People's ability to regulate emotions is crucial to healthy emotional functioning. One overlooked aspect in emotion-regulation research is that knowledge about the source of emotions can vary across situations and individuals, which could impact people's ability to regulate emotion. Using ecological momentary assessments (N = 396; 7 days; 5,466 observations), we measured adults' degree of knowledge about the source of their negative emotions. We used language processing to show that higher reported knowledge led to more concrete written descriptions of the source. We found that higher knowledge of the source predicted more emotion-regulation attempts; increased the use of emotion-regulation strategies that target the source (cognitive reappraisal, situation modification) versus strategies that do not (distraction, emotional eating); predicted greater perceived success in regulating emotions; and greater well-being. These patterns were evident both within and between persons. Our findings suggest that pinpointing the source of emotions might play an important role in emotion regulation.

中文翻译：

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关于情绪来源的知识可以预测情绪调节尝试、策略和感知情绪调节的成功。

人们调节情绪的能力对于健康的情绪功能至关重要。情绪调节研究中一个被忽视的方面是，关于情绪来源的知识可能因情况和个人而异，这可能会影响人们调节情绪的能力。通过生态瞬时评估（N = 396；7 天；5,466 次观察），我们测量了成年人对其负面情绪来源的了解程度。我们使用语言处理来表明，报告的知识越多，来源的书面描述就越具体。我们发现，对来源的了解越多，就越能尝试进行情绪调节。增加针对源头的情绪调节策略（认知重新评估、情境修正）与非目标源头的情绪调节策略（分心、情绪化饮食）的使用；预测在调节情绪方面会取得更大的成功；和更大的福祉。这些模式在人内部和人之间都很明显。我们的研究结果表明，查明情绪的来源可能在情绪调节中发挥重要作用。