Document Type
Thesis
Publication Date
5-13-2026
Abstract
Although mental health among college students has attracted attention, it is still unclear which emotion regulation practices will be especially helpful. The existing research suggests that reappraisal, changing the interpretation of a negative event, is one of the most effective adaptive emotion regulation strategies. While previous research focuses on examining the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies, the individual tactics used within each strategy is oversimplified and underresearched. Previous research has also shown that the perceived controllability of stressors can interact with the successfulness of different emotion regulation strategies. Thus, we tested the relative effectiveness of reappraisal tactics practiced by college students for both high-control and low-control stressors. To examine the effectiveness of three tactics (i.e. acceptance, distancing, and reality challenge) for high-control and low-control stressful situations, we collected data from 47 college students engaged with these tactics in a laboratory setting. Participants recounted certain emotional events, and pre/post measures with an adjusted PANAS and a Polar H10 heart rate monitor were used to assess emotion regulation. Our results showed no significant differences between tactics but did reveal significant overall reduction in negative affect overall for reappraisal, and significant reduction in heart rate after reappraisal of high-control stressors. It is important to note the small sample size as a potentially limiting factor in uncovering significant findings. We propose that future research on this topic should include a larger sample size and multiple physiological measures. Furthermore, more research should be conducted to assess longer term impacts of each tactic of reappraisal, generalizability to other populations, and variability in effectiveness across different situations.
Recommended Citation
Kato, Miho '26 and McInnes, Sophia '26, "The Role of Three Tactics Within Reappraisal: The Relationship Among Acceptance, Distancing, and Reality Challenge" (2026). Student Research. 727, Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University.
https://scholarship.depauw.edu/studentresearchother/727
Comments
Completed as part of PSY495&496 with Dr. Michael Roberts, DePauw University Psychology Department.