Abstract
Considering future consequences predicts many self-regulatory behaviors. Moreover, emotion regulation choices often involve trade-offs between immediate hedonic benefits and future well-being and mental health. We propose that focusing on future consequences may also predict emotion regulation choices. We examined whether people who consider future consequences of their actions are more likely to choose adaptive strategies and less likely to choose maladaptive strategies (Study 1) and whether people believe that adaptive and maladaptive strategies have differential short- and long-term consequences (Study 2). In Study 1, consideration of future consequences was related to choosing more adaptive and fewer maladaptive strategies for regulating negative emotions. In Study 2, participants believed that adaptive strategies are more effective in the short-term than in the long-term and that maladaptive strategies are more effective in the long-term than in the short-term. Moreover, commonalities in favored strategies were observed across the two studies. Taken together, the findings suggest that trait future time focus plays a significant role in emotion regulation preferences and that people have some knowledge about the varied temporal consequences of different strategies.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Change history
01 August 2018
The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake in the last paragraph of result section in Study 1.
01 August 2018
The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake in the last paragraph of result section in Study 1.
01 August 2018
The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake in the last paragraph of result section in Study 1.
References
Aldao, A., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Schweizer, S. (2010). Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(2), 217–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2009.11.004.
Aldao, A., Sheppes, G., & Gross, J. J. (2015). Emotion regulation flexibility. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 39(3), 263–278. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-014-9662-4.
Azizli, N., Atkinson, B. E., Baughman, H. M., & Giammarco, E. A. (2015). Relationships between general self-efficacy, planning for the future, and life satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 82, 58–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.03.006.
Bargai, N., Ben-Shakhar, G., & Shalev, A. Y. (2007). Posttraumatic stress disorder and depression in battered women: The mediating role of learned helplessness. Journal of Family Violence, 22(5), 267–275. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-007-9078-y.
Billings, A. G., & Moos, R. H. (1981). The role of coping responses and social resources in attenuating the stress of life events. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4(2), 139–157. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00844267.
Biswas-Diener, R., Kashdan, T. B., & King, L. a. (2009). Two traditions of happiness research, not two distinct types of happiness. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(3), 208–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760902844400.
Bonanno, G. A., & Burton, C. L. (2013). Regulatory flexibility: An individual differences perspective on coping and emotion regulation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(6), 591–612. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691613504116.
Bonanno, G. A., Papa, A., Lalande, K., Westphal, M., & Coifman, K. (2004). The importance of being flexible: The ability to both enhance and suppress emotional expression predicts long-term adjustment. Psychological Science, 15(7), 482–487.
Boninger, D. S., Gleicher, F., & Strathman, A. (1994). Counterfactual thinking: From what might have been to what may be. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(2), 297–307. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.2.297.
Boniwell, I., Osin, E., Linley, P. A., & Ivanchenko, G. V. (2010). A question of balance: Time perspective and well-being in British and Russian samples. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5(1), 24–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760903271181.
Bostic, T. J., Mcgartland, D., & Hood, M. (2011). A validation of the subjective vitality scale using structural equation modeling. Social Indicators Research, 52(3), 313–324. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007136110218.
Bruehlman-Senecal, E., Ayduk, Ö, & John, O. P. (2016). Taking the long view: Implications of individual differences in temporal distancing for affect, stress reactivity, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000103.
Bushman, B. J. (2002). Does venting anger feed or extinguish the flame? Catharsis, rumination, distraction, anger, and aggressive responding. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(6), 724–731. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167202289002.
Bushman, B. J., Baumeister, R. F., & Phillips, C. M. (2001). Do people aggress to improve their mood? Catharsis beliefs, affect regulation opportunity, and aggressive responding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(1), 17–32. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.81.1.17.
Cameron, L. D., & Overall, N. C. (2017). Suppression and expression as distinct emotion-regulation processes in daily interactions: Longitudinal and meta-analyses. Emotion, Online Fir. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000334.
Chervonsky, E., & Hunt, C. (2017). Suppression and expression of emotion in social and interpersonal outcomes: A meta-analysis. Emotion, 17(4), 669–683. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000270.
Clancy, F., Prestwich, A., Caperon, L., & O’Connor, D. B. (2016). Perseverative cognition and health behaviors: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10, 534. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00534.
Dassen, F. C. M., Houben, K., & Jansen, A. (2015). Time orientation and eating behavior: Unhealthy eaters consider immediate consequences, while healthy eaters focus on future health. Appetite, 91, 13–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2015.03.020.
Denson, T. F., Moulds, M. L., & Grisham, J. R. (2012). The effects of analytical rumination, reappraisal, and distraction on anger experience. Behavior Therapy, 43(2), 355–364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2011.08.001.
DeSteno, D., Gross, J. J., & Kubzansky, L. (2013). Affective science and health: The importance of emotion and emotion regulation. Health Psychology, 32(5), 474–486. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030259.
Diener, C. I., & Dweck, C. S. (1978). An analysis of learned helplessness: Continuous changes in performance, strategy, and achievement cognitions following failure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(5), 451–462. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.36.5.451.
Diener, E., & Emmons, R. A. (1984). The independence of positive and negative affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47(5), 1105–1117. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.47.5.1105.
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larson, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction With Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13.
Dixon-Gordon, K. L., Aldao, A., & De Los Reyes, A. (2014). Repertoires of emotion regulation: A person-centered approach to assessing emotion regulation strategies and links to psychopathology. Cognition and Emotion, 29(7), 1314–1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2014.983046.
Ellis, A. J., Vanderlind, W. M., & Beevers, C. G. (2013). Enhanced anger reactivity and reduced distress tolerance in major depressive disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 37(3), 498–509. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-012-9494-z.
Erisman, S. M., & Roemer, L. (2010). A preliminary investigation of the effects of experimentally induced mindfulness on emotional responding to film clips. Emotion, 10(1), 72–82. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017162.
Goldin, P. R., McRae, K., Ramel, W., & Gross, J. J. (2008). The neural bases of emotion regulation: Reappraisal and suppression of negative emotion. Biological Psychiatry, 63(6), 577–586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.05.031.
Gross, J. J. (2015). Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects. Psychological Inquiry, 26(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2014.940781.
Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(2), 348–362. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.348.
Gross, J. J., & Thompson, R. A. (2007). Emotion regulation: Conceptual foundations. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of Emotion Regulation (1st edn., pp. 3–24). New York: Guilford Press.
Gutentag, T., Halperin, E., Porat, R., Bigman, Y. E., & Tamir, M. (2016). Successful emotion regulation requires both conviction and skill: Beliefs about the controllability of emotions, reappraisal, and regulation success. Cognition and Emotion, 31(6), 1225–1233. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2016.1213704.
Hart, C. M., Ritchie, T. D., Hepper, E. G., & Gebauer, J. E. (2015). The Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding Short Form (BIDR-16). SAGE Open, 5(4), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015621113.
Heiy, J. E., & Cheavens, J. S. (2014). Back to basics: A naturalistic assessment of the experience and regulation of emotion. Emotion, 14(5), 878–891. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037231.
Henry, J. D., & Crawford, J. R. (2005). The short-form version of the depression anxiety stress scales (DASS-21): Construct validity and normative data in a large non-clinical sample. The British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44, 227–239. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466505X29657.
Huta, V. (2012). Linking peoples’ pursuit of eudaimonia and hedonia with characteristics of their parents: Parenting styles, verbally endorsed values, and role modeling. Journal of Happiness Studies, 13(1), 47–61. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-011-9249-7.
Huta, V., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). Pursuing pleasure or virtue: The differential and overlapping well-being benefits of hedonic and eudaimonic motives. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11(6), 735–762. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-009-9171-4.
Joireman, J., Anderson, J., & Strathman, A. (2003). The aggression paradox: Understanding links among aggression, sensation seeking, and the consideration of future consequences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(6), 1287–1302. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.6.1287.
Joireman, J., & King, S. (2016). Individual differences in the consideration of future and (more) immediate consequences: A review and directions for future research. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10(5), 313–326. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12252.
Joireman, J., Shaffer, M. J., Balliet, D., & Strathman, A. (2012). Promotion orientation explains why future-oriented people exercise and eat healthy: Evidence from the two-factor consideration of future consequences-14 Scale. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(10), 1272–1287. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167212449362.
Joireman, J., Strathman, A., & Balliet, D. (2006). Considering future consequences. In L. Sanna & E. Chang (Eds.), Judgments over time: The interplay of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (pp. 88–92). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kalisch, R. (2009). The functional neuroanatomy of reappraisal: Time matters. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 33(8), 1215–1226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.06.003.
Kross, E., & Ayduk, O. (2008). Facilitating adaptive emotional analysis: Distinguishing distanced-analysis of depressive experiences from immersed-analysis and distraction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(7), 924–938. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208315938.
Lepore, S. J. (1997). Expressive writing moderates the relation between intrusive thoughts and depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(5), 1030–1037. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.73.5.1030.
Lepore, S. J., Ragan, J. D., & Jones, S. (2000). Talking facilitates cognitive-emotional processes of adaptation to an acute stressor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(3), 499–508. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.78.3.499.
Marjanovic, Z., Holden, R., Struthers, W., Cribbie, R., & Greenglass, E. (2015). The inter-item standard deviation (ISD): An index that discriminates between conscientious and random responders. Personality and Individual Differences, 84, 79–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.08.021.
Marjanovic, Z., Struthers, C. W., Cribbie, R., & Greenglass, E. R. (2014). The Conscientious Responders Scale: A new tool for discriminating between conscientious and random responders. SAGE Open, 4(3), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014545964.
McKay, M. T., Cole, J. C., & Percy, A. (2015). Further evidence for a bifactor solution for the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale: Measurement and conceptual implications. Personality and Individual Differences, 83, 219–222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.04.022.
McKay, M. T., Percy, A., & Cole, J. C. (2013). Consideration of future consequences and alcohol use among Northern Irish adolescents. Journal of Substance Use, 18(5), 377–391. https://doi.org/10.3109/14659891.2012.685793.
Meade, A. W., & Craig, S. B. (2012). Identifying careless responses in survey data. Psychological Methods, 17(3), 437–455. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028085.
Miller, R. B., & Brickman, S. J. (2004). A Model of Future-Oriented Motivation, 16(1), 9–33.
Naragon-Gainey, K., McMahon, T. P., & Chacko, T. P. (2017). The structure of common emotion regulation strategies: A meta-analytic examination. Psychological Bulletin, 143(4), 384–427. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000093.
Nelis, D., Kotsou, I., Quoidbach, J., Hansenne, M., Weytens, F., Dupuis, P., & Mikolajczak, M. (2011). Increasing emotional competence improves psychological and physical well-being, social relationships, and employability. Emotion, 11(2), 354–366. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021554.
Nelis, D., Quoidbach, J., Hansenne, M., & Mikolajczak, M. (2011). Measuring individual differences in emotion regulation: The Emotion Regulation Profile-Revised (ERP-R). Psychologica Belgica, 51(1), 49–91.
Ortner, C. N. M., Zelazo, P. D., & Anderson, A. K. (2013). Effects of emotion regulation on concurrent attentional performance. Motivation and Emotion, 37(2), 346–354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-012-9310-9.
Pedersen, W. C., Denson, T. F., Goss, R. J., Vasquez, E. A., Kelley, N. J., & Miller, N. (2011). The impact of rumination on aggressive thoughts, feelings, arousal, and behaviour. The British Journal of Social Psychology, 50, 281–301. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466610X515696.
Peters, B. R., Joireman, J., & Ridgway, R. L. (2005). Individual differences in the consideration of future consequences scale correlate with sleep habits, sleep quality, and GPA in university students. Psychological Reports, 96, 817–824. https://doi.org/10.2466/PR0.96.3.817-824.
Philippot, P. (2013). Emotion regulation: A heuristic paradigm for psychopathology. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 45(5), 600–607. https://doi.org/10.5127/jep.034513.
Quoidbach, J., Berry, E. V., Hansenne, M., & Mikolajczak, M. (2010). Positive emotion regulation and well-being: Comparing the impact of eight savoring and dampening strategies. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(5), 368–373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.03.048.
Quoidbach, J., Wood, A. M., & Hansenne, M. (2009). Back to the future: the effect of daily practice of mental time travel into the future on happiness and anxiety. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(5), 349–355. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760902992365.
Ray, R. D., Wilhelm, F. H., & Gross, J. J. (2008). All in the mind’s eye? Anger rumination and reappraisal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(1), 133–145. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.133.
Richards, J. M., & Gross, J. J. (1999). Composure at any cost? The cognitive consequences of emotion suppression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25(8), 1033–1044. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672992511010.
Schäfer, J., Naumann, E., Holmes, E. A., Tuschen-Caffier, B., & Samson, A. C. (2017). Emotion regulation strategies in depressive and anxiety symptoms in youth: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 46(2), 261–276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0585-0.
Schutte, N. S., Manes, R. R., & Malouff, J. M. (2009). Antecedent-focused emotion regulation, response modulation and well-being. Current Psychology, 28(1), 21–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-009-9044-3.
Sheppes, G., & Gross, J. J. (2011). Is timing everything? Temporal considerations in emotion regulation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15(4), 319–331. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868310395778.
Sheppes, G., & Meiran, N. (2007). Better late than never? On the dynamics of online regulation of sadness using distraction and cognitive reappraisal. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33(11), 1518–1532. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167207305537.
Sheppes, G., Scheibe, S., Suri, G., & Gross, J. J. (2011). Emotion-regulation choice. Psychological Science, 22(11), 1391–1396. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611418350.
Sheppes, G., Scheibe, S., Suri, G., Radu, P., Blechert, J., & Gross, J. J. (2014). Emotion regulation choice: A conceptual framework and supporting evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(1), 163–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030831.
Shipp, A. J., Edwards, J. R., & Lambert, L. S. (2009). Conceptualization and measurement of temporal focus: The subjective experience of the past, present, and future. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 110(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.05.001.
Single, E., Rehm, J., Robson, L., & Truong, M. V. (2000). The relative risks and etiologic fractions of different causes of death and disease attributable to alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use in Canada. CMAJ, 162(12), 1669–1675.
Stolarski, M., & Matthews, G. (2016). Time perspectives predict mood states and satisfaction with life over and above personality. Current Psychology, 35(4), 516–526. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9515-2.
Strathman, A., Gleicher, F., Boninger, D. S., & Edwards, C. S. (1994). The consideration of future consequences: Weighing immediate and distant outcomes of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(4), 742–752. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.66.4.742.
Tabachnick, S. E., Miller, R. B., & Relyea, G. E. (2008). The relationships among students’ future-oriented goals and subgoals, perceived task instrumentality, and task-oriented self-regulation strategies in an academic environment. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100(3), 629–642. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.100.3.629.
Tamir, M. (2009). What do people want to feel and why? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(2), 101–106.
Thiruchselvam, R., Blechert, J., Sheppes, G., Rydstrom, A., & Gross, J. J. (2011). The temporal dynamics of emotion regulation: An EEG study of distraction and reappraisal. Biological Psychology, 87(1), 84–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.02.009.
van Beek, J., Antonides, G., & Handgraaf, M. J. J. (2013). Eat now, exercise later: The relation between consideration of immediate and future consequences and healthy behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(6), 785–791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.12.015.
Zhang, J. W., Howell, R. T., & Stolarski, M. (2013). Comparing three methods to measure a balanced time perspective: The relationship between a balanced time perspective and subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14(1), 169–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-012-9322-x.
Zimbardo, P. G., & Boyd, J. N. (1999). Putting time in perspective: A valid, reliable individual-differences metric. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1271–1288. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.77.6.1271.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [grant number 430-2014-00626]. The authors thank Allister Grapes for his assistance with data collection.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ortner, C.N.M., Chadwick, L. & Wilson, A.M. Think ahead before you regulate: A focus on future consequences predicts choices of and beliefs about strategies for the down-regulation of negative emotions. Motiv Emot 42, 896–908 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9705-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9705-3