Molly Sands, PhD

Objectives: Most studies of emotion regulation across the lifespan have focused on how individuals manage their emotions during or after emotional events. However the current study examined how anticipatory emotion regulation behavior, a process that occurs before an emotional event has been experienced, influenced young (Mage = 19.66) and older (Mage = 70.02) adults’ affective experience, physiological reactivity, and task performance.

Method: Participants were first provided with a… Show more

Objectives: Most studies of emotion regulation across the lifespan have focused on how individuals manage their emotions during or after emotional events. However the current study examined how anticipatory emotion regulation behavior, a process that occurs before an emotional event has been experienced, influenced young (Mage = 19.66) and older (Mage = 70.02) adults’ affective experience, physiological reactivity, and task performance.

Method: Participants were first provided with a detailed description of an upcoming evaluative stress task, but were able to regulate their affective state by selecting one video to watch from a selection of 8 videos labelled by valence and arousal before completing the stressful task.

Results: Participants across age groups were more likely to select a positive video, and participants who made positive selections initially felt better than those who selected negative content, though they experienced sharper mood declines than those who selected a negative video. Negative selections were linked to better performance on the speech task across age groups.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that, when anticipating a negative situation, participants preemptively increase positive emotions. However, while positive selections served to temporarily improve mood, the effects did not last throughout the stress task. These results provide more evidence for age similarity than age differences in anticipatory emotion regulation effects and behaviors. Show less

The classical view of emotion hypothesizes that certain emotion categories have a specific autonomic nervous system (ANS) "fingerprint" that is distinct from other categories. Substantial ANS variation within a category is presumed to be epiphenomenal. The theory of constructed emotion hypothesizes that an emotion category is a population of context-specific, highly variable instances that need not share an ANS fingerprint. Instead, ANS variation within a category is a meaningful part of the… Show more

The classical view of emotion hypothesizes that certain emotion categories have a specific autonomic nervous system (ANS) "fingerprint" that is distinct from other categories. Substantial ANS variation within a category is presumed to be epiphenomenal. The theory of constructed emotion hypothesizes that an emotion category is a population of context-specific, highly variable instances that need not share an ANS fingerprint. Instead, ANS variation within a category is a meaningful part of the nature of emotion. We present a meta-analysis of 202 studies measuring ANS reactivity during lab-based inductions of emotion in nonclinical samples of adults, using a random effects, multilevel meta-analysis and multivariate pattern classification analysis to test our hypotheses. We found increases in mean effect size for 59.4% of ANS variables across emotion categories, but the pattern of effect sizes did not clearly distinguish 1 emotion category from another. We also observed significant variation within emotion categories; heterogeneity accounted for a moderate to substantial percentage (i.e., I2 ≥ 30%) of variability in 54% of these effect sizes. Experimental moderators epiphenomenal to emotion, such as induction type (e.g., films vs. imagery), did not explain a large portion of the variability. Correction for publication bias reduced estimated effect sizes even further, increasing heterogeneity of effect sizes for certain emotion categories. These findings, when considered in the broader empirical literature, are more consistent with population thinking and other principles from evolutionary biology found within the theory of constructed emotion, and offer insights for developing new hypotheses to understand the nature of emotion. Show less

Situation selection – choosing to enter or avoid situations based on how they will likely make you feel – is theorized to be a useful emotion regulation strategy, especially in older age. However, research on the use of situation selection for emotion regulation is limited, and the existing findings about age differences are mixed, with some studies finding age differences and others not. We investigated whether there are overall age differences in the types of emotional situations people… Show more

Situation selection – choosing to enter or avoid situations based on how they will likely make you feel – is theorized to be a useful emotion regulation strategy, especially in older age. However, research on the use of situation selection for emotion regulation is limited, and the existing findings about age differences are mixed, with some studies finding age differences and others not. We investigated whether there are overall age differences in the types of emotional situations people select by conducting a “mini” meta-analysis to synthesize all existing data from a situation selection paradigm used in our laboratory. We also explored potential moderators of age differences in situation selection, including properties of the stimuli options and information available to participants. We did not find overall age differences in the emotional situations younger and older adults select, though age differences are larger in contexts in which emotional information is more relevant or highly arousing. Show less

Abstract
In this study, we investigated age differences in situation selection to understand the role stimulus arousal plays in motivating age differences in this type of emotion regulation. Participants freely selected from a set of affective videos using information about the valence and arousal of each stimulus. There were age differences both in the valence and arousal of selected stimuli. Older adults selected more neutral and low-arousal stimuli while younger adults selected more… Show more

Abstract
In this study, we investigated age differences in situation selection to understand the role stimulus arousal plays in motivating age differences in this type of emotion regulation. Participants freely selected from a set of affective videos using information about the valence and arousal of each stimulus. There were age differences both in the valence and arousal of selected stimuli. Older adults selected more neutral and low-arousal stimuli while younger adults selected more negative and high-arousal stimuli. We consider these results in light of recent theoretical models and conclude that studies of age differences in emotion regulation must consider both valence and arousal. Show less

Abstract
Older adults are theorized to benefit from proactive forms of emotion regulation that allow them to avoid negative stimuli. To test this, we examined choices as a form of emotion regulation. In two studies investigating age differences, participants selected affective stimuli using a cable television interface, while choices and mood were recorded. In lab-based Study 1, older adults spent more time watching neutral channels, but younger adults spent more time watching positive ones.… Show more

Abstract
Older adults are theorized to benefit from proactive forms of emotion regulation that allow them to avoid negative stimuli. To test this, we examined choices as a form of emotion regulation. In two studies investigating age differences, participants selected affective stimuli using a cable television interface, while choices and mood were recorded. In lab-based Study 1, older adults spent more time watching neutral channels, but younger adults spent more time watching positive ones. Older adults also watched more low-arousal content, while younger adults watched more high-arousal content. Lagged analyses revealed that younger adults’ choices were directed toward increasing positive affect and arousal. Study 2 replicated these findings in a community-based adult life span sample at a local museum. These findings suggest that arousal plays an important role in motivating emotion regulation behavior in the context of selections, and this differs by age. Show less

Despite the importance of emotion regulation (ER) to physical and psychological health, little is known about the resources that contribute to ER success. In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that affective forecasting, or the ability to predict how situations will make one feel, would be associated with situation selection, an ER strategy in which one chooses situations based on their emotional potential. In Study 1, 53 younger adults completed behavioral assessments of both affective… Show more

Despite the importance of emotion regulation (ER) to physical and psychological health, little is known about the resources that contribute to ER success. In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that affective forecasting, or the ability to predict how situations will make one feel, would be associated with situation selection, an ER strategy in which one chooses situations based on their emotional potential. In Study 1, 53 younger adults completed behavioral assessments of both affective forecasting and situation selection. Contrary to our predictions, there was no robust support for the hypothesis. However, a number of design limitations may have obscured the hypothesized association. Thus, we conducted a second study to retest the hypothesis after instituting several improvements in measurement and timing. In addition, we sought to test a new hypothesis that the association between affective forecasting and situation selection would vary by age. In Study 2, 54 younger and 50 older adults completed behavioral assessments of affective forecasting and situation selection. Analyses indicated that making fewer forecasting errors was associated with selecting fewer emotional relative to neutral situations. No robust age differences were found. This pattern suggests that affective forecasting may be a resource for situation selection across the lifespan. Show less