Abstract/Summary

The capacity to regulate emotions is essential for well-being (Houle & Philippe, 2020; Roth & Benita, 2023b; Ryan et al., 2015b; Weinstein et al., 2011). The research presented in my thesis examined the role of intentional exploration of emotional experiences, a form of regulation that is motivated and energised by active interest and curiosity (Roth et al., 2019), in processing difficult moments in community samples. The first empirical chapter (Chapter 2) investigated three emotion regulatory styles (integrative emotion regulation, suppression, and emotion dysregulation) and their associations with adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies in a one-month longitudinal study. It then contrasted two integrative emotion regulation forms, intentional exploration and receptive attention (receptive and nonjudgmental attention of emotional experiences; Roth et al., 2019), in daily well-being through a seven-day daily diary study. Chapter 3 reports three studies that investigated interest-taking and trait-level intentional exploration in processing shame experiences. The current literature indicates that shame is associated with avoidance tendencies (McLachlan et al., 2011; Schmader & Lickel, 2006), but can be countered by interest-taking, an essential quality of intentional exploration that can help individuals connect with themselves again through self-reflection, insight, and introspection. Studies 3-5 attempted to manipulate interest when writing about recent shame experiences. Chapter 4 presents three additional studies that explored how individual differences in intentional exploration influence solitude experiences (e.g., rumination, introspection, and peaceful affect) and different solitude forms (distracted vs. private). In these chapters, intentional exploration was associated with (1) adaptive coping and daily well-being, (2) constructive tendencies about shame experiences but not lower shame, and (3) self-connection in solitude. The implications of the findings and potential future studies are discussed.