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Degree

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, Psychology/Industrial-Organizational, 2010.

Abstract

While previous research has found that some emotion regulation strategies are more harmful to well-being outcomes than others, there has been relatively little investigation into the role of explanatory mechanisms and individual differences. This study analyzed the mediating role of emotional discrepancy in the relationship between emotion regulation strategy (suppression or cognitive reappraisal) and two strain outcomes (emotional exhaustion and physiological arousal). The tendency to view action at higher or lower levels of abstraction, called personal agency, was also tested as a moderator of these relationships. An experiment was conducted where participants were asked to use different emotion regulation strategies while watching emotion-inducing video clips. Results indicated that emotional discrepancy did mediate the relationship between suppression and the two measures of strain; however, the results for cognitive reappraisal were not significant. Also, using moderated meditation analyses, personal agency was found to moderate the indirect effect of suppression on strain such that low personal agents (compared to high) experienced less strain when suppressing emotions. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Subject Headings

Psychology

Keywords

emotion regulation; personal agency; emotional discrepancy; emotional labor; stress

Committee / Advisors

Jennifer Z. Gillespie, PhD (Advisor)
Scott Highhouse, PhD (Committee Member)
William H. O'Brien, PhD (Committee Member)
Michael J. Zickar, PhD (Committee Member)

Pages

63p.

Document number: bgsu1288664133
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1288664133

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