Emotion regulation and its effects on mood improvement in response to an in vivo peer rejection challenge.

Abstract

This study examined children's spontaneous use of behavioral emotion regulation (ER) strategies and their effects on subsequent mood change in response to an in vivo peer rejection manipulation. Participants (N ϭ 186), ranging between 10 and 13 years of age, played a computer game based on the television show Survivor and were randomized to either peer rejection (being voted out of the game) or nonrejection control. In response to rejection, more than one third of the participants (38%) displayed a marked worsening (i.e., reliable change) in state mood. After receiving feedback, time spent on several behavioral ER strategies during a 5-minute postfeedback period was assessed. At the end of the postfeedback period, children's cognitive activity was also assessed. More time spent on behavioral distraction was positively linked to subsequent increases in positive affect, whereas the reverse pattern was found for disengagement/passive behavior. Moreover, higher endorsement ratings for the strategy of "cognitive analysis" were associated with stronger increases in negative affect.

The Pizzagame: A virtual public goods game to assess cooperative behavior in children and adolescents

“…In the course of developing the Pizzagame, we aimed to find a scenario that was as close to a life-like situation as possible. In line with other peer-based paradigms (Crowley, Wu, Molfese, & Mayes, 2010;Gunther Moor, Bos, Crone, & van der Molen, 2014;Guyer, Choate, Pine, & Nelson, 2012;Reijntjes, Stegge, Terwogt, Kamphuis, & Telch, 2006), we presumed that a situation in which boys and girls ostensibly interacted with same-age, same-sex peers in a school setting would act as a familiar and ecologically valid cue to trigger children's everyday social behavior. The importance of these aspects is persuasively underscored by ample data showing that concrete, familiar, and relevant scenarios improve performance on a variety of cognitive tasks, even among adults (e.g., Sperber & Girotto, 2002;Wason & Shapiro, 1971), and facilitate earlier understanding among children (e.g., Doherty, 2009;Donaldson, 1978).…”

Regulating Debilitating Emotions in the Context of Performance: Achievement Goal Orientations, Achievement-Elicited Emotions, and Socialization Contexts

“…Although students are advised to remain calm in academic environments [Boekaerts, 1993] and within peer contexts [Reijntjes et al, 2006], there are instances when unsettling emotional experiences can arise in the classroom. As an example, a student could experience anger in response to a test if he feels that the teacher has constructed an assessment that is extremely difficult and he feels inadequately prepared.…”

“…It has often been defined as a process that organizes psychological processes such as attention and cognitive processing [Cole, Martin, & Dennis, 2004] as well as social processes such as social competence and peer relationships [Dodge, 1991]. Across development, children acquire an increasingly complex repertoire for regulating their emotions [Reijntjes et al, 2006]. During infancy, emotion regulation has been operationalized as an autonomous construct, where researchers have examined infant gaze aversion, self-soothing (e.g., thumb sucking), and physiological responses such as vagal tone, heart rate, and cortisol levels [Diener & Mangelsdorf, 1999;Gunnar, 1994;Porges, 1986;Reijntjes et al, 2006].…”

“…Across development, children acquire an increasingly complex repertoire for regulating their emotions [Reijntjes et al, 2006]. During infancy, emotion regulation has been operationalized as an autonomous construct, where researchers have examined infant gaze aversion, self-soothing (e.g., thumb sucking), and physiological responses such as vagal tone, heart rate, and cortisol levels [Diener & Mangelsdorf, 1999;Gunnar, 1994;Porges, 1986;Reijntjes et al, 2006]. Beginning between ages 2 and 5 when children are acquiring advanced cognitive, motor, and language skills, emotion regulation incorporates behavioral strategies, as children begin to use strategies such as help-seeking and distraction [for a review, see Diener & Mangelsdorf, 1999].…”

“…Beginning between ages 2 and 5 when children are acquiring advanced cognitive, motor, and language skills, emotion regulation incorporates behavioral strategies, as children begin to use strategies such as help-seeking and distraction [for a review, see Diener & Mangelsdorf, 1999]. As children enter middle childhood, they begin to develop an understanding of the utility of cognitive forms of emotion regulation, such as reappraisal [Reijntjes et al, 2006].…”