Implicit emotion regulation under demanding conditions: The moderating role of action versus state orientation

Abstract

Action orientation is a volitional mode that promotes flexible self-regulation of emotional and motivational states; state orientation represents the conceptually opposite volitional mode that promotes fixation on (particularly negative) emotional and motivational states (Kuhl & Beckmann, 1994a). The present research investigated the link between action versus state orientation and implicit emotion regulation under demanding conditions. After inducing a demanding context, action-oriented participants displayed reduced affective priming effects of negative primes relative to state-oriented individuals (Studies 1–3). Action versus state orientation did not moderate affective priming effects of positive prime words (Studies 1–3). Effects of action versus state orientation emerged only for a limited number of trials (Study 2) and were reversed under low-demanding conditions (Study 3). These findings support the notion that implicit emotion regulation is closely linked to volitional action control.

Keywords:

• Implicit emotion regulation
• Action versus state orientation
• Affective priming

Acknowledgements

Preparation of this article was facilitated by a fellowship of Sander Koole at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences of Stanford University.

We thank Klaus Fiedler, Miguel Kazén, and Constantine Sedikides for insightful comments on previous versions of this paper.

Notes

¹In the present article, we follow the convention of the affective priming literature, which has classified positive and negative emotion by hedonic valence. In this terminology, frustration, listlessness, anxiety, and helplessness all classify as negative emotion, whereas pride, enthusiasm, relaxation, and peacefulness all classify as positive emotion. This terminology diverges from PSI theory (e.g., Kuhl & Koole, 2008), which has used the term “positive emotion” to refer to approach-related emotions, with low positive emotion consisting of states like frustration and listlessness and high positive emotion consisting of states like pride and joy; and the term “negative emotion” to refer to avoidance-related emotions, with low negative emotion consisting of states like relaxation and peacefulness and high negative emotion consisting of states like anxiety and helplessness.

²In the analysis of negative affective primes, participants’ self-reported motivation for performing the experiment, which was assessed at the end of the session, was statistically controlled. This variable was correlated with action orientation, r(50)=−.34, p<.02, and controlling for it helped to removed error variance. The uncontrolled effect of action orientation on affective priming for negative primes was marginally significant, F(1, 48)=3.41, p=.071.