#emotionregulation — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #emotionregulation, aggregated by home.social.
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DATE: August 30, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Brain stimulation helps socially anxious individuals control avoidance behaviors
Researchers have found that applying a specific pattern of mild electrical stimulation to the brain can help individuals with high social anxiety better control their automatic avoidance behaviors. By synchronizing the rhythmic activity between the brain’s cognitive control and movement centers, the treatment improved participants’ ability to override their immediate emotional impulses. The findings from this small study were published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
Social anxiety disorder is characterized by an intense fear of social judgment and a strong urge to avoid situations that might cause distress. This behavioral avoidance brings immediate, temporary relief. However, this same avoidance ultimately maintains the psychological condition by preventing individuals from experiencing the situations and learning that they are actually safe.
Standard treatments like exposure therapy require patients to confront their fears directly. People with severe social anxiety often struggle to override their automatic urge to flee, which can limit the effectiveness of such therapies. Overcoming this pattern requires a psychological mechanism called emotional action control, which is the brain’s ability to suppress automatic reactions and execute a different planned response.
Brain regions coordinate this kind of control by communicating through rhythmic electrical impulses, commonly known as brainwaves. When a person needs to override an automatic behavior, an area responsible for cognitive control called the lateral prefrontal cortex must sync its low-frequency rhythms with the high-frequency rhythms of the sensorimotor cortex. The sensorimotor cortex is the brain region that ultimately plans and executes physical movements.
Prior studies demonstrated that artificially enhancing this synchronization could improve emotional control in people without anxiety. A team of researchers from Radboud University in the Netherlands, led by Sjoerd Meijer and Bob Bramson, wanted to test if this intervention could be adapted for a clinical population. They designed an experiment to see if rhythmic stimulation could help individuals who struggle with intense social anxiety.
The researchers recruited 49 adults who were screened using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, a standard clinical questionnaire. Because the participant count was less than 50, this is considered a small study. The research team focused entirely on individuals whose anxiety scores indicated a high likelihood of experiencing daily social anxiety disorder symptoms.
During the experiment, participants lay inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner. This machine tracks blood oxygen levels in the brain to measure dynamic changes in neural activity. Participants held a joystick on their abdomen and viewed images of happy and angry faces on a computer screen.
In the standard version of the task, participants were instructed to pull the joystick toward themselves when they saw a happy face and push it away when they saw an angry face. This instruction aligns with natural human tendencies to approach positive stimuli and avoid negative ones.
In the challenging version of the task, the rules were reversed. Participants had to push the joystick away for happy faces and pull it toward themselves for angry faces. This specific setup forced the participants to exert mental effort to override their automatic emotional impulses to pull away from perceived threats.
While the participants performed these tasks, the researchers applied a technique called dual-site transcranial alternating current stimulation. This noninvasive intervention uses specialized, ring-shaped electrodes placed directly on the scalp. The device delivers weak, oscillating electrical currents designed to mimic and influence the brain’s natural internal rhythms.
The researchers tested three different stimulation conditions. The first was an in-phase condition designed to synchronize the lateral prefrontal cortex and the sensorimotor cortex. The second was an anti-phase condition designed to disrupt their synchronization. The third was a sham condition where the stimulation was turned off almost immediately, serving as a placebo baseline to compare against.
The three stimulation conditions alternated in short blocks of about one minute each. Between blocks, the researchers included pause periods to allow the effects of the previous stimulation to wash out. This ensured that each testing block remained independent of the others.
The researchers found that participants performed better at the task during the in-phase stimulation. They made fewer errors on the challenging, reversed-rule task compared to the baseline sham condition. The anti-phase stimulation did not produce statistically significant performance benefits.
The brain imaging data revealed that the in-phase stimulation successfully strengthened the functional connection between the targeted prefrontal and sensorimotor regions. The electrical intervention also altered the activity of the amygdala, a deep and evolutionarily older brain structure that processes raw emotions like fear and generates automatic defensive reactions.
During in-phase stimulation, the amygdala exerted less influence over the participants’ physical joystick movements. The researchers noted that the intervention seemed to strengthen the brain’s goal-directed pathways. This allowed the prefrontal cortex to successfully compete with the emotional signals coming from the amygdala at the level of physical execution.
The behavioral benefits varied from person to person. The improvements were largest in individuals whose prefrontal cortex showed the strongest physiological response to the electrical stimulation. Participants with the highest self-reported trait anxiety tended to show the strongest neural responses to the intervention.
The brain scans also revealed a difference in how highly anxious participants process control compared to general populations. Rather than using the frontal pole to integrate emotions and goals, the anxious participants relied heavily on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This specific subregion is known for strict rule-based processing, suggesting that anxious individuals must rely on rigid rules to bypass their easily overwhelmed emotional centers.
The study relies on functional magnetic resonance imaging, which tracks blood oxygen levels rather than direct electrical brainwaves. While the researchers manipulated the electrical phases at the scalp, they could not directly measure the resulting changes in the participants’ actual brainwaves during the task.
There was high individual variation in how strongly the participants’ brains reacted to the stimulation. Standardized stimulation protocols may not work equally well for everyone. Individual differences in head anatomy and natural brain activity alter how the electrical currents travel through the skull and interact with neural tissue.
Future research might use individualized computer models to adjust the electrical currents based on a person’s specific brain structure. Scientists also need to investigate whether this type of intervention can produce lasting changes in avoidance behavior in real-world social settings. This might eventually involve testing the stimulation as a tool to enhance traditional exposure therapy.
The study, “Improving Emotion Control in Social Anxiety by Targeting Rhythmic Brain Circuits,” was authored by Sjoerd Meijer, Bob Bramson, Ivan Toni, and Karin Roelofs.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #BrainStimulation #SocialAnxiety #EmotionRegulation #DualSiteStimulation #TranscranialAlternatingCurrentStimulation #PrefrontalCortex #SensorimotorCortex #AmygdalaModulation #ExposureTherapyBoost #RhythmicBrainCircuits
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DATE: August 24, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Psychology researchers uncover an unexpected benefit of dance training
Individuals who practice dance may be better at regulating their physical actions when they encounter positive emotional situations. A recent experiment found that dancers were faster at stopping an ongoing movement when shown happy faces, an advantage not seen in people without dance experience. The research was published in the Psychology of Sport & Exercise.
The ability to stop a physical action you have already started is known as response inhibition. This is a core executive function of the brain that people use every day. For example, you use response inhibition when you suddenly stop yourself from stepping into a crosswalk because a car runs a red light.
Psychologists generally divide this ability into two categories. Proactive inhibition involves anticipating that you might need to stop based on your surroundings. Reactive inhibition, which is the focus of this research, involves abruptly canceling a physical movement in reaction to an unexpected external signal.
In daily life, people often have to inhibit their responses while dealing with emotionally charged situations. Emotional information can easily capture human attention. Sometimes this emotional distraction helps the brain process information faster, and other times it disrupts our physical focus.
Dance offers a unique way to study how the brain handles movement and emotion at the same time. Unlike running or weightlifting, dance requires precise musical coordination and active emotional expression. Dancers must constantly adjust their physical movements while conveying feelings and responding to the emotions of their audience or partners.
Researchers wanted to know if this combination of physical and emotional training gives dancers an edge in controlling their actions. Stuti Mehta and Rashmi Gupta of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay designed a study to test whether emotional distractions affect dancers differently than non-dancers.
The researchers recruited 83 young adults for the experiment. This group included 45 dancers and 38 people with no dance experience. The dancers had at least six months of formal training and currently practiced for at least six hours a week.
To ensure that general fitness was not the cause of any observed differences, the researchers only included participants who reported low to moderate levels of regular physical activity. The two groups were matched in terms of their overall physical exercise habits.
Participants completed two computer-based tests designed to measure reactive response inhibition. In the first test, participants watched a screen and pressed a specific keyboard key when they saw the letter X or O. They were instructed to respond as quickly as possible.
Occasionally, a green circle appeared over the letter immediately after it was shown. This green circle was a signal to stop and withhold the key press. The computer constantly adjusted the timing of this circle in 50-millisecond increments to keep the task challenging, measuring exactly how fast the participant could hit their mental brakes.
The second test followed the exact same rules, but it used emotional distractions instead of a simple green circle. When it was time to stop the key press, a photograph of a face from a standardized psychological database appeared over the letter. These faces displayed happy, angry, or neutral expressions.
The emotional faces were entirely irrelevant to the core task of identifying the letters. The researchers used them specifically to see if background emotional information would unconsciously alter the participants’ ability to stop their physical actions.
After finishing the computer tasks, participants filled out several questionnaires. These surveys measured their current moods, their typical levels of stress and depression, and their general sensitivity to rewards and punishments in life.
On the first test featuring the green circle, the dancers and non-dancers performed identically. The researchers observed no statistically significant differences in their ability to stop their responses. Without emotional information present, dance training provided no measurable advantage for physical response inhibition.
Different patterns emerged during the second test featuring the human faces. Dancers were much better at stopping their actions when the stop signal was a happy face. They made fewer errors when viewing happy expressions compared to when they saw angry or neutral expressions.
The participants without dance experience performed the exact same way across all face types. The happy faces did not give them any advantage or disadvantage in stopping their physical responses. The emotional content of the faces simply did not alter their physical control.
The questionnaire results aligned with the performance data. Dancers reported lower levels of stress and depression than the non-dancers. They also reported experiencing positive emotions more often and showed a more regulated sensitivity to rewards.
Within the dancer group, the researchers found that more years of dance experience correlated with better mental health. The longer a participant had been engaged in formal dance training, the lower their reported levels of depression and stress tended to be.
The study authors suggest that dance training might make people more sensitive to positive emotions. Dance is often associated with expressing joy and experiencing a sense of meaningful contentment. This repeated engagement with positive feelings might train the brain to process happy stimuli more efficiently.
According to psychological models of attention, positive emotions tend to broaden our mental focus. Negative emotions, on the other hand, tend to narrow our focus onto specific threats. Because dancers are highly attuned to positive expression, a happy face might require fewer mental resources for them to process, leaving more brain power available to successfully stop their physical movement.
Prior brain imaging research supports this idea. Studies have shown that dance training increases activity in areas of the brain like the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. These regions are highly involved in managing emotion regulation and executive functions, which might explain the dancers’ rapid processing of the happy faces.
The study compared two different groups of people at a single point in time. This type of research cannot prove that dance training actually caused the improved response control. It is entirely possible that people who are naturally better at processing positive emotions are simply more likely to pursue dance.
The participants were also mostly young adults, which limits how these findings apply to children or older adults. The dancers practiced a variety of different dance styles. This variety makes it difficult to know if specific types of dance, like ballet or hip-hop, provide different cognitive benefits.
Future research could track individuals over time, testing their cognitive control before and after they enroll in a dance program. Researchers could also use brain imaging technology to see exactly which neural pathways activate when dancers process happy expressions during these tasks.
The study, “Happy faces, faster stops: The cognitive benefits of dance in emotional contexts,” was authored by Stuti Mehta and Rashmi Gupta.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #DanceCognition #EmotionRegulation #ResponseInhibition #HappyFaces #DancersBenefit #ExecutiveFunction #DancePsychology #CognitiveControl #PositiveEmotions #NeuroscienceOfDance
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DATE: August 19, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Emotional intelligence predicts whether envy leads to self-improvement or hostility
A recent study published in Personality and Individual Differences suggests that a person’s ability to regulate their emotions predicts how they experience envy. The findings indicate that higher emotion regulation skills are linked to benign envy, which motivates self-improvement, rather than malicious envy, which breeds hostility. This provides evidence that emotional intelligence may help channel uncomfortable feelings into constructive actions.
Envy is a common emotion that occurs when an individual lacks a desired advantage held by someone else. Christophe Haag, a professor of organizational behavior at emlyon business school in France and author of the book Le Petit Guide illustré de l’intelligence émotionnelle, designed the study to investigate how distinct forms of this emotion operate.
“A major goal of my research is to understand emotions at a fine-grained level, particularly unpleasant emotions and the very different consequences they can have,” Haag said. “I actually try to avoid describing emotions themselves as ‘positive’ or ‘negative,’ as is still often done. I think it is more accurate to describe emotions in terms of their valence—as pleasant or unpleasant—and to reserve ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ for the consequences they may have for ourselves or for others.”
Although often viewed as entirely negative, psychological research separates envy into two distinct types. Benign envy is an unpleasant but motivating feeling that pushes a person toward upward striving and self-improvement. Malicious envy is characterized by hostility and a desire to pull the other person down.
“Envy is a fascinating example,” Haag said. “Like its close cousin jealousy, it is pervasive in our social lives, yet its unpleasantness does not tell us whether its consequences will be constructive or destructive. Envy can motivate us to improve ourselves, but it can also lead us to hostility and to wanting to bring someone else down. I wanted to understand whether emotional intelligence—and particularly the ability to regulate emotions—might help explain these very different motivational trajectories.”
Both states feel uncomfortable, but they lead to very different behavioral outcomes. The reason for this divergence in motivational direction remains an open question in affective science. The way people interpret and manage emotional signals might determine whether they treat an upward social comparison as actionable information or a threat to their self-worth. Emotional intelligence provides a framework to understand this process.
Emotional intelligence encompasses several cognitive abilities related to perceiving, understanding, and managing emotions. Many previous studies on the topic have relied on self-report questionnaires, which measure how individuals perceive their own skills. Self-perceived competence often overlaps with general confidence. To get a more accurate picture, scientists increasingly use ability-based tests, which measure actual performance on emotional reasoning tasks.
Within this ability-based framework, emotion regulation is the specific capacity to select and apply the most effective strategy to achieve a desired emotional state. The current research focuses on this regulatory stage. The capacity to handle emotional responses after they are activated might shift the trajectory of envy. The researcher designed the study to test whether emotion regulation ability predicts a tendency toward constructive self-improvement rather than destructive interpersonal responses.
The researcher surveyed 442 French-speaking adults who were recruited online through social media platforms. The sample consisted of 88.5 percent women. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 72 years, with an average age of about 40.
Participants completed a performance-based assessment of emotion regulation ability rather than a self-report questionnaire. This measure required participants to read four emotionally demanding situations, such as coping with guilt or fostering trust. For each scenario, they had to select the most effective strategy for managing the emotion. Scores on this regulation test were calculated as the proportion of correct answers, ranging from 0 to 1, with the sample scoring an average of 0.539, or roughly 54 percent correct.
Participants also completed a 10-item survey rating their tendencies to experience benign and malicious envy on a scale from 1 to 6. The average score for benign envy was 3.74, suggesting a moderate presence of self-improvement motives. The average score for malicious envy was much lower at 1.66. To isolate the specific role of emotion regulation, the researcher measured and controlled for several other variables known to influence emotional responses.
These control variables included global self-esteem, attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, age, and gender. Attachment anxiety, for example, involves a heightened fear of rejection, which can amplify defensive reactions in social situations. Incorporating these measures allowed the analysis to account for baseline differences in how people process interpersonal threats.
The statistical analysis indicated that higher emotion regulation ability positively predicted benign envy. A standard deviation increase in emotion regulation ability was associated with a 0.165 standard deviation increase in benign envy scores. In contrast, the association between emotion regulation ability and malicious envy was not statistically significant. A mathematical comparison of the two pathways showed that the relationship with benign envy was stronger than the relationship with malicious envy.
Alongside the main analysis, the researcher also conducted exploratory tests using a broader assessment that measured seven distinct emotional abilities.
“What I found particularly interesting was that emotion-regulation ability was associated specifically with benign envy rather than simply with lower levels of envy,” Haag told PsyPost. “That distinction matters. Emotional intelligence does not appear here as a mechanism that suppresses an unpleasant emotion; rather, it may be associated with the direction that emotion takes.”
Haag noted that emotion regulation was the emotional ability most strongly associated with benign envy among the seven abilities measured.
“This result should be interpreted cautiously, but it is consistent with the idea that regulation may be particularly relevant to what happens after an emotion has been activated,” Haag said.
The control variables also provided context for how envy unfolds. Participants with higher self-esteem reported higher levels of benign envy and lower levels of malicious envy. Attachment anxiety was strongly linked to higher levels of malicious envy. Older participants reported lower levels of both types of envy compared to younger participants.
Even when accounting for these personality and demographic factors, emotion regulation ability maintained its unique association with benign envy.
“The main takeaway is that an unpleasant emotion is not necessarily a ‘negative’ emotion in terms of its consequences,” Haag said. “What matters is not only what we feel, but what that emotion leads us to think and do. In our study, people with greater emotion-regulation ability were more likely to report benign envy—the form of envy that motivates self-improvement—whereas emotion-regulation ability was not significantly associated with malicious envy, which involves hostility and the desire to reduce another person’s advantage.”
The pattern suggests that the cognitive capacity to manage emotions effectively operates independently of a person’s general self-worth or relationship insecurities.
“So emotional intelligence may not make unpleasant emotions disappear—and that is not necessarily what we should want it to do,” Haag said. “Instead, it may help orient their consequences. In the case of envy, the useful question may therefore be less ‘How do I stop feeling this?’ and more ‘What is this emotion going to make me do?'”
The cross-sectional design of the survey means that the data represent a single snapshot in time. “The most important caveat is that this is a cross-sectional study, so we cannot establish causality,” Haag said. “We cannot conclude from these data that greater emotion-regulation ability causes envy to become constructive.”
It is possible that repeatedly engaging in constructive self-improvement over time enhances a person’s regulatory reasoning skills, rather than the other direction. The demographics of the participant pool also present certain constraints. “The sample was also predominantly female, and our performance-based measure of emotion regulation was relatively brief,” Haag said.
Testing more diverse, gender-balanced samples would help clarify whether these emotional pathways operate uniformly across different populations. “Replication with more diverse samples, broader measures, and longitudinal or experimental designs will therefore be important,” Haag said.
“One interpretation I would particularly like to avoid is that emotionally intelligent people experience ‘positive emotions’ rather than ‘negative emotions,'” Haag said. “That is not what our findings suggest. An emotionally intelligent person can experience an intensely unpleasant emotion. The important question is what that emotion subsequently produces—for the person and for others.”
Future experimental research could observe individuals in real time to see how they manage induced episodes of envy. “I would like to continue examining emotions at this finer level, particularly unpleasant emotions such as envy, jealousy, anger, fear, or guilt,” Haag said. “Rather than asking whether these emotions are inherently ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ I am interested in identifying the conditions under which they produce adaptive or maladaptive consequences.”
Such real-time observations could map out how specific mental abilities redirect uncomfortable social comparisons. “One important next step would be to induce envy experimentally and observe, in real time, how people with different levels of emotion-regulation ability respond to it,” Haag said. “More broadly, I want to better understand when emotional intelligence helps transform an unpleasant emotional signal into useful information and constructive action—and when that process fails.”
“I think the broader message extends well beyond envy,” Haag said. “Emotions themselves are not intrinsically positive or negative. They can be pleasant or unpleasant; what can become positive or negative are their consequences for ourselves and for others.”
Envy provides a vivid example of how the same underlying feeling can motivate vastly different behaviors. “Envy illustrates this particularly well,” Haag said. “Faced with someone who has something we desire, the discomfort can push us in two radically different directions: ‘I want to bring that person down’ or ‘I want to raise myself up.'”
“The emotion is unpleasant in both cases,” Haag said. “What changes is where it takes us. Understanding what determines that direction is, to me, one of the most interesting questions in the science of emotions.”
The study, “Emotional intelligence shapes the motivational direction of envy,” was authored by Christophe Haag.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #EmotionalIntelligence #Envy #BenignEnvy #MaliciousEnvy #EmotionRegulation #SelfImprovement #ConstructiveBehavior #UpwardMobility #AffectiveScience #PsychologyResearch
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DATE: August 9, 2026 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: How specific masculine ideals are linked to anxiety and depression in men
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-specific-masculine-ideals-are-linked-to-anxiety-and-depression-in-men/
The relationship between traditional masculine ideals and men’s mental health is highly complex, according to new research. While some societal expectations about how men should behave are neutral or even protective, a recent survey reveals that specific norms—namely emotional suppression and extreme self-reliance—are uniquely linked to higher rates of anxiety and depression. The study helps explain the psychological mechanisms behind this, showing that these specific ideals are connected to difficulties in processing and managing emotions. The findings were published in the journal Sex Roles.
Researchers have observed that men are less likely to seek professional psychological help and more likely to drop out of therapy than women. Men also face high rates of internalizing symptoms. Internalizing symptoms refer to mental health conditions where individuals direct psychological distress inward, rather than acting it out aggressively, with common examples including depression and anxiety disorders.
Lead author Vincent O. Mancini, a researcher affiliated with The Kids Research Institute Australia, the University of Western Australia, and Curtin University, along with a team of international psychologists, set out to map the psychological pathways connecting cultural expectations to these internalizing symptoms.
Importantly, the researchers approached masculinity not as a single, homogenous construct, but as a multidimensional set of norms. In many industrialized Western countries, these traditional ideals range from a drive for social status and risk-taking, to stoicism and a reluctance to show vulnerability. The study aimed to identify exactly which of these specific expectations are harmful, which are neutral, and which might even be protective.
To understand the connection between these cultural expectations and mental health, the researchers looked at two specific psychological concepts: alexithymia and emotion regulation.
Alexithymia describes a personality trait characterized by a severe difficulty in identifying and describing one’s own emotions. People with high levels of alexithymia tend to focus their attention outward rather than analyzing their internal feelings. Emotion regulation, on the other hand, is the ability to monitor, evaluate, and modify emotional reactions to achieve a desired state or goal.
The researchers hypothesized that certain cultural expectations teach boys to suppress vulnerability from a very young age. When children are repeatedly encouraged to hide sadness or fear to appear strong, they lose opportunities to practice identifying and processing those feelings. Over time, this lack of practice can develop into alexithymia in adulthood.
To test this framework, the researchers recruited 740 men from the United States and the United Kingdom to complete an extensive online survey. The participants ranged in age from 22 to 80 years old, with diverse educational and employment backgrounds.
The survey included several questionnaires designed to measure different aspects of the participants’ psychological profiles. One questionnaire assessed the degree to which each participant conformed to ten distinct traditional masculine norms. These dimensions included traits like risk-taking, the desire to win, the pursuit of status, self-reliance, prioritizing work above all else, and maintaining strict emotional control.
Additional questionnaires measured the participants’ levels of alexithymia and their ability to regulate their emotions. Finally, the survey evaluated the presence and severity of internalizing symptoms, specifically screening for signs of depression, anxiety, and stress.
The statistical analysis revealed that the relationship between masculine norms and mental health varies heavily depending on the specific type of norm. Four specific masculine ideals were strongly and positively associated with higher levels of alexithymia: the prioritization of work, the drive to remain entirely self-reliant, the desire to win, and the emphasis on emotional control.
Men who reported higher adherence to these norms were more likely to struggle with recognizing and labeling their own feelings. The researchers suggested that burying oneself in work or refusing to ask for help might reinforce a habit of ignoring internal emotional states.
However, other traditional masculine norms did not show this harmful association, and some even appeared beneficial. For example, men who strongly endorsed the “pursuit of status” actually exhibited lower levels of alexithymia and reduced internalizing symptoms. Norms related to risk-taking and heterosexual self-presentation showed no negative association with emotional processing.
For those who did experience high levels of alexithymia, the study found a strong cascading effect. Because these men struggled to accurately appraise what they were feeling, they were less equipped to manage those feelings effectively. This inability to regulate emotional responses was, in turn, strongly associated with elevated anxiety and depression.
By connecting these variables, the researchers mapped a sequential psychological pathway: The pressure to conform to ideals of extreme self-reliance and emotional suppression is linked to an inability to identify personal emotions. This emotional blindness limits the ability to manage psychological distress, which ultimately corresponds to a higher likelihood of experiencing internalizing symptoms.
The data also revealed other associations that operated independently of alexithymia. For instance, the researchers suggested that the “playboy” norm—seeking multiple short-term sexual partners—might be linked to emotion regulation difficulties because it serves as an impulsive, reward-seeking strategy to cope with distress, rather than stemming from an inability to identify emotions.
The authors also noted that emotional control has a highly complicated, dual relationship with mental health. Attempting to restrict or conceal emotions can sometimes provide a successful short-term reduction in distress. However, this immediate protective benefit is ultimately canceled out if it leads to alexithymia over time, which impairs the deeper emotional regulation required for lasting mental health.
Because masculinity is multifaceted, the authors warn against treating it as a single, harmful category, noting that this oversimplification risks perpetuating unhelpful stereotypes about men.
Instead, these findings offer targeted guidance for mental health professionals and educators. The researchers noted that failing to address fundamental difficulties in identifying emotions early in therapy could reduce the effectiveness of traditional psychological treatments. Interventions that first help men build an emotional vocabulary—without pathologizing masculinity as a whole—might prove highly beneficial. Additionally, the authors suggest that school programs focusing on emotion labeling could help boys develop healthier emotional functioning long before they reach adulthood.
While the statistical models map out a sequential pathway, the study relies on cross-sectional survey data. A cross-sectional design captures information at a single point in time, meaning the researchers cannot definitively prove the direction of causality. It is possible that individuals already experiencing high levels of anxiety and depression might report their adherence to masculine norms differently than they would otherwise.
The study also relies entirely on self-reported questionnaires. Future studies could incorporate clinical evaluations or reports from family members to provide a more comprehensive picture. Additionally, research across a wider variety of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds is needed to see if these psychological patterns hold true outside of Western, industrialized nations like the U.S. and the U.K.
The study, “Internalizing Symptoms in Men: The Role of Masculine Norms, Alexithymia, and Emotion Regulation,” was authored by Vincent O. Mancini, Julia Ditzer, Jack D. Brett, James J. Gross, and David A. Preece.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-specific-masculine-ideals-are-linked-to-anxiety-and-depression-in-men/
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MasculineNorms #MentalHealthInMen #Alexithymia #EmotionRegulation #MenAndDepression #AnxietyInMen #EmotionalSuppression #SelfReliance #MasculinityResearch #SexRolesStudy
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📸Valeria Vitale shared her research at the International Conference on #EnvironmentalPsychology (ICEP 2025) in Vilnius, Lithuania.
📊She introduced “nature selection” as a new #emotionregulation strategy and validated a scale through studies conducted both in English and Italian.
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Brain Signals and Emotion Regulation: What’s Happening Inside?
#Neuroscience #BrainScience #EmotionRegulation #NeuralSignaling #MentalHealth #Neurotransmitters #PainAndPleasure #BrainFunctions #Neurobiology #MindAndBody
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#kitap #serotonin #duygusalsistem #emotionalsystem #bilimsel #beyin #kadın #scientifictruths #beyinkimyası #brainchemistry #psikoloji #psychologyfacts #kadınpsikolojisi #femalepsychology #mentaldayanıklılık #mentalresilience #nörobilim #neuroscience #duyguyönetimi #emotionregulation #kadınbeyni #womensstrength
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How Our Brain Shapes Thoughts, Emotions, and Mental Health
#BrainScience #MentalHealth #CognitivePsychology #StressAndAnxiety #Neuroscience #MentalHealthAwareness #EmotionRegulation #CognitiveTherapy #MindAndBody #BrainMysteries
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Mentalizing and Empathy: Connecting Minds for Better Relationships
#Resilience #MentalHealth #BrainScience #Mentalizing #EmotionRegulation #AttachmentTheory #Neurobiology #StressManagement #SelfControl #PsychologyInsights
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The Neuroscience Behind Empathy, Mood Disorders, and Social Interaction
#Neuroscience #HumanMind #SocialSkills #BrainScience #MentalHealth #Neuropsychology #MindReading #BrainRegions #EmotionRegulation #MentalDisorders #Autism #BipolarDisorder #LieDetection #Neuroimaging #EvolutionOfTheBrain
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From Biology to Therapy: Innovative Approaches to Mental Health Based on Neuroscience
#Neuroscience #EmotionalHealth #PolyvagalTheory #BrainBodyConnection #Interoception #PredictiveCoding #EmotionRegulation #MentalHealth #SelfRegulation #NeurovisceralIntegration #Psychology #BiologyOfEmotion #Resilience #MindBody #InnovativeTherapies
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The Morality Compass: Guiding Choices in Our Emotional Landscape
#EmotionRegulation #MentalHealth #Mindfulness #CognitiveBehavioralTherapy #EmotionalWellbeing #PsychoPharmaceuticals #SocialCognitiveExcellence #EmotionalIntelligence #MindfulLiving #MentalWellness #Therapy #Feelings #Morality #SelfDiscovery #EmbraceTheJourney
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My latest #video is about regulating #emotions and #mood
It is part of my series Introduction to #psychology
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Ketamine study unearths surprising insights into PTSD, emotion regulation, and dissociation https://www.psypost.org/ketamine-study-unearths-surprising-insights-into-ptsd-emotion-regulation-and-dissociation/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #KetamineStudy #PTSD #EmotionRegulation #Dissociation #MentalHealth
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New blog post! I wrote about making art as emotion regulation. I connect it to expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal, from James Gross's work.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-do-you-know/202405/art-as-emotion-regulation
@psychology.grup.pe
#Psychology #Research #Emotion #EmotionRegulation #Art #Improv #CognitiveReappraisal #Suppression
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#BLABBERMOUTH
GUNS N' ROSES Bassist DUFF MCKAGAN Talks Mental Health, Love, Sobriety And Martial Arts
For Mental Health Awareness Month, musician, author, composer (GUNS N' ROSES, VELVET REVOLVER) and mental health advocate Duff McKagan joins Dr. Marc Brackett on a new episode of "Dealing With Feelings". The pair discuss Duff's....#DuffMcKagan #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth #Sobriety #MartialArts #EmotionRegulation #GunsNRoses #VelvetRevolver
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New blog post! I review a dynamic systems model of pursuing happiness. Zerwas and Ford find that the system of happiness and goal pursuit can potentially lead to paradoxical effects. Pursuing happiness too intensely can make you less happy!
#Psychology #PsychologyToday #Happiness #DynamicSystems #Cyberntics #SystemsThinking #Emotion #EmotionRegulation
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50 days free access to:
Exploring putative therapeutic mechanisms of change in a hybrid compassion-focused, ecological momentary intervention: Findings from the #EMIcompass trial
https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1hR851KMddOT6This #SecondaryAnalysis* of this exploratory #RCT suggests that
#SelfCompassion and #EmotionRegulation may be a therapeutic mechanisms of change.#PsychotherapyResearch #EcologicalMomentary #Transdiagnostic
*Main paper here: https://academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/article/49/3/592/7026043?login=false
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It’s not BPD; it’s autism
https://embrace-autism.com/its-not-bpd-its-autism/
#Borderlinepersonalitydisorder(BPD) #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #Interpersonalrelationships #Emotionaldysregulation #Personalitydisorders #Emotionalreactivity #Sensorysensitivity #Socialintelligence #Emotionregulation #Psychometrictest #Specialinterests #Suicidalideation #Childhoodtrauma #Autisticwomen #Co-occurrence #Meta-analysis #Self-identity #WilliamMandy #Abandonment #Suicidality #Socialcues #LauraHull -
Does anyone know of a good article that looks at the difference between #emotionregulation and #regulation when viewing #emotion faces in children?
Essentially, are lab tasks that look at a child's regulation when viewing sad/happy/angry faces getting at the same process as lab tasks that are meant to frustrate/ dysregulate a child? Or are these two different, but related processes?
I tweeted about this on the bird app, but still don't have a great ref to use that looks at the differences between these two processes. Bonus if an article looks at it in conduct problem populations.
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New instance, new #introduction 😉. Hello everyone, also a refugee from Twitter, I offer you a small introduction. I am a #clinicalpsychologist, associate researcher at #Nantes University. My research interests focus on factors related to #emotionregulation in #addictive behaviors (in particular #alcohol , #tobacco and #eatingdisorders). For this purpose I use #neuropsychology aspects as well as the influence of #social factors.#ScienceMastodon
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A colleague is doing a lit review on recent developments in the emotion regulation literature. Any recent articles that stick out to folks as particularly noteworthy or interesting?
Also happy to be pointed at emotion researcher accounts here--I'm just getting integrated into communities in the tootisphere.
#EmotionRegulation #AcademicResearch #Psychology #PsychResearch #Emotion #EmotionResearch
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New at Mastondon, here's my #Introduction toot. I am an Associate Professor working at the #Psychology Department at #Utrecht University. As an #Academic I love #Teaching in Higher Education and doing #Research. I am interested in the topics of #SelfRegulation; #SelfControl; #Emotion; #EmotionRegulation; #SelfLicensing; #BodyImage; #Behavior or #behaviour; and all this often in the #Health context including #Sustainability.
Nice meeting you and enjoy your day😀