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European Review of Social Psychology
ISSN: 1046-3283 (Print) 1479-277X (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/pers20
Effective regulation of affect: An action control
perspective on emotion regulation
Thomas L. Webb , Inge Schweiger Gallo , Eleanor Miles , Peter M. Gollwitzer
& Paschal Sheeran
To cite this article: Thomas L. Webb , Inge Schweiger Gallo , Eleanor Miles , Peter
M. Gollwitzer & Paschal Sheeran (2012) Effective regulation of affect: An action control
perspective on emotion regulation, European Review of Social Psychology, 23:1, 143-186, DOI:
10.1080/10463283.2012.718134
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2012.718134
Published online: 09 Oct 2012.
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Citing articles: 23 View citing articles
Effective regulation of affect: An action control
perspective on emotion regulation
Thomas L. Webb
1,*
, Inge Schweiger Gallo
2
, Eleanor Miles
1
,
Peter M. Gollwitzer
3,4
and Paschal Sheeran
1
1
Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
2
Departamento de Psicologı
´a Social, Universidad Complutense de Madrid,
Madrid, Spain
3
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, USA
4
Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
The present review adopts an action control perspective on emotion regulation,
contextualising the gap between emotion control goals (e.g., I want to remain
calm) and emotional outcomes (e.g., anger, anxiety, and aggression) in terms of
the broader literature on goal pursuit. We propose that failure to effectively
regulate emotions can result from difficulties with the self-regulatory tasks of (i)
identifying the need to regulate, (ii) deciding whether and how to regulate, and
(iii) enacting a regulation strategy. Next we review evidence that a technique
traditionally associated with regulating behavioural goals (forming
implementation intentions or ‘‘if-then’’ planning) can help to overcome these
difficulties. Meta-analysis indicated that forming implementation intentions is
effective in modifying emotional outcomes, with a large effect relative to no
regulation instructions (k¼21, N¼1306 d
þ
¼0.91, 95% CI ¼0.61 to 1.20)
and a medium-sized effect relative to goal intention instructions (k¼29, N¼
1208, d
þ
¼0.53, 95% CI ¼0.42 to 0.65). Our conclusion is that research on
emotion regulation might benefit from an action control perspective and the
interventions that this perspective offers.
Keywords: Emotion regulation; Affect regulation; Action control;
Implementation intentions.
Correspondence should be addressed to Thomas L. Webb, Department of Psychology,
University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK. E-mail: t.webb@sheffield.ac.uk
The contributions of Webb, Miles, and Sheeran were supported by ESRC grant RES-060-
25-0044: ‘‘Emotion regulation of others and self (EROS)’’ and we thank members of the EROS
research team (http://www.erosresearch.org/) for useful discussions and comments on the ideas
in this manuscript. The contributions of Schweiger Gallo and Gollwitzer were supported by the
Spanish Government’s grant IþDþi PSI2009-07066.
EUROPEAN REVIEW OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
2012, 23, 143–186
Ó2012 European Association of Social Psychology
http://www.psypress.com/ersp http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2012.718134
The question of how people regulate their emotions has scientific and
societal significance and a vibrant research field has developed investigating
the nature and effects of different forms of emotion regulation (for reviews,
see Gross & Thompson, 2007; Koole, 2009; Webb, Miles, & Sheeran, 2012).
Emotion regulation is studied by a broad range of disciplines from neuro-
science (e.g., Berkman & Lieberman, 2009; Ochsner & Gross, 2008) to
sociology (Wharton, 2009). Investigations pose questions that are funda-
mental to understanding human behaviour: how do people keep calm in
stressful situations? (e.g., Mauss, Evers, Wilhelm, & Gross, 2006); how do
emotions influence the goals that people strive to attain? (e.g., Tice,
Bratslavsky, & Baumeister, 2001); when are feelings helpful and when are
they a hindrance? (e.g., Blanchette & Richards, 2010); is happiness always
associated with positive outcomes? (e.g., Gruber, Mauss, & Tamir, 2011).
Problems with emotion regulation are ‘‘transdiagnostic’’ to the extent that
they cut across a range of common clinical problems such as depression,
anxiety, PTSD, and psychosis (Kring & Sloan, 2009) and there are a
burgeoning number of self-help books that purport to deal with emotional
problems like anger management and mood swings (e.g., Davies, 2009;
Scott, 2001). Issues pertaining to emotion regulation are also popular with
the media, with daily stories of the emotional outbursts of celebrities, sports
stars, and politicians.
Emotion regulation has been defined as the set of automatic and
controlled processes involved in the initiation, maintenance, and modifica-
tion of the occurrence, intensity, and duration of feeling states (Eisenberg,
Fabes, Guthrie, & Reiser, 2000; Gross & Levenson, 1993; Gross &
Thompson, 2007). A wide range of strategies for emotion regulation have
been identified. For example, Larsen and Prizmic (2004) identified 10
strategies for downregulating (reducing) negative affect (e.g., dealing with
disappointment, keeping calm at the sight of a spider): (1) distraction
(engaging in preoccupying activities to get one’s mind off a negative event or
emotion), (2) suppression (trying to inhibit the expression or experience of a
negative feeling), (3) venting (expressing the negative affect), (4) cognitive
reappraisal (thinking about the emotion-eliciting event or the emotion in a
different way), (5) downward social comparison (comparing oneself to others
who are worse off), (6) problem-directed action (thinking about and acting
on the problem responsible for the unpleasant mood), (7) self-reward (e.g.,
buying oneself a treat), (8) physical manipulations (e.g., exercise), (9)
socialising (ideally with people who are not in the same mood), and (10)
withdrawal (intentionally removing oneself from the emotion eliciting
situation). Larsen and Prizmic also identified three strategies that are used
to upregulate (increase) positive affect (e.g., generating excitement at the
prospect of supervising a toddler’s birthday party): (1) gratitude
144 WEBB ET AL.
(e.g., counting one’s blessings), (2) helping others (e.g., giving blood), and (3)
expressing positive emotions (e.g., laughing).
Some of the key challenges confronting people who need to regulate their
affect are deciding when to regulate, which strategy to use, and how to
implement that strategy. This will not be news to scholars interested in the
role of motivation in shaping behavioural outcomes. Indeed, a considerable
body of research attests to the gap between goals and action (for reviews, see
Sheeran, 2002; Sheeran & Webb, 2011; Webb & Sheeran, 2006). For
example, despite their ‘‘good’’ intentions, dieters tend to regain weight
(Kumanyika et al., 2000), patients with coronary heart disease do not adopt
healthier lifestyles (Johnston, Johnston, Pollard, Kinmonth, & Mant, 2004),
and people procrastinate over starting even important tasks (Tice, 1991).
There is also evidence that people struggle to enact their emotion regulation
goals. For example, although most people rate happiness as a very
important goal (Diener, Suh, Smith, & Shao, 1995), disorders involving
negative affect, such as depression and anxiety, are common (e.g., one in six
people will experience severe depression during their lifetime; Kessler et al.,
2003). An annual national survey in the United States indicated that only
one-third of people describe themselves as ‘‘very happy’’ (Yang, 2008), and
research in positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) has
found that fewer than one in five people are ‘‘flourishing’’, defined as high
emotional well-being (Keyes, 2002). Failing to achieve emotion regulation
goals also has implications for other goals. Happiness is associated with
improved outcomes in terms of relationships, income, work, and health (see
Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005, for a review), although excessive levels
of happiness can have negative effects (e.g., Gruber et al., 2011). Relatedly,
failure to effectively regulate emotions has been implicated not only in
emotional disorders, but also in problems such as eating disorders
and substance abuse disorder (Nolen-Hoeksema, Stice, Wade, & Bohon,
2007).
The gap between emotion regulation goals and felt experience is
supported by a recent review of studies that manipulated emotion regulation
using a strategy derived from Gross’ process model of emotion regulation
(Gross, 1998a, 1998b) and examined effects on emotional outcomes (Webb,
Miles, et al., 2012). The process model distinguishes five emotion regulation
processes on a temporal dimension according to when each one is deployed
(for a review, see Gross & Thompson, 2007). Antecedent-focused processes
occur before appraisals give rise to a full-blown emotional response. This
category includes situation selection, situation modification, attentional
deployment, and cognitive change. Response-focused processes, on the
other hand, occur after the emotional responses are generated. This category
includes response modulation, which typically refers to efforts to suppress
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 145
the expression or experience of emotion. Webb, Miles, and Sheeran
observed relatively modest effect sizes across different emotion regulation
processes: attentional deployment had no effect on emotional outcomes
(d
þ
¼0.00), response modulation had a small effect (d
þ
¼0.16), and
cognitive change had a small-to-medium effect (d
þ
¼0.36), according to
Cohen’s (1992) criteria for interpreting effect sizes. Thus, even when
participants are explicitly instructed to try to regulate their emotions in a
particular manner (i.e., participants hold intentions to regulate in a certain
way), they often struggle to modulate emotional responses. Furthermore, in
many instances people seem to be unaware that they struggle to control their
emotions. For example, Miles, Webb, and Sheeran (2012) asked students to
rate their regulation ability (e.g., ‘‘I can stop myself getting disgusted’’) on a
7-point scale from ‘‘not true of me’’ to ‘‘very true of me’’ before being
instructed to regulate their emotional responses to a series of disgusting
videos. There was no correlation between self-reported regulation ability
and experience of disgust during the task (r¼70.04, ns). Taken together,
these findings provide clear evidence that there is a gap between emotion
regulation goals and emotional outcomes.
AN ACTION CONTROL PERSPECTIVE ON
EMOTION REGULATION
We argue that explanations of how and why people fail to achieve emotion
regulation goals would benefit from an action control perspective. Given
that research on emotion regulation has increased almost exponentially in
recent years, one might expect that we are now closer to understanding how
people achieve their emotional goals. However, contemporary perspectives
rarely analyse why people fail to achieve emotion regulation goals and offer
little prescription as to what they might do to overcome these problems. An
action control perspective on emotion regulation could address both of these
shortcomings. Drawing links between the self-regulation of action and the
self-regulation of emotion is not a new idea. For example, Koole, van
Dillen, and Sheppes (2010, p. 25) pointed out that ‘‘emotion regulation
belongs to a larger family of processes whereby people exert control over
their own behaviour’’ and that ‘‘emotion regulation research has drawn
considerable inspiration from theories of human self-regulation and
cognitive control’’. Tice and Bratslavsky (2000) also emphasised that
‘‘emotion regulation has many similarities to other regulatory tasks such as
dieting, and abstaining from smoking, drugs, alcohol, ill-advised sexual
encounters, gambling, and procrastination’’ (p. 149). Previous reviews have
tended to focus on the interface between self- and emotion regulation (e.g.,
how emotions and emotion regulation influence self-regulation; Baumeister,
Tice, & Zell, 2007; Tice & Bratslavsky, 2000) or the integration of
146 WEBB ET AL.
self-regulatory (or goal-driven) perspectives with other approaches (e.g.,
need- or person-oriented models; Koole et al., 2010). The issue of how
research on the self-regulation of action provides insights into emotion
regulation has rarely been considered. A notable exception is Tice and
Bratslavsky’s (2000) adoption of a systems theory approach (Carver &
Scheier, 1981, 1982, 1990; Powers, 1973; Powers, Clark, & McFarland,
1960) to emotion regulation that points to the importance of three
components: standards, monitoring, and (self-regulatory) strength. The
present review seeks to complement and extend this approach by
considering what we can learn about emotion regulation from an action-
control perspective in more detail (Tice & Bratlavsky’s review was relatively
brief) and in the light of contemporary research on emotion regulation (it is
now over 10 years since Tice & Bratslavsky’s review was published). The
present review also offers empirical support for an action control perspective
by meta-analysing the effects of forming implementation intentions
(Gollwitzer, 1993, 1999; Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006) on emotion regulation.
One of the key insights of an action control perspective is that goal
pursuit typically involves a number of distinct but interrelated self-
regulatory tasks. For example, control theory (Carver & Scheier, 1981,
1982) proposes two key tasks: (i) monitoring to identify discrepancies
between desired and current rates of goal progress, and (ii) operating to
reduce discrepancies. This distinction suggests that, at a broad level, people
may fail to enact goals either because they fail to identify a discrepancy or
because they do not act upon this discrepancy. Drawing on control theory
(and other theoretical models, e.g., Heckhausen, 1987; Heckhausen &
Gollwitzer, 1986, 1987; Myrseth & Fishbach, 2009), the action control
perspective on emotion regulation subdivides the process of operating to
reduce discrepancies into three broad self-regulatory tasks; (i) identifying the
need to regulate, (ii) deciding whether and how to regulate, and (iii) enacting
regulation. The three tasks, along with their associated subtasks, are
depicted in Table 1.
Identifying the need to regulate
According to a number of influential models of self-control, monitoring and
obtaining feedback on goal progress is central to identifying the need to
regulate (Ashford & Cummings, 1983; Carver & Scheier, 1981, 1982, 1990;
Kluger & DeNisi, 1996; Powers, 1973; Powers et al., 1960). Monitoring
involves periodically noting one’s current state (e.g., levels of anxiety) and
comparing these perceptions with salient reference values (e.g., I need to stay
calm; Carver & Scheier, 1990). If a discrepancy between the current state
and the reference state is identified, this indicates the need for regulation.
Effective monitoring of goal progress therefore requires an appropriate
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 147
standard (or reference value) against which to evaluate current performance
(Carver & Scheier, 1982; 1990). Koole et al. (2010) suggest that standards
may be derived from verbal instructions about the desirability of certain
emotional states (e.g., Muraven, Tice, & Baumeister’s, 1998, Expt 3 told
participants to avoid showing any amusement), task demands (e.g., people
may try to ignore emotionally charged information that is irrelevant to the
focal task; Van Dillen & Koole, 2007, 2009), by implicit or explicit beliefs
about the utility of particular emotional states (e.g., that worry would be
useful for avoiding certain threats; Tamir, Chiu, & Gross, 2007), or by more
abstract theories that people hold about emotion regulation (e.g., that
emotions are fixed and so should not be regulated; Tamir, John,
Srivastava, & Gross, 2007). However, monitoring may break down if
standards are either lacking or inappropriate. Models of emotion regulation
frequently assume that people want to reduce negative emotions or increase
positive emotions (Larsen, 2000), which is termed ‘‘hedonic’’ regulation.
However, it is sometimes adaptive to feel negative emotions, whether this is
because they are appropriate for the situation or because they assist with the
pursuit of particular goal. For example, athletes may associate anxiety or
anger with improved performance (Lane, Beedie, Devonport, & Stanley,
2011). Thus utilitarian perspectives on emotion regulation (those that do not
necessarily assume that people only regulate emotions for hedonic reasons;
e.g., Tamir, 2009; Tamir & Ford, 2009; Tamir, Chiu, et al., 2007; Tamir,
Mitchell, & Gross, 2008) accept that it is sometimes adaptive for people to
want to feel bad. Whether or not people’s standards for emotion regulation
reflect this idea is an open empirical question.
Standards also vary between individuals and are influenced by factors
such as personality, culture, and emotional values. Certain personality
factors or traits appear to be associated with setting inappropriate standards
TABLE 1
An action control perspective on emotion regulation
Self-regulatory tasks Subtasks
Identify the need for
regulation
Set reference value
Monitor current state
Construe discrepancy as requiring action
Decide whether and
how to regulate
Believe that emotions can be changed
Believe that one is capable of changing emotions (self-efficacy)
Predict the development of the emotion
Select an appropriate strategy
Flexibly switch between strategies to maximise utility
Enact a regulation
strategy
Identify and seize a suitable opportunity to regulate
Possess sufficient resources (or select a resource-efficient
strategy)
148 WEBB ET AL.
(either too high or too low). For example, people with low self-esteem are
less motivated to repair negative moods (Heimpel, Wood, Marshall, &
Brown, 2002), perhaps because they feel undeserving of positive emotions
(Wood, Heimpel, Manwell, & Whittington, 2009). The way in which people
wish to experience and express emotions also varies between cultures. People
from Eastern cultures tend to place a higher value on controlling their
emotions than those in Western cultures (Mauss, Butler, Roberts, & Chu,
2010), which suggests that emotion regulation goals are also influenced by
cultural factors. Finally, the value that people attach to particular emotions
can influence their standards. People who, for example, place a high value
on remaining calm (e.g., the serene attentional state of Samatha in
Buddhists; Wallace, 1999) are more likely to hold a corresponding standard.
Sometimes, however, these values can lead to paradoxical effects; strongly
valuing happiness actually appears to lead to decreased happiness (Mauss,
Tamir, Anderson, & Savino, 2011) due to the disappointment experienced
when high standards of happiness are not met.
Having determined an appropriate standard, people must then monitor
the relation between their current feeling state and that standard. The ability
to monitor emotions is part of emotional intelligence (e.g., Salovey &
Mayer, 1990) and is recognised as necessary for successful emotional
functioning. Although the evidence to date is sparse, we suspect that
monitoring (like many other cognitive and behavioural processes) varies on
a continuum from effortful to relatively automatic (Moors & De Houwer,
2006). When people have extensive practice in regulating emotions this
comparison and regulation process should be relatively automatic. How-
ever, in novel, challenging, or highly involving situations monitoring
emotions may require more in the way of attentional and regulatory
resources (Diefendorff & Gosserand, 2003; Ouellette & Wood, 1998). If
monitoring is a precursor to successful regulation, then paying attention to
emotional experiences should increase our success at enacting emotion
regulation goals. In support of this idea, Moon and Berenbaum (2009)
found that diminished attention to emotions was associated with binge
eating (conceptualised as a disorder of emotion regulation), and that a
manipulation designed to draw attention towards emotions (completing a
mood checklist) decreased binge eating. These findings suggest that
attending to emotions can facilitate successful goal enactment. However,
concentrating on emotions has also been shown to lead to increased
experience of those emotions (Webb, Miles, et al., 2012), and mood
monitoring has been associated with lower psychological well-being
(Wismeijer, van Assen, Sijtsma, & Vingerhoets, 2009). It may be the case
that there is an optimal level of attention to emotions; too much attention
(‘‘ruminating’’) or too little attention (‘‘ignoring’’) to emotions may prevent
goals from being achieved. Future research might usefully investigate the
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 149
level of attention to emotion that is most beneficial, bearing in mind that this
level may differ as a function of the person, the situation, and their
interaction.
Even if a discrepancy is detected, the need for regulation might not be
identified. Myrseth and Fishbach (2009) found that when potentially
discrepant behaviours (e.g., eating a cookie when on a diet) could be
construed as an isolated incident that did not lead participants to perceive a
discrepancy between their behaviour and their goals and so identify the need
to regulate. In contrast, framing situations in a way that highlighted the
likely occurrence of the situation in the future (e.g., I have lapsed once, so I
am likely to do so again) increased the likelihood that the person perceived a
discrepancy between their current and desired actions. It is easy to imagine
how this might translate into the emotional domain. For example, imagine a
mother who catches herself shouting at her teenage child for returning home
late. If the mother can contextualise this outburst as an isolated incident
triggered by the child’s behaviour then it may not be construed as discrepant
with her goal to remain calm. However, if the outburst is construed as
another instance of a general tendency to lose one’s temper, then there is a
clear discrepancy and thus a need to regulate.
In summary, an action control perspective on emotion regulation
suggests that the first task in the effective regulation of emotions is
identifying the need to regulate. This need to regulate arises when there is a
discrepancy between people’s current emotional state and their desired state
as defined by their emotional standards. Difficulties can occur when the
person (i) does not have appropriate standards against which to compare the
current state, (ii) does not monitor the relation between the current and
desired emotional state, or (iii) does not construe the discrepancy as
requiring action.
Deciding whether and how to regulate
Once people have identified that they need to regulate their emotions, they
must decide whether and what to do about it. For people to attempt to
regulate their emotions they must believe first that regulation will be
effective. There are substantial individual differences in beliefs about
whether emotions are changeable and these beliefs have been shown to
influence regulation success. Tamir, John, et al. (2007) showed that whereas
some people view emotions as malleable, others view emotions as fixed
entities: people who believed that emotions were fixed had less confidence in
their ability to regulate emotions and had poorer emotional outcomes.
Therefore the evidence suggests that possessing a belief that emotions are
changeable (or not) can influence whether people decide to act on an
identified need to regulate. Second, people must believe that they have the
150 WEBB ET AL.
ability to enact the chosen strategy to change their emotions. This belief is
termed self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977, 1997). If people do not believe that they
are capable of controlling their emotions, then they are unlikely to attempt
to do so. People who report having difficulty in regulating emotions have
poorer emotional outcomes (e.g., past depression is associated with
increased levels of self-reported emotion regulation difficulties; Ehring,
Fischer, Schnu
¨lle, Bo
¨sterling, & Tuschen-Caffier, 2008) and the perception
of these difficulties might also impair regulation. Self-efficacy theory
therefore predicts that people who do not believe that they will be successful
at regulation will have lower motivation to regulate and will expend less
effort doing so.
A final determinant of whether regulation is necessary is the predicted
time course of the emotion. For example, if a discrepancy between current
emotional state and desired emotional state has been identified, but the
emotional response is predicted to be short-lived, then the person may
decide that regulation is not necessary. However, if the person predicts that
their emotional response will be long-lasting or will become more intense,
they may decide to regulate even if the discrepancy is small. Unfortunately
people are often inaccurate at making predictions about their future
emotions (or ‘‘affective forecasting’’), and there is evidence that people tend
to overestimate the duration and intensity of their emotional responses
(Wilson & Gilbert, 2005). Such findings suggest that people may not always
make optimal decisions about whether regulation is necessary. Our ability to
predict emotions accurately is also influenced by individual differences, such
as personality (Hoerger & Quirk 2010) and the experience of psychological
disorders (Wenze, Gunthert, & German, 2012). Inaccurate predictions about
the time-course of emotions may lead to over- or under-regulation and thus
difficulties in affective forecasting could lead to failure to achieve emotional
goals.
Having decided to regulate, the next self-regulatory task is deciding how
to do so. Most goals can be achieved in a variety of different ways (e.g., the
goal to lose weight can be achieved by exercising, regulating food intake, or
both, cf. Bagozzi & Kimmel, 1995) and effective goal pursuit requires that
the person select an appropriate means to attain the goal (Aarts &
Dijksterhuis, 2000; Austin & Vancouver, 1996; Wegner & Vallacher, 1986).
In the case of emotion regulation, too, there are typically a large number of
potential means by which emotions could be controlled. In one study, for
example, participants reported 162 different strategies that they could use to
make themselves feel better (Parkinson & Totterdell, 1999). It might be
assumed that, through a lifetime of experiencing emotions and the
emotional consequences of different actions and events, people would
acquire accurate knowledge about which strategies are the most effective at
changing their emotions. However, the evidence suggests that people often
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 151
have poor knowledge about how events, behaviours, and actions will
influence their emotions (Wilson & Gilbert, 2003, 2005). For instance,
Dunn, Aknin, and Norton (2008) asked participants to predict which of two
options would make them happier: spending a sudden windfall of money on
themselves, or spending it on someone else. Approximately two thirds of the
participants voted that spending the money on themselves would make them
happier. However, when the researchers gave $20 to a different group of
participants and instructed them to spend it on themselves or on others, the
participants who spent money on others were happier than those who spent
it on themselves.
Choosing an effective regulation strategy is all the more difficult because a
strategy that is effective in one situation may not be effective in other
situations (Gross & Thompson, 2007). If a person is anxious about an
upcoming exam, for example, then spending a few minutes distracting
themselves by thinking about a holiday that they are going to take once the
exam is over might help to relieve their negative emotions. However, if a
person is anxious during the exam, this same strategy may interfere with the
focal task of doing well on the exam. Similarly, the effectiveness of strategies
for emotion regulation may depend on whether individuals pursue either
short-term or long-term goals in a given situation. For example, suppression
might help to avoid feeling offended by one’s partner over dinner, but
perspective taking might be a better strategy for managing negative
emotions with respect to the long-term goal of having a good relationship.
Strategies may also be effective for some emotions but not for others
(Larsen & Prizmic, 2004). A strategy that effectively modifies a sad mood
may not work for anxiety, and it is possible that some strategies may have
rebound effects on other emotions. For example, if an individual is caring
for a relative with a terminal illness, then going out for the evening may
relieve their stress but also increase their guilt. This example also highlights
the difficulty of regulation when more than one emotion needs to be
regulated. In general, regulation is more difficult when people hold multiple
goals and seek a ‘‘multifinal’’ means (a means that can advance more than
one goal, Kopetz, Faber, Fishbach, & Kruglanski, 2011). Many goals do not
lend themselves to multifinal means (e.g., the goals to socialise with friends
and care for a relative) and there is evidence that conflict between goals is
associated with rumination rather than action (Emmons & King, 1988). In
short, regulation is likely to be more difficult when multiple emotions or
goals are involved.
Finally there is evidence that being able to choose strategies flexibly is
necessary for successful regulation. Cognitive inflexibility has been
associated with the use of ineffective strategies (Davis & Nolen-
Hoeksema, 2000) and Bonanno and colleagues found that students who
were able to both enhance and suppress their emotions showed better
152 WEBB ET AL.
psychological adjustment in the 2 years following the 9/11 terrorist
attacks (Bonanno, Papa, Lalande, Westphal, & Coifman, 2004; see also
Westphal, Seivert, & Bonnano, 2010). Applying strategies flexibly might
also involve being able to switch between strategies when required, e.g.,
to balance short-term requirements with the longer-term pursuit of the
goal (Crowley & Siegler, 1993). Sheppes, Scheibe, Suri, and Gross (2011),
for example, found that healthy individuals switched between different
emotion regulation strategies on a trial-by-trial basis according to the
intensity of the presented negative stimuli. This suggests that people are
capable of adapting their approach quickly to the needs of the situation,
and that this on-line flexibility is important for effective emotion
regulation.
In summary, the action control perspective on emotion regulation
suggests that the second task in the effective regulation of emotions is
deciding whether and how to regulate. Difficulties can occur when the
person (i) does not believe that emotions are malleable, (ii) does not believe
that they are capable of changing emotions (self-efficacy), (iii) chooses a
strategy that is ineffective for the emotion or situation, or (iv) is unable to
flexibly switch between strategies in order to maximise utility.
Enacting the strategy
Once a course of action has been chosen the individual must then enact the
intended response. Research on the intention–behaviour gap suggests that,
even when people have decided how to act, they often struggle to implement
the strategy that they have chosen (for reviews, see Sheeran, 2002; Webb &
Sheeran, 2006). The first task in implementing a chosen emotion regulation
strategy is identifying and seizing a suitable opportunity to use that strategy.
For example, there is evidence that identifying the situations that trigger
anxiety (e.g., by completing a diary to identify when, where, and with whom
one feels anxious) can help people to reduce their anxiety (at least when
accompanied by a plan specifying how to deal with those situations; Varley,
Webb, & Sheeran, 2011). One reason why identifying and seizing
opportunities to regulate can be difficult is that the opportunity may only
be available for a short period of time. For example, a person intending to
reappraise an emotional situation must reinterpret the situation quickly,
before the onset of the full-blown emotional response. If reappraisal is
initiated after the emotional response has already been triggered, then it is
likely to be less effective (Sheppes & Meiran, 2007). In short, there may be a
‘‘critical moment’’ where regulation efforts are likely to be most effective
(likely, early in the emotion generative process) and effective emotion
regulation requires that the person quickly identify and seize that
opportunity.
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 153
People may also struggle to seize good opportunities to regulate their
emotions because they lack the resources to do so. Urry and Gross (2010)
propose that different resources are required for different regulatory
strategies. For example, while successfully enacting cognitive change may
require adequate working memory in order to be enacted successfully,
situation modification may instead require the resource of social support.
Access to these resources varies across individuals (e.g., older adults have
increased social support resources, but lower working memory resources;
Opitz, Gross, & Urry, 2012), and the likelihood of successfully enacting a
strategy will depend on the availability to the individual of the resources
upon which that strategy relies.
One resource which may be required for all strategies is that of self-
control. The Strength Model of Self-Control (Baumeister, Vohs, & Tice,
2007) suggests that the availability of regulatory resources influences the
effectiveness of emotion regulation efforts. For example, Muraven et al.
(1998, Expt 3) found that participants who tried to suppress thoughts of a
white bear were subsequently less able to suppress their amusement when
watching two funny videos than were participants who were not asked to
suppress their thoughts (these participants completed difficult maths puzzles
instead). The idea is that exerting self-control in the initial thought
suppression task led to a temporary depletion of limited self-regulatory
resources (an effect termed ‘‘ego-depletion’’) meaning that participants had
less self-control resources at their disposal when confronted with the goal to
regulate their emotions. There is, however, evidence that some types of
regulation are more resource-efficient than others. Sheppes and Meiran
(2008) found that when participants were given instructions to reappraise or
distract themselves halfway through a sad film, distraction consumed fewer
resources (as evidenced by better subsequent performance on the Stroop
test) than did reappraisal. There is also accumulating support for the idea
that emotion regulation goals can be initiated and run to completion
automatically (for reviews, see Bargh & Williams, 2007; Mauss, Bunge, &
Gross, 2007). For example, Mauss, Cook, and Gross (2007) found that
exposing participants to words associated with emotion control (e.g.,
suppress, hide, conceal) in a scrambled sentence task reduced the experience
of anger following provocation. The implication is that more automatic
forms of emotion regulation could avoid the cognitive and physiological
costs associated with conscious, effortful forms of emotion regulation
(Richards, 2004; Richards & Gross, 1999, 2000) because they draw less upon
limited regulatory resources.
People who have better self-control skills or exert self-control more
regularly may have a greater pool of self-control resources than others
(Muraven, Collins, Shiffman, & Paty, 2005) and thus be more capable of
persisting at demanding tasks such as emotion regulation. Similarly, some
154 WEBB ET AL.
people may be better able to regulate their emotions in an efficient manner
that does not draw on limited regulatory resources. Niven, Totterdell, Miles,
Webb, and Sheeran (2012) found that individuals who reported that they
were good at emotion regulation were able to achieve a positive mood with
less cost to their self-regulatory resources than were participants who
reported being poor at emotion regulation. Niven et al.’s interpretation of
these findings was that good emotion regulators have developed relatively
automatic (i.e., efficient) means of regulating their emotions.
In summary, the action control perspective on emotion regulation
suggests that the third task in the effective regulation of emotions is
initiating the chosen regulation strategy. Difficulties can arise when the
person does not (i) identify an opportunity or seize it in a timely manner, or
(ii) possess sufficient resources to enact the strategy.
Action control perspective: Concluding comments
The action control perspective highlights the complexity of emotion
regulation and the numerous tasks and subtasks that need to be coordinated
in order to ensure effective regulation. It is therefore not surprising that
merely having strong goal intentions to regulate one’s emotions is not
necessarily sufficient to secure the desired emotional outcomes (recall that
Webb, Miles, et al., 2012, reported relatively modest effects of explicit
regulation instructions on emotional outcomes). It is recognised that there
are a multitude of factors that can determine whether, when, and for whom
emotion regulation will be successful. By considering the process of emotion
regulation as one that involves multiple interdependent tasks, rather than as
a single act of regulation, we present a framework within which the diverse
factors that influence emotion regulation can be integrated and in which
their interactions can be considered.
The action control perspective also affords new insights into interventions
to promote effective regulation. First, it highlights the multiple regulatory
tasks that could potentially be targeted by interventions (from helping
people to set appropriate standards, to encouraging people to persist until
their goal has been achieved). Second, if the process of regulating emotions
is viewed as analogous to the process of achieving any other goal, then
interventions that have proven effective in helping people to achieve
behavioural goals might also help them to achieve emotion regulation goals.
Specifically, research into the intention–behaviour gap has developed a
number of volitional interventions that can address the difficulties associated
with goal striving and increase the correspondence between goals and
action; such interventions may hold the potential of helping people to deal
with the self-regulatory tasks associated with emotion regulation. Perhaps
the best validated volitional intervention is forming if-then plans or
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 155
implementation intentions (Gollwitzer, 1993, 1999; Gollwitzer & Sheeran,
2006).
IMPLEMENTATION INTENTIONS
Implementation intentions derive from the Rubicon Model of Action Phases
(MAP: Heckhausen, 1987; Heckhausen & Gollwitzer, 1986, 1987), which
suggests that motivation is just the starting-point for regulating unwanted
responses. The MAP suggests that effective self-control requires an
additional step wherein the person also decides when, where, and how to
act in advance (i.e., forms an implementation intention). Implementation
intentions have the format ‘‘If situation x is encountered, then I will initiate
response y!’’ and link a critical situation (in the if-part of the plan) with a
suitable goal-directed response (in the then-part of the plan). Implementa-
tion intentions are therefore distinct from goal intentions that specify a
desired performance or outcome and have the format of: ‘‘I intend to reach
z!’’ For example, ‘‘I intend to stay calm’’. Goal intentions only designate
desired end-states that the individual feels committed to attain, while
implementation intentions create a commitment to respond to a specified
critical situation in a planned, goal-directed manner. For example, ‘‘If I am
provoked, then I will pause and breathe!’’ Implementation intentions are thus
formed in the service of attaining respective goal intentions (Sheeran,
Webb, & Gollwitzer, 2005).
Although a large body of research attests to the benefits of forming
implementation intentions for promoting the achievement of behavioural
goals (review by Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006), the idea that forming
implementation intentions might also be an effective way to regulate
emotion is much newer and no review to date has considered whether
forming implementation intentions can also help people to achieve emotion
regulation goals. There is good evidence that forming implementation
intentions can help people to deal with a range of self-regulatory tasks
including: (i) identifying and seizing opportunities and (ii) promoting
efficient initiation of the intended strategy. A comprehensive review is
provided by Gollwitzer and Sheeran (2006), but some examples follow.
Gollwitzer and Brandsta
¨tter (1997, Study 3) demonstrated that forming
implementation intentions could help people to seize opportunities to act in
a study concerned with counteracting racial prejudice. Participants were
asked to take a convincing counter position towards xenophobic remarks
made by a confederate presented on videotape. In addition, one group of
participants was asked to form an implementation intention to commit
themselves to counter-argue at preselected suitable opportunities. It was
found that participants who formed an implementation intention seized
suitable opportunities to express themselves more immediately (i.e., closer to
156 WEBB ET AL.
the specified time) than did participants who had familiarised themselves
with these favourable opportunities and participants who were simply told
that they would have to counter-argue.
Webb and Sheeran (2003) provided evidence that forming implementa-
tion intention leads to relatively efficient goal striving that conserves self-
regulatory capacity. Participants performed the Stroop task for 10 minutes
under either goal intention (name the ink colour of each word as quickly as
possible) or implementation intention instructions (‘‘As soon as I see the
word I will ignore its meaning [for example, by concentrating on the second
letter only] and I will name the colour ink it is printed in!’’). Next, participants
were asked to work on a series of puzzles that, unbeknown to the
participants, were unsolvable. The main dependent variable was how long
participants persisted on the puzzles. As expected, participants who
completed the Stroop task under standard instructions gave up on the
puzzles more quickly than participants who formed implementation
intentions, suggesting that performing self-control tasks under if-then
planning instructions does not deplete self-regulatory capacity. In short,
forming implementation intentions is likely to help people with the third
task identified by the action control perspective—enacting the intended
regulation strategy.
Mechanisms of implementation intention effects
Research on the processes underlying the effect of forming implementation
intentions points to two psychological processes that mediate the effects of
if-then planning on goal attainment. First, by forming an implementation
intention, the mental representation of the selected opportunity becomes
highly activated, and hence more accessible. For example, Aarts,
Dijksterhuis, and Midden (1999) found that participants who formed an
implementation intention specifying when, where, and how they would
collect a coupon for a subsequent experiment responded more quickly to
words representing the location of the coupon (left, corridor, swing door,
red, and fire-hose) in an ostensibly unrelated language task when compared
to participants who also intended to collect the coupon, but who formed an
irrelevant implementation intention (about how they would spend the
coupon). Crucially, response latencies to the words representing the specified
opportunity mediated the beneficial effect of forming implementation
intentions on the likelihood of coupon collection. Since Aarts et al. a
number of studies have demonstrated heightened cue accessibility (e.g.,
Parks-Stamm, Gollwitzer & Oettingen, 2007; Webb & Sheeran, 2007, 2008)
and the consequent improved detection of good opportunities to act. For
example, Varley et al. (2011) found that participants who planned to use a
self-help exercise when they experienced feelings of anxiety (e.g., If I feel
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 157
stressed, then I will use my breathing tactic to relax!) reported being better
able to detect triggers of anxiety than participants who did not make a plan
(see also, Webb & Sheeran, 2004; Wieber & Sassenberg, 2006). Forming
implementation intentions can therefore help people to initiate goal striving
because they are better able to detect good opportunities to act.
When people form implementation intentions they also select, in advance,
a suitable response to the identified opportunity. By so doing, a strong
linkage is forged between the specified opportunity (the if-part of the plan)
and the intended response (the then-part of the plan). For example, forming
the plan ‘‘And if I see blood, then I will take the perspective of a physician!’’
(Schweiger Gallo, McCulloch, & Gollwitzer, 2012) should create a strong
link between blood (the situational cue) and perspective taking (the intended
response) that parallels the associations formed via frequent and consistent
experience (e.g., that one might expect to observe among medics). The
second psychological process engendered by implementation intention
formation is, therefore, a strong association between the specified
opportunity and the intended response. Evidence in this regard was
provided by Aarts and Dijksterhuis (2000) who found that Dutch students
who formed implementation intentions specifying when, where, and how to
travel to five locations around the city selected modes of transport in
response to locations (a) more quickly than did participants who did not
form a plan and (b) as quickly as participants who possessed learned,
habitual associations between the particular locations and modes of
transport. Webb and Sheeran (2007, 2008) went a step further and showed
that the strength of association between opportunity and response
simultaneously (along with cue accessibility) mediated the effect of forming
implementation intentions on goal achievement.
The consequence of strong opportunity–response links is that control of
the specified response is delegated to the specified opportunity that triggers
the planned response in a relatively automatic manner. That is, action
initiation under implementation intentions is relatively immediate (Gollwit-
zer & Brandsta
¨tter, 1997), efficient (Brandsta
¨tter, Lengfelder, & Gollwitzer,
2001), redundant of conscious awareness (Bayer, Achtziger, Gollwitzer, &
Moskowitz, 2009), and does not tax self-control resources (Webb &
Sheeran, 2003); thereby facilitating a number of the self-regulatory tasks
associated with effective emotion regulation. Returning to Schweiger Gallo,
McCulloch, et al.’s (2012) example above, participants who formed an if-
then plan had decided, in advance, how they would regulate (‘‘. . . then I will
take the perspective of a physician!’’) and had tied this response to the critical
opportunity (‘‘If I see blood’’). By so doing, participants were likely to
quickly and easily identify and seize a suitable opportunity to regulate their
emotions; the need for self-regulatory resources is obviated by the relatively
automatic fashion with which planned responses are triggered (Gollwitzer &
158 WEBB ET AL.
Schaal, 1998). Finally, it is worth noting that the two mechanisms
underlying implementation intention effects—heightened cue accessibility
and strong cue–response links—may be differentially important depending
on the nature of the intervention. Parks-Stamm et al. (2007) demonstrated,
for example, that implementation intentions could achieve their effects by
one or other mechanism (or both).
REVIEW OF STUDIES INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT
OF FORMING IMPLEMENTATION INTENTIONS AS
A STRATEGY FOR REGULATING EMOTIONS
In early 2012 we conducted a systematic review to investigate the effect of
forming implementation intentions as a strategy for emotion regulation. We
conducted computerised searches of social scientific databases (Web of
Science, PsycINFO, UMI Dissertation Abstracts) using the search terms
‘‘implementation intention’’/plan AND emotion/mood/affect. Reference
lists in each article were evaluated for inclusion and authors were contacted
and requests were made for unpublished and in-press studies. Studies were
deemed suitable for inclusion if participants were asked to form
implementation intention designed to target (i) emotional outcomes or (ii)
a behaviour that is hypothesised to be influenced by emotions. Studies that
did not involve implementation intention instructions (e.g., Eder, Rother-
mund, & Proctor, 2010) or that did not target emotional outcomes or a
behaviour expected to be influenced by emotions (e.g., Masicampo &
Baumeister, 2011) were excluded. In addition, the effect of forming
implementation intentions had to be compared to conditions where no
relevant planning instructions were provided. Suitable studies typically
either gave participants (a) no instructions (e.g., Sheeran, Aubrey, & Kellett,
2007, asked participants in the control condition simply to complete a
questionnaire), (b) goal intention instructions (e.g., Webb, Sheeran, et al.,,
2012, asked participants in the goal intention condition to try to stay in a
positive mood over the next week), or (c) irrelevant planning instructions
(e.g., Eder, 2011, compared the effects of congruent and incongruent
planning instructions on the Simon task). Additionally, we computed effect
sizes for the comparison between goal intention and no instruction
conditions (among studies that included both types of comparison
condition) in order to evaluate the effects of explicit regulation instructions
on emotional outcomes. In total, 30 studies were located that could be
included in the review. These studies provided 21 comparisons of
implementation intention and control instructions, 29 comparisons of
implementation intention and goal intention instructions, and 15 compar-
isons of goal intention and control instructions. Tables 2, 3, 4, and 5 present
the characteristics and effect sizes for each study included in the review.
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 159
Studies of forming implementation intentions as a strategy for regulating
emotional outcomes could be subdivided into: (i) studies investigating effects
on specific emotions, typically disgust (e.g., Schweiger Gallo, McCulloch,
et al., 2012; see Table 2), fear (e.g., Schweiger Gallo & Gollwitzer, 2007; see
Table 3), and anxiety (e.g., Varley et al., 2011; see Table 4), and (ii) studies
that investigate whether forming implementation intentions can help people
to control the effect of affect on decision making (e.g., Webb, Sheeran, et al.,
2012), action tendencies (e.g., Eder, 2011), or work performance (e.g.,
McCormack, Sheeran, & Totterdell, 2010) (see Table 5). The next section
reviews studies in each of these categories.
To compute the sample-weighted average effect of implementation
intentions as a strategy for emotion regulation, we meta-analysed the effect
sizes from the primary studies (see Table 3). Where studies examined more
than one outcome (e.g., Schweiger Gallo & Gollwitzer, 2007, measured
valence, arousal, and dominance) or outcomes at more than one time-point
(e.g., McCormack et al., 2010, measured outcomes weekly, for 5 weeks
following the intervention), the effect sizes within each study (across
outcomes and/or time-points) were computed prior to inclusion in the main
data set. This procedure captures the richness of the data while maintaining
the independence of samples that is central to the validity of meta-analysis
(Hunter & Schmidt, 1990). The only exception was when studies explicitly
specified that their instructions were designed to influence one particular
outcome. For example, Schweiger Gallo, McCulloch, et al. (2012) targeted
the regulation instructions towards either valence (Study 1) or arousal
(Study 2). Intention-to-treat analyses (i.e., analyses based on initial
treatment assignment and not on whether participants complied with the
treatment) were used wherever possible. For example, Sheeran et al. (2007)
posted clients attending an initial mental health appointment a question-
naire along with their appointment letter. For one-half of the participants
this questionnaire asked participants to form an implementation intention.
Intention-to-treat analyses involve comparing attendance rates between
participants who received the augmented questionnaire with those who
received the standard questionnaire (regardless of whether or not
participants returned the questionnaire).
Effect sizes were computed separately for comparisons with no
instruction conditions versus comparisons with goal intention conditions.
The two studies that did not include a goal intention or no instruction
condition (Eder, 2011; Parks-Stamm, Gollwitzer, & Oettingen, 2010) were
excluded from the meta-analysis, but are included in Table 2 for
information. Additionally we computed effect sizes for the comparison
between goal intention and no instruction conditions. Where studies
included multiple planning and comparison conditions, implementation
intention instructions were compared only to relevant control instructions
160 WEBB ET AL.
(e.g., McCormack et al., 2010, compared interpersonal implementation
intention instructions to interpersonal goal intention instructions while
intrapersonal implementation intention instructions were compared to
intrapersonal goal intention instructions). Whenever multiple comparisons
from one experiment led to the same participants being represented in more
than one effect size, we adjusted the Nfor each group accordingly when
calculating the standard error (i.e., if control instructions were compared to
both interpersonal and intrapersonal implementation intention instructions,
we computed effect sizes for both comparisons, but halved the Nfor the
control group when calculating the standard error; see Higgins & Green,
2009). Computations were undertaken using Schwarzer’s (1988)
META program and weighted average effect sizes (d
þ
) were based on a
random effects model because studies were likely to be ‘‘different from one
another in ways too complex to capture by a few simple study
characteristics’’ (Cooper, 1986, p. 526). Effect sizes were interpreted using
Cohen’s (1992) guidelines. According to Cohen, d¼.20 should be
considered a ‘‘small’’ effect size, d¼.50 is a ‘‘medium’’ effect size, whereas
d¼.80 is a ‘‘large’’ effect size.
The effect of forming implementation intentions on disgust
To date, 10 studies examined the effect of forming implementation
intentions on disgust (see Table 2), though 5 of these are unpublished pilot
studies by the same author (Hallam et al., 2012). Studies typically exposed
participants to a series of disgusting images (e.g., Hallam et al., 2012;
Schweiger Gallo, Keil, McCulloch, Rockstroh, & Gollwitzer, 2009), videos
(Christou-Champi, Farrow, & Webb, 2012), or sounds (e.g., Schweiger
Gallo, Ferna
´ndez-Dols, A
´lvaro, & Gollwitzer, 2012). Before being exposed
to the emotional stimuli participants were typically randomly allocated to
instructions simply to look at the images (control condition), to try to
regulate their responses (goal intention condition, e.g., ‘‘I will not get
disgusted!’’), or to form implementation intentions. Implementation inten-
tion instructions ranged from if-then plans designed to suppress emotion
(e.g., ‘‘If I see suppress, then I block out all bad feelings and just stay cool!’’
Hallam et al., 2012; or ‘‘If I see blood, then I will stay calm and relaxed!’’
Schweiger Gallo et al., 2009, Study 1) to plans directing participants to
reappraise the image (e.g.,‘‘If I see reappraise, then I tell myself these are just
pixels on a screen and the picture can’t get to me!’’ Hallam et al., 2012) or to
take a different perspective in relation to the image (‘‘And if I see blood, then
I will take the perspective of a physician!’’ Schweiger Gallo, McCulloch, &
Gollwitzer, 2012). Participants typically rated their emotional response to
the disgusting stimuli (e.g., using Self-Assessment Manikin scales; Schweiger
Gallo et al., 2009) or participants’ reactions were videotaped and later coded
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 161
TABLE 2
Studies of the impact of implementation intention formation on disgust
Author(s) Participants Goal/target emotion Dependent variable Experimental condition Control condition Nexp Ncont d
Christou-Champi,
Farrow, and Webb
(2011)
a
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate expressions
of disgust
Observer rated disgust Implementation intention No instruction 18 18 1.92***
Goal intention 18 18 70.28 (ns)
Goal intention No instruction 18 18 2.16***
Heart rate variability Implementation intention No instruction 18 18 0.83*
Goal intention 18 18 0.10 (ns)
Goal intention No instruction 18 18 0.51 (ns)
Blood glucose levels Implementation intention No instruction 18 18 0.48 (ns)
Goal intention 18 18 0.48 (ns)
Goal intention No instruction 18 18 0.00 (ns)
Hallam et al (2012,
Study 1)
a
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate sadness and
disgust
Affect Implementation intention Goal intention 9 8 0.11 (ns)
Arousal Implementation intention Goal intention 9 8 0.24 (ns)
Valence Implementation intention Goal intention 9 8 –0.31 (ns)
Hallam et al. (2012,
Study 2)
a
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate disgust Affect Implementation intention Goal intention 13 13 0.33 (ns)
Arousal Implementation intention Goal intention 13 13 0.71 (ns)
Difficulty Implementation intention Goal intention 13 13 0.37 (ns)
Hallam et al. (2012,
Study 3)
a
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate disgust Affect Implementation intention Goal intention 10 9 0.05 (ns)
Arousal Implementation intention Goal intention 10 9 0.01 (ns)
Difficulty Implementation intention Goal intention 10 9 0.22 (ns)
Hallam et al. (2012,
Study 4)
a
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate sadness and
disgust
Affect Implementation intention Goal intention 10 10 70.13 (ns)
Arousal Implementation intention Goal intention 10 10 0.25 (ns)
Valence Implementation intention Goal intention 10 10 0.14 (ns)
Hallam et al. (2012,
Study 5)
a
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate sadness and
disgust
Affect Implementation intention Goal intention 9 9 70.03 (ns)
Schweiger Gallo et al
(2009, Study 1)
Female undergraduate
students
Downregulate disgust in
response to pictures
Arousal as measured by the Self-
Assessment Manikin (SAM)
Implementation intention No instruction 18 18 1.12**
Goal intention 18 18 0.90**
Goal intention No instruction 18 18 0.19 (ns)
Schweiger Gallo,
McCulloch, &
Gollwitzer (2012,
Study 1)
Female undergraduate
students
Downregulate disgust in
response to pictures
Valence as measured by the Self-
Assessment Manikin (SAM)
Implementation intention No instruction 18 18 1.29***
Goal intention 18 18 0.81*
Goal intention No instruction 18 18 0.51 (ns)
Arousal as measured by the Self-
Assessment Manikin (SAM)
Implementation intention No instruction 18 18 0.60 (ns)
Goal intention 18 18 0.45 (ns)
Goal intention No instruction 18 18 0.19 (ns)
(Continued )
162 WEBB ET AL.
TABLE 2
Continued
Author(s) Participants Goal/target emotion Dependent variable Experimental condition Control condition Nexp Ncont d
Schweiger Gallo,
McCulloch, &
Gollwitzer (2012,
Study 2)
Female undergraduate
students
Downregulate disgust in
response to pictures
Valence as measured by the Self-
Assessment Manikin (SAM)
Implementation intention No instruction 12 12 0.73 (ns)
Goal intention 12 12 0.55 (ns)
Goal intention No instruction 12 12 0.12 (ns)
Arousal as measured by the Self-
Assessment Manikin (SAM)
Implementation intention No instruction 12 12 1.15**
Goal intention 12 12 1.21**
Goal intention No instruction 12 12 70.02 (ns)
Schweiger Gallo et al
(2012)
a
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate feelings of
‘grima’
Valence as measured by the Self-
Assessment Manikin (SAM)
Implementation intention Goal intention 20 24 0.60*
Arousal as measured by the Self-
Assessment Manikin (SAM)
Implementation intention Goal intention 20 24 0.70*
a
Data for studies marked with superscript a are unpublished. Interested readers can access these unpublished datasets by contacting the lead authors:
Spyros Christou-Champi, Academic Clinical Psychiatry, The University of Sheffield, The Longley Centre, Norwood Grange Drive, Sheffield, UK, S5
7JT, e-mail: mdq09scc@sheffield.ac.uk; Glyn Hallam, Academic Clinical Psychiatry, The University of Sheffield, The Longley Centre, Norwood Grange
Drive, Sheffield, UK, S5 7JT, e-mail: g.hallam@sheffield.ac.uk; Inge Schweiger Gallo, Departamento de Psicologı
´a Social, Facultad de Ciencias Polı
´ticas
y Sociologı
´a, Campus de Somosaguas, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarco
´n, Madrid, Spain, e-mail: ingesg@cps.ucm.es. * ¼p5.05, ** ¼p5.01, *** ¼p5
.001.
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 163
for expressions of emotionality (e.g., Christou-Champi et al., 2012).
Christou-Champi et al. also measured the amount of effort expended in
regulation by assessing heart rate variability (HRV) and blood glucose levels
before and after the regulation task (Gailliot & Baumeister, 2007; Gailliot
et al., 2007; Segerstrom & Nes, 2007).
The sample-weighted average effect of forming implementation intentions
versus receiving no instructions on the regulation of disgust was d
þ
¼1.07
with a 95% confidence interval from 0.70 to 1.44, based on four com-
parisons and a total sample size of 132 participants (see Table 6). The
sample-weighted average effect of forming implementation intentions versus
goal intentions on the regulation of disgust was d
þ
¼0.46 with a 95%
confidence interval from 0.21 to 0.72, based on 10 comparisons and a total
sample size of 276 participants.
The effect of forming implementation intentions on fear
Studies investigating the effect of forming implementation intentions on fear
(see Table 3) have adopted similar paradigms to those used to investigate the
regulation of disgust. Typically participants are exposed to a fear-inducing
stimulus (e.g., weapons, Azbel-Jackson, 2012; or pictures of spiders for
participants with spider phobia, Schweiger Gallo & Gollwitzer, 2007;
Schweiger Gallo et al., 2009, Study 3) under instructions to regulate
responses (e.g., ‘‘I will not get frightened!’’, Schweiger Gallo & Gollwitzer,
2007). Another group of participants are typically asked to form an
implementation intention (e.g., ‘‘If I see a weapon, then I will keep calm and
relaxed!’’ Azbel-Jackson, 2012; or ‘‘If I see a spider, then I will ignore it!’’
Schweiger Gallo et al., 2009). In addition to self-report measures of
emotional experience, one study measured event related potentials (ERP)
as an additional physiological index of fear (Schweiger Gallo et al., 2009,
Study 3).
The sample-weighted average effect of forming implementation intentions
versus receiving no instructions on the regulation of fear was d
þ
¼1.26 with
a 95% confidence interval from 0.95 to 1.58, based on 6 comparisons and a
total sample size of 202 participants (see Table 6). The sample-weighted
average effect of forming implementation intentions versus goal intentions
on the regulation of fear was d
þ
¼0.86 with a 95% confidence interval from
0.54 to 1.19, based on five comparisons and a total sample size of 162
participants.
The effect of forming implementation intentions on anxiety
Studies have investigated the effect of forming implementation intentions on
a number of different forms of anxiety (see Table 4), including social anxiety
164 WEBB ET AL.
TABLE 3
Studies of the impact of implementation intention formation on fear
Author(s) Participants Goal/target emotion Dependent variable Experimental condition Control condition Nexp Ncont d
Azbel-Jackson
(2012, Study 1)
a
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate fear
following exposure to
weapons
Arousal as measured by the Self-
Assessment Manikin (SAM)
Implementation intention No instruction 20 20 0.92**
Goal intention 20 20 0.70*
Goal intention No instruction 20 20 0.20 (ns)
Azbel-Jackson
(2012, Study 2)
a
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate fear
following exposure to
weapons
Arousal as measured by the Self-
Assessment Manikin (SAM)
Implementation intention No instruction 30 30 1.68***
Schweiger Gallo &
Gollwitzer (2007)
Female undergraduate
students with spider
fear
Downregulate fear in
response to pictures of
spiders
Valence as measured by the Self-
Assessment Manikin (SAM)
Implementation intention No instruction 15 15 1.37***
Goal intention 15 14 1.19**
Goal intention No instruction 14 15 0.20 (ns)
Arousal as measured by the Self-
Assessment Manikin (SAM)
Implementation intention No instruction 15 15 1.31**
Goal intention 15 14 1.44***
Goal intention No instruction 14 15 0.12 (ns)
Dominance as measured by the
Self-Assessment Manikin
(SAM)
Implementation intention No instruction 15 15 0.83*
Goal intention 15 14 1.37**
Goal intention No instruction 14 15 70.18 (ns)
Schweiger Gallo
et al (2009,
Study 2)
Female undergraduate
students with spider
fear
Downregulate fear in
response to pictures of
spiders
Negative affect index (valence,
arousal, dominance)
measured by the Self-
Assessment Manikin (SAM)
Response focused
implementation intention
No instruction 18 15 1.16**
Goal intention 18 18 0.65*
Antecedent focused
implementation intention
No instruction 17 15 1.27***
Goal intention 17 18 0.91**
Goal intention No instruction 18 15 0.31 (ns)
Schweiger Gallo
et al (2009,
Study 3)
Female undergraduate
students with spider
fear
Downregulate fear in
response to pictures of
spiders
Negative affect index (valence,
arousal, dominance)
measured by the Self-
Assessment Manikin (SAM)
Implementation intention No instruction 10 12 1.63**
Goal intention 10 12 1.65**
Goal intention No instruction 12 12 70.11 (ns)
ERP responses (P1) Right
occipital
Implementation intention No instruction 10 12 0.89*
Goal intention 10 12 0.96*
Goal intention No instruction 12 12 0.20 (ns)
ERP responses (P1) Right
parietal
Implementation intention No instruction 10 12 1.81**
Goal intention 10 12 0.67 (ns)
Goal intention No instruction 12 12 0.78 (ns)
a
Data for studies marked with superscript a are unpublished. Interested readers can access these unpublished datasets by contacting the lead authors:
Lena Azbel-Jackson, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, The University of Reading, Earley Gate, Whiteknights Road, PO Box 238,
Reading, Berkshire, UK, RG6 6AL, e-mail: yb006292@reading.ac.uk. * ¼p5.05, ** ¼p5.01; *** ¼p5.001.
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 165
TABLE 4
Studies of the impact of implementation intention formation on anxiety
Author(s) Participants Goal/target emotion Dependent variable Experimental condition Control condition Nexp Ncont d
Parks-Stamm, Gollwitzer &
Oettingen (2010)
Undergraduate
students with low
test anxiety
Downregulate test
anxiety
Number of problems
completed from Du
¨ker’s
Concentration
Achievement Test
Temptation-inhibiting
implementation
intention
Task-facilitating
implementation
intention
13 13 70.49 (ns)
Undergraduate
students with high
test anxiety
11 11 1.67**
Varley, Webb, & Sheeran
(2011)
Staff and students with
high levels of
anxiety
Downregulate anxiety Hospital Anxiety and
Distress Scale
Implementation intention No instruction 90 81 0.65***
Goal intention 90 78 0.68***
Goal intention No instruction 78 81 70.09 (ns)
Spielberger State Anxiety
Inventory
Implementation intention No instruction 90 81 0.37*
Goal intention 90 78 0.47**
Goal intention No instruction 78 81 70.12 (ns)
Webb, Ononaiye et al
(2010, Study 1)
Undergraduate
students with high
levels of social
anxiety
Direct attention away
from social threat
words
Attentional bias scores from
a visual dot probe (VDP)
task
Implementation intention No instruction 13 13 3.66 (ns)
Goal intention 13 12 2.45***
Goal intention No instruction 12 13 1.13**
Webb, Ononaiye et al
(2010, Study 2)
Undergraduate
students with high
levels of social
anxiety
Direct attention away
from social threat
words
Time taken to respond to
probe presented
alongside social threat
word
Anxiety inhibiting
implementation
intention
No instruction 16 20 0.33 (ns)
Goal intention 16 19 0.33 (ns)
Task facilitating
implementation
intention
No instruction 22 20 0.36 (ns)
Goal intention 22 19 0.36 (ns)
Goal intention No instruction 19 20 70.01 (ns)
Webb, Ononaiye et al
(2010, Study 3)
Undergraduate
students with high
levels of social
anxiety
Direct attention away
from social threat
words
Attentional bias scores from
a visual dot probe (VDP)
task
Implementation intention Goal intention 17 17 0.86*
Specific goal
intention
17 17 0.73*
Webb, Ononaiye et al
(2010, Study 4)
Undergraduate
students with high
levels of social
anxiety
Direct attention during
a speech
Self-rated speech
performance
Implementation intention No instruction 15 26 0.91**
Goal intention 15 16 0.59 (ns)
Goal intention No instruction 16 26 0.48 (ns)
*¼p5.05, ** ¼p5.01, *** ¼p5.001.
166 WEBB ET AL.
(Webb, Ononaiye, Sheeran, Reidy, & Lavda, 2010), test anxiety (Parks-
Stamm et al., 2010), general anxiety (Varley et al., 2011) and anxiety
associated with attending a specific event (namely, attending a mental health
appointment, Sheeran et al., 2007). The measures of anxiety employed by
these studies have been quite varied. For example, Webb, Sheeran et al.
(2012, Expt 1) used the visual dot probe task to measure attentional
responses associated with social anxiety. Participants were told that they
would have to give a speech before their attentional processes
were measured. Participants with high levels of social anxiety (relative to
less-anxious participants) exhibited an attentional bias towards social threat
words (e.g., criticised, failure). However, socially anxious participants who
formed implementation intentions designed to control attention (‘‘If I see a
neutral word, then I will focus all my attention on it!’’) did not exhibit this
bias.
Other studies have employed validated clinical measures of anxiety.
For example, Varley et al. (2011) used the Hospital Anxiety and
Depression Scale (HADS; Zigmond & Snaith, 1983) and the State-Trait
Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, &
Jacobs, 1983) to investigate whether implementation intentions could be
used to augment self-help interventions for generalised anxiety. Partici-
pants who self-identified as experiencing high levels of anxiety were
randomly allocated to standard self-help, augmented self-help, or no-
intervention conditions. Participants in the standard self-help condition
received a self-help booklet incorporating relaxation techniques; partici-
pants in the augmented self-help condition received the same booklet but
also additional materials that asked them to form an implementation
intention specifying when they would use the techniques (e.g., ‘‘If I feel
stressed, then I will use my breathing tactic to relax!’’); and participants in
the control condition did not receive any intervention. Eight weeks later
participants completed the HADS and STAI. Consistent with the idea
that forming implementation intentions helped participants to initiate
relaxation exercises, levels of anxiety were lower in the augmented self-
help condition than in both the standard self-help and no instruction
conditions.
Forming implementation intentions appears to be an effective way to
regulate anxiety. The sample-weighted average effect of forming implemen-
tation intentions versus receiving no instructions on the regulation of
anxiety was d
þ
¼0.89 with a 95% confidence interval from 70.12 to 1.91,
based on six comparisons and a total sample size of 678 participants (see
Table 3). The sample-weighted average effect of forming implementation
intentions versus goal intentions on the regulation of anxiety was d
þ
¼0.75
with a 95% confidence interval from 0.24 to 1.27, based on seven com-
parisons and a total sample size of 332 participants.
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 167
The effect of forming implementation intentions on the
relationship between affect and outcomes
Affective states can have a profound impact on higher-level cognition such
as decision making (for reviews, see Blanchette & Richards, 2010; Finucane,
Alhakami, Slovic, & Johnson, 2000; Forgas, 1995) and there are occasions
when people may want to avoid this influence. Several studies have
investigated whether forming implementation intentions can reduce the
impact of affect on outcomes such as stereotyping (Bayer, Gollwitzer, &
Achziger, 2010), decision making (Bayer et al., 2010; Kirk, Gollwitzer, &
Carnevale, 2011; Sheeran & Webb, 2012; Webb, Sheeran, et al., 2012),
action tendencies (Eder, 2011), and work performance (McCormack et al.,
2010) (see Table 5). Studies investigating this issue have adopted a range of
different procedures, but each has in common that a measure or
manipulation of affect (e.g., a mood induction) has an (unwanted) influence
on an outcome of interest (e.g., stereotyping, work performance).
Participants formed implementation intentions designed either to regulate
the affect (e.g., ‘‘If I start to get in a bad mood, then I immediately ignore that
feeling and get on with what I’m doing!’’ Sheeran & Webb, 2012) or to control
the outcome of interest in the hope that the affective influence on that
outcome is blocked (e.g., ‘‘Whenever I analyse a given person, then I will
ignore her gender!’’ Bayer et al., 2010). In the latter set of studies the emotion
remains unchanged (e.g., Bayer et al. reported no differences in mood
between participants who formed goal or implementation intentions), but
the effect of the emotion on the outcome of interest is blocked (Bayer et al.
found that participants who formed implementation intentions did not show
the effect of positive mood on judgements that characterised participants
who did not make a plan).
The sample-weighted average effect of forming implementation intentions
versus receiving no instructions on the regulation of affective influences on
outcomes was d
þ
¼0.40 with a 95% confidence interval from 0.16 to 0.63,
based on five comparisons and a total sample size of 294 participants (see
Table 6). The sample-weighted average effect of forming implementation
intentions versus goal intentions on the regulation of affective influences on
outcomes was d
þ
¼0.39 with a 95% confidence interval from 0.20 to 0.58,
based on seven comparisons and a total sample size of 438 participants.
The overall effect of forming implementation intentions on
emotional outcomes
Across all of the studies the sample-weighted average effect of forming
implementation intentions compared to receiving no instructions on
emotional outcomes was d
þ
¼0.91 with a 95% confidence interval from
168 WEBB ET AL.
TABLE 5
Studies of the impact of implementation intention formation on the relationship between affect and outcomes
Author (s) Participants Goal/target emotion Dependent variable Experimental condition Control condition Nexp Ncont d
Bayer, Gollwitzer, &
Achziger (2010,
Study 1)
Undergraduate
students
Control effect of positive
mood on stereotyping
Level of stereotyping in an
impression formation
task
Implementation intention No instruction 20 20 0.73*
Goal intention 20 20 0.78*
Goal intention No instruction 20 20 70.03 (ns)
Eder (2011) Undergraduate
students
Classify emotional stimuli Reaction time Congruent implementation
intention
Incongruent
implementation
intention
38 38 0.45*
Percentage errors Congruent implementation
intention
Incongruent
implementation
intention
38 38 0.17 (ns)
Kirk, Gollwitzer, &
Carnevale (2011,
Study 2)
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate negative
affect
Acceptance of inequitable
offers
Emotion down-regulation
implementation intention
Emotion down-regulation
goal intention
46 47 0.37 (ns)
Make money Acceptance of inequitable
offers
Task promotion implementation
intention
Task promotion goal
intention
45 42 0.09 (ns)
McCormack, Sheeran,
& Totterdell (2010)
a
Trainee hairdressers Upregulate positive affect Positive affect (reported
weekly)
Interpersonal implementation
intention
No instruction 15 12 1.39***
Interpersonal goal intention 15 13 0.29*
Interpersonal goal intention No instruction 13 12 1.01***
Intrapersonal implementation
intention
No instruction 16 12 1.10***
Intrapersonal goal intention 16 15 0.10 (ns)
Intrapersonal goal intention No instruction 15 12 0.69***
Positive affect (reported
daily)
Interpersonal implementation
intention
No instruction 15 12 0.53**
Interpersonal goal intention 15 13 0.19 (ns)
Interpersonal goal intention No instruction 13 12 0.46***
Intrapersonal implementation
intention
No instruction 16 12 0.62***
Intrapersonal goal intention 16 15 0.12 (ns)
Intrapersonal goal intention No instruction 15 12 0.56***
Work performance Amount of tips Interpersonal implementation
intention
No instruction 15 12 0.34*
Interpersonal goal intention 15 13 0.02 (ns)
Interpersonal goal intention No instruction 13 12 0.32*
Intrapersonal implementation
intention
No instruction 16 12 0.34*
Intrapersonal goal intention 16 15 0.20 (ns)
Intrapersonal goal intention No instruction 15 12 0.16 (ns)
(Continued )
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 169
TABLE 5
Continued
Author (s) Participants Goal/target emotion Dependent variable Experimental condition Control condition Nexp Ncont d
Work satisfaction Self-reported satisfaction Interpersonal implementation
intention
No instruction 15 12 0.75***
Interpersonal goal intention 15 13 0.47**
Interpersonal goal intention No instruction 13 12 0.31*
Intrapersonal implementation
intention
No instruction 16 12 0.89***
Intrapersonal goal intention 16 15 0.61***
Intrapersonal goal intention No instruction 15 12 0.23 (ns)
Sheeran, Aubrey, &
Kellett (2007)
Community adults
with a
mental health
problem
Downregulate impact of
emotions on decision-
making
Attendance at an initial
mental health
appointment
Implementation intention No instruction 199 191 0.26**
Sheeran & Webb
(2012, Experiment
2)
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate impact of
emotions on decision-
making
Number of frustrating
puzzles offered to
complete
Implementation intention No instruction 30 30 0.60*
Sheeran & Webb
(2012, Experiment
3)
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate impact of
emotions on decision-
making
Frequency of getting drunk
during a week
Implementation intention No instruction 76 75 0.18 (ns)
Webb, Sheeran et al
(2012, Study 1)
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate negative
emotions stemming from
being unable to solve
anagrams
Willingness to engage in
risky behaviours
Implementation intention Goal intention 34 44 0.75***
Webb, Sheeran et al
(2012, Study 2)
Undergraduate
students
Downregulate high levels of
arousal
Sensitivity to odds of
winning on gambling
task
Implementation intention Goal intention 41 40 0.37**
a
Data for studies marked with superscript a are unpublished. For a copy of the dataset for McCormack et al. (2010) please contact
Paschal Sheeran, Department of Psychology, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, UK, S10 2TN, e-mail: p.sheeran@sheffield.ac.uk.
*¼p5.05, ** ¼p5.01; *** ¼p5.001.
170 WEBB ET AL.
0.61 to 1.20, based on 21 comparisons and a total sample size of 1306
participants (see Figure 1). This means that implementation intentions had a
large-sized effect on emotional outcomes relative to receiving no instruc-
tions, according to Cohen’s (1992) guidelines. The homogeneity Qstatistic
(Cochran, 1954) was significant, Q(20) ¼66.81, p5.001, suggesting that
the effect sizes were heterogeneous.
The sample-weighted average effect of forming implementation intentions
compared to forming goal intentions on emotional outcomes was d
þ
¼0.53
with a 95% confidence interval from 0.42 to 0.65, based on 29 comparisons
and a total sample size of 1208 (see Figure 1). This means that implemen-
tation intentions had a medium-sized effect on emotional outcomes relative
to goal intentions according to Cohen’s (1992) guidelines for interpreting
effect sizes. The homogeneity Qstatistic for the effect of forming implemen-
tation intentions relative to goal intentions was not significant, Q(28) ¼
37.56, ns, indicating that the effect sizes were homogeneous.
Finally, the sample-weighted average effect of goal intention instructions
(i.e., instructions to try to regulate emotions in some way) versus no
instructions was d
þ
¼0.20 with a 95% confidence interval from 0.03 to
0.36, based on 15 comparisons and a total sample size of 615 (see Figure 1).
This means that goal intention instructions had a small effect on emotional
outcomes relative to no instructions: effect sizes were also homogenous,
Q(14) ¼14.58, ns. This effect size is comparable to that found in a larger set
of studies by Webb, Miles, et al. (2012) where d
þ
was 0.00, 0.16, and 0.36 for
attentional deployment, response modulation, and cognitive change, across
205, 92, and 91 comparisons, respectively). The small effect of goal
intentions relative to no instructions observed here (i) corroborates the
Figure 1. Sample-weighted average change in emotional outcomes as a function of goal
intention and implementation intention instructions.
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 171
relatively modest effects of explicit regulation instructions on emotional
outcomes and (ii) confirms that studies evaluating the effects of forming
implementation intentions on emotional outcomes do not underestimate the
effect of forming goal intentions.
The findings of the present meta-analysis are consistent with Gollwitzer
and Sheeran’s (2006) review that reported a medium-to-large effect (d
þ
¼
0.65) of forming implementation intentions on (primarily non-emotional)
outcomes across 94 studies. This effect size falls between the medium-sized
effect of forming implementation intentions relative to goal intentions
(d
þ
¼0.53) and the large-sized effect of forming implementation intentions
relative to no instructions (d
þ
¼0.91) reported in the present review. Given
that Gollwitzer and Sheeran did not evaluate implementation intention
effects relative to different control conditions (goal intentions or no
instructions), it seems fair to conclude that implementation intentions
have comparable effects on emotional and non-emotional outcomes.
In the present review the effect of forming implementation intentions
relative to goal intentions (d
þ
¼0.53) was significantly smaller than the
effect relative to no instructions (d
þ
¼0.91), Q(1) ¼17.41, p5.001, sug-
gesting that the nature of the comparison group influences the effect of
forming implementation intentions. The difference between the two
comparison conditions can be understood in terms of the differing self-
regulatory tasks and subtasks that are faced by people who have formed
goal intentions versus those who have received no instructions. Specifically,
people who have received no instructions have to face all three self-
regulatory tasks (identify the need to regulate, deciding whether and how to
regulate, and enact regulation) whereas people who have formed goal
intentions only face the issue of deciding how to regulate (depending on
whether the instructions specify a strategy for emotion regulation) and how
to enact their strategy. Thus comparing goal intention instructions with no
instructions provides the effect of having tackled the first and, to an extent,
the second self-regulatory task—identifying the need to regulate and
deciding to do so. In contrast, comparing implementation intention
instructions to goal intention instructions provides the effect of forming
plans specifying when and how to regulate. Therefore, goal intention
instructions represent the more stringent and specific comparison condition
for evaluating the effect of forming implementation intentions.
MODERATORS OF THE EFFECT OF FORMING
IMPLEMENTATION INTENTION ON EMOTIONAL
OUTCOMES
Studies differed in terms of (i) the target emotion (e.g., anxiety, fear, disgust),
(ii) participants’ goal (e.g., to up- or to downregulate emotion), (iii) the sample,
172 WEBB ET AL.
(iv) the nature of the dependent variable, and (v) publication status. To
investigate the effect of each of these potential moderators, effect sizes from
each study were coded into one of the levels of the moderator (see Eagly &
Wood, 1994). Next the sample-weighted effect size (d
þ
) was calculated
separately for each level of the moderator and the Qstatistic was then used to
compare the effect sizes (see Table 6). Moderators were evaluated separately
TABLE 6
Moderators of the effect of forming implementation intentions on emotional outcomes
Moderator k N 95% CI Q d
þ
Sample
Comparison with no instruction control conditions
With psychological problems 10 788 0.39 to 1.57 37.14*** 0.98
a
Without psychological problems 11 526 0.52 to 0.88 23.52** 0.70
b
Comparison with goal intention control conditions
With psychological problems 11 436 0.47 to 1.14 14.36 0.80
a
Without psychological problems 18 754 0.27 to 0.56 13.73 0.42
b
Type of emotion
Comparison with no instruction control conditions
Disgust 4 132 0.70 to 1.44 0.57 1.07
Fear 6 202 0.95 to 1.58 3.12 1.26
a
Anxiety 6 678 70.12 to 1.91 25.88*** 0.89
b
Comparison with goal intention control conditions
Disgust 10 276 0.21 to 0.72 9.56 0.46
a
Fear 5 162 0.54 to 1.19 1.96 0.86
b
Anxiety 7 332 0.24 to 1.27 11.39 0.75
Outcome measure
Comparison with no instruction control conditions
Experiential 13 553 0.72 to 1.08 15.68 0.90
Behavioural 10 801 0.12 to 1.44 39.58*** 0.78
Physiological 2 58 0.27 to 1.50 1.21 0.88
Comparison with goal intention control conditions
Experiential 19 720 0.43 to 0.77 15.73 0.60
Behavioural 12 529 0.07 to 0.82 22.73* 0.45
Physiological 2 58 70.06 to 0.99 0.81 0.46
Publication status
Comparison with no instruction control conditions
Published studies 14 916 0.56 to 1.39 45.30*** 0.98
Unpublished studies 7 390 0.45 to 1.08 21.24** 0.77
Comparison with goal intention control conditions
Published studies 19 929 0.48 to 0.90 26.97 0.69
a
Unpublished studies 10 279 0.08 to 0.56 4.11 0.32
b
Effect sizes with different subscripts differ significantly.
*¼p5.05, ** ¼p5.01, *** ¼p5.001.
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 173
for comparisons with goal intention and no instruction comparison conditions,
respectively (recall that the effect of forming implementation intentions relative
to goal intentions was significantly smaller than the effect relative to no
instructions, see Figure 1, so it was not deemed legitimate to aggregate across
different comparison conditions when evaluating moderators).
The type of sample has the potential to influence the effectiveness of
implementation intentions. With the exception of three studies (McCormack
et al., 2010; Sheeran et al., 2007; Varley et al., 2011) all of the studies
recruited undergraduate students. However, a number of studies specifically
targeted participants with particular psychological problems (typically high
levels of anxiety, e.g., Schweiger Gallo et al., 2009) or subdivided
participants into those with and without psychological problems (e.g.,
Parks-Stamm et al., 2010, divided participants into those with high versus
low levels of test anxiety). Given that previous research has found that
forming implementation intentions is especially beneficial to goal attainment
among people who have difficulties with regulating their behaviour
(Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006), we examined effects separately for samples
with and without a psychological problem. Consistent with previous
research, forming implementation intentions was associated with larger
effect sizes among people with psychological problems (d
þ
¼0.98 and 0.70,
for comparisons with no instruction control conditions, Q(1) ¼5.70,
p5.05; d
þ
¼0.80 and 0.42, for comparison with goal intention control
conditions, Q(1) ¼9.37, p5.01). This finding suggests that forming
implementation intentions is especially beneficial among people who
experience difficulties regulating their emotions.
The type of emotion significantly moderated effect sizes. Forming
implementation intentions (relative to no instruction control conditions)
had a larger effect on fear (d
þ
¼1.26) than on anxiety (d
þ
¼0.89), Q(1) ¼
4.43, p5.05. There was no difference between the effects on disgust (d
þ
¼
1.07) and the effects on fear, Q(1) ¼0.63, ns, or anxiety, Q(1) ¼0.74, ns.
When compared to goal intention control conditions, forming implementa-
tion intentions also had a larger effect on fear (d
þ
¼0.86) than on disgust
(d
þ
¼0.46), Q(1) ¼3.76, p5.05. There was no difference between the
effects on anxiety (d
þ
¼0.75) and the effects on fear, Q(1) ¼0.29, ns,or
disgust, Q(1) ¼3.01, ns. So why did forming implementation intentions
tend to have larger effects on fear than on other outcomes? One possibility is
that emotion regulation is simply more effective for some emotions than for
others. In support of this hypothesis, Webb, Miles, et al. (2012) found that
the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies varied as a function of the
emotion being regulated (for example, emotion regulation strategies had a
larger effect on amusement than on sadness). There is also evidence that
emotion regulation processes may operate differently in clinical samples
(e.g., Watkins, 2008) and so the recruitment of spider-phobic participants in
174 WEBB ET AL.
Schweiger Gallo and Gollwitzer’s studies (2007, 2009) may have influenced
the observed effect size for fear, either because the effect of implementation
intentions was larger overall among participants with psychological
problems, or because the emotional response being regulated was stronger
in those participants, thereby providing greater scope for change.
The way that emotional outcomes are measured could influence
the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies. Mauss and Robinson
(2009) reviewed measures of emotion, dividing them into experiential
(typically, self-reported emotional experience), physiological (e.g., heart
rate, blood glucose), and behavioural measures (e.g., reaction times,
observer ratings of emotional expression). The nature of the outcome
measure did not significantly influence effect sizes, however. Implementation
intentions had comparable effects on experiential (d
þ
¼0.90), behavioural
(d
þ
¼0.78), and physiological (d
þ
¼0.88) measures, relative to no
instruction control conditions, Qs(1) 51.10, ns. Implementation intentions
also had comparable effects on experiential (d
þ
¼0.60), behavioural (d
þ
¼
0.45) and physiological (d
þ
¼0.46) measures, relative to goal intention
control conditions, Qs(1) 51.70, ns. In short, implementation intentions
have reliable effects on emotional outcomes across a range of measures.
Finally, publication status moderated the effect of forming implementation
intentions relative to goal intentions, with larger effect sizes being reported in
published (d
þ
¼0.69) relative to unpublished (d
þ
¼0.32) studies, Q(1) ¼
7.18, p5.01. Publication status also had a marginally significant moderating
effect on the effect of forming implementation intentions relative to no
instruction conditions, with marginally larger effect sizes being reported in
published (d
þ
¼0.98) relative to unpublished (d
þ
¼0.77) studies, Q(1) ¼
2.79, p5.10. There are two main reasons why unpublished studies may be
associated with smaller effect sizes. The first is that unpublished data may not
of high enough quality to warrant publication. The second reason is that
significant effect sizes may be more likely to be published. We are unable to
evaluate which of these reasons explains the impact of publication status here
(not least because the published data were all collected within the last 2 years
and could still be published). However, we note that all of our key findings
were replicated in the data from unpublished studies: Implementation
intentions have reliable effects on emotional outcomes compared to both
goal intention (d
þ
¼0.32) and no instruction conditions (d
þ
¼0.77); and the
effect size is larger when the control condition involves no instructions as
compared to goal intention instructions.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
The review of implementation intention effects on emotional outcomes has
revealed consistent benefits of forming if-then plans relative to no
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 175
instruction and goal intention (control) conditions. However, it is still
relatively early days for this type of research. The effects of forming
implementation intentions have only been examined on a relatively limited
set of emotions to date, namely disgust, fear, or anxiety. To our knowledge
no studies have yet investigated the effects of forming implementation
intentions on other negative emotions such as annoyance or anger. Given
that anger appears to be harder to regulate compared to other emotions
(Webb, Miles, et al., 2012), future research into whether implementation
intentions can aid people in regulating this type of emotion could be
particularly beneficial. Whether forming implementation intentions can help
people to upregulate positive affect (e.g., to get excited about celebrating
with a friend after a long day at work) also remains to be investigated.
Findings indicating that positive emotions broaden the scope of attention
and build resilience (e.g., Fredrickson & Losada, 2005) suggest that
implementation intention interventions could engender important impacts
not only on emotional well-being but also on social functioning and task
performance. In addition, instrumental perspectives on emotion regulation
(e.g., Koole, 2009, Tamir, 2009; Tamir & Ford, 2009; Tamir, Chiu, et al.,
2007; Tamir et al., 2008) indicate that it may sometimes be necessary to
regulate emotions in a contra-hedonic direction (i.e., upregulate negative
affect and downregulate positive affect). For example, people may try to
make themselves more anxious before a test (to improve performance), or
stifle laughter when in a library (for normative reasons). There is evidence
that people are less effective at regulating contra-hedonically than
hedonically (Webb, Miles, et al., 2012), again suggesting that forming
implementation intentions might be of particular benefit for contra-hedonic
emotion regulation.
The present review analysed the self-regulatory tasks involved in
successful emotion regulation in terms of (i) identifying the need to
regulate, (ii) deciding whether and how to regulate, and (iii) enacting a
regulation strategy. Studies that compared emotional outcomes for
implementation intentions versus no instruction conditions speak to the
benefits of forming if-then plans across these three tasks; studies that
compared implementation intentions versus goal intention conditions, on
the other hand, indicate the benefits of forming if-then plans for the
specific task of enacting an emotion regulation strategy. Undertaking more
fine-grained analyses of implementation intention effects for self-regulatory
tasks and subtasks constitutes an important avenue for future research.
For instance, studies could address whether if-then plans aid setting
appropriate emotion goals (reference values)—especially in contexts where
people may have little insight into which emotions may be instrumental for
goal attainment (e.g., worry in relation to avoidance goals; Carver, 2001;
Tamir, Chiu, et al., 2007). Implementation intentions may also prove
176 WEBB ET AL.
helpful for ensuring that one’s current emotional state is monitored with
optimal frequency (neither too infrequently nor too often; cf. Wismeijer
et al., 2009), and that discrepancies from standards initiate immediate and
efficient regulatory efforts.
Similarly, in relation to the task of deciding whether and how to
regulate, implementation intentions have been shown to be effective in
enhancing self-efficacy, improving the selection of behavioural strategies,
and promoting flexible strategy use in relation to changing circumstances
(e.g., Bayer & Gollwitzer, 2007; Henderson, Gollwitzer, & Oettingen, 2007;
for a review, see Gollwitzer, Parks-Stamm, Jaudas, & Sheeran, 2008).
However, research is needed to confirm that if-then plans promote the
attainment of each of these subtasks in the specific context of emotion
regulation. Relatedly, although the mechanisms underlying the effects of
forming implementation intentions on action control are well understood
(review by Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006), the extent to which these
mechanisms also pertain to the regulation of emotional outcomes by
implementation intentions warrants further research. Future studies will
need to test whether implementation intentions enable people both to
identify and seize opportunities for emotion regulation, and investigate
whether strategies that have been specified in implementation intentions
better conserve self-regulatory capacity compared to forming mere goal
intentions. Finally, several studies have indicated that implementation
intention effects are augmented when participants first engage in the
process of mental contrasting (i.e., contrast a desired future with obstacles
from the present reality that stand in the way; Oettingen, 2012; Oettingen,
Mayer, Sevincer, Pak, & Hagenah, 2009; Oettingen, Pak, & Schnetter,
2001). It may well be the case that emotion regulation is especially effective
when participants first engage in mental contrasting and then form if-then
plans in relation to the self-regulatory tasks that have been identified by
the mental contrasting exercise.
CONCLUSION
Research suggests that there is a gap between people’s emotion regulation
goals (e.g., I want to remain calm) and their emotional outcomes (e.g.,
anger, anxiety, and aggression). The present review applied an action
control perspective to emotion regulation by analysing discrepancies
between emotion regulation goals and emotional outcomes in terms of the
literature on intention–behaviour relations. We propose that the failure to
effectively regulate emotion regulation goals can result from difficulties in: (i)
identifying the need to regulate, (ii) deciding whether and how to regulate,
and (iii) enacting a regulation strategy. Meta-analysis suggested that
forming implementation intentions is effective way to regulate emotions,
EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF AFFECT 177
having a large effect on emotional outcomes, relative to no regulation
instructions and a medium-sized effect relative to goal intention instructions
(see Figure 1). Our hope is that an action control perspective on emotion
regulation will provide a conceptual framework for analysing why people
struggle to regulate their emotions and what tasks they need to resolve in
order to overcome these difficulties.
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