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Invited Review

The psychology of emotion regulation: An integrative review

Pages 4-41
Received 20 Sep 2007
Published online: 19 Dec 2008
 
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The present article reviews modern research on the psychology of emotion regulation. Emotion regulation determines the offset of emotional responding and is thus distinct from emotional sensitivity, which determines the onset of emotional responding. Among the most viable categories for classifying emotion-regulation strategies are the targets and functions of emotion regulation. The emotion-generating systems that are targeted in emotion regulation include attention, knowledge, and bodily responses. The functions of emotion regulation include satisfying hedonic needs, supporting specific goal pursuits, and facilitating the global personality system. Emotion-regulation strategies are classified in terms of their targets and functions and relevant empirical work is reviewed. Throughout this review, emotion regulation emerges as one of the most far-ranging and influential processes at the interface of cognition and emotion.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Jan de Houwer, Daniel Fockenberg, Miguel Kazén, Julius Kuhl, Klaus Rothermund, Hester Ruigendijk, Markus Quirin, Lotte van Dillen, and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful feedback on a previous version of this paper.