Beliefs about emotion’s malleability influence state emotion regulation

Data versus Spock: lay theories about whether emotion helps or hinders

“…Increasing hinder theory endorsement should promote slower recovery from a negative emotion induction and use of suppression. This approach is in keeping with past research showing that manipulating beliefs about the malleability of emotions influences the types of emotion regulation strategies people use (Bigman, Mauss, Gross, & Tamir, 2015;Kneeland et al, 2016). Longitudinal research could also be conducted to explore the directionality of the associations reported here.…”

“…For instance, negatively evaluating emotional reactions, and feeling bad about one's feelings, may intensify or prolong negative affective states. Negatively evaluating emotional reactions may also lead to using less effective strategies to down-regulate emotion, such as suppression or experiential avoidance, both of which have been implicated in psychopathology (Aldao et al, 2010;Kneeland et al, 2016). Consistent with this view, past research shows that believing that emotion hijacks behaviour is associated with anxiety; believing that emotion constrains behaviour is associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression (De Castella et al, 2014;Veilleux et al, 2015).…”

“…Beliefs about emotion also contribute to strategy choice. Being accepting of feelings (Troy, Shallcross, Davis, & Mauss, 2013), believing that changing emotions is worthwhile (Veilleux, Salomaa, Shaver, Zielinski, & Pollert, 2015), and believing that emotions can be changed (De Castella et al, 2013;Schroder, Dawood, Yalch, Donnellan, & Moser, 2015), are associated with more frequent use of reappraisal, though the directionality of these relationships is not clear (Kneeland, Nolen-Hoeksema, Dovidio, & Gruber, 2016). Believing that emotions narrow an individual's choices is associated with greater use of expressive suppression (Veilleux et al, 2015).…”

Contributions of fixed mindsets and hopelessness to anxiety and depressive symptoms: A commonality analysis approach

“…personality, have directly reduced internalizing distress . Three different interventions teaching emotion malleability beliefs have improved the perceived efficacy of psychotherapy in parents Smith et al, 2018), school-related wellbeing in adolescents Smith et al, 2018), and adaptive emotion regulation strategy use (e.g., increased acceptance and perspective-taking) in adults (Kneeland et al, 2016). The substantial overlap in variance shared with anxiety and depression between mindsets and hopelessness implies that interventions that effectively target emotion and anxiety mindsets may be able to effectively target hopelessness.…”

“…1 Individuals holding growth (versus fixed) mindsets tend to cope more adaptively and recover more rapidly following setbacks (Burnette et al, 2013;Erdley et al, 1997;Yeager et al, 2013), potentially because they view setbacks as opportunities for personal growth rather than indicators of permanent, personal deficits. Further, fixed mindsets of multiple attributes correlate with and predict higher levels of depression and anxiety in youth and adults (for reviews, see Schleider et al, 2015;Schleider and Schroder, 2018), and brief interventions teaching individuals to adopt growth mindsets have reduced internalizing problems in high-risk and community samples (Kneeland et al, 2016;Miu and Yeager, 2014;Schleider et al, 2019;Schleider and Weisz, 2016;.…”