Interpersonal emotion regulation encompasses both attempts to regulate one’s own emotions with the help of others (i.e., intrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation) and attempts to regulate others’ emotions (i.e., extrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation).
Extrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation refers specifically to the process of intentionally influencing other people’s emotions to meet one’s goals or desired outcomes in a social interaction or relationship.
The regulator’s motives shape what strategies they choose to regulate the other’s emotions and can impact the interpersonal outcomes they perceive.
Attachment stylehas been linked to intrapersonal emotion regulation motives and strategies for regulating one’s own emotions. This suggests attachment could also shape interpersonal regulation motives.
Attachment avoidance is associated with deactivating emotions, and attachment anxiety with hyperactivating emotions. This could extend to interpersonal regulation motives – avoidance with dampening others’ emotions, anxiety with amplifying.
Key Points
Rationale
Prior work shows that emotion regulation is often interpersonal, involving attempts to regulate other people’s emotions (Tamminen et al., 2019).
Research on interpersonal emotion regulation has focused more on strategies and less on the motives behind regulation attempts, even though motives shape regulatory behaviors in intrapersonal contexts (Tamir, 2016).
Attachment theoryis very relevant to interpersonal functioning but has predominantly been applied to intrapersonal emotion regulation processes (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007).
By examining howattachment dimensionsrelate to interpersonal emotion regulation motives and perceived outcomes, this study aimed to integrate these two areas and address gaps in understanding why and when people try to regulate others’ emotions.
Gaining insight into regulation motives and individual differences in attachment can provide a more complete picture of the interpersonal emotion regulation process.
This advances knowledge that can inform interventions aiming to improve socioemotional functioning within relationships.
Method
Sample
Statistical Analysis
Results
Motives explained incremental variance, with prosocial motives associating with better and self-protective motives with worse socioemotional outcomes after regulating others. This highlights the importance of motives in guiding behaviors.
Insight
This study demonstrates that attachment style relates to interpersonal emotion regulation motives and perceived effectiveness in regulating others’ emotions.
The results suggest insecure attachment dimensions may disrupt perceiving effective regulation of others’ emotions. Motives seem to shape effectiveness above and beyond attachment influences.
There appear to be benefits to regulating others’ emotions for more prosocial reasons, like trying make someone feel better or improve one’s relationship with them, rather than self-focused reasons, like making oneself feel better or protecting oneself.
Strengths
Limitations
Implications
This research demonstrates how adult attachment patterns manifest in the interpersonal regulation of emotions. Clinicians can apply this knowledge to inform case conceptualization and design tailored interventions that leverage regulation motives to improve clients’ social and emotional skills as well as relationship quality.
References
Primary reference
Springstein, T., Hamerling-Potts, K. K., Landa, I., & English, T. (2023). Adult attachment and interpersonal emotion regulation motives in daily life.Emotion, 23(5), 1281–1293.https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001169
Other references
Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2007). Adult attachment strategies and the regulation of emotion. In J. J. Gross (Ed.),Handbook of emotion regulation(pp. 446-465). Guilford Press.
Tamir, M. (2016). Why do people regulate their emotions? A taxonomy of motives in emotion regulation.Personality and Social Psychology Review, 20(3), 199-222.https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868315586325
Tamminen, K. A., Page-Gould, E., Schellenberg, B., Palmateer, T., Thai, S., Sabiston, C. M., & Crocker, P. R. (2019). A daily diary study of interpersonal emotion regulation, the social environment, and team performance among university athletes.Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 45, 101566.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2019.101566
Further Reading
Butler, E. A., & Randall, A. K. (2013). Emotional coregulation in close relationships.Emotion Review, 5(2), 202–210.
Butner, J., Diamond, L. M., & Hicks, A. M. (2007). Attachment style and two forms of affect coregulation between romantic partners.Personal Relationships, 14(3), 431–455.
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Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education
Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.
Saul McLeod, PhD
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
