Master of Arts in Psychology Jaakko Tammilehto examined the social and cognitive underpinnings of emotion regulation in his dissertation. The dissertation focused particularly on clarifying the roles of parenting styles, effortful control of action and attention, and attachment processes in emotion regulation.
In his research, Tammilehto used the longitudinal design of the Miracles of Development research project, which followed families from infancy to late adolescence, examining the developmental stage-specific role of parenting in adolescent emotion regulation. However, the main focus of Tammilehto's dissertation was on the ecological momentary assessment method, where adult emotion regulation and related factors were monitored in real-time using smartphones several times a day over multiple days.
"Everyday emotion regulation has often been studied as a relatively stable and static phenomenon. However, emotion regulation is a dynamic process that lives and flows in constant interaction with emotions and changes in the environment," says Tammilehto.
In his dissertation, Tammilehto combines a more traditional longitudinal approach to emotion regulation with dynamic ecological momentary assessment. The goal was to deepen the understanding of the key factors that colour the long-term development of emotion regulation and its short-term dynamics in everyday life.
"My dissertation findings emphasise the importance of beliefs, experiences, and memories related to close relationships in everyday emotion regulation. Surprisingly, the effortful control of action and attention turned out to be a less significant factor in the dynamics of everyday emotion regulation than expected," says Tammilehto.
According to the study, more stable attachment patterns regarding the availability and safety of close others, as well as one's own competence and worthiness, are connected to how we experience and regulate our emotions. Tammilehto's findings also suggest that momentary changes in feelings of security and insecurity may interact dynamically with emotion regulation strategies.
"One primary function of common emotion regulation strategies, such as rumination and reappraisal, may relate to achieving and maintaining a sense of security, as well as coping with feelings of insecurity," Tammilehto states.
Experiences and memories are reflected in subsequent regulation of emotions
According to the findings, it also seems that childhood parenting styles alone do not determine the long-term developmental trajectory of children's emotion regulation. Rather than individual developmental stages being decisive, the most significant factors may be the key subjective experiences and memories with parents accumulated throughout childhood.
"These childhood experiences and memories may colour the later use of emotion regulation strategies. Overall, the developmental trajectories of emotion regulation may contain several potential turning points. This is encouraging as it emphasises the possibility of change at different stages of development," Tammilehto says.
Research on the dynamics of emotion regulation can provide practical insights from real life and lay the groundwork for developing individualised interventions that support wellbeing in the future.
Building bridges between research fields
Due to the significance of emotion regulation for psychological wellbeing and mental health, research on it has grown rapidly across various fields of psychology in recent decades. According to Tammilehto, the central contribution of the dissertation to emotion regulation sciences is building bridges between different areas of research.
“My research aims to help build bridges between prevailing frameworks in emotion regulation research. I hope that my dissertation will inspire multidisciplinary research that continues to explore the functional and developmental foundations of emotion regulation. Dialogue between different fields is essential for achieving a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted and fascinating phenomena of emotion regulation,” Tammilehto says.
Public defence on Friday 6 September
M.A. (Psych.) Jaakko Tammilehto’s doctoral dissertation in the field of psychology titled Emotion Regulation: From social and cognitive underpinnings to everyday dynamics will be publicly examined at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tampere University at 12.00 on Friday, September 6, 2024. The venue is auditorium K103 in the Linna building, (address: Kalevantie 5, Tampere). The opponent will be Professor Sander Koole from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam while Docent Jallu Lindblom from the Faculty of Social Sciences will act as the custos.