC AND APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY McRae, K., Heller, S. M., John, O. P., Gross, J. J. 2011; 33 (4): 346-350

  View details for DOI 10.1080/01973533.2011.614170

  View details for Web of Science ID 000300160500005

• Emotion regulation in violent conflict: Reappraisal, hope, and support for humanitarian aid to the opponent in wartime COGNITION & EMOTION Halperin, E., Gross, J. J. 2011; 25 (7): 1228-1236

  Abstract

  It is well known that negative intergroup emotions such as anger, fear, and hatred play a major role in initiating and maintaining intergroup conflicts. It is far less clear, however, what factors promote the resolution of intergroup conflicts. Using an emotion regulation- framework, we hypothesised that one form of emotion regulation-namely cognitive reappraisal-should play a salutary role in such conflicts, and be associated with increased hope as well as greater support for humanitarian aid to out-group members. To test these hypotheses, we used a nationwide survey of Jewish-Israeli adults, conducted during the war in Gaza between Israelis and Palestinians. Results obtained via structural equation modelling revealed that Israelis who regulated their negative emotions during the war through reappraisal were more supportive in providing humanitarian aid to innocent Palestinian citizens and that this relation was partially mediated by an enhanced feeling of hope.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2010.536081

  View details for Web of Science ID 000299564700008

  View details for PubMedID 22017615

• Emotion and emotion regulation in intergroup conflict: An appraisal-based framework Intergroup conflicts and their resolution: A social psychological perspective Halperin, E., Sharvit, K., Gross, J. J. edited by Bar-Tal, D. New York: Psychology Press. 2011: 83–103
• The reason in passion: A social cognitive neuroscience approach to emotion regulation. Handbook of self regulation: Research, theory, and applications McRae, K., Ochsner, K. N., Gross, J. J., Vohs, K. D. edited by Baumeister, R. F. New York, NY: Guilford Press.. 2011; 2nd: 186–203
• Psychology Gleitman, H., Gross, J. J., Reisberg, D. New York, NY: Norton. 2011
• Beyond pleasure and pain? Emotion regulation and positive psychology Designing positive psychology: Taking stock and moving forward Tamir, M., Gross, J. J. edited by Sheldon, K. M., Kashdan, T. B., Steger, M. F. New York: Oxford University Press. 2011: 89–100
• Taking one's lumps while doing the splits: A big tent perspective on emotion generation and emotion regulation COGNITION & EMOTION Gross, J. J., Sheppes, G., Urry, H. L. 2011; 25 (5): 789-793

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2011.586590

  View details for Web of Science ID 000299562700004

• A NETWORK APPROACH FOR EVALUATING COHERENCE IN MULTIVARIATE SYSTEMS: AN APPLICATION TO PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL EMOTION DATA PSYCHOMETRIKA Hsieh, F., Ferrer, E., Chen, S., Mauss, I. B., John, O., Gross, J. J. 2011; 76 (1): 124-152

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11336-010-9194-0

  View details for Web of Science ID 000289439000008

• Posttraumatic stress, difficulties in emotion regulation, and coping-oriented marijuana use. Cognitive behaviour therapy Bonn-Miller, M. O., Vujanovic, A. A., Boden, M. T., Gross, J. J. 2011; 40 (1): 34-44

  Abstract

  In an effort to better understand factors that may explain prior findings of a positive relation between posttraumatic stress symptom severity and coping-oriented marijuana use motivation, the present study tested whether the association between posttraumatic stress symptom severity and marijuana use coping motives is mediated by difficulties in emotion regulation. Participants were 79 (39 women; M(age) = 22.29 years, SD = 6.99) community-recruited adults who reported (1) lifetime exposure to at least one posttraumatic stress disorder Criterion A traumatic event and (2) marijuana use in the past 30 days. Results indicated that difficulties in emotion regulation, as indexed by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004), fully mediated the association between posttraumatic stress symptom severity and marijuana use coping motives. Implications for the treatment of co-occurring posttraumatic stress and marijuana use are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/16506073.2010.525253

  View details for PubMedID 21337213

• Cognition and Emotion Lecture at the 2010 SPSP Emotion Preconference Emotion generation and emotion regulation: A distinction we should make (carefully) COGNITION & EMOTION Gross, J. J., Sheppes, G., Urry, H. L. 2011; 25 (5): 765-781

  Abstract

  One of the most fundamental distinctions in the field of emotion is the distinction between emotion generation and emotion regulation. This distinction fits comfortably with folk theories, which view emotions as passions that arise unbidden and then must be controlled. But is it really helpful to distinguish between emotion generation and emotion regulation? In this article, we begin by offering working definitions of emotion generation and emotion regulation. We argue that in some circumstances, the distinction between emotion generation and emotion regulation is indeed useful. We point both to citation patterns, which indicate that researchers from across a number of sub-areas within psychology are making this distinction, and to empirical studies, which indicate the utility of this distinction in many different research contexts. We then consider five ways in which the distinction between emotion generation and emotion regulation can be problematic. We suggest that it is time to move beyond debates about whether this distinction is useful to a more specific consideration of when and in what ways this distinction is useful, and in this spirit, we offer recommendations for future research.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2011.555753

  View details for Web of Science ID 000299562700001

  View details for PubMedID 21824019

• Emotion Generation and Emotion Regulation: One or Two Depends on Your Point of View EMOTION REVIEW Gross, J. J., Barrett, L. F. 2011; 3 (1): 8-16

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation has the odd distinction of being a wildly popular construct whose scientific existence is in considerable doubt. In this article, we discuss the confusion about whether emotion generation and emotion regulation can and should be distinguished from one another. We describe a continuum of perspectives on emotion, and highlight how different (often mutually incompatible) perspectives on emotion lead to different views about whether emotion generation and emotion regulation can be usefully distinguished. We argue that making differences in perspective explicit serves the function of allowing researchers with different theoretical commitments to collaborate productively despite seemingly insurmountable differences in terminology and methods.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1754073910380974

  View details for Web of Science ID 000306271500002

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3072688

• Explicit and implicit emotion regulation: A dual-process framework COGNITION & EMOTION Gyurak, A., Gross, J. J., Etkin, A. 2011; 25 (3): 400-412

  Abstract

  It is widely acknowledged that emotions can be regulated in an astonishing variety of ways. Most research to date has focused on explicit (effortful) forms of emotion regulation. However, there is growing research interest in implicit (automatic) forms of emotion regulation. To organise emerging findings, we present a dual-process framework that integrates explicit and implicit forms of emotion regulation, and argue that both forms of regulation are necessary for well-being. In the first section of this review, we provide a broad overview of the construct of emotion regulation, with an emphasis on explicit and implicit processes. In the second section, we focus on explicit emotion regulation, considering both neural mechanisms that are associated with these processes and their experiential and physiological consequences. In the third section, we turn to several forms of implicit emotion regulation, and integrate the burgeoning literature in this area. We conclude by outlining open questions and areas for future research.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2010.544160

  View details for Web of Science ID 000288672700002

  View details for PubMedID 21432682

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3280343

• Misery Has More Company Than People Think: Underestimating the Prevalence of Others' Negative Emotions PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN Jordan, A. H., Monin, B., Dweck, C. S., Lovett, B. J., John, O. P., Gross, J. J. 2011; 37 (1): 120-135

  Abstract

  Four studies document underestimations of the prevalence of others' negative emotions and suggest causes and correlates of these erroneous perceptions. In Study 1a, participants reported that their negative emotions were more private or hidden than were their positive emotions; in Study 1b, participants underestimated the peer prevalence of common negative, but not positive, experiences described in Study 1a. In Study 2, people underestimated negative emotions and overestimated positive emotions even for well-known peers, and this effect was partially mediated by the degree to which those peers reported suppression of negative (vs. positive) emotions. Study 3 showed that lower estimations of the prevalence of negative emotional experiences predicted greater loneliness and rumination and lower life satisfaction and that higher estimations for positive emotional experiences predicted lower life satisfaction. Taken together, these studies suggest that people may think they are more alone in their emotional difficulties than they really are.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0146167210390822

  View details for PubMedID 21177878

• Explicit and implicit emotion regulation: A dual-process framework COGNITION & EMOTION Gyurak, A., Gross, J. J., Etkin, A. 2011; 25 (3): 400-412

  Abstract

  It is widely acknowledged that emotions can be regulated in an astonishing variety of ways. Most research to date has focused on explicit (effortful) forms of emotion regulation. However, there is growing research interest in implicit (automatic) forms of emotion regulation. To organise emerging findings, we present a dual-process framework that integrates explicit and implicit forms of emotion regulation, and argue that both forms of regulation are necessary for well-being. In the first section of this review, we provide a broad overview of the construct of emotion regulation, with an emphasis on explicit and implicit processes. In the second section, we focus on explicit emotion regulation, considering both neural mechanisms that are associated with these processes and their experiential and physiological consequences. In the third section, we turn to several forms of implicit emotion regulation, and integrate the burgeoning literature in this area. We conclude by outlining open questions and areas for future research.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699931.2010.544160

  View details for Web of Science ID 000288672700002

  View details for PubMedID 21432682

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3280343

• Misery Has More Company Than People Think: Underestimating the Prevalence of Others' Negative Emotions PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN Jordan, A. H., Monin, B., Dweck, C. S., Lovett, B. J., John, O. P., Gross, J. J. 2011; 37 (1): 120-135

  Abstract

  Four studies document underestimations of the prevalence of others' negative emotions and suggest causes and correlates of these erroneous perceptions. In Study 1a, participants reported that their negative emotions were more private or hidden than were their positive emotions; in Study 1b, participants underestimated the peer prevalence of common negative, but not positive, experiences described in Study 1a. In Study 2, people underestimated negative emotions and overestimated positive emotions even for well-known peers, and this effect was partially mediated by the degree to which those peers reported suppression of negative (vs. positive) emotions. Study 3 showed that lower estimations of the prevalence of negative emotional experiences predicted greater loneliness and rumination and lower life satisfaction and that higher estimations for positive emotional experiences predicted lower life satisfaction. Taken together, these studies suggest that people may think they are more alone in their emotional difficulties than they really are.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0146167210390822

  View details for PubMedID 21177878

• Emotion Regulation in Older Age CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Urry, H. L., Gross, J. J. 2010; 19 (6): 352-357

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0963721410388395

  View details for Web of Science ID 000288426500003

• Cognitive Reappraisal of Negative Affect: Converging Evidence From EMG and Self-Report EMOTION Ray, R. D., McRae, K., Ochsner, K. N., Gross, J. J. 2010; 10 (4): 587-592

  Abstract

  Prior psychophysiological studies of cognitive reappraisal have generally focused on the down-regulation of negative affect, and have demonstrated either changes in self-reports of affective experience, or changes in facial electromyography, but not both. Unfortunately, when taken separately, these measures are vulnerable to different sources of bias, and alternative explanations might account for changes in these indicators of negative affect. What is needed is a study that (a) obtains measures of self-reported affect together with facial electromyography, and (b) examines the use of reappraisal to regulate externally and internally generated affective responses. In the present study, participants up- or down-regulated negative affect in the context of both negative and neutral pictures. Up-regulation led to greater self reports of negative affect, as well as greater corrugator and startle responses to both negative and neutral stimuli. Down-regulation led to lesser reports of negative affect, and lesser corrugator responses to negative and neutral stimuli. These results extend prior research by (a) showing simultaneous effects on multiple measures of affect, and (b) demonstrating that cognitive reappraisal may be used both to regulate responses to negative stimuli and to manufacture a negative response to neutral stimuli.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a001901533

  View details for Web of Science ID 000280829700013

  View details for PubMedID 20677875

• Oxytocin Makes People Trusting, Not Gullible PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Mikolajczak, M., Gross, J. J., Lane, A., Corneille, O., de Timary, P., Luminet, O. 2010; 21 (8): 1072-1074

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0956797610377343

  View details for Web of Science ID 000285454200006

  View details for PubMedID 20631321

• Emotion Regulation and Vulnerability to Depression: Spontaneous Versus Instructed Use of Emotion Suppression and Reappraisal EMOTION Ehring, T., Tuschen-Caffier, B., Schnuelle, J., Fischer, S., Gross, J. J. 2010; 10 (4): 563-572

  Abstract

  Emotion dysregulation has long been thought to be a vulnerability factor for mood disorders. However, there have been few empirical tests of this idea. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that depression vulnerability is related to difficulties with emotion regulation by comparing recovered-depressed and never-depressed participants (N = 73). In the first phase, participants completed questionnaires assessing their typical use of emotion regulation strategies. In the second phase, sad mood was induced using a film clip, and the degree to which participants reported to have spontaneously used suppression versus reappraisal to regulate their emotions was assessed. In the third phase, participants received either suppression or reappraisal instructions prior to watching a second sadness-inducing film. As predicted, suppression was found to be ineffective for down-regulating negative emotions, and recovered-depressed participants reported to have spontaneously used this strategy during the first sadness-inducing film more often than controls. However, the groups did not differ regarding the effects of induced suppression versus reappraisal on negative mood. These results provide evidence for a role for spontaneous but not instructed emotion regulation in depression vulnerability.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0019010

  View details for Web of Science ID 000280829700011

  View details for PubMedID 20677873

• The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades EMOTION REVIEW Gross, J. J. 2010; 2 (3): 212-216

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1754073910361982

  View details for Web of Science ID 000208388500004

• Interdependent self-construal and neural representations of self and mother SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE Ray, R. D., Shelton, A. L., Hollon, N. G., Matsumoto, D., Frankel, C. B., Gross, J. J., Gabrieli, J. D. 2010; 5 (2-3): 318-323

  Abstract

  Representations of self are thought to be dynamically influenced by one's surroundings, including the culture one lives in. However, neuroimaging studies of self-representations have either ignored cultural influences or operationalized culture as country of origin. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural correlates of individual differences in interdependent self-construal. Participants rated whether trait adjectives applied to themselves or their mothers, or judged their valence or font. Findings indicated that individual differences in interdependent self-construal correlated positively with increased activation in the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulated cortex when making judgments about one-self vs making judgments about one's mother. This suggests that those with greater interdependent self-construals may rely more upon episodic memory, reflected appraisals, or theory of mind to incorporate social information to make judgments about themselves.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/scan/nsp039

  View details for Web of Science ID 000282071900023

  View details for PubMedID 19822601

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2894675

• Emotional reactivity and cognitive regulation in anxious children BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH AND THERAPY Carthy, T., Horesh, N., Apter, A., Edge, M. D., Gross, J. J. 2010; 48 (5): 384-393

  Abstract

  Recent models of anxiety disorders emphasize abnormalities in emotional reactivity and regulation. However, the empirical basis for this view is limited, particularly in children and adolescents. The present study examined whether anxious children suffer both negative emotional hyper-reactivity and deficits in cognitive emotion regulation. Participants were 49 children aged 10-17 with generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, or separation anxiety disorder as their primary diagnosis, as well as 42 age- and gender-matched non-anxious controls. After completing a diagnostic interview and self-report questionnaires, participants were presented with pictures of threatening scenes with the instructions either to simply view them or to use reappraisal, a cognitive emotion regulation strategy, to decrease their negative emotional response. Emotion ratings, content analysis of reappraisal responses, and reports of everyday use of reappraisal were used to assess negative emotional reactivity, reappraisal ability, efficacy and frequency. Relative to controls, children with anxiety disorders (1) experienced greater negative emotional responses to the images, (2) were less successful at applying reappraisals, but (3) showed intact ability to reduce their negative emotions following reappraisal. They also (4) reported less frequent use of reappraisal in everyday life. Implications for the assessment and treatment of childhood anxiety disorders are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.brat.2009.12.013

  View details for Web of Science ID 000278168000005

  View details for PubMedID 20089246

• Neuoroticism Modulates the Impact of Anticipatory Anxiety on Experiential, Autonomic, and Neural Responses 65th Annual Convention of the Society-of-Biological-Psychiatry Drabant, E. M., Kuo, J. R., Ramel, W., Blechert, J., Edge, M. D., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2010: 119S–119S

  View details for Web of Science ID 000277064200380

• Healthy young women with serotonin transporter SS polymorphism show a pro-inflammatory bias under resting and stress conditions BRAIN BEHAVIOR AND IMMUNITY Fredericks, C. A., Drabant, E. M., Edge, M. D., Tillie, J. M., Hallmayer, J., Ramel, W., Kuo, J. R., Mackey, S., Gross, J. J., Dhabhar, F. S. 2010; 24 (3): 350-357

  Abstract

  The study of functionally relevant biological effects of serotonin transporter gene promoter region (5-HTTLPR) polymorphisms is especially important given the current controversy about the clinical relevance of these polymorphisms. Here we report an intrinsic immunobiological difference between individuals carrying two short (SS) versus long (LL) 5-HTTLPR alleles, that is observed in healthy subjects reporting low exposure to life stress. Given that 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms are thought to influence susceptibility to depression and are associated with robust neurobiological effects, that depression is associated with higher pro-inflammatory and lower anti-inflammatory cytokines, and that acute stressors increase circulating concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines, we hypothesized that compared to LL individuals, SS individuals may show a pro-inflammatory bias under resting conditions and/or during stress. 15 LL and 11 SS individuals participated in the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Serum IL-6 and IL-10 were quantified at baseline and 30, 60, 90, and 120min after beginning the 20-min stress test. Compared to LL individuals, SS individuals showed a higher IL-6/IL-10 ratio at baseline and during stress. Importantly, this pro-inflammatory bias was observed despite both groups being healthy, reporting similar intensities of stress and negative emotionality during the TSST, and reporting similar low exposures to early and recent life stress. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a pro-inflammatory bias/phenotype in individuals carrying the SS genotype of 5-HTTLPR. Thus, healthy SS individuals may be chronically exposed to a pro-inflammatory physiological burden under resting and stress conditions, which could increase their vulnerability to disorders like depression and other diseases that can be facilitated/exacerbated by a chronic pro-inflammatory state.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.bbi.2009.10.014

  View details for Web of Science ID 000275217300004

  View details for PubMedID 19883751

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2826575

• Patterns of Emotional Reactivity and Regulation in Children with Anxiety Disorders JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT Carthy, T., Horesh, N., Apter, A., Gross, J. J. 2010; 32 (1): 23-36

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10862-009-9167-8

  View details for Web of Science ID 000274520400003

• Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder EMOTION Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J. 2010; 10 (1): 83-91

  Abstract

  Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an established program shown to reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. MBSR is believed to alter emotional responding by modifying cognitive-affective processes. Given that social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by emotional and attentional biases as well as distorted negative self-beliefs, we examined MBSR-related changes in the brain-behavior indices of emotional reactivity and regulation of negative self-beliefs in patients with SAD. Sixteen patients underwent functional MRI while reacting to negative self-beliefs and while regulating negative emotions using 2 types of attention deployment emotion regulation-breath-focused attention and distraction-focused attention. Post-MBSR, 14 patients completed neuroimaging assessments. Compared with baseline, MBSR completers showed improvement in anxiety and depression symptoms and self-esteem. During the breath-focused attention task (but not the distraction-focused attention task), they also showed (a) decreased negative emotion experience, (b) reduced amygdala activity, and (c) increased activity in brain regions implicated in attentional deployment. MBSR training in patients with SAD may reduce emotional reactivity while enhancing emotion regulation. These changes might facilitate reduction in SAD-related avoidance behaviors, clinical symptoms, and automatic emotional reactivity to negative self-beliefs in adults with SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0018441

  View details for Web of Science ID 000274400800011

  View details for PubMedID 20141305

• The Neural Bases of Distraction and Reappraisal JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE McRae, K., Hughes, B., Chopra, S., Gabrieli, J. D., Gross, J. J., Ochsner, K. N. 2010; 22 (2): 248-262

  Abstract

  Distraction and reappraisal are two commonly used forms of cognitive emotion regulation. Functional neuroimaging studies have shown that each one depends upon interactions between pFC, interpreted as implementing cognitive control, and limbic regions, interpreted as mediating emotional responses. However, no study has directly compared distraction with reappraisal, and it remains unclear whether they draw upon different neural mechanisms and have different emotional consequences. The present fMRI study compared distraction and reappraisal and found both similarities and differences between the two forms of emotion regulation. Both resulted in decreased negative affect, decreased activation in the amygdala, and increased activation in prefrontal and cingulate regions. Relative to distraction, reappraisal led to greater decreases in negative affect and to greater increases in a network of regions associated with processing affective meaning (medial prefrontal and anterior temporal cortices). Relative to reappraisal, distraction led to greater decreases in amygdala activation and to greater increases in activation in prefrontal and parietal regions. Taken together, these data suggest that distraction and reappraisal differentially engage neural systems involved in attentional deployment and cognitive reframing and have different emotional consequences.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000274034500004

  View details for PubMedID 19400679

• An Italian Adaptation of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT Balzarotti, S., John, O. P., Gross, J. J. 2010; 26 (1): 61-67

  View details for DOI 10.1027/1015-5759/a000009

  View details for Web of Science ID 000274049400009

• THE TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF REAPPRAISAL AND DISTRACTION Thiruchselvam, R., Sheppes, G., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC. 2010: S17

  View details for Web of Science ID 000280662000097

• ATTENTIONAL DEPLOYMENT AND COGNITIVE REAPPRAISAL IN OLDER AND YOUNGER ADULTS Opitz, P. C., Gross, J. J., Urry, H. L. WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC. 2010: S31

  View details for Web of Science ID 000280662000172

• Emotion regulation Corsini's encyclopedia of psychology McRae, K., Gross, J. J. edited by Weiner, I. B., Craighead, W. E. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. 2010; 4th: 558–560
• Emotion regulation and psychopathology: A conceptual framework Emotion regulation and psychopathology: A transdiagnostic approach to etiology and treatment Werner, K., Gross, J. J. edited by Kring, A., Sloan, d. New York: Guilford Press. 2010: 13–37
• The cybernetic process model of self-control: Situation- and person-specific considerations Handbook of personality and selfregulation Magen, E., Gross, J. J. edited by Hoyle, R. H. New York, NY: Blackwell Publications. 2010: 353–374
• Getting our act together: Toward a general model of selfcontrol Self control in society, mind, and brain Magen, E., Gross, J. J. edited by Hassin, R., Ochsner, K. N., Trope, Y. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2010: 335–353
• Neural Mechanisms of Cognitive Reappraisal of Negative Self-Beliefs in Social Anxiety Disorder BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY Goldin, P. R., Manber-Ball, T., Werner, K., Heimberg, R., Gross, J. J. 2009; 66 (12): 1091-1099

  Abstract

  Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by distorted negative self-beliefs (NSBs), which are thought to enhance emotional reactivity, interfere with emotion regulation, and undermine social functioning. Cognitive reappraisal is a type of emotion regulation used to alter NSBs, with the goal of modulating emotional reactivity. Despite its relevance, little is known about the neural bases and temporal features of cognitive reappraisal in patients with SAD.Twenty-seven patients with SAD and 27 healthy control subjects (HCs) were trained to react and to implement cognitive reappraisal to downregulate negative emotional reactivity to NSBs, while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging and providing ratings of negative emotion experience.Behaviorally, compared with HCs, patients with SAD reported greater negative emotion both while reacting to and reappraising NSBs. However, when cued, participants in both groups were able to use cognitive reappraisal to decrease negative emotion. Neurally, reacting to NSBs resulted in early amygdala response in both groups. Reappraising NSBs resulted in greater early cognitive control, language, and visual processing in HCs but greater late cognitive control, visceral, and visual processing in patients with SAD. Functional connectivity analysis during reappraisal identified more regulatory regions inversely related to left amygdala in HCs than in patients with SAD. Reappraisal-related brain regions that differentiated patients and control subjects were associated with negative emotion ratings and cognitive reappraisal self-efficacy.Findings regarding cognitive reappraisal suggest neural timing, connectivity, and brain-behavioral associations specific to patients with SAD and elucidate neural mechanisms that might serve as biomarkers of interventions for SAD.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.07.014

  View details for Web of Science ID 000272599500004

  View details for PubMedID 19717138

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2788040

• Bottom-Up and Top-Down Processes in Emotion Generation: Common and Distinct Neural Mechanisms PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Ochsner, K. N., Ray, R. R., Hughes, B., McRae, K., Cooper, J. C., Weber, J., Gabrieli, J. D., Gross, J. J. 2009; 20 (11): 1322-1331

  Abstract

  Emotions are generally thought to arise through the interaction of bottom-up and top-down processes. However, prior work has not delineated their relative contributions. In a sample of 20 females, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the neural correlates of negative emotions generated by the bottom-up perception of aversive images and by the top-down interpretation of neutral images as aversive. We found that (a) both types of responses activated the amygdala, although bottom-up responses did so more strongly; (b) bottom-up responses activated systems for attending to and encoding perceptual and affective stimulus properties, whereas top-down responses activated prefrontal regions that represent high-level cognitive interpretations; and (c) self-reported affect correlated with activity in the amygdala during bottom-up responding and with activity in the medial prefrontal cortex during top-down responding. These findings provide a neural foundation for emotion theories that posit multiple kinds of appraisal processes and help to clarify mechanisms underlying clinically relevant forms of emotion dysregulation.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000271526700005

  View details for PubMedID 19883494

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2858766

• FOR BETTER OR WORSE? STRESS INOCULATION EFFECTS FOR IMPLICIT BUT NOT EXPLICIT ANXIETY DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY Edge, M. D., Ramel, W., Drabant, E. M., Kuo, J. R., Parker, K. J., Gross, J. J. 2009; 26 (9): 831-837

  Abstract

  Severe early life stress (ELS) is associated with negative outcomes. It is not clear, however, what impact moderate ELS has. A growing stress inoculation literature suggests that moderate (vs. low or high) ELS is associated with diminished behavioral and physiological anxiety responses. At the same time, studies of trait anxiety suggest that moderate (vs. low) ELS is associated with greater self-reported anxiety. This study tested the hypothesis that stress inoculation effects are evident for implicit (nonconscious) but not explicit (conscious) aspects of anxiety.Ninety-seven healthy women were assessed for ELS and explicit anxiety using questionnaires and assessed for implicit anxiety using a version of the Implicit Association Test.Results indicated a quadratic relation between ELS and implicit anxiety, such that moderate ELS was associated with lower implicit anxiety levels than low or high ELS. By contrast, the relation between ELS and explicit anxiety was linear.These findings support the stress inoculation hypothesis and suggest that stress inoculation applies for implicit but not explicit aspects of anxiety.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/da.20592

  View details for Web of Science ID 000269685500008

  View details for PubMedID 19569055

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3364103

• ANXIETY, VAGAL CONTROL, AND REGULATION OF FACIAL EXPRESSION 49th Annual Meeting of the Society-for-Psychophysiological-Research Schinkoethe, D., Mueller, B., Kull, S., Michael, T., Grossman, P., Gross, J. J., Wilhelm, F. H. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2009: S140–S140

  View details for Web of Science ID 000269744700798

• Mindfulness Meditation Training and Self-Referential Processing in Social Anxiety Disorder: Behavioral and Neural Effects. Journal of cognitive psychotherapy Goldin, P., Ramel, W., Gross, J. 2009; 23 (3): 242-257

  Abstract

  This study examined the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on the brain-behavior mechanisms of self-referential processing in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Sixteen patients underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while encoding self-referential, valence, and orthographic features of social trait adjectives. Post-MBSR, 14 patients completed neuroimaging. Compared to baseline, MBSR completers showed (a) increased self-esteem and decreased anxiety, (b) increased positive and decreased negative self-endorsement, (c) increased activity in a brain network related to attention regulation, and (d) reduced activity in brain systems implicated in conceptual-linguistic self-view. MBSR-related changes in maladaptive or distorted social self-view in adults diagnosed with SAD may be related to modulation of conceptual self-processing and attention regulation. Self-referential processing may serve as a functional biobehavioral target to measure the effects of mindfulness training.

  View details for PubMedID 25568592

• Cognitive and Neural Development of Individuated Self-Representation in Children CHILD DEVELOPMENT Ray, R. D., Shelton, A. L., Hollon, N. G., Michel, B. D., Frankel, C. B., Gross, J. J., Gabrieli, J. D. 2009; 80 (4): 1232-1242

  Abstract

  Processing the self-relevance of information facilitates recall. Similarly, processing close-other-related information facilitates recall to a lesser degree than processing self-relevant information. This memory advantage may be viewed as an index of the degree to which the representation of self is differentiated from representations of close others. To test developmental hypotheses concerning the self, this study examined the relation of memory for self- and mother-referentially processed information in participants age 7-13 years (Experiment 1: N = 37; Experiment 2: N = 14). Memory for words encoded with reference to oneself increases with age, relative to memory for words encoded with reference to one's mother. When used as an individual difference measure, the difference in self versus mother memory correlates with regions of the rostral anterior cingulate associated with affective salience.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000268051200019

  View details for PubMedID 19630904

• Does Expressing Your Emotions Raise or Lower Your Blood Pressure? The Answer Depends on Cultural Context JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY Butler, E. A., Lee, T. L., Gross, J. J. 2009; 40 (3): 510-517

  Abstract

  Emotion-expressive behavior is often - but not always -- inversely related to physiological responding. To test the hypothesis that cultural context moderates the relationship between expressivity and physiological responding, we had Asian American and European American women engage in face-to-face conversations about a distressing film in same-ethnicity dyads. Blood pressure was measured continuously and emotional expressivity was rated from videotapes. Results indicated that emotion-expressive behavior was inversely related to blood pressure in European American dyads, but the reverse was true in Asian American dyads who showed a trend towards a positive association. These results suggest that the links between emotion-expressive behavior and physiological responding may depend upon cultural context. One possible explanation for this effect may be that cultural contexts shape the meaning individuals give to emotional expressions that occur during social interactions.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0022022109332845

  View details for Web of Science ID 000265108800010

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4260334

• Does Expressing Your Emotions Raise or Lower Your Blood Pressure? The Answer Depends on Cultural Context. Journal of cross-cultural psychology Butler, E. A., Lee, T. L., Gross, J. J. 2009; 40 (3): 510-517

  Abstract

  Emotion-expressive behavior is often - but not always -- inversely related to physiological responding. To test the hypothesis that cultural context moderates the relationship between expressivity and physiological responding, we had Asian American and European American women engage in face-to-face conversations about a distressing film in same-ethnicity dyads. Blood pressure was measured continuously and emotional expressivity was rated from videotapes. Results indicated that emotion-expressive behavior was inversely related to blood pressure in European American dyads, but the reverse was true in Asian American dyads who showed a trend towards a positive association. These results suggest that the links between emotion-expressive behavior and physiological responding may depend upon cultural context. One possible explanation for this effect may be that cultural contexts shape the meaning individuals give to emotional expressions that occur during social interactions.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0022022109332845

  View details for PubMedID 25505801

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4260334

• 5-HTTLPR Genotype is Associated with Differential Prefrontal Engagement during Anticipatory Anxiety 64th Annual Convention of the Society-of-Biological-Psychiatry Drabant, E., Ramel, W., Kuo, J., Edge, M., Gross, J. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2009: 58S–59S

  View details for Web of Science ID 000265144200186

• The Social Costs of Emotional Suppression: A Prospective Study of the Transition to College JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Srivastava, S., Tamir, M., McGonigal, K. M., John, O. P., Gross, J. J. 2009; 96 (4): 883-897

  Abstract

  There is growing interest in understanding how emotion regulation affects adaptation. The present study examined expressive suppression (which involves inhibiting the overt expression of emotion) and how it affects a critical domain of adaptation, social functioning. This investigation focused on the transition to college, a time that presents a variety of emotional and social challenges. Analyses focused on 2 components of suppression: a stable component, representing individual differences expressed both before and after the transition, and a dynamic component, representing variance specific to the new college context. Both components of suppression predicted lower social support, less closeness to others, and lower social satisfaction. These findings were robustly corroborated across weekly experience reports, self-reports, and peer reports and are consistent with a theoretical framework that defines emotion regulation as a dynamic process shaped by both stable person factors and environmental demands.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0014755

  View details for Web of Science ID 000264489400012

  View details for PubMedID 19309209

• Individual Differences in Typical Reappraisal Use Predict Amygdala and Prefrontal Responses BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY Drabant, E. M., McRae, K., Manuck, S. B., Hariri, A. R., Gross, J. J. 2009; 65 (5): 367-373

  Abstract

  Participants who are instructed to use reappraisal to downregulate negative emotion show decreased amygdala responses and increased prefrontal responses. However, it is not known whether individual differences in the tendency to use reappraisal manifests in similar neural responses when individuals are spontaneously confronted with negative situations. Such spontaneous emotion regulation might play an important role in normal and pathological responses to the emotional challenges of everyday life.Fifty-six healthy women completed a blood oxygenation-level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging challenge paradigm involving the perceptual processing of emotionally negative facial expressions. Participants also completed measures of typical emotion regulation use, trait anxiety, and neuroticism.Greater use of reappraisal in everyday life was related to decreased amygdala activity and increased prefrontal and parietal activity during the processing of negative emotional facial expressions. These associations were not attributable to variation in trait anxiety, neuroticism, or the use of another common form of emotion regulation, namely suppression.These findings suggest that, like instructed reappraisal, individual differences in reappraisal use are associated with decreased activation in ventral emotion generative regions and increased activation in prefrontal control regions in response to negative stimuli. Such individual differences in emotion regulation might predict successful coping with emotional challenges as well as the onset of affective disorders.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.09.007

  View details for Web of Science ID 000263455300003

  View details for PubMedID 18930182

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2855682

• Neural Bases of Social Anxiety Disorder Emotional Reactivity and Cognitive Regulation During Social and Physical Threat ARCHIVES OF GENERAL PSYCHIATRY Goldin, P. R., Manber, T., Hakimi, S., Canli, T., Gross, J. J. 2009; 66 (2): 170-180

  Abstract

  Social anxiety disorder is thought to involve emotional hyperreactivity, cognitive distortions, and ineffective emotion regulation. While the neural bases of emotional reactivity to social stimuli have been described, the neural bases of emotional reactivity and cognitive regulation during social and physical threat, and their relationship to social anxiety symptom severity, have yet to be investigated.To investigate behavioral and neural correlates of emotional reactivity and cognitive regulation in patients and controls during processing of social and physical threat stimuli.Participants were trained to implement cognitive-linguistic regulation of emotional reactivity induced by social (harsh facial expressions) and physical (violent scenes) threat while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging and providing behavioral ratings of negative emotion experience.Academic psychology department.Fifteen adults with social anxiety disorder and 17 demographically matched healthy controls.Blood oxygen level-dependent signal and negative emotion ratings.Behaviorally, patients reported greater negative emotion than controls during social and physical threat but showed equivalent reduction in negative emotion following cognitive regulation. Neurally, viewing social threat resulted in greater emotion-related neural responses in patients than controls, with social anxiety symptom severity related to activity in a network of emotion- and attention-processing regions in patients only. Viewing physical threat produced no between-group differences. Regulation during social threat resulted in greater cognitive and attention regulation-related brain activation in controls compared with patients. Regulation during physical threat produced greater cognitive control-related response (ie, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) in patients compared with controls.Compared with controls, patients demonstrated exaggerated negative emotion reactivity and reduced cognitive regulation-related neural activation, specifically for social threat stimuli. These findings help to elucidate potential neural mechanisms of emotion regulation that might serve as biomarkers for interventions for social anxiety disorder.

  View details for PubMedID 19188539

• Mindfulness meditation training and selfreferential processing in social anxiety disorder: Behavioral and neural effects Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy Goldin, P. R., Ramel, W., Gross, J. J. 2009; 23: 242-257

  Abstract

  This study examined the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on the brain-behavior mechanisms of self-referential processing in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Sixteen patients underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while encoding self-referential, valence, and orthographic features of social trait adjectives. Post-MBSR, 14 patients completed neuroimaging. Compared to baseline, MBSR completers showed (a) increased self-esteem and decreased anxiety, (b) increased positive and decreased negative self-endorsement, (c) increased activity in a brain network related to attention regulation, and (d) reduced activity in brain systems implicated in conceptual-linguistic self-view. MBSR-related changes in maladaptive or distorted social self-view in adults diagnosed with SAD may be related to modulation of conceptual self-processing and attention regulation. Self-referential processing may serve as a functional biobehavioral target to measure the effects of mindfulness training.

  View details for DOI 10.1891/0889-8391.23.3.242

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4283801

• Reappraisa Oxford companion to the affective sciences Giuliani, N., Gross, J. J. edited by Sander, D., Scherer, K. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.. 2009: 329–330
• Emotion and Emotion Regulation: Integrating Individual and Social Levels of Analysis EMOTION REVIEW Butler, E. A., Gross, J. J. 2009; 1 (1): 86-87

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1754073908099131

  View details for Web of Science ID 000208386500017

• Using an emotion regulation framework to predict the outcomes of emotional labour Research on emotion in organizations: Emotions in groups, organizations and cultures Mikolajczak, M., Tran, V., Brotheridge, C., Gross, J. J. edited by Härtel, C. E., Ashkanasy, N. M., Zerbe, W. J. Bingley, UK: Emerald. 2009: 245–273
• Regulation of emotion. Oxford companion to the affective sciences McRae, K., Gross, J. J. edited by Sander, D., Scherer, K. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2009: 337–339
• Loving-Kindness Meditation Increases Social Connectedness EMOTION Hutcherson, C. A., Seppala, E. M., Gross, J. J. 2008; 8 (5): 720-724

  Abstract

  The need for social connection is a fundamental human motive, and it is increasingly clear that feeling socially connected confers mental and physical health benefits. However, in many cultures, societal changes are leading to growing social distrust and alienation. Can feelings of social connection and positivity toward others be increased? Is it possible to self-generate these feelings? In this study, the authors used a brief loving-kindness meditation exercise to examine whether social connection could be created toward strangers in a controlled laboratory context. Compared with a closely matched control task, even just a few minutes of loving-kindness meditation increased feelings of social connection and positivity toward novel individuals on both explicit and implicit levels. These results suggest that this easily implemented technique may help to increase positive social emotions and decrease social isolation.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0013237

  View details for Web of Science ID 000259842500014

  View details for PubMedID 18837623

• Self-representation in social anxiety disorder: Linguistic analysis of autobiographical narratives BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH AND THERAPY Anderson, B., Goldin, P. R., Kurita, K., Gross, J. J. 2008; 46 (10): 1119-1125

  Abstract

  Cognitive models of social anxiety disorder (SAD) posit aberrant beliefs about the social self as a key psychological mechanism that maintains fear of negative evaluation in social and performance situations. Consequently, a distorted self-view should be evident when recalling painful autobiographical social memories, as reflected in linguistic expression, negative self-beliefs, and emotion and avoidance. To test this hypothesis, 42 adults diagnosed with SAD and 27 non-psychiatric healthy controls (HC) composed autobiographical narratives of distinct social anxiety related situations, generated negative self-beliefs (NSB), and provided emotion and avoidance ratings. Although narratives were matched for initial emotional intensity and present vividness, linguistic analyses demonstrated that, compared to HC, SAD employed more self-referential, anxiety, and sensory words, and made fewer references to other people. There were no differences in the number of self-referential NSB identified by SAD and HC. Social anxiety symptom severity, however, was associated with greater self-referential NSB in SAD only. SAD reported greater current self-conscious emotions when recalling autobiographical social situations, and greater active avoidance of similar situations than did HC. These findings support cognitive models of SAD, and suggest that autobiographical memory of social situations in SAD may influence current and future thinking, emotion, and behavioral avoidance.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.brat.2008.07.001

  View details for Web of Science ID 000259888500003

  View details for PubMedID 18722589

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2630512

• Cardiovascular costs of emotion suppression cross ethnic lines INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Roberts, N. A., Levenson, R. W., Gross, J. J. 2008; 70 (1): 82-87

  Abstract

  Previous research has shown that inhibiting emotion-expressive behavior (emotion suppression) leads to increased sympathetic activation of the cardiovascular system [Gross, J.J. and Levenson, R.W. (1993). Emotional suppression: physiology, self-report, and expressive behavior. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 64(6), 970-986]. Ethnic differences have been reported in how frequently suppression is used as an emotion regulation strategy [Gross, J.J. and John, O. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 85(2), 348-362]; however, it remains unknown whether there are ethnic differences in the physiological consequences of suppression. To test this, 168 participants from four ethnic groups (African American, Chinese American, European American, Mexican American) watched a disgust-eliciting film clip; half were instructed to suppress their emotions and half simply watched the film. Consistent with previous research, suppression was associated with decreased facial behavior, increased cardiovascular activation, and no impact on subjective emotional experience. Ethnicity failed to moderate these effects, indicating the generality of the cardiovascular consequences of emotion suppression across ethnic background.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.06.003

  View details for Web of Science ID 000260125200011

  View details for PubMedID 18621086

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2583175

• The Up- and Down-Regulation of Amusement: Experiential, Behavioral, and Autonomic Consequences EMOTION Giuliani, N. R., McRae, K., Gross, J. J. 2008; 8 (5): 714-719

  Abstract

  A growing body of research has examined the regulation of negative emotions. However, little is known about the physiological processes underlying the regulation of positive emotions, such as when amusement is enhanced during periods of stress or attenuated in the pursuit of social goals. The aim of this study was to examine the psychophysiological consequences of the cognitive up- and down-regulation of amusement. To address this goal, participants viewed brief, amusing film clips while measurements of experience, behavior, and peripheral physiology were collected. Using an event-related design, participants viewed each film under the instructions either to (a) watch, (b) use cognitive reappraisal to increase amusement, or (c) use cognitive reappraisal to decrease amusement. Findings indicated that emotion experience, emotion-expressive behavior, and autonomic physiology (including heart rate, respiration, and sympathetic nervous system activation) were enhanced and diminished in accordance with regulation instructions. This finding is a critical extension of the growing literature on the voluntary regulation of emotion, and has the potential to help us better understand how people use humor in the service of coping and social goals.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/a0013236

  View details for Web of Science ID 000259842500013

  View details for PubMedID 18837622

• The hidden-zero effect - Representing a single choice as an extended sequence reduces impulsive choice PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Magen, E., Dweck, C. S., Gross, J. J. 2008; 19 (7): 648-649

  View details for Web of Science ID 000257785000006

  View details for PubMedID 18727778

• Misery is not miserly: Sad and self-focused individuals spend more PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Cryder, C. E., Lerner, J. S., Gross, J. J., Dahl, R. E. 2008; 19 (6): 525-530

  Abstract

  Misery is not miserly: Sadness increases the amount of money that decision makers give up to acquire a commodity. The present research investigated when and why the misery-is-not-miserly effect occurs. Drawing on William James's concept of the material self, we tested a model specifying relationships among sadness, self-focus, and the amount of money that decision makers spend. Consistent with our Jamesian hypothesis, results demonstrated that the misery-is-not-miserly effect occurs only when self-focus is high. That is, self-focus moderates the effect of sadness on spending. Moreover, mediational analyses revealed that, at sufficiently high levels, self-focus mediates (explains) the relationship between sadness and spending. Because the study used real commodities and real money, the results hold implications for everyday decisions, as well as implications for the development of theory. For example, economic theories of spending may benefit from incorporating psychological theories -- specifically, theories of emotion and the self -- into their models.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000256636800001

  View details for PubMedID 18578840

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4142804

• A discrete or dimensional affective landscape? Evidence for emotion discreteness from a multiple-response-levels analysis of film-induced fear and sadness Kreibig, S. D., Wilhelm, F. H., Roth, W. T., Gross, J. J. PSYCHOLOGY PRESS. 2008: 203–

  View details for Web of Science ID 000259264302315

• Real-time classification of evoked emotions using facial feature tracking and physiological responses INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN-COMPUTER STUDIES Bailenson, J. N., Pontikakis, E. D., Mauss, I. B., Gross, J. J., Jabon, M. E., Hutcherson, C. A., Nass, C., John, O. 2008; 66 (5): 303-317

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2007.10.011

  View details for Web of Science ID 000255697100001

• Cognitive emotion regulation: Insights from social cognitive and affective neuroscience CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Ochsner, K. N., Gross, J. J. 2008; 17 (2): 153-158

  Abstract

  Recent developments in the study of cognitive emotion regulation illustrate how functional imaging is extending behavioral analyses. Imaging studies have contributed to the development of a multi-level model of emotion regulation that describes the interactions between neural systems implicated in emotion generation and those implicated in emotional control. In this article, we review imaging studies of one type of cognitive emotion regulation, namely reappraisal. We show how imaging studies have contributed to the construction of this model, illustrate the interplay of psychological theory and neuroscience data in its development, and describe how this model can be used as the basis for future basic and translational research.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000254807700018

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4241349

• Gender Differences in Emotion Regulation: An fMRI Study of Cognitive Reappraisal. Group processes & intergroup relations : GPIR McRae, K., Ochsner, K. N., Mauss, I. B., Gabrieli, J. J., Gross, J. J. 2008; 11 (2): 143-162

  Abstract

  Despite strong popular conceptions of gender differences in emotionality and striking gender differences in the prevalence of disorders thought to involve emotion dysregulation, the literature on the neural bases of emotion regulation is nearly silent regarding gender differences (Gross, 2007; Ochsner & Gross, in press). The purpose of the present study was to address this gap in the literature. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we asked male and female participants to use a cognitive emotion regulation strategy (reappraisal) to down-regulate their emotional responses to negatively valenced pictures. Behaviorally, men and women evidenced comparable decreases in negative emotion experience. Neurally, however, gender differences emerged. Compared with women, men showed (a) lesser increases in prefrontal regions that are associated with reappraisal, (b) greater decreases in the amygdala, which is associated with emotional responding, and (c) lesser engagement of ventral striatal regions, which are associated with reward processing. We consider two non-competing explanations for these differences. First, men may expend less effort when using cognitive regulation, perhaps due to greater use of automatic emotion regulation. Second, women may use positive emotions in the service of reappraising negative emotions to a greater degree. We then consider the implications of gender differences in emotion regulation for understanding gender differences in emotional processing in general, and gender differences in affective disorders.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1368430207088035

  View details for PubMedID 29743808

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5937254

• Hedonic and instrumental motives in anger regulation PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Tamir, M., Mitchell, C., Gross, J. J. 2008; 19 (4): 324-328

  Abstract

  What motivates individuals to regulate their emotions? One answer, which has been highlighted in emotion-regulation research, is that individuals are motivated by short-term hedonic goals (e.g., the motivation to feel pleasure). Another answer, however, is that individuals are motivated by instrumental goals (e.g., the motivation to perform certain behaviors). We suggest that both answers have merit. To demonstrate the role instrumental goals may play in emotion regulation, we pitted short-term hedonic motives and instrumental motives against each other, by testing whether individuals were motivated to experience a potentially useful, albeit unpleasant, emotion. We found that (a) individuals preferred activities that would increase their level of anger (but not their level of excitement) when they were anticipating confrontational, but not nonconfrontational, tasks and that (b) anger improved performance in a confrontational, but not a nonconfrontational, task. These findings support a functional view of emotion regulation, and demonstrate that in certain contexts, individuals may choose to experience emotions that are instrumental, despite short-term hedonic costs.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000254792000004

  View details for PubMedID 18399883

• Gender differences in emotion regulation: An fMRI study of cognitive reappraisal GROUP PROCESSES & INTERGROUP RELATIONS McRae, K., Ochsner, K. N., Mauss, I. B., Gabrieli, J. J., Gross, J. J. 2008; 11 (2): 143-162

  Abstract

  Despite strong popular conceptions of gender differences in emotionality and striking gender differences in the prevalence of disorders thought to involve emotion dysregulation, the literature on the neural bases of emotion regulation is nearly silent regarding gender differences (Gross, 2007; Ochsner & Gross, in press). The purpose of the present study was to address this gap in the literature. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we asked male and female participants to use a cognitive emotion regulation strategy (reappraisal) to down-regulate their emotional responses to negatively valenced pictures. Behaviorally, men and women evidenced comparable decreases in negative emotion experience. Neurally, however, gender differences emerged. Compared with women, men showed (a) lesser increases in prefrontal regions that are associated with reappraisal, (b) greater decreases in the amygdala, which is associated with emotional responding, and (c) lesser engagement of ventral striatal regions, which are associated with reward processing. We consider two non-competing explanations for these differences. First, men may expend less effort when using cognitive regulation, perhaps due to greater use of automatic emotion regulation. Second, women may use positive emotions in the service of reappraising negative emotions to a greater degree. We then consider the implications of gender differences in emotion regulation for understanding gender differences in emotional processing in general, and gender differences in affective disorders.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1368430207088035

  View details for Web of Science ID 000256264400002

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5937254

• Hedonic and instrumental motives in anger regulation PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Tamir, M., Mitchell, C., Gross, J. J. 2008; 19 (4): 324-328

  Abstract

  What motivates individuals to regulate their emotions? One answer, which has been highlighted in emotion-regulation research, is that individuals are motivated by short-term hedonic goals (e.g., the motivation to feel pleasure). Another answer, however, is that individuals are motivated by instrumental goals (e.g., the motivation to perform certain behaviors). We suggest that both answers have merit. To demonstrate the role instrumental goals may play in emotion regulation, we pitted short-term hedonic motives and instrumental motives against each other, by testing whether individuals were motivated to experience a potentially useful, albeit unpleasant, emotion. We found that (a) individuals preferred activities that would increase their level of anger (but not their level of excitement) when they were anticipating confrontational, but not nonconfrontational, tasks and that (b) anger improved performance in a confrontational, but not a nonconfrontational, task. These findings support a functional view of emotion regulation, and demonstrate that in certain contexts, individuals may choose to experience emotions that are instrumental, despite short-term hedonic costs.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000254792000004

  View details for PubMedID 18399883

• Gender differences in emotion regulation: An fMRI study of cognitive reappraisal GROUP PROCESSES & INTERGROUP RELATIONS McRae, K., Ochsner, K. N., Mauss, I. B., Gabrieli, J. J., Gross, J. J. 2008; 11 (2): 143-162

  Abstract

  Despite strong popular conceptions of gender differences in emotionality and striking gender differences in the prevalence of disorders thought to involve emotion dysregulation, the literature on the neural bases of emotion regulation is nearly silent regarding gender differences (Gross, 2007; Ochsner & Gross, in press). The purpose of the present study was to address this gap in the literature. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we asked male and female participants to use a cognitive emotion regulation strategy (reappraisal) to down-regulate their emotional responses to negatively valenced pictures. Behaviorally, men and women evidenced comparable decreases in negative emotion experience. Neurally, however, gender differences emerged. Compared with women, men showed (a) lesser increases in prefrontal regions that are associated with reappraisal, (b) greater decreases in the amygdala, which is associated with emotional responding, and (c) lesser engagement of ventral striatal regions, which are associated with reward processing. We consider two non-competing explanations for these differences. First, men may expend less effort when using cognitive regulation, perhaps due to greater use of automatic emotion regulation. Second, women may use positive emotions in the service of reappraising negative emotions to a greater degree. We then consider the implications of gender differences in emotion regulation for understanding gender differences in emotional processing in general, and gender differences in affective disorders.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/1368430207088035

  View details for Web of Science ID 000256264400002

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5937254

• The neural bases of emotion regulation: Reappraisal and suppression of negative emotion BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY Goldin, P. R., McRae, K., Ramel, W., Gross, J. J. 2008; 63 (6): 577-586

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation strategies are thought to differ in when and how they influence the emotion-generative process. However, no study to date has directly probed the neural bases of two contrasting (e.g., cognitive versus behavioral) emotion regulation strategies. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine cognitive reappraisal (a cognitive strategy thought to have its impact early in the emotion-generative process) and expressive suppression (a behavioral strategy thought to have its impact later in the emotion-generative process).Seventeen women viewed 15 sec neutral and negative emotion-eliciting films under four conditions--watch-neutral, watch-negative, reappraise-negative, and suppress-negative--while providing emotion experience ratings and having their facial expressions videotaped.Reappraisal resulted in early (0-4.5 sec) prefrontal cortex (PFC) responses, decreased negative emotion experience, and decreased amygdala and insular responses. Suppression produced late (10.5-15 sec) PFC responses, decreased negative emotion behavior and experience, but increased amygdala and insular responses.These findings demonstrate the differential efficacy of reappraisal and suppression on emotional experience, facial behavior, and neural response and highlight intriguing differences in the temporal dynamics of these two emotion regulation strategies.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.05.031

  View details for Web of Science ID 000253618300008

  View details for PubMedID 17888411

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2483789

• Attention and emotion influence the relationship between extraversion and neural response SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE Hutcherson, C. A., Goldin, P. R., Ramel, W., McRae, K., Gross, J. J. 2008; 3 (1): 71-79

  Abstract

  Extraversion has been shown to positively correlate with activation within the ventral striatum, amygdala and other dopaminergically innervated, reward-sensitive regions. These regions are implicated in emotional responding, in a manner sensitive to attentional focus. However, no study has investigated the interaction among extraversion, emotion and attention. We used fMRI and dynamic, evocative film clips to elicit amusement and sadness in a sample of 28 women. Participants were instructed either to respond naturally (n = 14) or to attend to and continuously rate their emotions (n = 14) while watching the films. Contrary to expectations, striatal response was negatively associated with extraversion during amusement, regardless of attention. A negative association was also observed during sad films, but only when attending to emotion. These findings suggest that attentional focus does not influence the relationship between extraversion and neural response to positive (amusing) stimuli but does impact the response to negative (sad) stimuli.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/scan/nsm040

  View details for Web of Science ID 000256174000009

  View details for PubMedID 19015097

• All in the mind's eye? Anger rumination and reappraisal JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Ray, R. D., Wilhelm, F. H., Gross, J. J. 2008; 94 (1): 133-145

  Abstract

  Research on rumination has demonstrated that compared with distraction, rumination intensifies and prolongs negative emotion. However, rumination and distraction differ both in what one thinks about and how one thinks about it. Do the negative outcomes of rumination result from how people think about negative events or simply that they think about them at all? To address this question, participants in 2 studies recalled a recent anger-provoking event and then thought about it in 1 of 2 ways: by ruminating or by reappraising. The authors examined the impact of these strategies on subsequent ratings of anger experience (Study 1) as well as on perseverative thinking and physiological responding over time (Study 2). Relative to reappraisal, rumination led to greater anger experience, more cognitive perseveration, and greater sympathetic nervous system activation. These findings provide compelling new evidence that how one thinks about an emotional event can shape the emotional response one has.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.133

  View details for Web of Science ID 000251826500010

  View details for PubMedID 18179323

• Emotion regulation of top-down and bottom-up emotional stimuli: an interaction between the generation and regulation of emotion McRae, K., Misra, S., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2008: S81

  View details for Web of Science ID 000259144200336

• Emotion regulation Handbook of emotions Gross, J. J. edited by Lewis, M., Haviland-Jones, J. M., Barret, L. F. New York, NY: Guilford. 2008; 3rd: 497–512
• Culture and automatic emotion regulation Regulating emotions: Culture, social necessity, and biological inheritance Mauss, I. B., Bunge, S. A., Gross, J. J. edited by Vanderkerckhove, M., Scheve, C. V., Ismer, S., Jung, S., Kronast, S. Oxford, England: Blackwell.. 2008: 39–60
• Emotion and emotion regulation: Personality processes and individual differences. Handbook of personality: Theory and research Gross, J. J. edited by John, O. P., Robins, R. W., Pervin, L. A. New York, NY: Guilford. 2008; 3rd: 701–724
• German version of the Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire DIAGNOSTICA Mohiyeddini, C., John, O., Gross, J. J. 2008; 54 (3): 117-128

  View details for DOI 10.1026/0012-1924.54.3.117

  View details for Web of Science ID 000257585700001

• Emotion and emotion regulation: A map for psychotherapy researchers CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY-SCIENCE AND PRACTICE Rottenberg, J., Gross, J. J. 2007; 14 (4): 323-328

  View details for Web of Science ID 000250939700002

• Individual differences in cognitive reappraisal: Experiential and physiological responses to an anger provocation INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Mauss, I. B., Cook, C. L., Cheng, J. Y., Gross, J. J. 2007; 66 (2): 116-124

  Abstract

  Effective emotion regulation is widely seen as vital for healthy adaptation. There remains considerable uncertainty, however, as to what constitutes effective emotion regulation. One promising emotion regulation strategy is cognitive reappraisal, which involves reframing emotional events so as to decrease their emotional impact. This strategy is useful because it seems to enable individuals to down-regulate negative feelings without the physiological costs that are associated with other forms of emotion regulation. It remains unknown, however, whether individual differences in the use of reappraisal are associated with experiential and physiological responses to anger-inducing situations. To examine this question, individuals either high or low in reappraisal were made angry in the laboratory while emotion experience and cardiovascular responses were assessed. Results indicated that compared to low reappraisers, high reappraisers had a more adaptive profile of emotion experience and cardiovascular responding. Specifically, across baseline and provocation periods, high reappraisers reported less anger, less negative emotion, and more positive emotion, showed greater cardiac output and ventricular contractility, and lesser total peripheral resistance. These findings suggest that reappraisers are successful at down-regulating negative emotions, even in the context of a potent negative emotion such as anger.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2007.03.017

  View details for Web of Science ID 000251432600005

  View details for PubMedID 17543404

• Depression and emotional reactivity: Variation among Asian Americans of east Asian descent and European Americans JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY Chentsova-Dutton, Y. E., Chu, J. P., Tsai, J. L., Rottenberg, J., Gross, J. J., Gotlib, I. H. 2007; 116 (4): 776-785

  Abstract

  Studies of Western samples (e.g., European Americans [EAs]) suggest that depressed individuals tend to show diminished emotional reactivity (J. G. Gehricke & A. J. Fridlund, 2002; G. E. Schwartz, P. L. Fair, P. Salt, M. R. Mandel, & G. L. Klerman, 1976a, 1976b). Do these findings generalize to individuals oriented to other cultures (e.g., East Asian cultures)? The authors compared the emotional reactions (i.e., reports of emotional experience, facial behavior, and physiological reactivity) of depressed and nondepressed EAs and Asian Americans of East Asian descent (AAs) to sad and amusing films. Their results were consistent with previous findings: Depressed EAs showed a pattern of diminished reactivity to the sad film (less crying, less intense reports of sadness) compared with nondepressed participants. In contrast, depressed AAs showed a pattern of heightened emotional reactivity (greater crying) compared with nondepressed participants. Across cultural groups, depressed and nondepressed participants did not differ in their reports of amusement or facial behavior during the amusing film. Physiological reactivity to the film clips did not differ between depressed and control participants for either cultural group. Thus, although depression may influence particular aspects of emotional reactivity across cultures (e.g., crying), the specific direction of this influence may depend on prevailing cultural norms regarding emotional expression.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/0021-843X.116.4.776

  View details for Web of Science ID 000250937700010

  View details for PubMedID 18020723

• Signaling threat: How situational cues affect women in math, science, and engineering settings PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Murphy, M. C., Steele, C. M., Gross, J. J. 2007; 18 (10): 879-885

  Abstract

  This study examined the cues hypothesis, which holds that situational cues, such as a setting's features and organization, can make potential targets vulnerable to social identity threat. Objective and subjective measures of identity threat were collected from male and female math, science, and engineering (MSE) majors who watched an MSE conference video depicting either an unbalanced ratio of men to women or a balanced ratio. Women who viewed the unbalanced video exhibited more cognitive and physiological vigilance, and reported a lower sense of belonging and less desire to participate in the conference, than did women who viewed the gender-balanced video. Men were unaffected by this situational cue. The implications for understanding vulnerability to social identity threat, particularly among women in MSE settings, are discussed.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000249827200007

  View details for PubMedID 17894605

• Automatic emotion regulation during anger provocation JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Mauss, I. B., Cook, C. L., Gross, J. J. 2007; 43 (5): 698-711

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jesp.2006.07.003

  View details for Web of Science ID 000249173200002

• Cardiovascular, electrodermal, and respiratory response patterns to fear- and sadness-inducing films 12th Annual Meeting of the Society-for-Psychophysiological-Research Kreibig, S. D., Wilhelm, F. H., Roth, W. T., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2007: 787–806

  Abstract

  Responses to fear- and sadness-inducing films were assessed using a broad range of cardiovascular (heart rate, T-wave amplitude, low- and high-frequency heart rate variability, stroke volume, preejection period, left-ventricular ejection time, Heather index, blood pressure, pulse amplitude and transit time, and finger temperature), electrodermal (level, response rate, and response amplitude), and respiratory (rate, tidal volume and its variability, inspiratory flow rate, duty cycle, and end-tidal pCO(2)) measures. Subjective emotional experience and facial behavior (Corrugator Supercilii and Zygomaticus Major EMG) served as control measures. Results indicated robust differential physiological response patterns for fear, sadness, and neutral (mean classification accuracy 85%). Findings are discussed in terms of the fight-flight and conservation-withdrawal responses and possible limitations of a valence-arousal categorization of emotion in affective space.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2007.00550.x

  View details for Web of Science ID 000249002200013

  View details for PubMedID 17598878

• Same situation - Different emotions: How appraisals shape our emotions EMOTION Siemer, M., Mauss, I., Gross, J. J. 2007; 7 (3): 592-600

  Abstract

  Appraisal theories of emotion hold that it is the way a person interprets a situation--rather than the situation itself--that gives rise to one emotion rather than another emotion (or no emotion at all). Unfortunately, most prior tests of this foundational hypothesis have simultaneously varied situations and appraisals, making an evaluation of this assumption difficult. In the present study, participants responded to a standardized laboratory situation with a variety of different emotions. Appraisals predicted the intensity of individual emotions across participants. In addition, subgroups of participants with similar emotional response profiles made comparable appraisals. Together, these findings suggest that appraisals may be necessary and sufficient to determine different emotional reactions toward a particular situation.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/1528-3542.7.3.592

  View details for Web of Science ID 000248532900013

  View details for PubMedID 17683215

• Business or pleasure? Utilitarian versus hedonic considerations in emotion regulation EMOTION Tamir, M., Chiu, C., Gross, J. J. 2007; 7 (3): 546-554

  Abstract

  It is widely accepted that emotions have utilitarian as well as hedonic consequences. Nevertheless, it is typically assumed that individuals regulate emotions to obtain hedonic, rather than utilitarian, benefits. In this study, the authors tested whether individuals represent the utility of pleasant and unpleasant emotions and whether they would be motivated to experience unpleasant emotions if they believed they could be useful. First, findings revealed that participants explicitly viewed approach emotions (e.g., excitement) as useful for obtaining rewards, but viewed avoidance emotions (e.g., worry) as useful for avoiding threats. Second, this pattern was replicated in implicit representations of emotional utility, which were dissociated from explicit ones. Third, implicit, but not explicit, representations of emotional utility predicted motives for emotion regulation. When anticipating a threatening task, participants who viewed emotions such as worry and fear as useful for avoiding threats preferred to engage in activities that were likely to increase worry and fear (vs. excitement) before the task. These findings demonstrate that utilitarian considerations play an important, if underappreciated, role in emotion regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/1528-3542.7.3.546

  View details for Web of Science ID 000248532900009

  View details for PubMedID 17683211

• Harnessing the need for immediate gratification: Cognitive reconstrual modulates the reward value of temptations EMOTION Magen, E., Gross, J. J. 2007; 7 (2): 415-428

  Abstract

  Many of us succumb to temptations, despite knowing that we will later regret doing so. How can such behavior be avoided? In three studies, the authors tested the hypothesis that reconstruing temptation as a test of a valued internal quality ("willpower") would decrease the tendency to succumb by reducing the appeal of the temptation. In Study 1, participants who construed a challenging handgrip task as a test of willpower resisted the temptation to terminate the painful task longer than participants who did not. In Study 2, participants performed a handgrip task twice. Only participants who changed their construal of the task into a test of willpower improved their performance. In Study 3, participants took a timed math test while being tempted by comedy clips. Participants who reconstrued the situation as willpower test compared with participants who did not, (a) enjoyed the videos less, and (b) were better able to resist the tempting videos. These studies demonstrate that cognitive reconstrual can be used to modify reward contingencies, so that succumbing to temptation becomes less appealing, and resisting temptation becomes more appealing.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.415

  View details for Web of Science ID 000246412200017

  View details for PubMedID 17516818

• Emotional reactivity and regulation in social anxiety disorder Gross, J., Goldin, P. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2007: 200S

  View details for Web of Science ID 000245698100638

• Does repressive coping promote resilience? Affective-autonomic response discrepancy during bereavement JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Coifman, K. G., Bonanno, G. A., Ray, R. D., Gross, J. J. 2007; 92 (4): 745-758

  Abstract

  Traditional theories of coping emphasize the value of attending to and expressing negative emotion while recovering from traumatic life events. However, recent evidence suggests that the tendency to direct attention away from negative affective experience (i.e., repressive coping) may promote resilience following extremely aversive events (e.g., the death of a spouse). The current study extends this line of investigation by showing that both bereaved and nonbereaved individuals who exhibited repressive coping behavior--as measured by the discrepancy between affective experience and sympathetic nervous system response--had fewer symptoms of psychopathology, experienced fewer health problems and somatic complaints, and were rated as better adjusted by close friends than those who did not exhibit repressive coping. Results are discussed in terms of recent developments in cognitive and neuroimaging research suggesting that repressive coping may serve a protective function.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/0022-3514.92.4.745

  View details for Web of Science ID 000245641700012

  View details for PubMedID 17469956

• Implicit theories of emotion: Affective and social outcomes across a major life transition JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Tamir, M., John, O. P., Srivastava, S., Gross, J. J. 2007; 92 (4): 731-744

  Abstract

  The authors demonstrate that people differ systematically in their implicit theories of emotion: Some view emotions as fixed (entity theorists), whereas others view emotions as more malleable (incremental theorists). Using a longitudinal and multimethod design, the authors show that implicit theories of emotion, as distinct from intelligence, are linked to both emotional and social adjustment during the transition to college. Before entering college, individuals who held entity (vs. incremental) theories of emotion had lower emotion regulation self-efficacy and made less use of cognitive reappraisal (Part 1). Throughout their first academic term, entity theorists of emotion had less favorable emotion experiences and received decreasing social support from their new friends, as evidenced by weekly diaries (Part 2). By the end of freshman year, entity theorists of emotion had lower well-being, greater depressive symptoms, and lower social adjustment as indicated in both self- and peer-reports (Part 3). The emotional, but not the social, outcomes were partially mediated by individual differences in emotion regulation self-efficacy (Part 4). Together, these studies demonstrate that implicit theories of emotion can have important long-term implications for socioemotional functioning.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/0022-3514.92.4.731

  View details for Web of Science ID 000245641700011

  View details for PubMedID 17469955

• Emotion regulation and culture: Are the social consequences of emotion suppression culture-specific? EMOTION Butler, E. A., Lee, T. L., Gross, J. J. 2007; 7 (1): 30-48

  Abstract

  Emotional suppression has been associated with generally negative social consequences (Butler et al., 2003; Gross & John, 2003). A cultural perspective suggests, however, that these consequences may be moderated by cultural values. We tested this hypothesis in a two-part study, and found that, for Americans holding Western-European values, habitual suppression was associated with self-protective goals and negative emotion. In addition, experimentally elicited suppression resulted in reduced interpersonal responsiveness during face-to-face interaction, along with negative partner-perceptions and hostile behavior. These deleterious effects were reduced when individuals with more Asian values suppressed, and these reductions were mediated by cultural differences in the responsiveness of the suppressors. These findings suggest that many of suppression's negative social impacts may be moderated by cultural values.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/1528-3542.7.1.30

  View details for Web of Science ID 000244491500004

  View details for PubMedID 17352561

• The experience of emotion ANNUAL REVIEW OF PSYCHOLOGY Barrett, L. F., Mesquita, B., Ochsner, K. N., Gross, J. J. 2007; 58: 373-403

  Abstract

  Experiences of emotion are content-rich events that emerge at the level of psychological description, but must be causally constituted by neurobiological processes. This chapter outlines an emerging scientific agenda for understanding what these experiences feel like and how they arise. We review the available answers to what is felt (i.e., the content that makes up an experience of emotion) and how neurobiological processes instantiate these properties of experience. These answers are then integrated into a broad framework that describes, in psychological terms, how the experience of emotion emerges from more basic processes. We then discuss the role of such experiences in the economy of the mind and behavior.

  View details for DOI 10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085709

  View details for Web of Science ID 000243900200015

  View details for PubMedID 17002554

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC1934613

• Predicting emotional experience from autonomic physiology using machine learning methods Spriggs, E., Butler, E. A., Barnard, K., Wilheim, F. H., Gross, J. J. BLACKWELL PUBLISHING. 2007: S80

  View details for Web of Science ID 000249001900364

• Signaling threat: How situational cues affect the objective and subjective experiences of women in math, science, and engineering settings 47th Annual Meeting of the Society-for-Psychophysiological-Research Murphy, M. C., Steele, C. M., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2007: S13–S14

  View details for Web of Science ID 000249001900060

• Affective computing: uSing computational intelligence techniques to classify the psychophysiological signatures of fearful, sad, and calm affective states 47th Annual Meeting of the Society-for-Psychophysiological-Research Wilhelm, F. H., Kolodyazhniy, V., Kreibig, S. D., Roth, W. T., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2007: S110–S111

  View details for Web of Science ID 000249001900503

• The psychophysiology of fear and sadness: Cardiovascular, electrodermal, and respiratory responses during film viewing 47th Annual Meeting of the Society-for-Psychophysiological-Research Kreibig, S. D., Wilheim, F. H., Gross, J. J., Roth, W. T. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2007: S20–S20

  View details for Web of Science ID 000249001900092

• Automatic emotion regulation Social and Personality Psychology Compass Mauss, I. B., Bunge, S. A., Gross, J. J. 2007: 146-167

  View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00005.x

• Emotion regulation: Conceptual foundations Handbook of emotion regulation Gross, J. J., Thompson, R. A. edited by Gross, J. J. New York, NY: Guilford Press. 2007: 3–24
• Emotion elicitation using films The handbook of emotion elicitation and assessment Rottenberg, J., Ray, R. R., Gross, J. J. edited by Coan, J. A., Allen, J. J. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.. 2007: 9–28
• Handbook of emotion regulation edited by Gross, J. J. New York, NY: Guilford Press. 2007
• Individual differences in emotion regulation strategies: Links to global trait, dynamic, and social cognitive constructs Handbook of emotion regulation John, O. P., Gross, J. J. edited by Gross, J. J. New York, NY: Guilford Press. 2007: 351–372
• Psychology Gleitman, H., Reisberg, D., Gross, J. J. New York, NY: Norton. 2007
• On the automaticity of emotion Social psychology and the unconscious: The automaticity of higher mental processes Barrett, L. F., Ochsner, K. N., Gross, J. J. edited by Bargh, J. New York, NY: Psychology Press. 2007: 173–217
• The neural architecture of emotion regulation Handbook of emotion regulation Ochsner, K. N., Gross, J. J. edited by Gross, J. J. New York, NY: Guilford Press. 2007: 87–109
• Bridges yet to come: Future directions for integrating affective and clinical science. Emotion and psychopathology: Bridging affective and clinical science. Rottenberg, J., Johnson, S. L., Gross, J. J. edited by Rottenberg, J., Johnson, S. L. Washington, DC: APA Books.. 2007: 305–308
• Respiratory sinus arrhythmia, emotion, and emotion regulation during social interaction PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Butler, E. A., Wilhelm, F. H., Gross, J. J. 2006; 43 (6): 612-622

  Abstract

  Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) figures prominently in emotional responding, but its exact role remains unclear. The present study tests two hypotheses: (1) Between-person differences in resting RSA are related to emotional reactivity, and (2) within-person changes in RSA are related to regulatory efforts. Pairs of women watched an upsetting film and discussed it. One woman in each of the experimental dyads was asked to either suppress or to reappraise during the conversation. Their partners and both members of the control dyads conversed naturally. Between-person differences in resting RSA were assessed with paced breathing, and within-person changes in RSA were calculated from baseline to the conversation accounting for respiration. Women with higher resting RSA experienced and expressed more negative emotion, and women who attempted to regulate their emotions either by suppressing or reappraising showed larger increases in RSA than controls.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2006.00467.x

  View details for Web of Science ID 000241626200011

  View details for PubMedID 17076818

• Personality and emotional memory: How regulating emotion impairs memory for emotional events JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY Richards, J. M., Gross, J. J. 2006; 40 (5): 631-651

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jrp.2005.07.002

  View details for Web of Science ID 000241203000010

• Optimism in close relationships: How seeing things in a positive light makes them so JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Srivastava, S., McGonigal, K. M., Richards, J. M., Butler, E. A., Gross, J. J. 2006; 91 (1): 143-153

  Abstract

  Does expecting positive outcomes--especially in important life domains such as relationships--make these positive outcomes more likely? In a longitudinal study of dating couples, the authors tested whether optimists (who have a cognitive disposition to expect positive outcomes) and their romantic partners are more satisfied in their relationships, and if so, whether this is due to optimists perceiving greater support from their partners. In cross-sectional analyses, both optimists and their partners indicated greater relationship satisfaction, an effect that was mediated by optimists' greater perceived support. When the couples engaged in a conflict conversation, optimists and their partners saw each other as engaging more constructively during the conflict, which in turn led both partners to feel that the conflict was better resolved 1 week later. In a 1-year follow-up, men's optimism predicted relationship status. Effects of optimism were mediated by the optimists' perceived support, which appears to promote a variety of beneficial processes in romantic relationships.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/0022-3514.91.1.143

  View details for Web of Science ID 000239139900010

  View details for PubMedID 16834485

• How to bite your tongue without blowing your top: Implicit evaluation of emotion regulation predicts affective responding to anger provocation PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN Mauss, I. B., Evers, C., Wilhelm, F. H., Gross, J. J. 2006; 32 (5): 589-602

  Abstract

  People frequently have to control their emotions to function in life. However, mounting evidence suggests that deliberate emotion regulation often is costly. This presents a dilemma: Is it better to let emotions go or to pay the price of exerting costly control? In two studies, the authors explore whether emotion regulatory processes associated with implicit positive evaluation of emotion regulation might provide the benefits of successful emotion regulation without the costs. In Study 1, the authors introduce a measure of implicit evaluation of emotion regulation (ER-IAT). Study 2 examined whether this measure is associated with actual emotional responses to an anger provocation. It was found that greater ER-IAT scores were associated with lesser anger experience, fewer negative thoughts, lessened self-reported effortful emotion regulation, and an adaptive pattern of cardiovascular responding. These findings suggest that implicit positive evaluation of emotion regulation is associated with successful, automatic, and physiologically adaptive down-regulation of anger.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0146167205083841

  View details for Web of Science ID 000236850100003

  View details for PubMedID 16702153

• Expressive suppression during an acoustic startle PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Hagemann, T., Levenson, R. W., Gross, J. J. 2006; 43 (1): 104-112

  Abstract

  Previous studies have shown that inhibiting negative or positive emotion-expressive behavior leads to increased sympathetic activation. Inhibiting facial behavior while in an affectively neutral state has no such physiological consequences. This suggests that there may be something special about inhibiting emotion-expressive behavior. To test the boundary conditions of the suppression effect, acoustic startles were delivered to 252 participants in three experimental groups. Participants in one group received unanticipated startles. Participants in the other two groups were told that after a 20-s countdown a loud noise would occur; participants in one of these groups were further told to inhibit their expressive behavior. Results indicated that startle suppression increased sympathetic activation. These findings extend prior work on emotion suppression, and suggest that inhibiting other biologically based responses also may be physiologically taxing.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2006.00382.x

  View details for Web of Science ID 000236634400011

  View details for PubMedID 16629690

• Respiratory sinus arrhythmia and the implicit evaluation of emotion regulation during social interaction Butler, E. A., Wilhelm, F. H., Mauss, I. B., Gross, J. J. BLACKWELL PUBLISHING. 2006: S17

  View details for Web of Science ID 000239965400073

• Differential effects of film-induced fear and sadness on acoustic startle 46th Annual Meeting of the Society-for-Psychophysiological-Research Kreibig, S. D., Wilhelm, F. H., Roth, W. T., Gross, J. J. WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC. 2006: S54–S54

  View details for Web of Science ID 000239965400249

• Emotion regulation in everyday life Emotion regulation in couples and families: Pathways to dysfunction and health Gross, J. J., Richards, J. M., John, O. P. edited by Simpson, J. A., Hughles, J. N. Washington DC: American Psychological Association. 2006: 13–35
• Emotion context insensitivity in major depressive disorder JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY Rottenberg, J., Gross, J. J., Gotlib, I. H. 2005; 114 (4): 627-639

  Abstract

  The present study tested 3 competing views of how depression alters emotional reactivity: positive attenuation (reduced positive), negative potentiation (increased negative), and emotion context insensitivity (ECI; reduced positive and negative). Normative and idiographic stimuli that elicited happy, sad, and neutral states were presented to currently depressed, formerly depressed, and healthy control individuals while experiential, behavioral, and autonomic responses were measured. Currently depressed individuals reported less sadness reactivity and less happiness experience across all conditions than did the other participants, and they exhibited a more dysphoric response to idiographic than to normative stimuli. Overall, data provide partial support for the positive attenuation and ECI views. Depression may produce mood-state-dependent changes in emotional reactivity that are most pronounced in emotion experience reports.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/0021-843X.114.4.627

  View details for Web of Science ID 000233760700014

  View details for PubMedID 16351385

• Attention and emotion: Does rating emotion alter neural responses to amusing and sad films? NEUROIMAGE Hutcherson, C. A., Goldin, P. R., Ochsner, K. N., Gabrieli, J. D., Barrett, L. F., Gross, J. J. 2005; 27 (3): 656-668

  Abstract

  Functional neuroimaging of affective systems often includes subjective self-report of the affective response. Although self-report provides valuable information regarding participants' affective responses, prior studies have raised the concern that the attentional demands of reporting on affective experience may obscure neural activations reflecting more natural affective responses. In the present study, we used potent emotion-eliciting amusing and sad films, employed a novel method of continuous self-reported rating of emotion experience, and compared the impact of rating with passive viewing of amusing and sad films. Subjective rating of ongoing emotional responses did not decrease either self-reported experience of emotion or neural activations relative to passive viewing in any brain regions. Rating, relative to passive viewing, produced increased activity in anterior cingulate, insula, and several other areas associated with introspection of emotion. These results support the use of continuous emotion measures and emotionally engaging films to study the dynamics of emotional responding and suggest that there may be some contexts in which the attention to emotion induced by reporting emotion experience does not disrupt emotional responding either behaviorally or neurally.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.04.028

  View details for Web of Science ID 000231543600017

  View details for PubMedID 15946863

• Putting the 'I' and the 'Me' in emotion regulation: Reply to Northoff TRENDS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCES Ochsner, K. N., Gross, J. J. 2005; 9 (9): 409-410

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.tics.2005.06.004

  View details for Web of Science ID 000232251000004

• Mechanisms of virtual reality exposure therapy: The role of the behavioral activation and behavioral inhibition systems APPLIED PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY AND BIOFEEDBACK Wilhelm, F. H., Pfaltz, M. C., Gross, J. J., Mauss, I. B., Kim, S. I., Wiederhold, B. K. 2005; 30 (3): 271-284

  Abstract

  J. A. Gray's (1975) theory distinguishes between two motivational systems, which he refers to as the behavioral activation system (BAS) and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS). D. C. Fowles (1980) has shown that heart rate responses reflect activity of the BAS, and electrodermal responses reflect activity of the BIS. Both BAS and BIS are reliably activated during in-vivo exposure to fearful situations (F. H. Wilhelm & W. T. Roth, 1998). However, due to the constraints imposed by virtual reality (VR), we hypothesized that VR exposure to fearful situations would activate the BIS alone. To test this hypothesis, a VR free-standing elevator simulation was presented to participants selected for high and low fear of heights. As predicted, the high-anxious group strongly responded electrodermally (effect size d = 1.53), but showed only minimal HR elevations during exposure (d = 0.12), and little other cardiovascular or respiratory changes. The low-anxious control group showed little electrodermal and HR reactivity (d = 0.28 and 0.12). A comparison with data from a previous study demonstrated that this pattern was in stark contrast to the large electrodermal and cardiovascular response observed during situational in-vivo exposure outside the laboratory. We conclude that the BIS, but not BAS, is selectively activated during VR exposure, causing discordance between self-report and commonly used physiological measures of anxiety. Results are discussed within the framework of E. B. Foa & M. J. Kozak's (1986) emotional processing theory of fear modification, suggesting different mechanisms underlying VR and in-vivo exposure treatments.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10484-005-6383-1

  View details for Web of Science ID 000231937900009

  View details for PubMedID 16167191

• The neural bases of amusement and sadness: A comparison of block contrast and subject-specific emotion intensity regression approaches NEUROIMAGE Goldin, P. R., Hutcherson, C. A., Ochsner, K. N., Glover, G. H., Gabrieli, J. D., Gross, J. J. 2005; 27 (1): 26-36

  Abstract

  Neuroimaging studies have made substantial progress in elucidating the neural bases of emotion. However, few studies to date have directly addressed the subject-specific, time-varying nature of emotional responding. In the present study, we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural bases of two common emotions--amusement and sadness--using both (a) a stimulus-based block contrast approach and (b) a subject-specific regression analysis using continuous ratings of emotional intensity. Thirteen women viewed a set of nine 2-min amusing, sad, or neutral film clips two times. During the first viewing, participants watched the film stimuli. During the second viewing, they made continuous ratings of the intensity of their own amusement and sadness during the first film viewing. For sad films, both block contrast and subject-specific regression approaches resulted in activations in medial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, precuneus, lingual gyrus, amygdala, and thalamus. For amusing films, the subject-specific regression analysis demonstrated significant activations not detected by the block contrast in medial, inferior frontal gyrus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate, temporal lobes, hippocampus, thalamus, and caudate. These results suggest a relationship between emotion-specific temporal dynamics and the sensitivity of different data analytic methods for identifying emotion-related neural responses. These findings shed light on the neural bases of amusement and sadness, and highlight the value of using emotional film stimuli and subject-specific continuous emotion ratings to characterize the dynamic, time-varying components of emotional responses.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.03.018

  View details for Web of Science ID 000230701200003

  View details for PubMedID 15890534

• Individual differences in trait rumination and the neural systems supporting cognitive reappraisal COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE Ray, R. D., Ochsner, K. N., Cooper, J. C., Robertson, E. R., Gabrieli, J. D., Gross, J. J. 2005; 5 (2): 156-168

  Abstract

  Cognitive reappraisal can alter emotional responses by changing one's interpretation of a situation's meaning. Functional neuroimaging has revealed that using cognitive reappraisal to increase or decrease affective responses involves left prefrontal activation and goal-appropriate increases or decreases in amygdala activation (Ochsner, Bunge, Gross, & Gabrieli, 2002; Ochsner, Ray, et al., 2004). The present study was designed to examine whether patterns of brain activation during reappraisal vary in relation to individual differences in trait rumination, which is the tendency to focus on negative aspects of one's self or negative interpretations of one's life. Individual differences in rumination correlated with increases in amygdala response when participants were increasing negative affect and with greater decreases in prefrontal regions implicated in self-focused thought when participants were decreasing negative affect. Thus, the propensity to ruminate may reflect altered recruitment of mechanisms that potentiate negative affect. These findings clarify relations between rumination and emotion regulation processes and may have important implications for mood and anxiety disorders.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000232717900005

  View details for PubMedID 16180622

• The tie that binds? Coherence among emotion experience, behavior, and physiology EMOTION Mauss, I. B., Levenson, R. W., McCarter, L., Wilhelm, F. H., Gross, J. J. 2005; 5 (2): 175-190

  Abstract

  Emotion theories commonly postulate that emotions impose coherence across multiple response systems. However, empirical support for this coherence postulate is surprisingly limited. In the present study, the authors (a) examined the within-individual associations among experiential, facial behavioral, and peripheral physiological responses during emotional responding and (b) assessed whether emotion intensity moderates these associations. Experiential, behavioral, and physiological responses were measured second-by-second during a film that induced amusement and sadness. Results indicate that experience and behavior were highly associated but that physiological responses were only modestly associated with experience and behavior. Intensity of amusement experience was associated with greater coherence between behavior and physiological responding; intensity of sadness experience was not. These findings provide new evidence about response system coherence in emotions.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/1528-3542.5.2.175

  View details for Web of Science ID 000230443800005

  View details for PubMedID 15982083

• Vagal withdrawal to a sad film predicts subsequent recovery from depression PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Rottenberg, J., Salomon, K., Gross, J. J., Gotlib, I. H. 2005; 42 (3): 277-281

  Abstract

  Cardiac vagal tone, as indexed by abnormalities in the level and/or reactivity of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), has been related to psychiatric impairment, including risk for depression. Longitudinal studies of depression have focused on RSA levels and have found mixed support for the hypothesis that low RSA levels predict a more pernicious course of depression. The current investigation focuses on the relation between RSA reactivity and the course of depression. We measured depressed persons' RSA reactivity to sadness-, fear-, and amusement-inducing emotion films and reassessed participants' diagnostic status 6 months later. Depressed persons who exhibited a higher degree of vagal withdrawal to the sad film were more likely to recover from depression. Implications for the study of RSA in depression are discussed.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2005.00289.x

  View details for Web of Science ID 000229666500004

  View details for PubMedID 15943681

• The cognitive control of emotion TRENDS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCES Ochsner, K. N., Gross, J. J. 2005; 9 (5): 242-249

  Abstract

  The capacity to control emotion is important for human adaptation. Questions about the neural bases of emotion regulation have recently taken on new importance, as functional imaging studies in humans have permitted direct investigation of control strategies that draw upon higher cognitive processes difficult to study in nonhumans. Such studies have examined (1) controlling attention to, and (2) cognitively changing the meaning of, emotionally evocative stimuli. These two forms of emotion regulation depend upon interactions between prefrontal and cingulate control systems and cortical and subcortical emotion-generative systems. Taken together, the results suggest a functional architecture for the cognitive control of emotion that dovetails with findings from other human and nonhuman research on emotion.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.tics.2005.03.010

  View details for Web of Science ID 000229466500010

  View details for PubMedID 15866151

• An fMRI investigation of emotion and emotion regulation in depression 12th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive-Neuroscience-Society Robertson, E., Ochsner, K., Ray, R., Cooper, J., Gabrieli, J., Gotlib, I., GROSS, J. MIT PRESS. 2005: 198–198

  View details for Web of Science ID 000227878701237

• Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: Personality processes, individual differences, and life span development JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY John, O. P., Gross, J. J. 2004; 72 (6): 1301-1333

  Abstract

  Individuals regulate their emotions in a wide variety of ways. Are some forms of emotion regulation healthier than others? We focus on two commonly used emotion regulation strategies: reappraisal (changing the way one thinks about a potentially emotion-eliciting event) and suppression (changing the way one responds behaviorally to an emotion-eliciting event). In the first section, we review experimental findings showing that reappraisal has a healthier profile of short-term affective, cognitive, and social consequences than suppression. In the second section, we review individual-difference findings, which show that using reappraisal to regulate emotions is associated with healthier patterns of affect, social functioning, and well-being than is using suppression. In the third section, we consider issues in the development of reappraisal and suppression and provide new evidence for a normative shift toward an increasingly healthy emotion regulation profile during adulthood (i.e., increases in the use of reappraisal and decreases in the use of suppression).

  View details for Web of Science ID 000224756300008

  View details for PubMedID 15509284

• For better or for worse: neural systems supporting the cognitive down- and up-regulation of negative emotion NEUROIMAGE Ochsner, K. N., Ray, R. D., Cooper, J. C., Robertson, E. R., Chopra, S., Gabrieli, J. D., Gross, J. J. 2004; 23 (2): 483-499

  Abstract

  Functional neuroimaging studies examining the neural bases of the cognitive control of emotion have found increased prefrontal and decreased amygdala activation for the reduction or down-regulation of negative emotion. It is unknown, however, (1) whether the same neural systems underlie the enhancement or up-regulation of emotion, and (2) whether altering the nature of the regulatory strategy alters the neural systems mediating the regulation. To address these questions using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), participants up- and down-regulated negative emotion either by focusing internally on the self-relevance of aversive scenes or by focusing externally on alternative meanings for pictured actions and their situational contexts. Results indicated (1a) that both up- and down-regulating negative emotion recruited prefrontal and anterior cingulate regions implicated in cognitive control, (1b) that amygdala activation was modulated up or down in accord with the regulatory goal, and (1c) that up-regulation uniquely recruited regions of left rostromedial PFC implicated in the retrieval of emotion knowledge, whereas down-regulation uniquely recruited regions of right lateral and orbital PFC implicated in behavioral inhibition. Results also indicated that (2) self-focused regulation recruited medial prefrontal regions implicated in internally focused processing, whereas situation-focused regulation recruited lateral prefrontal regions implicated in externally focused processing. These data suggest that both common and distinct neural systems support various forms of reappraisal and that which particular prefrontal systems modulate the amygdala in different ways depends on the regulatory goal and strategy employed.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.06.030

  View details for Web of Science ID 000224817100005

  View details for PubMedID 15488398

• Is there less to social anxiety than meets the eye? Emotion experience, expression, and bodily responding COGNITION & EMOTION Mauss, I. B., Wilhelm, F. H., Gross, J. J. 2004; 18 (5): 631-662

  View details for DOI 10.1080/02699930341000112

  View details for Web of Science ID 000223126400003

• Hiding feelings in social contexts: Out of sight is not out of mind The regulation of emotion Butler, E. A., Gross, J. J. edited by Philippot, P., Feldman, R. S. Mahwah, New Jersey: Erlbaum. 2004: 101–126
• Situational and individual response specificity to emotion films: Effects on experiential, cardiovascular, electrodermal, respiratory and somatic responses 44th Annual Meeting of the Society-for-Psychophysiological-Research Kreibig, S. D., Wilhelm, F. H., Gross, J. J., Ferst, R., Roth, W. T. WILEY-BLACKWELL. 2004: S75–S75

  View details for Web of Science ID 000223558200288

• Thinking makes it so: A social cognitive neuroscience approach to emotion regulation Handbook of self regulation: Research, theory, and applications Ochsner, K. N., Gross, J. J. edited by Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D. New York, NY: Guilford Press.. 2004: 229–255
• Emotion suppression and cardiovascular disease: Is hiding feelings bad for your heart? Emotional expression and health: Advances in theory, assessment, and clinical applications Mauss, I. B., Gross, J. J. edited by Nyklicek, I., Temoshok, L., Vingerhoets, A. New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge. 2004: 62–81
• Sex-steroid derived compounds induce sex-specific effects on autonomic nervous system function in humans BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE Bensafi, M., BROWN, W. M., Tsutsui, T., Mainland, J. D., Johnson, B. N., Bremner, E. A., Young, N., Mauss, I., Ray, B., GROSS, J., Richards, J., Stappen, I., Levenson, R. W., Sobel, N. 2003; 117 (6): 1125-1134

  Abstract

  The physiological and psychological effects of 2 human sex-steroid derived compounds, 4.16-androstadien-3-one (AND) and l,3,5(10),16-estratetraen-3-ol(EST) were measured in 24 subjects who participated in a within-subjects, double-blind experiment. A dissociation was evident in the physiological effects of AND, in that it increased physiological arousal in women but decreased it in men. EST did not significantly affect physiological arousal in women or men. Neither compound significantly affected mood. AND is an androgen derivative that is the most prevalent androstene in human male sweat, male axillary hair, and on the male axillary skin surface. The authors argue that AND's opposite effects on physiology in men and women further implicate this compound in chemical communication between humans.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/0735-7044.117.6.1125

  View details for Web of Science ID 000187402300001

  View details for PubMedID 14674833

• Emotion regulation in romantic relationships: The cognitive consequences of concealing feelings JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS RICHARDS, J. M., Butler, E. A., Gross, J. J. 2003; 20 (5): 599-620

  View details for Web of Science ID 000186835300002

• Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Gross, J. J., John, O. P. 2003; 85 (2): 348-362

  Abstract

  Five studies tested two general hypotheses: Individuals differ in their use of emotion regulation strategies such as reappraisal and suppression, and these individual differences have implications for affect, well-being, and social relationships. Study 1 presents new measures of the habitual use of reappraisal and suppression. Study 2 examines convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 shows that reappraisers experience and express greater positive emotion and lesser negative emotion, whereas suppressors experience and express lesser positive emotion, yet experience greater negative emotion. Study 4 indicates that using reappraisal is associated with better interpersonal functioning, whereas using suppression is associated with worse interpersonal functioning. Study 5 shows that using reappraisal is related positively to well-being, whereas using suppression is related negatively.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.348

  View details for PubMedID 12916575

• Autonomic recovery and habituation in social anxiety PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Mauss, I. B., Wilhelm, F. H., Gross, J. J. 2003; 40 (4): 648-653

  Abstract

  Growing evidence suggests that, contrary to expectation, high trait socially anxious (HTSA) and low trait socially anxious (LTSA) individuals show comparable autonomic reactivity during stressful speech tasks. To test the hypothesis that autonomic differences between groups might emerge during recovery or habituation, 35 HTSA and LTSA participants gave two impromptu speeches. Measures of anxiety experience as well as cardiovascular, electrodermal, respiratory, and vagal activation were obtained. Despite greater reports of anxiety experience in the HTSA versus the LTSA participants, autonomic measures showed comparable reactivity, habituation, and recovery in the two anxiety groups. These results suggest minimal autonomic differences between HTSA and LTSA individuals, thus supporting theories of social anxiety that emphasize cognitive factors.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000183733200017

  View details for PubMedID 14570172

• When emotion goes wrong: Realizing the promise of affective science CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY-SCIENCE AND PRACTICE Rottenberg, J., Gross, J. J. 2003; 10 (2): 227-232

  View details for DOI 10.1093/clipsy/bpg012

  View details for Web of Science ID 000182986300010

• The Social Consequences of Expressive Suppression EMOTION Butler, E. A., Egloff, B., Wilhelm, F. H., Smith, N. C., Erickson, E. A., Gross, J. J. 2003; 3 (1): 48-67

  Abstract

  At times, people keep their emotions from showing during social interactions. The authors' analysis suggests that such expressive suppression should disrupt communication and increase stress levels. To test this hypothesis, the authors conducted 2 studies in which unacquainted pairs of women discussed an upsetting topic. In Study 1, one member of each pair was randomly assigned to (a) suppress her emotional behavior, (b) respond naturally, or (c) cognitively reappraise in a way that reduced emotional responding. Suppression alone disrupted communication and magnified blood pressure responses in the suppressors' partners. In Study 2, suppression had a negative impact on the regulators' emotional experience and increased blood pressure in both regulators and their partners. Suppression also reduced rapport and inhibited relationship formation.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/1528-3542.3.1.48

  View details for Web of Science ID 000208224900004

  View details for PubMedID 12899316

• Vagal rebound during resolution of tearful crying among depressed and nondepressed individuals PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Rottenberg, J., Wilhelm, F. H., Gross, J. J., Gotlib, I. H. 2003; 40 (1): 1-6

  Abstract

  Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is an index of the vagal control of heart rate that is associated with emotion regulatory capacity. To examine RSA in depressed and nondepressed participants in the context of an emotion-regulatory challenge, we presented a sad film to induce crying, a behavior associated with heightened parasympathetic activation. We predicted that nondepressed persons who cried would show elevations in RSA during the onset and the resolution of crying. By contrast, we predicted that depressed individuals who cried would fail to exhibit increased RSA over the course of their crying episodes. As hypothesized, nondepressed participants exhibited RSA increases that accompanied the resolution of tearful crying, consistent with a homeostatic function for crying, whereas depressed subjects who cried did not exhibit increased RSA. Results suggest that the physiological self-regulatory mechanisms invoked by crying are compromised in depression.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000180455300001

  View details for PubMedID 12751799

• Correlates of gay and lesbian couples' relationship satisfaction and relationship dissolution JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY Gottman, J. M., Levenson, R. W., GROSS, J., Frederickson, B. L., McCoy, K., Rosenthal, L., Ruef, A., Yoshimoto, D. 2003; 45 (1): 23-43

  Abstract

  A sample of committed gay and lesbian cohabiting couples engaged in two conversations after being apart for at least 8 hours: (a) an events of the day conversation and (b) a conflict resolution conversation. Physiological data were collected during the conversations and a videotape record was made. Couples viewed the videotapes and rated their affect during the interaction. The video records were coded with a system that categorized specific affects displayed. Models derived from physiology, from the perception of interaction, and from specific affective behavior were related to relationship satisfaction, and to the prediction of relationship dissolution over a 12-year period. Results supported previous findings that satisfaction and stability in gay and lesbian relationships are related to similar emotional qualities as in heterosexual relationships.

  View details for DOI 10.1300/J082v45n01_02

  View details for Web of Science ID 000185757500002

  View details for PubMedID 14567652

• Rethinking feelings: An fMRI study of the cognitive regulation of emotion JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE Ochsner, K. N., Bunge, S. A., Gross, J. J., Gabrieli, J. D. 2002; 14 (8): 1215-1229

  Abstract

  The ability to cognitively regulate emotional responses to aversive events is important for mental and physical health. Little is known, however, about neural bases of the cognitive control of emotion. The present study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural systems used to reappraise highly negative scenes in unemotional terms. Reappraisal of highly negative scenes reduced subjective experience of negative affect. Neural correlates of reappraisal were increased activation of the lateral and medial prefrontal regions and decreased activation of the amygdala and medial orbito-frontal cortex. These findings support the hypothesis that prefrontal cortex is involved in constructing reappraisal strategies that can modulate activity in multiple emotion-processing systems.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000179163500008

  View details for PubMedID 12495527

• Respiratory sinus arrhythmia as a predictor of outcome in major depressive disorder JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS Rottenberg, J., Wilhelm, F. H., Gross, J. J., Gotlib, I. H. 2002; 71 (1-3): 265-272

  Abstract

  Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is a noninvasive measure of parasympathetic tone that has been related to emotion regulatory capacity. While some previous work indicates that clinically depressed persons exhibit lower levels of RSA than do normal controls, there is nevertheless considerable between-subject variation in RSA among depressed persons. The current study evaluated the significance of variation in RSA among depressed persons by examining whether levels of RSA predicted concurrent symptomatology and the course of depressive illness.The RSA levels of 55 diagnosed depressed individuals were assessed during a paced breathing procedure at Time 1. Six months later (Time 2), participants were interviewed again to determine whether or not each had fully recovered from depression. Multinomial regression analyses were conducted to examine whether RSA predicted Time 2 clinical status.Although RSA levels were not related to overall depression severity, they were associated with specific symptoms of depression: RSA was positively associated with the report of sadness and negatively associated with the report of suicidality. More strikingly, however, higher levels of RSA at Time 1 predicted non-recovery from depression at Time 2, even when statistically controlling for initial depression severity, age and medication use.Treatment and medication use were not controlled during the follow-up period and a group of nonpsychiatric controls was not included in this study.A relatively high level of RSA among depressed individuals predicts a more pernicious course of illness than do lower RSA levels.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000177824700033

  View details for PubMedID 12167527

• Sadness and Amusement Reactivity Differentially Predict Concurrent and Prospective Functioning in Major Depressive Disorder EMOTION Rottenberg, J., Kasch, K. L., Gross, J. J., Gotlib, I. H. 2002; 2 (2): 135-146

  Abstract

  Depressed individuals often fail to react to emotionally significant stimuli. The significance of this pattern of emotional dysregulation in depression is poorly understood. In the present study, depressed and nondepressed participants viewed standardized neutral, sad, fear, and amusing films; and experiential, behavioral, and physiological responses to each film were assessed. Compared with nondepressed controls, depressed participants reported sadness and amusement in a flattened, context-insensitive manner. Those depressed participants who reported the least reactivity to the sad film exhibited the greatest concurrent impairment. Prospectively, the depressed participant who exhibited the least behavioral and heart rate reactivity to the amusing film were the least likely to recover from depression. Loss of the context-appropriate modulation of emotion in depression may reflect a core feature of emotion dysregulation in this disorder.

  View details for DOI 10.1037//1528-3542.2.2.135

  View details for Web of Science ID 000208224500004

  View details for PubMedID 12899187

• Crying threshold and intensity in major depressive disorder JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY Rottenberg, J., Gross, J. J., Wilhelm, F. H., Gotlib, I. H. 2002; 111 (2): 302-312

  Abstract

  Clinical lore suggests that depression is associated with frequent and intense crying. To test these postulations empirically, a standardized cry-evoking stimulus was presented to depressed and nondepressed participants, and their likelihood of crying and the magnitude of crying-related changes in their emotion experience, behavior, and autonomic physiology were compared. Unexpectedly, crying was no more likely in depressed than in nondepressed participants. Within the nondepressed group, participants who cried exhibited increases in the report and display of sadness and had greater cardiac and electrodermal activation than did participants who did not cry. There was less evidence of this crying-related emotional activation within the depressed group. The lack of emotional activation among clinically depressed participants who cried provides a tantalizing clue concerning how emotions are dysregulated in this disorder.

  View details for DOI 10.1037//0021-843X.111.2.302

  View details for Web of Science ID 000175078600009

  View details for PubMedID 12003451

• Emotion regulation: Affective, cognitive, and social consequences PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Gross, J. J. 2002; 39 (3): 281-291

  Abstract

  One of life's great challenges is successfully regulating emotions. Do some emotion regulation strategies have more to recommend them than others? According to Gross's (1998, Review of General Psychology, 2, 271-299) process model of emotion regulation, strategies that act early in the emotion-generative process should have a different profile of consequences than strategies that act later on. This review focuses on two commonly used strategies for down-regulating emotion. The first, reappraisal, comes early in the emotion-generative process. It consists of changing the way a situation is construed so as to decrease its emotional impact. The second, suppression, comes later in the emotion-generative process. It consists of inhibiting the outward signs of inner feelings. Experimental and individual-difference studies find reappraisal is often more effective than suppression. Reappraisal decreases emotion experience and behavioral expression, and has no impact on memory. By contrast, suppression decreases behavioral expression, but fails to decrease emotion experience, and actually impairs memory. Suppression also increases physiological responding for suppressors and their social partners. This review concludes with a consideration of five important directions for future research on emotion regulation processes.

  View details for DOI 10.1017/S0048577201393198

  View details for Web of Science ID 000175419200002

  View details for PubMedID 12212647

• Implicit Anxiety Measure Predicts Cardiovascular Reactivity to an Evaluated Speaking Task EMOTION Egloff, B., Wilhelm, F. H., Neubauer, D. H., Mauss, I. B., Gross, J. J. 2002; 2 (1): 3-11

  Abstract

  Explicit personality tests assess introspectively accessible self-descriptions. By contrast, implicit personality tests assess introspectively inaccessible processes that operate outside of awareness. Despite their inaccessibility, implicit processes are presumed to influence a variety of current responses. This study tested the hypothesis that an implicit anxiety test should predict cardiovascular reactivity during a speech stressor task. In all, 97 participants completed a measure of attention allocation toward threat (implicit test) and an anxiety questionnaire (explicit test) 1 week before giving an evaluated speech. Whereas the explicit test showed modest relations within only 1 measure of cardiovascular reactivity, the implicit test predicted heart rate and blood pressure reactivity during preparation and delivery of the speech. These findings encourage the broader use of implicit measures to assess cardiovascular responses to threat.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/1528-3542.2.1.3

  View details for Web of Science ID 000208224400001

  View details for PubMedID 12899363

• Wise emotion regulation The wisdom in feeling: Psychological processes in emotional intelligence Gross, J. J., John edited by Barret, L. F., Salovey, P. New York, NY: Guilford. 2002: 297–318
• Social anxiety and response to touch: incongruence between self-evaluative and physiological reactions 40th Annual Meeting of the Society-for-Psychophysiological-Research Wilhelm, F. H., Kochar, A. S., Roth, W. T., Gross, J. J. ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV. 2001: 181–202

  Abstract

  Touch is an important form of social interaction, and one that can have powerful emotional consequences. Appropriate touch can be calming, while inappropriate touch can be anxiety provoking. To examine the impact of social touching, this study compared socially high-anxious (N=48) and low-anxious (N=47) women's attitudes concerning social touch, as well as their affective and physiological responses to a wrist touch by a male experimenter. Compared to low-anxious participants, high-anxious participants reported greater anxiety to a variety of social situations involving touch. Consistent with these reports, socially anxious participants reacted to the experimenter's touch with markedly greater increases in self-reported anxiety, self-consciousness, and embarrassment. Physiologically, low-anxious and high-anxious participants showed a distinct pattern of sympathetic-parasympathetic coactivation, as reflected by decreased heart rate and tidal volume, and increased respiratory sinus arrhythmia, skin conductance, systolic/diastolic blood pressure, stroke volume, and respiratory rate. Interestingly, physiological responses were comparable in low and high-anxious groups. These findings indicate that social anxiety is accompanied by heightened aversion towards social situations that involve touch, but this enhanced aversion and negative-emotion report is not reflected in differential physiological responding.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000172496600001

  View details for PubMedID 11698114

• Emotion regulation in adulthood: Timing is everything CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Gross, J. J. 2001; 10 (6): 214-219

  View details for Web of Science ID 000172394200007

• James J. Gross - Award for distinguished scientific early career contributions to psychology AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST Anonymous 2001; 56 (11): 911-913

  View details for DOI 10.1037//0003-066X.56.11.911

  View details for Web of Science ID 000173083800013

  View details for PubMedID 11785163

• Knowing what you're feeling and knowing what to do about it: Mapping the relation between emotion differentiation and emotion regulation Meeting of the Society-of-Experimental-Social-Psychology Barrett, L. F., GROSS, J., CHRISTENSEN, T. C., Benvenuto, M. PSYCHOLOGY PRESS. 2001: 713–24

  View details for Web of Science ID 000171618800001

• An fMRI study of personality influences on brain reactivity to emotional stimuli BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE Canli, T., Zhao, Z., Desmond, J. E., Kang, E. J., GROSS, J., Gabrieli, J. D. 2001; 115 (1): 33-42

  Abstract

  Functional imaging studies have examined which brain regions respond to emotional stimuli, but they have not determined how stable personality traits moderate such brain activation. Two personality traits, extraversion and neuroticism, are strongly associated with emotional experience and may thus moderate brain reactivity to emotional stimuli. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to directly test whether individual differences in brain reactivity to emotional stimuli are correlated with extraversion and neuroticism in healthy women. Extraversion was correlated with brain reactivity to positive stimuli in localized brain regions, and neuroticism was correlated with brain reactivity to negative stimuli in localized brain regions. This study provides direct evidence that personality is associated with brain reactivity to emotional stimuli and identifies both common and distinct brain regions where such modulation takes place.

  View details for DOI 10.1037//0735-7044.115.1.33

  View details for Web of Science ID 000170911300003

  View details for PubMedID 11256451

• Emotional intelligence: A process model of emotion representation and regulation. Emotions: Current issues and future directions Barrett, L. F., Gross, J. J. edited by Mayne, T. J., Bonanno, G. A. New York, NY: Guilford. 2001: 286–310
• Emotion regulation and memory: The cognitive costs of keeping one's cool JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY RICHARDS, J. M., Gross, J. J. 2000; 79 (3): 410-424

  Abstract

  An emerging literature has begun to document the affective consequences of emotion regulation. Little is known, however, about whether emotion regulation also has cognitive consequences. A process model of emotion suggests that expressive suppression should reduce memory for emotional events but that reappraisal should not. Three studies tested this hypothesis. Study 1 experimentally manipulated expressive suppression during film viewing, showing that suppression led to poorer memory for the details of the film. Study 2 manipulated expressive suppression and reappraisal during slide viewing. Only suppression led to poorer slide memory. Study 3 examined individual differences in typical expressive suppression and reappraisal and found that suppression was associated with poorer self-reported and objective memory but that reappraisal was not. Together, these studies suggest that the cognitive costs of keeping one's cool may vary according to how this is done.

  View details for DOI 10.1037//0022-3514.79.3.410

  View details for Web of Science ID 000089022300008

  View details for PubMedID 10981843

• Psychophysiology of blushing Ray, R. D., Baryeka, J., Gross, J. J. CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS. 2000: S81

  View details for Web of Science ID 000089900500329

• Autonomic perception and autonomic reality: Is there less to social anxiety than meets the eye? Mauss, I. B., Wilhelm, F. H., Jones, B. B., Gross, J. J. CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS. 2000: S68

  View details for Web of Science ID 000089900500278

• Consequences of emotion suppression in a conflict conversation McGonigal, K. M., Richards, J. M., Wilhelm, F. H., Gross, J. J. CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS. 2000: S69

  View details for Web of Science ID 000089900500283

• Crying in depression Rottenberg, J., Najmi, S., Wilhelm, F. H., Gross, J. J., Gotlib, I. H. CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS. 2000: S83

  View details for Web of Science ID 000089900500339

• The dissociation of emotion expression from emotion experience: A personality perspective PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN Gross, J. J., John, O. P., RICHARDS, J. M. 2000; 26 (6): 712-726

  View details for Web of Science ID 000087015200006

• The Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire Commissioned reviews on 300 psychological tests Gross, J. J. edited by Maltby, J., Lewis, C. A., Hills, A. P. Lampeter, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press.. 2000: 465–467
• Functional accounts of emotions COGNITION & EMOTION Keltner, D., Gross, J. J. 1999; 13 (5): 467-480

  View details for Web of Science ID 000082383300002

• Emotion regulation: Past, present, future COGNITION & EMOTION Gross, J. J. 1999; 13 (5): 551-573

  View details for Web of Science ID 000082383300006

• Composure at any cost? The cognitive consequences of emotion suppression PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN RICHARDS, J. M., Gross, J. J. 1999; 25 (8): 1033-1044

  View details for Web of Science ID 000081519500010

• Emotion and emotion regulation Handbook of personality: Theory and research Gross, J. J. edited by Pervin, L. A., John, O. P. New York, NY: Guilford. 1999; 2nd: 525–552
• Emotion suppression Encyclopedia of human emotions Miles, H. J., Gross, J. J. edited by Levinson, D., Ponzetti, J. J., Jorgensen, P. F. New York, NY: Macmillan. 1999: 237–241
• Mood matters: Negative mood induction activates dysfunctional attitudes in women vulnerable to depression COGNITIVE THERAPY AND RESEARCH MIRANDA, J., Gross, J. J., Persons, J. B., Hahn, J. 1998; 22 (4): 363-376

  View details for Web of Science ID 000075747000005

• Relations between affect and personality: Support for the affect-level and affective-reactivity views 7th Annual Meeting of the American-Psychological-Society Gross, J. J., Sutton, S. K., Ketelaar, T. SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC. 1998: 279–88

  View details for Web of Science ID 000072227800005

• Mapping the domain of expressivity: Multimethod evidence for a hierarchical model JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Gross, J. J., John, O. P. 1998; 74 (1): 170-191

  Abstract

  Increased interest in emotional expressivity has led to a proliferation of conceptions and measures. It is unclear, however, whether they all refer to the same construct and whether the domain of emotional expressivity is best conceptualized as unidimensional or multifaceted. Study 1 examined 6 common expressivity questionnaires, yielding 5 factors: Expressive Confidence, Positive Expressivity, Negative Expressivity, Impulse Intensity, and Masking. To develop a nomological network for these factors, the factors were related to broader personality taxonomies and their differential relations to sex and ethnicity were tested. Study 2 provided further evidence of discriminant validity in relation to (a) typical emotion expression in peer relationships, (b) ability to pose emotions in the laboratory, (c) likability, and (d) regulation of emotion and mood. These findings support a hierarchical model of individual differences in emotional expressivity.

  View details for PubMedID 9457781

• Sharpening the focus: Emotion regulation, arousal, and social competence PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY Gross, J. J. 1998; 9 (4): 287-290

  View details for Web of Science ID 000079554600008

• Antecedent- and response-focused emotion regulation: Divergent consequences for experience, expression, and physiology JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Gross, J. J. 1998; 74 (1): 224-237

  Abstract

  Using a process model of emotion, a distinction between antecedent-focused and response-focused emotion regulation is proposed. To test this distinction, 120 participants were shown a disgusting film while their experiential, behavioral, and physiological responses were recorded. Participants were told to either (a) think about the film in such a way that they would feel nothing (reappraisal, a form of antecedent-focused emotion regulation), (b) behave in such a way that someone watching them would not know they were feeling anything (suppression, a form of response-focused emotion regulation), or (c) watch the film (a control condition). Compared with the control condition, both reappraisal and suppression were effective in reducing emotion-expressive behavior. However, reappraisal decreased disgust experience, whereas suppression increased sympathetic activation. These results suggest that these 2 emotion regulatory processes may have different adaptive consequences.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000071543400017

  View details for PubMedID 9457784

• Sharpening the focus: Emotion regulation, arousal, and social competence PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY Gross, J. J. 1998; 9 (4): 287-290

  View details for Web of Science ID 000079554600008

• Antecedent- and response-focused emotion regulation: Divergent consequences for experience, expression, and physiology JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Gross, J. J. 1998; 74 (1): 224-237

  Abstract

  Using a process model of emotion, a distinction between antecedent-focused and response-focused emotion regulation is proposed. To test this distinction, 120 participants were shown a disgusting film while their experiential, behavioral, and physiological responses were recorded. Participants were told to either (a) think about the film in such a way that they would feel nothing (reappraisal, a form of antecedent-focused emotion regulation), (b) behave in such a way that someone watching them would not know they were feeling anything (suppression, a form of response-focused emotion regulation), or (c) watch the film (a control condition). Compared with the control condition, both reappraisal and suppression were effective in reducing emotion-expressive behavior. However, reappraisal decreased disgust experience, whereas suppression increased sympathetic activation. These results suggest that these 2 emotion regulatory processes may have different adaptive consequences.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000071543400017

  View details for PubMedID 9457784

• Emotion and aging: Experience, expression, and control PSYCHOLOGY AND AGING Gross, J. J., Carstensen, L. L., Pasupathi, M., Tsai, J., Skorpen, C. G., Hsu, A. Y. 1997; 12 (4): 590-599

  Abstract

  Age differences in emotional experience, expression, and control were investigated in 4 studies. A community sample of 127 African Americans and European Americans (ages 19-96 years) was used in Study 1; a community sample of 82 Chinese Americans and European Americans (ages 20-85 years) was used in Study 2; a community sample of 49 Norwegians drawn from 2 age groups (ages 20-35 years and 70+ years) was used in Study 3; and a sample of 1,080 American nuns (ages 24-101 years) was used in Study 4. Across studies, a consistent pattern of age differences emerged. Compared with younger participants, older participants reported fewer negative emotional experiences and greater emotional control. Findings regarding emotional expressivity were less consistent, but when there were age differences, older participants reported lesser expressivity. Results are interpreted in terms of increasingly competent emotion regulation across the life span.

  View details for Web of Science ID A1997YK91800005

  View details for PubMedID 9416628

• Cognitive vulnerability, depression, and the mood-state dependent hypothesis: Is out of sight out of mind? COGNITION & EMOTION MIRANDA, J. 1997; 11 (5-6): 585-605

  View details for Web of Science ID A1997YG51300006

• Hiding feelings: The acute effects of inhibiting negative and positive emotion JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY Gross, J. J., Levenson, R. W. 1997; 106 (1): 95-103

  Abstract

  Emotion regulation plays a central role in mental health and illness, but little is known about even the most basic forms of emotion regulation. To examine the acute effects of inhibiting negative and positive emotion, we asked 180 female participants to watch sad, neutral, and amusing films under 1 of 2 conditions. Suppression participants (N = 90) inhibited their expressive behavior while watching the films; no suppression participants (N = 90) simply watched the films. Suppression diminished expressive behavior in all 3 films and decreased amusement self-reports in sad and amusing films. Physiologically, suppression had no effect in the neutral film, but clear effects in both negative and positive emotional films, including increased sympathetic activation of the cardiovascular system. On the basis of these findings, we suggest several ways emotional inhibition may influence psychological functioning.

  View details for Web of Science ID A1997WF06400009

  View details for PubMedID 9103721

• Revealing feelings: Facets of emotional expressivity in self-reports, peer ratings, and behavior JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Gross, J. J., John, O. P. 1997; 72 (2): 435-448

  Abstract

  Drawing on an explicit model of emotion, we propose a multifaceted approach to emotional expressivity, defined as the behavioral (e.g., facial, postural) changes associated with emotion. Study 1 shows that self-reported expressivity has 3 facets (Impulse Strength, Negative Expressivity, Positive Expressivity). Study 2 shows that the same 3 facets emerge in peer ratings and that there are robust relations between self- and peer-rated expressivity. In Study 3, emotion-expressive behavior was videotaped and related to expressivity self-reports obtained several months earlier. As expected, Negative Expressivity predicted behavioral expressions of sadness (but not amusement), whereas Positive Expressivity predicted amusement (but not sadness). These relations remained even when subjective emotional experience and physiological response were controlled. These studies demonstrate the importance of a multifaceted approach to emotional expressivity and have implications for the understanding of personality and emotion.

  View details for PubMedID 9107009

• Psychodynamic therapists' reservations about cognitive-behavioral therapy : implications for training and practice. The Journal of psychotherapy practice and research Persons, J. B., Gross, J. J., Etkin, M. S., Madan, S. K. 1996; 5 (3): 202-212

  Abstract

  This article offers suggestions for psychodynamic therapists who encounter obstacles while learning cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or working in settings where CBT is used. The authors discuss three types of questions commonly raised by psychodynamic therapists about CBT. These concern 1) the therapeutic relationship, 2) the focus of therapeutic interventions, and 3) the depth of change. To help psychodynamic therapists overcome obstacles to learning CBT, the authors focus on similarities between psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral models in these three areas. They also examine differences between the models, including differences dependent on value judgments, and offer suggestions for making productive use of differences between the models in the training process.

  View details for PubMedID 22700289

• FACETS OF EMOTIONAL EXPRESSIVITY - 3 SELF-REPORT FACTORS AND THEIR CORRELATES PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Gross, J. J., John, O. P. 1995; 19 (4): 555-568

  View details for Web of Science ID A1995RV42500016

• EMOTION REGULATION AND MENTAL-HEALTH CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY-SCIENCE AND PRACTICE Gross, J. J., Munoz, R. F. 1995; 2 (2): 151-164

  View details for Web of Science ID A1995QZ95000003

• EMOTION ELICITATION USING FILMS COGNITION & EMOTION Gross, J. J., Levenson, R. W. 1995; 9 (1): 87-108

  View details for Web of Science ID A1995QG85700006

• THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY OF CRYING PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY Gross, J. J., Fredrickson, B. L., Levenson, R. W. 1994; 31 (5): 460-468

  Abstract

  Two conflicting views have emerged as to why people cry when they are sad. One suggests that crying serves homeostasis by facilitating recovery; the other suggests that crying produces an aversive high-arousal state that motivates behavior aimed at ending the tears. To test hypotheses drawn from these views, we showed a short film known to elicit sadness to 150 women. During this film, 33 subjects spontaneously cried and 117 did not. Subjects who cried exhibited more expressive behavior and reported feeling more sadness and pain than did subjects who did not cry. Crying also was associated with increases in somatic and autonomic nervous system activity. The increases in autonomic activity could not be accounted for solely by the increases in somatic activity. Crying is thus associated with an aversive state, including negative emotion and a complex mixture of sympathetic, parasympathetic, and somatic activation, and we speculate about the functional implications of these findings.

  View details for Web of Science ID A1994PD74700005

  View details for PubMedID 7972600

• EMOTIONAL SUPPRESSION - PHYSIOLOGY, SELF-REPORT, AND EXPRESSIVE BEHAVIOR JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Gross, J. J., Levenson, R. W. 1993; 64 (6): 970-986

  Abstract

  This study examined the effects of emotional suppression, a form of emotion regulation defined as the conscious inhibition of emotional expressive behavior while emotionally aroused. Ss (43 men and 42 women) watched a short disgust-eliciting film while their behavioral, physiological, and subjective responses were recorded. Ss were told to watch the film (no suppression condition) or to watch the film while behaving "in such a way that a person watching you would not know you were feeling anything" (suppression condition). Suppression reduced expressive behavior and produced a mixed physiological state characterized by decreased somatic activity and decreased heart rate, along with increased blinking and indications of increased sympathetic nervous system activity (in other cardiovascular measures and in electrodermal responding). Suppression had no impact on the subjective experience of emotion. There were no sex differences in the effects of suppression.

  View details for Web of Science ID A1993LE94100008

  View details for PubMedID 8326473

• PROFOUND PACEMAKER SYNDROME IN HYPERTROPHIC CARDIOMYOPATHY AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY Gross, J. N., Keltz, T. N., Cooper, J. A., Breitbart, S., Furman, S. 1992; 70 (18): 1507-1511

  View details for Web of Science ID A1992KA27200030

  View details for PubMedID 1442632

• EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION IN CANCER ONSET AND PROGRESSION SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE GROSS, J. 1989; 28 (12): 1239-1248

  Abstract

  Despite the intensive biomedical research in oncology since World War II, recent studies show a steady increase in age-adjusted mortality for all kinds of cancer. This findings gives impetus to the efforts of researchers who have adopted the biopsychosocial model. Systematic research using such a model has shown several psychosocial factors to be associated with cancer onset and progression, and Temoshok has recently suggested a theoretical model which unifies these findings. In this paper, I consider the evidence that one of these psychosocial factors, emotional expression, may be directly involved in cancer onset and progression. I review 18 relevant studies, discuss how one might operationalize the term 'emotional expression', and make 12 suggestions for future research.

  View details for Web of Science ID A1989U563800004

  View details for PubMedID 2660280