Table 2.

Training instructions for (A) the accept and (B) reappraise emotion regulation strategies

A. Accept

‘To accept, your task is to notice what you are thinking and feeling, and to allow those thoughts and feelings to be there. So rather than try to push the feeling or thought away or try to feel differently, you just acknowledge it, perhaps saying, “That’s just how it is right now,” “This feeling will come and go,” or “I can accept this thought.” Note that acceptance doesn’t mean that you have to like the feeling, or that you are resigning yourself to the feeling. It is reminding yourself that it’s ok to feel what you feel without having to change it’.

B. Reappraise

‘To reappraise something means to take a look at it in a different light or from another perspective. For the negative images in this study, that will mean reinterpreting the image in some way. For example, you could remind yourself that you don’t know the people in the picture, so no one close to you was affected by the situation. Alternatively, you could continue the story from the picture but give it a happy ending. For example, if you saw a picture of a couple arguing, you could imagine them working out their differences and being happy with one another again’.

Notes: Following the written instructions, participants were presented with sample pictures and practiced the strategies aloud with an experimenter, who provided corrective feedback on strategy use, as necessary.