Date of Graduation

5-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Psychology (MA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Psychological Science

Advisor/Mentor

Veilleux, Jennifer C.

Committee Member

Ham, Lindsay S.

Second Committee Member

Makhanova, Anastasia

Keywords

Emotion; Impulsivity; Transdiagnostic

Abstract

Emotion-related impulsivity, or the engagement in impulsive reactions specifically in response to emotions, has been identified as a crucial transdiagnostic factor. Mixed evidence from ecological momentary assessments (EMA) underscores a potential discrepancy between the existing measurements of emotion-related impulsivity at trait and state levels. Unlike previous EMA studies examining emotion-related impulsivity through measures of urgency, the current study tested Carver and colleagues’ (2008) reflexive responding to emotion framework by investigating the relationship between emotional control and emotion-related impulsivity. Participants (N = 197) with varying levels of emotional control completed one week of EMA to investigate two central questions. First, we investigated whether varying trait levels of emotional control predicted momentary self-efficacy for managing emotion as measured by distress intolerance and willpower when people were experiencing stronger emotions than typical, where we predicted that those with less emotional control would exhibit decreased momentary self-efficacy for managing emotion in comparison to those with greater emotional control. Second, we tested whether trait levels of emotional control would impact momentary urges and actions in response to elevated emotions among those with varying sensitivities toward reward and threat. Specifically, we predicted that, among those with low emotional control, 1.) decreased reward sensitivity and increased threat sensitivity would be associated with rash inaction in response to higher negative and lower positive affect, and 2.) increased reward sensitivity and decreased threat sensitivity would be associated with rash action. Findings support the notion that perception of emotional control is associated with momentary self-efficacy for managing emotion and provide partial support for the reflexive responding to emotion framework.

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