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Social Emotion Regulation:
The Power of Support in Managing Emotions
Image by Roberto Nickson

Whether we’re feeling anxious before a job interview, struggling after a breakup, or grieving the loss of a loved one, the support of family and friends can often make us feel better. This social support plays a crucial role in helping us regulate our emotions, which is essential for our overall well-being, mental health, work performance, and relationships. Social emotion regulation refers to the process where one person (the regulator) intentionally tries to influence the emotional state of another person (the target).

 

Social emotion regulation is especially important because self-regulation can be challenging, particularly for individuals with reduced self-regulatory capacities. While research on self-regulation has grown significantly, the neural mechanisms underlying how we regulate others' emotions remain largely unexplored.

Key Research Questions:

  1. How do individuals implement emotion regulation strategies suggested by others? We investigate how people adopt and use emotion regulation techniques proposed by others to manage their own emotional states.

  2. Which strategies are most effective in regulating others’ emotions? Our research aims to identify which specific strategies are most successful in helping individuals regulate the emotions of those around them.

 

By examining the brain mechanisms involved in social emotion regulation, we aim to provide a deeper understanding of how emotional support works at a neural level. This research could have important implications for improving social interactions, emotional well-being, and mental health support systems.​

 

Preregistered project:

https://osf.io/9d7z2

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