A Comparison of the Effects of Different Perspectives in Terms of Reappraisal Subtypes on Affect: Positive Reappraisal and Putting into Perspective

Abstract

Reappraisal has attracted attention as one of the effective emotion regulation strategies. In recent years, it has been suggested that reappraisal has some subtypes. However, the effects of the subtypes on affect have not yet been investigated in detail. In the current study, we focused on “positive reappraisal” and “putting into perspective” as reappraisal subtypes. The purpose of this study was to experimentally investigate the effects of the two subtypes on affect. Participants were 107 undergraduate and graduate students (57 males and 50 females) from a Japanese university. They were randomly assigned to one of two conditions (positive reappraisal or putting into perspective). They completed a questionnaire to evaluate three types of affect at baseline, after a stress induction task, and after a reappraisal task. A t-test was conducted of the change score of each type of affect during the reappraisal task. The positive reappraisal group showed more of an increase in active positive affect and more of a decrease in depression and anxiety compared with the putting into perspective group. The result for non-active positive affect was not significant. In conclusion, positive reappraisal was a more effective strategy for emotion regulation than putting into perspective. The findings also indicate that putting into perspective was as effective for increasing non-active positive affect as positive reappraisal.