Emotion Regulation of Others and Self

Emotion regulation: the influence of where and when. From South Africa to the Ashes?

Posted on Jun 29, 2009 by Paul Davis

“How” and “why” people regulate their emotions has been of central interest within emotion regulation research. This month’s EROS blog considers the influence of “where” and “when”. We (Andy Lane and I—aka the ‘sport and exercise psychology group’ at the University of Wolverhampton) are investigating the situational variability of emotion regulation with athletes and exercisers. Specifically, we are examining athletes’ and exercisers’ attempts to regulate their emotions within the context of sport as well as life in general. In our first study, we are conducting an online survey that is asking participants to identify the emotional profile that they consider to be ideal for optimal sport performance. Further, we are asking athletes and exercisers to describe the strategies that they use to regulate their emotions into their ideal performance state. We are also requesting participants to recall an emotional situation that occurred in their lives outside of sport, and to identify the strategies they used to regulate their emotions in that particular situation. With this information we are aiming to compare the influence of situational variability on athletes’/exercisers’ selection and use of emotion regulation strategies.

Let me provide you with an example; last week, EROS advisor Marc Jones of Staffordshire University and I travelled to Marakech, Morocco for the 12th world congress of sport psychology. Marc and I were scheduled to present in a symposium discussing recent developments in emotion research within sport. Around the same time the British Lions were on a rugby tour of South Africa. As I’m sure you can appreciate, the emotional profile for ideal performance at the conference for Marc and I would have been dramatically different to that of the British Lions prior to playing the Springboks. Admittedly, all of us may have reported some anxiety; however, the strategies we each used to regulate our emotions would have varied greatly depending on the situation and individual difference characteristics (e.g., personality).

We are also examining individual difference characteristics within our examination of situational variability of emotion regulation. Specifically, we are investigating the influence of individual’s belief in their abilities to regulate their emotions. Put another way, we are interested in athletes’/exercisers’ confidence in their ability to manage and use their emotions to enhance their performance in sport and life.

Last month Thomas Webb spoke about emotional contagion and an instrumental approach to emotion regulation. Tom also presented an example of a behaviour goal of emotion regulation by describing a golfer steadying himself before an important putt. Sport provides an ideal opportunity for studying emotional contagion; Pete Totterdell (principal investigator on the EROS project) has examined mood linkage in professional cricket teams and future research being conducted by the EROS network will investigate emotion regulation within coach-athlete relationships. For example, it would be interesting to find out how the players and coaching staff of the British Lions influenced each others emotions in the locker room prior to kick off.  Lessons learned from the Lions’ (rather emotional) matches in South Africa could help the English Cricket team as the play for the Ashes this summer.

Stay tuned to the EROS blogs to find out more about future research conducted by the collaborative research network and to hear reports from upcoming conferences being attended by EROS researchers (e.g., ISRE in August).

Totterdell, P. (2000). Catching moods and hitting runs: mood linkage and subjective performance in professional sport teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 848-859.

Back to blog