title: Dealing efficiently with emotions: acceptance-based coping with negative emotions requires fewer resources than suppression.
abstract: Previous studies have consistently shown that changing or avoiding emotions requires resources and therefore leads to impaired performance on a subsequent self-control task. The aim of the present study was to investigate the extent to which acceptance-based coping requires regulatory resources. Participants who accepted their emotions during exposure to a sad video performed better on a subsequent self-control task than participants who were instructed to suppress their emotions and a control group who received no instructions. These findings suggest that acceptance is an efficient strategy in terms of resources.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Psychological Science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. h.alberts@maastrichtuniversity.nl
authors.forename: Hugo J E M
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Alberts
authors.forename: Francine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Carolien
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martijn
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D014796:Visual Perception