Emotion regulation and memory: The cognitive costs of keeping one's cool

An emerging literature has begun to document the affective consequences of emotion regulation. Little is known, however, about whether emotion regulat ion also has cognitive consequences. A process model of emotion suggests th at expressive suppression should reduce memory for emotional events but tha t reappraisal should not. Three studies tested this hypothesis. Study 1 exp erimentally manipulated expressive suppression during film viewing, showing that suppression led to poorer memory for the derails of the film. Study 2 manipulated expressive suppression and reappraisal during slide viewing. O nly suppression led to poorer slide memory. Study 3 examined individual dif ferences in typical expressive suppression and reappraisal and found that s uppression was associated with poorer self-reported and objective memory bu t that reappraisal was not. Together, these studies suggest that the cognit ive costs of keeping one's cool may vary according to how this is done.