Belén López-Pérez’s research while affiliated with University of Manchester and other places

Interpersonal emotion regulation occurs when people try to manage their own or others’ feelings or emotional expressions via social interactions. Research on this distinctive form of emotion regulation has grown exponentially over the last 15 years. In this article, we draw from literature across different disciplines, including multiple subdisciplines within psychology (e.g., social, clinical, developmental, organizational, sports), neuroscience, and sociology, to reflect on what is currently known about interpersonal emotion regulation. Our analysis focuses on the process through which interpersonal emotion regulation unfolds, its outcomes, and the development of abilities and difficulties in interpersonal emotion regulation through the lifespan. We also introduce this special issue, which presents a collection of 17 articles that advance our knowledge about these aspects of interpersonal emotion regulation in multiple ways. Finally, we chart the path forward by considering some of the most important challenges and opportunities for researchers aiming to deepen our understanding of interpersonal emotion regulation.

Although research has shown that gratitude has mostly beneficial consequences, less is known about its motivational antecedents. As goal orientations influence goals and behaviors, we considered how they also impact emotions. To that aim, we investigated the relation between work domain goal orientation and the experience of gratitude. Study 1 (N = 102) demonstrated that a learning goal orientation was positively correlated with gratitude but a performance goal orientation was not. Study 2 (N = 87) experimentally demonstrated that participants experienced more gratitude when learning goals rather than performance goals were valued at work. In Study 3 (N = 157), work prosocial motivation cross-sectionally mediated the impact of a learning goal orientation on gratitude. Preregistered Study 4 (N = 257) replicated Study 2 and 3’s findings through an experiment and categorical mediation. Our results suggest that goal orientation influences gratitude, and that prosocial motivation can serve an explanatory function for its relationship with gratitude at work.

Previous research has demonstrated how people are motivated to induce negative feelings in others, a phenomenon known as extrinsic interpersonal affect worsening. This process has been linked to decreased well-being for those involved in regulating these emotions. However, prior studies have primarily centered on experimental scenarios, neglecting the emotions (such as anger) experienced by those regulating extrinsic affect worsening as possible predictors. To address this gap, a study involving 166 British adults (Mage = 35.09, SD = 12.94) was conducted from the end of 2019 to February 2020. Participants reported their general disposition to engage in extrinsic interpersonal affect worsening and subsequently recorded their levels of momentary anger and momentary extrinsic affect worsening through ecological momentary assessments for 28 days at three different daily time points. The findings unveiled a reciprocal relation with nuanced differences between occurrence and intensity of affect worsening. While for occurrence, we only observed an effect where the occurrence of affect worsening led to a heightened experience of anger in the regulator; for intensity, we observed a detrimental cycle in which anger can serve as both a cause and a consequence of the higher intensity of extrinsic affect worsening. These results are discussed within the context of aggression and abuse theories.

With increasing research interest in extrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation, this article aims to address the critical need for a unified language framework to strengthen and support these research efforts. Despite increasing interest and research in this area, the lack of consistent terminology poses significant challenges to conceptual clarity and scientific progress. By examining the current landscape, the authors identify the proliferation of varied terms across disciplines, which threatens to hamper effective communication and collaboration and, thus, progress. This article first argues for the necessity of a unified terminology and then proposes a possible methodological approach to achieve this. A Delphi study that provides a frame for the collaborative effort of subject matter experts is outlined. Establishing such unified language framework is expected to enhance research quality, foster innovation, and facilitate knowledge accumulation in the field.

With increasing research interest in extrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation, this paper aims to address the critical need for a unified language framework to strengthen and support these research efforts. Despite increasing interest and research in this area, the lack of consistent terminology poses significant challenges for conceptual clarity and scientific progress.By examining the current landscape, the authors identify the proliferation of varied terms across disciplines, which threatens to hamper effective communication and collaboration, and thus, progress. This work proposes the development of unified terminology through a Delphi study, serving as an invitation to subject matter experts to contribute to this collaborative effort. Establishing a unified language framework will enhance research quality, foster innovation, and facilitate knowledge accumulation in the field.

Introduction Existing research highlights the significance of prosocial behavior (voluntary, intentional behavior that results in benefits for another) to people's well‐being. Yet, the extent to which this expected positive relation operates at the within‐person level (e.g., is more prosocial behavior than usual related to a higher than usual level of well‐being?) while taking into account stable interindividual differences, remains a research question that deserves further investigation. In this study, we aimed to explore the relations between prosocial behavior and hedonic (HWB; subjective assessment of life satisfaction and happiness) and eudaimonic (EWB; actualization of human potential in alignment with personal goals, including concepts like meaning in life and closeness to others) well‐being in daily life. Method Using ecological momentary assessment for 4 weeks, data were collected from two British samples, comprising 82 adolescents and 166 adults. Results Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling revealed a positive relations between prosocial behavior and HWB/EWB at both between and within‐person levels across the samples. Conclusion In summary, these findings further support the positive link between prosocial behavior and well‐being in everyday life. Notably, this association was consistent across different age groups (adolescent and adults) at both between and within‐person levels.

Emotional inertia (i.e., the resistance to change of emotional states) is an index of regulatory deficit linked to psychological maladjustment. Using ecological momentary assessment, we explored the role of Self-efficacy in Regulating Negative Affect (SRN), as a baseline measure, to buffer sadness and anger inertia, measured three times a day over 28 days in two samples from the UK: (1) adults (n = 166 adults; Mage = 35.71, SD = 12.96; 73% women) and (2) adolescents (n = 82 adolescents; Mage 14.88, SD = 1.34; 72% girls). Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling showed that both sadness and anger had significant levels of inertia. Importantly, the inertia of sadness was weakened by high levels of SRN among both adults and adolescents (β = -.211, 95% CI [-.303, -.112]; and β = -.485, 95% CI [-.707, -.162], respectively). No buffering effect of SRN was found for the inertia of anger. These findings suggest the importance of strengthening adults’ and adolescents’ SRN to manage their sadness in everyday life.

Interpersonal emotion regulation involves having emotions changed in a social context. While some research has used the term to refer to instances where others are used to alter one’s own emotions (intrinsic), other research refers to goal-directed actions aimed at modifying others’ emotional responses (extrinsic). We argue that the self-other distinction should be applied not only to the target (who has their emotion regulated) but also to the means (whether the agent uses themselves or others to achieve the regulation). Based on this, we propose interpersonal emotion regulation can take place when an agent changes a target’s emotions by affecting a third party’s emotion who will shift the emotion of the target in turn (direct other-based interpersonal ER) or by impacting a third party’s emotion (indirect other-based interpersonal ER). We discuss these processes and the conditions that lead to their emergence reconciling findings from different fields and suggesting new research venues.