Introduction
Emotion is a core component of human psychology, and is strongly related to physiological responses as well (video about this here).
Humans do not only experience emotions, but we can also manage them; this ability is called emotional regulation. A daily life example is getting angry at something, then realizing that the angry response is not appropriate and trying to change the emotion.
| Interview with Professor Gross, one of the top researchers in the study of emotional regulation. Watch video. |
The degree to which people vary in how they regulate their emotions can be measured with the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. The paper this appeared in (Gross & John, 2003) is highly cited.
This is a 10 item scale which taps into two emotion regulation strategies, namely
-
Cognitive reappraisal (of emotions)
-
Expressive suppression (of emotions)
The scoring takes the average of all the scores (i.e., the score lies between 1 and 7). The table below shows the averages of 1483 undergraduate students around 20 years of age.
| Score on | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
Cognitive reappraisal |
4.60 |
4.61 |
Expressive suppression |
3.64 |
3.14 |
| Men suppress emotions more than women. |
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Legal stuff
The paper very clearly states that the items are under the copyright of the authors of the paper (Gross & John, 2003). The test and other resources are on his website. It seems that when properly acknowledging the authors and paper, the ERQ can be used for research.
Technically
This is a standard survey with scale items without any reverse scoring.
The survey code for PsyToolkit
scale: agree
- strongly<br>disagree
- .
- .
- neutral
- .
- .
- strongly<br>agree
l: erq
t: scale agree
o: buildup
q: We would like to ask you some questions about your emotional life, in particular,<br>
how you control (that is, regulate and manage) your emotions.<br>
The questions below involve two distinct aspects of your emotional life<br>
One is your emotional experience, or what you feel like inside.<br>
The other is your emotional expression, or how you show your
emotions in the way you talk, gesture, or behave.<br>
Although some of the following questions may seem similar to one
another, they differ in important ways.<br>For each item, please
answer to what degree you agree with each statement.
- When I want to feel more positive emotion (such as joy or amusement), I change what I’m thinking about.
- I keep my emotions to myself.
- When I want to feel less negative emotion (such as sadness or anger), I change what I’m thinking about.
- When I am feeling positive emotions, I am careful not to express them.
- When I’m faced with a stressful situation, I make myself think about it in a way that helps me stay calm.
- I control my emotions by not expressing them.
- When I want to feel more positive emotion, I change the way I’m thinking about the situation.
- I control my emotions by changing the way I think about the situation I’m in.
- When I am feeling negative emotions, I make sure not to express them.
- When I want to feel less negative emotion, I change the way I’m thinking about the situation.
l: cogapp
t: set
- mean $erq.1 $erq.3 $erq.5 $erq.7 $erq.8 $erq.10
l: expsup
t: set
- mean $erq.2 $erq.4 $erq.6 $erq.9
l: feedback
t: info
q: This scale taps into two strategies of emotional regulation:<br>
1. Cognitive appraisal. Your score (on a range of 1-7): {$cogapp}<br>
2. Expressive suppression. Your score (on a range of 1-7): {$expsup}<br>
<br>Write down your scores and compare them to the group averages on the main website.
References
-
Gross, J.J., & John, O.P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 348-362.