Creative Cognitive Reappraisal Promotes Estimation Strategy Execution in Individuals with Trait Anxiety

TL;DR

Creative cognitive reappraisal helps students with anxiety perform better in math tasks by improving their emotional regulation.

Contribution

Creative cognitive reappraisal is more effective than standard methods for regulating emotions and improving task performance in high-anxiety individuals.

Findings

Creative cognitive reappraisal improved negative emotions more than standard methods in low trait anxiety individuals.

High trait anxiety individuals benefited more from creative cognitive reappraisal in regulating emotions.

Both reappraisal methods enhanced estimation strategy execution speed after emotion regulation.

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the impact of the creative cognitive reappraisal on the estimation strategies execution in college students with trait anxiety. Methods: Using the Trait Anxiety Scale, 47 participants with high (HTA) and low trait anxiety (LTA) were selected from a total of 803 college students. These participants then completed a two-digit multiplication estimation task after using cognitive reappraisal to regulate negative emotions. Results: The results showed that for individuals with low trait anxiety, both standard cognitive reappraisal and creative cognitive reappraisal effectively improved their negative emotional experiences, with creative cognitive reappraisal demonstrating a superior regulatory effect. For individuals with high trait anxiety, creative cognitive reappraisal was effective in regulating negative emotions, whereas the effect of standard cognitive reappraisal on emotion regulation was not significant. Conclusions: Both standard cognitive reappraisal and creative cognitive reappraisal can enhance the speed of estimation strategy execution in college students with trait anxiety after regulating negative emotions, with creative cognitive reappraisal showing a more pronounced facilitative effect.

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