Using Reappraisal to Increase Positive Affect: Efficacy and Cognitive Mechanisms

Reappraisal is a common emotion regulation strategy that involves adjusting how a situation is appraised. While much is known about its use with the goal of reducing negative affect, less is known about its use with the goal of increasing positive affect. To address this issue, we conducted two studies to investigate the efficacy and mechanisms of reappraisal with the goal of increasing positive affect (i.e., positive goal reappraisal) in response to negative, neutral, and positive stimuli. 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 a similar task while their electromyographic and electroencephalographic responses were recorded. Reappraisal generally increased self-reported positive affect and decreased self-reported negative affect across all picture types. 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 types of pictures 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, and these effects varied across different valence categories. These results suggest that positive goal reappraisal impacts both positive and negative affect and operates through somewhat different appraisal shifts depending on valence category.