Distraction and expressive suppression strategies in down-regulation of high- and low-intensity positive emotions

Emotion intensity is important for emotional regulation process. The studies in this literature, however, have generally focused on the down-regulation of negative emotions. Few studies have examined the down-regulation of positive emotions. Distraction and expressive suppression belong to disengagement strategies, which direct coping efforts away from emotions. Participants are more likely to select distraction and expressive suppression when motivated to down-regulate their emotions. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the impact of emotional intensity on down-regulating positive emotions via distraction and expressive suppression. The event-related potentials (ERPs) of college students were recorded while they were instructed to down-regulate positive emotions using expressive suppression or distraction versus free viewing when exposed to high- and low-intensity pleasant stimuli. Subsequently, participants were instructed to rate their positive experience using a 9-point scale. Supporting our predictions, behavioral results showed that both strategies could dramatically reduce high-intensity positive experience relative to viewing, and distraction led to a larger reduction of high-intensity positive experience than expressive suppression. Both strategies could not decrease low-intensity positive experience relative to viewing. ERP results showed that distraction successfully attenuated the early (500-700 ms) and late (700-1500 ms) stage of late positive potential (LPP) in high-intensity, and in low-intensity it modulated the early (but not late) LPP relative to viewing. Unexpectedly, expressive suppression effectively attenuated the early and late LPP in high- and low-intensity relative to viewing. The findings suggest that expressive suppression and distraction can effectively down-regulate positive emotions; however, distraction is more susceptible to emotional intensity and time.