EMOTION AND
EMOTION REGULATION
Contemporary emotion theories emphasize the
ways emotions facilitate adaptation by readying
behavioral responses (Tooby & Cosmides,
Chapter 8, this volume), enhancing memory
for important events (Phelps, 2006), and
guiding interpersonal interactions (Keltner &
Kring, 1998). However, emotions are by no
means always helpful. They can hurt us as well
as help us (Parrott, 1993). They do so when
they are of the wrong type, when they come at
the wrong time, or when they occur at the
wrong intensity level. At times such as these,
we may be highly motivated to try to regulate
our emotions. To understand how emotions are
regulated (or become dysregulated), we
first must consider the target of emotion
regulation-namely, emotion itself.
What Is Emotion?
As with many of the terms we use in psychology,
"emotion" was lifted from everyday discourse.
For this reason, it has fuzzy boundaries
rather than classical edges, and it refers to an
astonishing array of happenings-from the
mild to the intense, the brief to the extended,
the simple to the complex, and the private to
the public. Irritation when a shoelace breaks
counts. So do amusement at a joke, anger at
political oppression, surprise at a friend's new
"look," grief at the death of a parent, and guilt
over a moral lapse