Living emotions, avoiding emotions: behavioral investigation of the regulation of socially driven emotions

Abstract

Emotion regulation is important for psychological well-being. Although it is known that alternative regulation strategies may have different emotional consequences, the effectiveness of such strategies for socially driven emotions remains unclear. In this study we investigated the efficacy of different forms of reappraisal on responses to the selfish and altruistic behavior of others in the Dictator Game. In Experiment 1, subjects mentalized the intentions of the other player in one condition, and took distance from the situation in the other. Emotion ratings were recorded after each offer. Compared with a baseline condition, mentalizing led subjects to experience their emotions more positively when receiving both selfish and altruistic proposals, whereas distancing decreased the valence when receiving altruistic offers, but did not affect the perception of selfish behavior. In Experiment 2, subjects played with both computer and human partners while reappraising the meaning of the player's intentions (with a human partner) or the meaning of the situation (with a computer partner). Results showed that both contexts were effectively modulated by reappraisal, however a stronger effect was observed when the donor was a human partner, as compared to a computer partner. Taken together, these results demonstrate that socially driven emotions can be successfully modulated by reappraisal strategies that focus on the reinterpretation of others' intentions.

Keywords: dictator game; emotion regulation; mentalizing.

Figure 1

A timeline of the events presented on each trial. Subjects’ responses on valence and arousal ratings were recorded.

Figure 2

Results from Experiment 1 are presented. (Upper part) Valence (graph on the left) of emotions associated with both altruistic and selfish behaviors is increased when subjects mentalized the intentions of players, but not when they took the distance from them. Arousal (graph on the right) was affected by strategies. (Lower part) Results from size effects of valence and arousal are shown. See text for further information.

Figure 3

Results from questionnaires after Experiment 1 are presented. Subjective ratings when observing a selfish behavior (A) and an altruistic behavior (B) indicate that emotion regulation involved specific emotions. Moreover, subjects experienced large changes in their emotions when applying the strategies (C), with mentalizing being superior to distancing.

Figure 4

Results from Experiment 2 are presented. (Upper part) Subjects were successful in regulating when both interacting with human and computer partners. However, reappraisal was stronger for human than computer partner. Analyses on arousal returned an effect of strategy on offers, according to which only the altruistic offer €5 was perceived in the reappraisal condition stronger than the look condition (independently from partner). (Lower part) Valence change was larger when interacting with human relative to computer partners.

Figure 5

Questionnaires after Experiment 2 is presented. Subjects were more disappointed and disgusted when observing a selfish behavior (1€ offer) from human rather than computer partners (A). When receiving altruistic offer (5€ offer) subjects were happier when the donator was a human partner (B). Subjects perceived a change in the strength of emotions when applying the strategies with both partners. However the human condition showed larger effects (C). Lastly, a correlation was observed between the ability to take the perspective of others (IRI questionnaire) and the ability to apply reappraisal (D).