Use of Multiple Regulation Strategies in Spontaneous Emotion Regulation

The present study investigated spontaneous emotion regulation use in response to emotional stimuli of different valence and intensity. Participants (n = 127) rated their affect and the extent to which they used particular emotion regulation strategies in response to high- and low-intensity pictures eliciting disgust. Findings suggest that people spontaneously use multiple emotion regulation strategies in high and low emotional contexts. Acceptance and detached reappraisal were the most commonly used strategies in all negative contexts, while suppression was the least used strategy. Implications for future work are discussed.