The Facilitative Effects of Creative Cognitive Reappraisal on Teachers' Emotion Regulation

Abstract

Creative cognitive reappraisal is an emerging emotion regulation strategy, but existing experimental studies often lack ecological validity due to two key limitations: the challenge of spontaneously generating creative cognitive reappraisal and the passive presentation of materials, which resembles comprehension rather than active application. This study addresses these gaps by investigating the teachability and effectiveness of creative cognitive reappraisal in real-world contexts. Using a 3 × 2 mixed-factorial design, 82 teachers provided two personal negative events at baseline and were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (creative cognitive reappraisal, ordinary cognitive reappraisal, and positive emotional picture). Participants were trained in their assigned emotion regulation strategy based on a learning-test paradigm, using materials from the International Affective Picture System and Teachers' Negative Emotional Scenarios System. Pleasure was measured at two time points: immediately after the learning phase and 3 days later, using 20 common and two personal negative teacher-related scenarios. Qualitative data on insights gained from the learning phase were also collected. For common negative events, creative cognitive reappraisal demonstrated a meaningful, delayed, and significant effect after 3 days. The creative cognitive reappraisal group also generated the most creative reappraisal interpretations, highlighting its unique efficacy. These findings suggest that creative cognitive reappraisal is a teachable and enduring skill with delayed benefit for regulating negative emotions in real-world contexts. It highlighted the importance of allowing time for emotional processing—rather than attempting immediate regulation—which could create a pathway for more effective regulation later.

Keywords

creative cognitive reappraisal / emotion regulation / IAPS / negative emotion / pleasure / teacher / TNESS

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