Emotions are foremost self-regulating processes that permit rapid responses and adaptations to situations of personal concern. They have biological bases and are shaped ontogenetically via learning and experience. Many situations and events of personal concern are social in nature. Thus, social exchanges play an important role in learning about rules and norms that shape regulation processes. I argue that (a) emotions often are actively auto-regulating—the behavior implied by the emotional reaction bias to the eliciting event or situation modifies or terminates the situation; (b) certain emotion components are likely to habituate dynamically, modifying the emotional states; (c) emotions are typically intra- and interpersonal processes at the same time, and modulating forces at these different levels interact; (d) emotions are not just regulated—they regulate. Important conclusions of my arguments are that the scientific analysis of emotion should not exclude regulatory processes, and that effortful emotion regulation should be seen relative to a backdrop of auto-regulation and habituation, and not the ideal notion of a neutral baseline. For all practical purposes unregulated emotion is not a realistic concept.
Andrade, E.B., & Cohen, J.B. ( 2007). On the consumption of negative feelings. Journal of Consumer Research, 34, 283-300.
2.
Arnold, M.B. ( 1960). Emotion and personality. Volume I: Psychological aspects. New York, NY : Columbia University Press.
3.
Averill, J.R. ( 1982). Anger and aggression: An essay on emotion. New York, NY: Springer.
4.
Averill, J.R. ( 1994a). Emotions unbecoming and becoming. In P. Ekman & R. J. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions (pp. 265-269). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
5.
Averill, J.R. ( 1994b). Emotions are many splendored things. In P. Ekman & R. J. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions (pp. 99-102). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
6.
Barr-Zisowitz, C. ( 2000). "Sadness"-Is there such a thing? In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones & L.F. Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (3rd ed., pp. 607-622). New York, NY: Guilford.
7.
Berggren, U., Hakeberg, M., & Carlsson, S.G. (2000). Relaxation vs. cognitively oriented therapies for dental fear. Journal of Dental Research , 79, 1645-1651.
8.
Berridge, K.C. ( 2009). Wanting and liking: Observations from the neuroscience and psychology laboratory. Inquiry, 52, 378-398.
9.
Bradley, M.M., & Lang, P.J. ( 2007). The International Affective Picture System (IAPS) in the study of emotion and attention. In J. A. Coan & J. J. B. Allen (Eds.), Handbook of emotion elicitation and assessment (pp. 29-46). Oxford , UK: Oxford University Press.
10.
Breiter, H.C., Etcoff, N.L., Whalen, P.J., Kennedy, W.A., Rauch, S.L., Buckner, R.L., ... Rosen, B.R. ( 1996). Response and habituation of human amygdala during visual processing of facial expression. Neuron, 17, 875-887.
11.
Butler, E.A., & Gross, J.J. ( 2009). Emotion and emotion regulation: Integrating individual and social levels of analysis. Emotion Review, 1, 86-87.
12.
Cacioppo, J.T., Petty, R.E., Losch, M.E., & Kim, H.S. ( 1986). Electromyographic activity over facial muscle regions can differentiate the valence and intensity of affective reactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 260-268.
13.
Campos, J., Frankel, C., & Camras, L. ( 2004). On the nature of emotion regulation. Child Development, 75, 377-394.
14.
Cornelius, R.R. ( 1996). The science of emotion: Research and tradition in the psychology of emotion. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
15.
Damasio, A.R. ( 2000). The feeling of what happens: Body, emotion and the making of consciousness. London, UK: Vintage .
16.
Darwin, C. ( 1872). The expression of the emotions in man and animals. London, UK: Murray.
17.
Dawkins, R. ( 1976). The selfish gene. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
18.
Dawson, M.E., Schell, A.M., & Filion, D.L. ( 2007). The electrodermal system. In J. T. Cacioppo, L. G. Tassinary & G. G. Berntson (Eds.), Handbook of psychophysiology (3rd ed., pp. 159-181). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
19.
Dimberg, U. ( 1982). Facial reactions to facial expressions. Psychophysiology, 19, 643-647.
20.
Dunahoo, C.L., Hobfoll, S.E., Monnier, J., Hulsizer, M.R., & Johnson, R. ( 1998). There’s more than rugged individualism in coping. Part 1: Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 11, 137-165.
21.
Ekman, P. ( 2003). Emotions revealed. Understanding faces and feelings. London, UK: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
22.
Ekman, P., Levenson, R.W., & Friesen, W.V. ( 1983). Autonomic nervous system activity distinguishes among emotions. Science, 221, 1208-1210.
23.
Fredrickson, B.L., & Levenson, R.W. (1998). Positive emotions speed recovery from the cardiovascular sequelae of negative emotions. Cognition & Emotion, 12, 191-220.
24.
Fridlund, A.J. ( 1994). Human facial expression. An evolutionary view. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
25.
Frijda, N.H. ( 1986). The emotions. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
26.
Frijda, N.H. ( 2007). The laws of emotion. Mahwah NJ: Erlbaum.
27.
Georgiadis, J.R., & Kortekaas, R. ( 2010). The sweetest taboo: Functional neurobiology of human sexuality in relation to pleasure. In M. L. Kringelbach & K. C. Berridge (Eds.), Pleasures of the brain (pp. 178-201). New York, NY: Oxford University Press
28.
Gotlib, I.H., & Joormann, J. ( 2010). Cognition and depression: Current status and future directions . Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 6, 285-312.
29.
Gross, J.J. ( 1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2, 271-299.
30.
Gross, J.J. ( 2008). Emotion regulation. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones & L. F. Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (3rd ed., pp. 497-512). New York, NY : Guilford.
31.
Gross, J.J., & Levenson, R.W. (1993). Emotional suppression: Physiology, self-report, and expressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 970-986.
Gross, J.J., & Thompson, R.A. (2007). Emotion regulation: Conceptual foundations. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 3-24). New York, NY: Guilford.
34.
Harmon-Jones, E., & Peterson, C.K. (2009). Supine body position reduces neural response to anger evocation. Psychological Science , 20, 1209-1210.
35.
Hoffner, C.A., & Levine, K.J. ( 2007). Enjoyment of mediated fright and violence: A meta-analysis . Media Psychology, 7, 207-237.
36.
Holodynski, M., & Friedlmeier, W. (2006). Development of emotions and emotion regulation. Boston, MA: Springer.
37.
Iacoboni, M. ( 2009). Imitation, empathy, and mirror neurons. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 653-670.
38.
Janssen, E., Prause, N., & Geer, J. ( 2007). The sexual response. In J. T. Cacioppo, L. G. Tassinary & G. G. Berntson (Eds.), Handbook of psychophysiology (3rd ed., pp. 245-266). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
39.
Kappas, A. ( 2003). What facial expressions can and cannot tell us about emotions. In M. Katsikitis (Ed.), The human face: Measurement and meaning (pp. 215-234). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
40.
Kappas, A. ( 2004, October). Intra- and interpersonal determinants and consequences of facial activation. Presented at the Forty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
41.
Kappas, A. ( 2008). Psssst! Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are actually the same person! A tale of regulation and emotion. In M. Vandekerckhove, C. von Scheve, S. Ismer, S. Jung & S. Kronast (Eds.), Regulating emotions: Social necessity and biological inheritance (pp. 15-38). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
42.
Kappas, A., & Descôteaux, J. (2003). Of butterflies and roaring thunder: Nonverbal communication in interaction and regulation of emotion . In P. Philippot, R. S. Feldman & E. J. Coats (Eds.), Nonverbal behavior in clinical settings (pp. 45-74). New York, NY : Oxford University Press.
43.
Kappas, A., McHugo, G.J., & Lanzetta, J.T. (1989). Componential control and the modulation of emotional experience. Psychophysiology, 26, S37.
44.
Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. ( 2001). Social functions of emotion. In T. J. Mayne & G. A. Bonanno (Eds.), Emotions: Current issues and future directions (pp. 192-213). New York, NY: Guilford.
45.
Kleinginna, P., Jr. , & Kleinginna, A. (1981). A categorized list of emotion definitions, with suggestions for a consensual definition. Motivation and Emotion, 5, 345-379.
46.
Koopowitz, H. ( 1975). Activity and habituation in the brain of the polyclad flatworm Freemania litoricola. Journal of Experimental Biology , 62, 455-467.
47.
Kringelbach, M.L., & Berridge, K.C. (2009). Towards a functional neuro-anatomy of pleasure and happiness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 479-487.
48.
Laird, J.D. ( 1974). Self-attribution of emotion: The effects of expressive behavior on the quality of emotional experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29, 475-486.
49.
Lanzetta, J.T., Cartwright-Smith, J., & Kleck, R.E. ( 1976). Effects of nonverbal dissimulation on emotional experience and autonomic arousal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 33, 354-370.
50.
Lazarus, R.S., & Alfert, E. ( 1964). The short-circuiting of threat by experimentally altering cognitive appraisal. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , 69, 195-205.
51.
Lazarus, R.S., & Lazarus, B.N. ( 1994). Passion and reason: Making sense of our emotions. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
52.
Lewis, M. ( 2000a). Self-conscious emotions: Embarrassment, pride, shame, guilt. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones & L. F. Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (3rd ed., pp. 623-636). New York, NY: Guilford.
53.
Lewis, M.D. ( 2000b). The promise of dynamic systems approaches for an integrated account of human development. Child Development, 71, 36-43.
54.
Lipps, T. ( 1905). Das Wissen von fremden Ichen. In T. Lipps (Ed.), Psychologische Untersuchungen Vol. 1: Bewußtsein und Gegenstände (Vol. 1, pp. 694-722). Leipzig, Germany: Engelmann.
55.
Mauss, I.B., Bunge, S.A., & Gross, J.J. ( 2008). Culture and automatic emotion regulation. In M. Vandekerckhove, C. von Scheve, S. Ismer, S. Jung & S. Kronast (Eds.), Regulating emotions: Social necessity and biological inheritance (pp. 39-60). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
56.
Mauss, I.B., & Robinson, M.D. (2009). Measures of emotion: A review. Cognition & Emotion, 23, 209-237.
57.
Mayne, T.J., & Ramsey, J. ( 2001). The structure of emotion: A nonlinear dynamic systems approach. In T. J. Mayne & G. A. Bonanno (Eds.), Emotions: Current issues and future directions (pp. 1-37). New York, NY: Guilford.
58.
McHugo, G.J., Smith, C.A., & Lanzetta, J.T. (1982). The structure of self-reports of emotional responses to film segments. Motivation and Emotion , 6, 365-385.
59.
McIntosh, D.N. ( 1996). Facial feedback hypotheses: Evidence, implications, and directions. Motivation and Emotion, 20, 121-147.
60.
Mischel, W., & Ayduk, O. ( 2004). Willpower in a cognitive-affective processing system: The dynamics of delay of gratification. In R. F. Baumeister & K. D. Vohs (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications (pp. 99-129). New York: Guilford.
61.
Oishi, S., Diener, E., & Lucas, R.E. ( 2007). The optimal level of well-being: Can we be too happy ? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 346-360.
62.
Panksepp, J. ( 1998). Affective neuroscience: The foundations of human and animal emotions. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
63.
Parkinson, B., Fischer, A.H., & Manstead, A.S.R. (2005). Emotion in social relations: Cultural, group, and interpersonal processes. New York, NY: Psychology Press.
64.
Philippot, P. ( 1993). Inducing and assessing differentiated emotional feeling states in the laboratory. Cognition & Emotion, 7, 171-193.
65.
Philippot, P., Baeyens, C., Douilliez, & Francart, B. (2004). Cognitive regulation of emotion: Application to clinical disorders. In P. Philippot & R. S. Feldman (Eds.), The regulation of emotion (pp. 71-97). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
66.
Power, M., & Dalgleish, T. ( 2008). Cognition and emotion: From order to disorder (2nd ed.). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
67.
Rimé, B. ( 2009). Emotion elicits the social sharing of emotion: Theory and empirical review. Emotion Review, 1, 60-85.
68.
Roosevelt, F.D. ( 1989). First inaugural address. In Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (Ed.), Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O.: Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 1989; Bartleby.com , 2001. http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres49.html .
69.
Rottenberg, J., Ray, R.D., & Gross, J.J. ( 2007). Emotion elicitation using films. In J. A. Coan & J. J. B. Allen (Eds.), Handbook of emotion elicitation and assessment (pp. 9-28). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
70.
Rueda, M.R., Posner, M.I., & Rothbart, M.K. (2005). The development of executive attention: Contributions to the emergence of self-regulation. Developmental Neuropsychology, 28, 573-594.
71.
Russell, J.A., Bachorowski, J.-A., & Fernández-Dols, J.-M. (2003). Facial and vocal expressions of emotion. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 329-349.
72.
Smith, C.A., McHugo, G.J., & Kappas, A. ( 1996). Epilogue: Overarching themes and enduring contributions of the Lanzetta research. Motivation and Emotion, 20, 237-253.
73.
Smith, K.S., Mahler, S.V., Pecina, S., & Berridge, K.C. (2010). Hedonic hotspots: Generating sensory pleasure in the brain. In M. L. Kringelbach & K. C. Berridge (Eds.), Pleasures of the brain (pp. 27-49). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
74.
Solomon, R.C. ( 2000). The philosophy of emotions. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 3-15). New York, NY: Guilford.
75.
Sparks, G.G., & Sparks, C.W. ( 2000). Violence, mayhem, and horror. In D. Zillmann & P. Vorderer (Eds.), Media entertainment: The psychology of its appeal (pp. 73-91). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
76.
Stepper, S., & Strack, F. ( 1993). Proprioceptive determinants of emotional and nonemotional feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 211-220.
77.
Strack, F., Martin, L., & Stepper, S. ( 1988). Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 768-777.
78.
Tamir, M. ( 2005). Don’t worry, be happy? Neuroticism, trait-consistent affect regulation, and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 449-461.
79.
Tamir, M., & Mauss, I.B. (in press). Social-cognitive factors in emotion regulation: Implications for well-being. In I. Nyklicek, A. Vingerhoets, M. Zeelenberg & J. Denollet (Eds.), Emotion regulation and well-being. New York, NY: Springer.
80.
Tarabulsy, G.M., Tessier, R., & Kappas, A. ( 1996). Contingency detection and the contingent organization of behavior in interactions: Implications for socioemotional development in infancy. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 25-41.
81.
Tice, D.M., Baumeister, R.F., & Zhang, L. ( 2004). The role of emotion in self-regulation: Differing roles of positive and negative emotion. In P. Philippot & R. S. Feldman (Eds.), The regulation of emotion (pp. 213-226). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
82.
Tsai, J.L. ( 2007). Ideal affect: Cultural causes and behavioral consequences . Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 242-259.
83.
von Salisch, M. ( 2008). Themes in the development of emotion regulation in childhood and adolescence and a transactional model. In M. Vandekerckhove, C. von Scheve, S. Ismer, S. Jung & S. Kronast (Eds.), Regulating emotions: Social necessity and biological inheritance (pp. 146-167). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
84.
Zuckerman, M., Klorman, R., Larrance, D.T., & Spiegel, N.H. ( 1981). Facial, autonomic, and subjective components of emotion: The facial feedback hypothesis versus the externalizer-internalizer distinction . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 929-944.
