Cognitive reappraisal

Cognitive reappraisal is an emotion regulation strategy that involves changing the trajectory of an emotional response by reinterpreting the meaning of the emotional stimulus.^[1] For example, a person may fail a series of tests and think negatively about his or her performance upon first receiving the results. The person revisits his or her emotional response to the situation and later views the results as a way to challenge and better him or herself. This process involves two parts: a) recognition of one’s negative response, and b) reinterpretation of the situation to either reduce the severity of the negative response, or exchange the negative attitude for a more positive attitude. This strategy is one of the three broad categories of coping which include appraisal-focused behavior, problem-focused behavior, and emotion-focused behavior. It differs from the other two methods of coping because it primarily addresses an individual’s perception of a situation, rather than directly altering environmental stressors or emotional responses to those stressors. See cognitive appraisal.

Factors in reappraisal

Gender

Cognitive reappraisal appears to operate differently in men and women. In 2008, Kateri McRae’s study^[2] on gender differences in emotion regulation initially speculated on two possibilities. McRae explained that the differences observed in men and women could actually be derived from the gender stereotypes of society; these preconceived notions of male or female behavior may be a personal bias repeated in self-reports, as well as other’s emotional responses. The more convincing possibility involved emotional response as a product of two dissociable processes: emotional reactivity and emotion regulation. Emotional reactivity is the involuntary, intense reaction to an emotional stimulus, coupled with a feeling of being victimized by these emotions; emotion regulation refers to methods individuals can use to influence these initial emotions, as well as situational experiences and future emotional responses. Through the study, it became apparent that the differences in gender were due to biochemical influence on emotion regulation, rather than emotional reactivity. Based on observations of specific active regions in male and female brains, men were noted to process cognitive emotion regulation strategies with less difficulty than women. Rather than treating this as a case of women having more trouble with cognitive reappraisal, McRae explained that men may just respond more quickly and automatically when prompted to regulate their emotions.

Age

According to a study done by Philipp Opitz,^[3] younger adults can more effectively reduce the severity of unpleasant emotions in comparison to older adults. Additionally, older adults are more readily able to increase the unpleasant emotions evoked from a negative stimulus. The study involved sixteen younger adults, between the ages of 18–25, and fifteen older adults, between the ages of 55–65, who were asked to view neutral and unpleasant images projected onto a screen. The subjects were instructed to gaze at a particular image, which directed the subjects’ gaze towards an area of interest by fading out everything but a square area of the original image. These conclusions are a result of participant self-report ratings of emotional intensity when prompted with a negative stimulus.

Culture

In order to clarify her study of cross-cultural differences in emotion regulation,^[4] Silje Haga defines culture, quoting from Schweder’s publication,^[5] as “multi-componential and is defined by values, language, discourse, and concepts, such as the media and the constitution.” Eastern and western cultures have typically been the focus of most cross-cultural studies, since the cultural norms, traditions, and values of each distinct culture make it complex when wholly analyzing the clear-cut differences in cognitive reappraisal. The cultural norms and values of a group of people define which emotions are appropriate in certain situations, and these established cultural guidelines deem how these emotions should be regulated within acceptable social standards. For example, in her study, Haga suggests Americans value expressing their positive emotions outwardly and in contrast, have a tendency of suppressing negative emotions. This is possibly due to the cultural value of personal pride and success, and a common disconnect between generations or the consequences of dysfunctional household lifestyles, respectively. The study of correlation between culture and emotion regulation is still in progress, largely due to a desire to establish universality and commonalities amongst cultures.

Cognitive reappraisal, stress, and depression

Depression is characterized by negative schemas involving loss and failure, according to Aaron T. Beck’s cognitive model of depression. These negative schemas are summarized by the cognitive triad:

1. The self: “I am worthless,” “I am defective or inadequate”;
2. The world or environment: “The world is unfair,” “All my experiences result in failures”; and
3. The future: “The future is hopeless.”

These schemas remain latent until activated by a stressor that is relevant.^[6] Individuals can acquire these schemas through the environment they grew up in, as well as through personal experiences that involved personal tragedy, lack of acceptance by others, or a constant failure to meet the expectations of themselves and/or others.

Although cognitive reappraisal is mainly utilized to reduce the unpleasant emotional arousal evoked by a stressful event, it also has the possibility of increasing negative emotions by allowing an individual to overthink the negative stimulus and perceive it worse than initially. When this happens, these schemas fuel a continuous cycle of depression and can make a situation seem more hopeless to an individual. Additionally, cognitive reappraisal can also cause a pleasant emotional stimulus to seem less positive.^[7] This is due to the reduced prefrontal control in a depressed individual, which usually results in impairment in decision-making and accurate perception of situations.

In 2010, Allison Troy and her colleagues conducted a study to better understand how cognitive reappraisal correlates to both stress and depression in the context of high life stress. Patients with HIV showed better outcomes through self-reported positive appraisal, the use of cognitive reappraisal to reinterpret a negative situation more positively. A sample of caregivers for patients with multiple sclerosis reportedly resulted in a similar outcome, where stress and depression were both alleviated through the practice of positive appraisal. Overall, these studies give some proof that cognitive reappraisal can aid a patient’s depressive symptoms in the context of high life stress.^[8]

References