Research on system justification theory suggests that justifying the societal status quo decreases negative emotions, leading to less collective action. In this investigation, we propose that the degree to which negative emotions mediate the link between system justification and collective action may depend upon whether individuals tend to suppress the expression of their negative emotions. We tested this hypothesis in the diverse socio-political contexts of Turkey, Israel, and the U.S. In one correlational study (Study 1) and three experimental studies (Studies 2–4), we observed that the link between system justification and willingness to participate in collective action through anger (Studies 1–2 and 4) and guilt (Study 3) was moderated by expressive suppression. We found that negative emotions mediated the association between system justification and collective action among those who suppress the expression of their emotions less frequently, but not those who use expressive suppression more frequently. These findings suggest that emotion regulation may undermine, rather than facilitate, efforts to engage in collective action even among people who are low in system justification.

系统合理性理论的研究表明，合理化社会现状可以减少负面情绪，从而减少集体行动。在这项研究中，我们提出，负面情绪在多大程度上介导系统合理性和集体行动之间的联系，可能取决于个体是否倾向于抑制负面情绪的表达。我们在土耳其、以色列和美国的不同社会政治背景下检验了这一假设。在一项相关研究（研究 1）和三项实验研究（研究 2-4）中，我们观察到制度合理性与参与意愿之间的联系通过愤怒（研究 1-2 和 4）和内疚（研究 3）的集体行动通过表达抑制来调节。我们发现，在那些较少抑制情绪表达的人中，负面情绪介导了系统正当性与集体行动之间的关联，但在那些更频繁地使用表达抑制的人中却没有。这些发现表明，情绪调节可能会破坏而不是促进参与集体行动的努力，即使是在制度合理性较低的人中也是如此。