TY - JOUR

T1 - DIfferential effects of various types of implementation intentions on the self-regulation of disgust

AU - Schweiger Gallo, Inge

AU - McCulloch, Kathleen C.

AU - Gollwitzer, Peter M.

PY - 2012/2

Y1 - 2012/2

N2 - As little is known about the effectiveness of different types of implementation intentions on the regulation of emotions, the present experiments focused on the differential effectiveness of various implementation intentions on the down-regulation of disgust responses. In Experiment 1, an antecedent-focused implementation intention based on cognitive reappraisal allowed participants to rate disgusting pictures as being less unpleasant than participants in the control condition or the goal intention condition, while the reported intensity (arousal) ratings stayed unaffected. In Experiment 2, participants with a response-focused implementation intention, devised to regulate the intensity of the emotional experience, reported a lower evoked arousal after seeing the disgusting slides, while the valence ratings remained unchanged. Thus, implementation intentions were shown to exert differential effects depending on whether they targeted one or another emotional dimension (i.e., valence vs. arousal).

AB - As little is known about the effectiveness of different types of implementation intentions on the regulation of emotions, the present experiments focused on the differential effectiveness of various implementation intentions on the down-regulation of disgust responses. In Experiment 1, an antecedent-focused implementation intention based on cognitive reappraisal allowed participants to rate disgusting pictures as being less unpleasant than participants in the control condition or the goal intention condition, while the reported intensity (arousal) ratings stayed unaffected. In Experiment 2, participants with a response-focused implementation intention, devised to regulate the intensity of the emotional experience, reported a lower evoked arousal after seeing the disgusting slides, while the valence ratings remained unchanged. Thus, implementation intentions were shown to exert differential effects depending on whether they targeted one or another emotional dimension (i.e., valence vs. arousal).

U2 - 10.1521/soco.2012.30.1.1

DO - 10.1521/soco.2012.30.1.1

M3 - Journal article

VL - 30

SP - 1

EP - 17

JO - Social Cognition

JF - Social Cognition

SN - 0278-016X

IS - 1

ER -