Emotion Beliefs and Momentary Repetitive Negative Thinking During Behavioral Task Performance

Emotion beliefs (beliefs about the usefulness and controllability of emotions) are considered important for mental health because they may shape emotion regulation processes (Ford & Gross, 2019). Individuals who believe that emotions are uncontrollable may be less inclined to engage in efforts to regulate emotions or use effective regulation strategies. Previous research indicates that emotion beliefs are associated with self-reported use of ineffective emotion regulation strategies such as repetitive negative thinking (e.g., De Castella et al., 2013; Ford et al., 2018). Repetitive negative thinking (RNT), characterized by recurrent and intrusive negative thoughts and encompassing both rumination and worry, is a transdiagnostic process involved in mental health problems such as anxiety and depression (Ehring & Watkins, 2008). Prior studies’ reliance on self-reported RNT use represents a limitation such that it remains unclear how emotion beliefs are related to momentary RNT in response to situations that matter. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to examine how emotion beliefs and in particular beliefs about the controllability of negative emotions are associated with momentary RNT during a behavioral task following a negative emotion induction. Additionally, we explore whether emotion beliefs predict subsequent emotional experiences during the behavioral task.