A temporal-causal network model for age and gender difference in choice of emotion regulation strategies

Abstract

Emotion regulation is an essential part of human’s life as it enables people to manage their emotions and to avoid negative consequences of them and/or situations triggering them. The choice of an emotion regulation strategy in a specific situation has a profound impact on someone’s psychological well-being. Several psychological studies also have highlighted age and gender differences in choice of emotion regulation strategies specifically in relation to cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. This paper, for the first time, presents a computational model for the role of age and gender differences in the choice of emotion regulation strategies. Simulation results are reported for various combinations of age and gender and the respective choices of regulation strategies as found in empirical literature.