Trait Emotion Differentiation Is Associated With More Instrumental Emotion Regulation Motives When People Feel Negative in Daily Life

Emotion differentiation — the ability to precisely label emotions — reflects a nuanced understanding of one’s emotional experiences. Researchers posit this nuance may be associated with knowing how one can use their emotions. As a result, we hypothesize emotion differentiation may be linked with holding instrumental emotion regulation motives, which involve regulating emotions to attain their benefits beyond solely feeling better or worse. In this research, we tested whether trait emotion differentiation was associated with instrumental emotion regulation motives in daily life, (1) in general and (2) at times when people felt strong emotion. To test these links, we used two experience sampling datasets collected in 2020 in Australia (Study 1, N=173; 50.3% White), and in 2016 in Belgium (Study 2, N=104; 100% European). Contrary to our hypotheses, there was no direct association between trait emotion differentiation and instrumental motive use. However, as hypothesized, in both studies, trait emotion differentiation moderated the relationship between emotion intensity and instrumental motives, though only in the case of negative — not positive — emotion. This interaction was such that those higher in trait emotion differentiation endorsed fewer instrumental motives when emotion was less intense, but more instrumental motives when emotion was more intense. This pattern suggests that people high in trait emotion differentiation may endorse instrumental motives flexibly, by regulating their emotions instrumentally when they are more intense, but not when they are less intense. Our findings support the idea that trait negative emotion differentiation may help individuals channel their intense emotions in useful ways.