Transcending the “good & bad” and “here & now” in emotion regulation: Costs and benefits of strategies across regulatory stages

The scientific study of emotion regulation is flourishing, providing fundamental insights to our understanding of human functioning. While clearly important, in this chapter I zoom in on two major challenges in current theorizing and in existing empirical evidence. The “good & bad” problem refers to the categorization of regulatory strategies as being either adaptive or maladaptive. The “here & now” problem refers to concentration on a single regulatory stage that involves the actual execution or implementation of regulatory strategies. To transcend the “good & bad” problem, I provide a conceptual account, highlighting the underlying mechanisms of implemented regulatory options that yield a clear differential cost-benefit strategy profile. To transcend the “here & now” problem, I present a broad conceptual framework that views emotion regulation as a multistage phenomenon that includes important stages that precede and follow regulatory implementation. A central focus is given to a preimplementation regulatory selection stage, which involves choosing between available regulatory options in a manner that is sensitive to differing situational demands. Specifically, I review affective-cognitive-motivational determinants, underlying mechanisms, neural correlates, individual-social-cultural moderators, and developmental and clinical implications, of regulatory selection. I end by highlighting the importance of transcending the regulatory selection stage, by describing a postimplementation regulatory monitoring stage that involves deciding if and how to adapt actively implemented regulatory strategies, by describing a preimplementation regulatory identification stage that involves deciding whether to regulate one's emotions in the first place, and by linking regulatory stages together.