Not Just for Tough Times: The Efficacy and Mechanisms of Reappraisal in Negative, Neutral, and Positive Contexts

Reappraisal is a common emotion regulation strategy that involves adjusting how a situation is appraised. While much is known about its use to reduce negative affect in negative situations, less is known about its use across negative, neutral, and positive contexts to increase positive affect (i.e., positive goal reappraisal). To fill this gap, we investigated the efficacy and mechanisms of positive goal reappraisal across three valence categories in two complementary studies. In Study 1, 158 participants rated their subjective affect and reported how they appraised depicted situations on key appraisal dimensions with and without using reappraisal. In Study 2, 70 participants completed the same task while their electromyographic and electroencephalographic responses were recorded. We found that reappraisal improved affect across all valence categories. Specifically, reappraisal increased subjective positive affect and decreased subjective negative affect in response to negative, neutral, and positive pictures. Reappraisal also increased zygomaticus major reactivity for neutral and positive pictures, and decreased corrugator supercilii reactivity for negative and neutral pictures. Additionally, reappraisal amplified the late positive potential for all picture types within a relatively early time window (263-1013 ms). We also found that the effects of positive goal reappraisal were related to appraisal shifts, particularly changes in congruence and relevance. Reappraisal also engaged a broader range of dimensions in neutral and positive contexts than in negative ones, suggesting that reappraisal mechanisms may be context-dependent.