This is great, Erman. I am guilty of letting my browsing habits lead me into a negativity spiral. I definitely need to be more mindful of my mood before, during and after. So much of it happens subconsciously; I need to be more aware of things.
Thanks for sharing this interesting and valuable research, Erman. It offers great insights for those looking to better regulate emotions like anxiety. At the same time, it’s worth considering that for people who are more comfortable with so-called negative emotions or have strong emotion regulation skills, there could be benefits to following the news or certain social media content—perhaps because it aligns with their values or is essential for their work. For these individuals, monitoring their reactions to what they read might feel less necessary. I’m curious whether the emotion regulation abilities of participants were taken into account in the research. It would interesting to explore how these abilities (or other individual difference variables) might influence the outcomes.
I don't believe emotion regulation abilities were measured directly, though they may correlate with some of the psychopathology measures. As with most experiments, the researchers are looking for principles that are true on average across the population, but that doesn't mean the principles will apply to every single individual. I agree looking at how some of the findings interact with emotion regulation could be interesting, and of course, everything in life is a tradeoff. If you need to monitor emotional news in your work, then it may be worth doing even if you do find it emotionally challenging. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Thank you for your reply. I find the findings super interesting because if the researchers observed the vicious cycle you mentioned even in a non-clinical sample, the risks could be significantly higher for clinical populations.
This is great, Erman. I am guilty of letting my browsing habits lead me into a negativity spiral. I definitely need to be more mindful of my mood before, during and after. So much of it happens subconsciously; I need to be more aware of things.
Thanks so much, Chris. I'm in that same boat so I'm glad I came across this research :)
Thanks for sharing this interesting and valuable research, Erman. It offers great insights for those looking to better regulate emotions like anxiety. At the same time, it’s worth considering that for people who are more comfortable with so-called negative emotions or have strong emotion regulation skills, there could be benefits to following the news or certain social media content—perhaps because it aligns with their values or is essential for their work. For these individuals, monitoring their reactions to what they read might feel less necessary. I’m curious whether the emotion regulation abilities of participants were taken into account in the research. It would interesting to explore how these abilities (or other individual difference variables) might influence the outcomes.
I don't believe emotion regulation abilities were measured directly, though they may correlate with some of the psychopathology measures. As with most experiments, the researchers are looking for principles that are true on average across the population, but that doesn't mean the principles will apply to every single individual. I agree looking at how some of the findings interact with emotion regulation could be interesting, and of course, everything in life is a tradeoff. If you need to monitor emotional news in your work, then it may be worth doing even if you do find it emotionally challenging. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Thank you for your reply. I find the findings super interesting because if the researchers observed the vicious cycle you mentioned even in a non-clinical sample, the risks could be significantly higher for clinical populations.