In plain language
Most psychology researchers define emotion regulation as manipulating the quality, duration, or intensity of emotions — usually with the goal of maximizing positive feelings and minimizing negative ones. This book chapter, written for The Oxford Handbook of the Positive Humanities, challenges that definition. Drawing on what philosophers call the paradox of hedonism, the authors point out that direct attempts to feel good often lead to feeling bad.
As an alternative, the chapter proposes that emotion regulation can focus on doing good rather than feeling good. The authors bring psychological science into dialogue with the humanities — philosophy, history, and literature — and identify five skills that study of the humanities can develop: guiding behavior through ethical principles and virtue; employing reasoning while recognizing its limitations (drawing on Eastern philosophy); developing emotional awareness; broadening emotional responses; and cultivating perspective through history and literature.
The stakes go beyond personal wellbeing. The authors argue that societal harms such as prejudice, discrimination, and indifference to suffering often arise when individuals prioritize their own emotional comfort at the expense of others. Reorienting emotion regulation toward values and effective action, rather than the relentless pursuit of good feelings, may benefit both individuals and the communities they live in.
Key findings
- The chapter challenges the standard psychological definition of emotion regulation as manipulating the quality, duration, or intensity of emotions to maximize positive and minimize negative feelings.
- Direct attempts to feel good often lead to feeling bad — the paradox of hedonism — making feel-good-focused regulation strategies self-defeating.
- Emotion regulation can instead be oriented toward doing good rather than feeling good.
- Study of the humanities can build five emotion-regulation-relevant skills: acting from ethical principles and virtue; reasoning while recognizing its limits; emotional awareness; broadened emotional responding; and perspective gained through history and literature.
- Societal harms such as prejudice, discrimination, and indifference to suffering often stem from individuals prioritizing their own emotional comfort at the expense of others.
- The chapter integrates psychological science with the humanities, showing the two traditions offer complementary lessons for understanding and improving emotion regulation.
How to cite
APA
Ciarrochi, J., Hayes, L., & Sahdra, B. (2022). Understanding and improving emotion regulation: Lessons from psychological science and the humanities. In L. Tay & J. O. Pawelski (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Positive Humanities (pp. 150-166). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190064570.013.38
BibTeX
@incollection{ciarrochi2022understanding,
author = {Ciarrochi, Joseph and Hayes, Louise and Sahdra, Baljinder},
title = {Understanding and Improving Emotion Regulation: Lessons from Psychological Science and the Humanities},
booktitle = {The Oxford Handbook of the Positive Humanities},
editor = {Tay, Louis and Pawelski, James O.},
publisher = {Oxford University Press},
year = {2022},
pages = {150--166},
doi = {10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190064570.013.38}
}
Related work
- All publications by Joseph Ciarrochi (searchable, with free PDFs)
- Process-Based Therapy & Idionomic Analysis
Author: Joseph Ciarrochi (ORCID 0000-0003-0471-8100). Free copy hosted with permission for scholarly use. Please cite the published version via the DOI above.