The present research proposes a novel emotion regulation strategy called “realizing growth potential” (RGP) strategy. The strategy involves realizing that negative events hold the potential for psychological growth and thus, to the extent that psychological growth is a cherished goal, we expect the affect-intensities associated with negative events to be mitigated when one employs the RGP strategy. We first differentiate RGP strategy from other emotion-regulation strategies (including benefit-finding). Then, across two pilot and two main studies, we test for the effectiveness of the RGP strategy in reducing the intensity of emotions associated with non-traumatic but serious negative events (such as, job loss). Pilot studies 1 and 2 reveal that, with distant-past (vs. recent-past) negative events, the drop-off in affect-intensity occurs naturally and is mediated by psychological growth. Study 1 investigates the impact of prompting individuals to recognize the potential for psychological growth arising from a recent-past negative event and suggests that this intervention can effectively mitigate the affect-intensities associated with such negative events. Study 2 illustrates that contemplating the psychological growth stemming from a distant-past incident, and even mere exposure to the notion that negative events foster psychological growth, can reduce emotional negativity linked to recent-past negative events. Our findings suggest the potential of the RGP strategy as a valuable tool for practitioners and therapists to address significant negativity.

本研究提出了一种新颖的情绪调节策略，称为“实现增长潜力”（RGP）策略。该策略涉及认识到负面事件具有心理成长的潜力，因此，如果心理成长是一个值得珍视的目标，我们预计当一个人采用 RGP 策略时，与负面事件相关的情感强度会得到减轻。我们首先将 RGP 策略与其他情绪调节策略（包括利益发现）区分开来。然后，通过两项试点研究和两项主要研究，我们测试了 RGP 策略在降低与非创伤性但严重的负面事件（例如失业）相关的情绪强度方面的有效性。试点研究 1 和 2 表明，对于遥远过去（与最近过去）的负面事件，情感强度的下降会自然发生，并且是由心理成长介导的。研究 1 调查了促使个人认识到最近发生的负面事件所带来的心理成长潜力的影响，并表明这种干预可以有效减轻与此类负面事件相关的情感强度。研究2表明，思考源自遥远过去的事件的心理成长，甚至仅仅接触负面事件促进心理成长的观念，都可以减少与最近过去的负面事件相关的情绪负面情绪。我们的研究结果表明，RGP 策略具有作为从业者和治疗师解决重大消极情绪的宝贵工具的潜力。