Table 1_Who regulates when told? A systematic investigation of implicit to explicit emotion regulation.docx

However, research examining emotion regulatory processes often requires individuals to modify their emotional responses in the moment and to report on that strategy use. We aimed to determine if individuals are able to change the regulation of their emotions when implicit goals are made explicit.</p>Method<p>Undergraduates (n = 101) watched four fear-eliciting films.

Between the second and third films, participants were provided psychoeducation on emotion regulation and then, after each of the final two films, participants were asked to report on the emotion regulation strategies they used during those films. Differences in self-reported affect, facial expression, and skin conductance were examined between, before, and after the emotion regulation instruction, as well as between the final two films.</p>Results<p>Results suggested little difference in emotion response output following emotion regulation education and strategy reports and that individuals higher in trait negative affectivity were least responsive.</p>Discussion<p>Hence, individuals may struggle to respond when implicit regulatory goals become explicit.