Lecture 2 (Coping with Emotional Goals)

Question 1

Emotion goal

Answer 1

the cognitive represenatition of a desired emotional state, can be both pleasure and arousal.

Question 2

Situational flexibility

Answer 2

changing emotional goals flexibly to address contextual demands.

Question 3

What is the goal of emotion regulation?

Answer 3

To decrease the discrepancy between current and desired emotioanl state.

Question 4

Prohedonic emotion goals

Answer 4

Greater pleasure, less pain
ER strategies use: situation selection, distraction, reappraisal

Question 5

Contrahedonic (instrumental) goals

Answer 5

Motivated to experience either pleasant or unpleasent emotions for a certain cause.
ER strategy use: suppression.
Example: a student might intentionally try to stay anxious before an exam to be more motivated.

Question 6

What are individual differences?

Answer 6

1-Affective disposition: persons stable tendency to feel a certain type of emotion.
2- Personal and cultural values
3- Age: at older age, prohedonic goals are more appreciated.
4- Skills

Question 7

How do discrepancies evolve?

Answer 7

1- Comparison to personal standards
2- Reflecting on the past and future
3- Evaluation of your personal characteristics
4- Awareness of other people’s perceptions and evaluations

Question 8

Automatic ER?

Answer 8

outside of conscious awareness. ( not running around the lecture hall)

Question 9

Deliberate ER?

Answer 9

actively set a goal and make a plan to implement it.
- You notice the emotion → you choose a strategy → you apply it deliberately.

Question 10

Implementation intention

Answer 10

A plan that links situations to specific behaviors. ( from deliberate to automatic)
Example: you fear from spiders, in therapy making a plan to overcome, overcoming in the future makes it automatic)
- You plan ahead → the plan is triggered automatically when the situation arises.

Question 11

Reappraisal

Answer 11

Changing the way one thinks about an emotional situation ( to deal with unpleasant emotions)
- Habitual use is associated with better mental health.

Question 12

Resilience

Answer 12

Being able to deal with adverse events

Question 13

What are effective ways of self-support?

Answer 13

1- self compassion: empathy from observing self to suffering self.
2- self-soothing and self-encouragement: inner-cheerleading
3-Active self-coaching: guiding the sufferiing self