The results of this study may have useful implications for psychotherapy research and practice.Īlthough divergent thinking ability in different domains may largely rely on the same basic executive functions, domain-specific functions may also be important, in particular when it comes to more real-life creativity demands.
These findings suggest that in the case of cognitive reappraisal, benefits for well-being in women might depend on a more complex combination of basic ability, habits, and efficacy-beliefs, along with the use of other emotion regulation strategies. Yet, higher cognitive reappraisal capacity predicted fewer depressive daily-life experiences in men only. Analyses showed that men and women did not differ in their basic capacity to generate alternative appraisals for anxiety-eliciting scenarios, suggesting similar functional cognitive mechanisms in the implementation of this strategy.
Participants' self-perceived efficacy in emotion regulation was additionally assessed. This study took a novel approach by investigating gender differences in the capacity for generating cognitive reappraisals in adverse situations in a sample of 67 female and 59 male students, using a maximum performance test of the inventiveness in generating reappraisals. Similarly, little is known on how such basic capacities relate to indices of well-being in both sexes. Our findings corroborate that inter-individual differences in the capacity to reappraise critical situations can have a tangible impact on individual characteristics that suggest proneness to paranoia and thus, may shed light on the link between maladaptive emotion regulation and maladaptive behavior.ĭespite major research interest regarding gender differences in emotion regulation, it is still not clear whether men and women differ in their basic capacity to implement specific emotion regulation strategies, as opposed to indications of the habitual use of these strategies in self-reports. Confirming our hypothesis, results showed that less left-lateralized activation at ventrolateral prefrontal sites during reappraisal efforts predicted a higher degree of paranoia proneness and that this relationship was mediated through poorer cognitive reappraisal capacity. Mediation analyses were used to establish the directions of potential relationships. Prefrontal EEG alpha asymmetry changes were recorded while n=57 participants generated alternative appraisals of anger-eliciting events, and were linked to their cognitive reappraisal capacity and self-reported paranoia proneness (aggregated personality facets of hostility and suspiciousness Personality Inventory for DSM-5). This was based on the premise that failed reappraisal of harmful peer behavior may support more hostile and suspicious attributions that, over time, may accentuate paranoia-prone personality features. Interested in further practical outcomes of reappraisal inventiveness, we tested whether a reduced brain-based capacity for cognitive reappraisal of anger-eliciting situations may also facilitate the proneness to paranoid thoughts. Previous research demonstrated that this capacity depended on recruitment of more left-lateralized activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex during reappraisal efforts (EEG alpha asymmetry), and that this specific brain activation pattern influenced individuals’ chronic stress perception in daily life. Reappraisal inventiveness constitutes a promising ability concept in cognitive reappraisal research, measuring what individuals are maximally capable of when reappraising aversive situations.
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