ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B

Acta Psychologica Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 58 ›› Issue (3): 480-499.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2026.0480

• Reports of Empirical Studies • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Buildup of a self-compassion sentence collection in the construct of implementation intention and its application in emotion regulation

SONG Yi1, FU Xiaotong3, YUAN Jiajin1,2, SUN Meng1, YANG Jiemin1   

  1. 1Institute of Brain and Psychological Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China;
    2Sichuan Key Laboratory of Psychology and Behavior of Discipline Inspection and Supervision, Chengdu 610066, China;
    3Jinan Preschool Education College, Jinan 250307, China
  • Received:2025-04-10 Published:2026-03-25 Online:2025-12-26

Abstract: Emotional situations in real life are highly diverse, yet existing emotion regulation training approaches often lack adaptivity to such diversity. Self-compassion, an emotion regulation strategy characterized by kindness and non-judgmental understanding toward one's own suffering, has demonstrated emotional benefits. However, its effectiveness is constrained by cognitive demands, limiting its applicability among individuals with emotional disorders or cognitive impairments. Implementation intention, specifying how to response in a given situation based on the goal with a typical structure as “if + situation, then + reaction”, can effectively reduce the cognitive demands of self-regulation and enhance its regulatory effect. To improve the emotional regulation efficacy of self-compassion, this study integrated implementation intention with self-compassion to establish a standardized sentence collection (Experiment 1) and evaluated its effectiveness in regulating negative emotions among college students with depressive tendencies (Experiment 2~3).
In Experiment 1, situational and response sentences were prepared following the “if + situation, then + reaction” structure. Forty negative and forty neutral situational sentences were developed, along with 120 implementation intention-based self-compassion (II-SC) statements and 120 implementation intention-based neutral (II-N) statements. A total of 106 participants (age: 20.17±1.90 years; 66 females) evaluated these sentences on dimensions such as emotional valence, arousal, and relevance to self-compassion. By presenting negative situational sentences to induce negative emotions, followed by II-SC statements, a substantial increase in pleasure was observed, supporting the efficacy of II-SC in emotion regulation.
Experiment 2 employed a 2 (measuring time: pre-test vs. post-test) × 3 (group: II-SC vs. TSC vs. Control) mixed factorial design to examine the effect of II-SC on negative emotion regulation. Ninety college students with depressive tendencies (age: 20.07±1.80 years; 82 females) were randomly assigned to one of the three groups (II-SC, TSC or Control group). After baseline assessments of emotional state, participants received either II-SC, TSC (traditional self-compassion) guidance, or no guidance (Control group). Negative emotions were then induced through negative self-evaluation sentences accompanied by sad music, followed by post-test on emotional measures.
Building upon Experiment 2, Experiment 3 incorporated physiological indicators including heart rate and electrodermal activity to more comprehensively and objectively assess emotional responses. Sixty-nine college students with depressive tendencies (age: 20.01±1.38 years; 65 female) participated. In this experiment, negative emotions were elicited through challenging arithmetic tasks to test whether the II-SC sentences produced increased emotion regulation effects compared with TSC under conditions of cognitive resource depletion.
Results indicate that (1) II-SC sentence collection can significantly alleviate negative emotions, and showed a satisfactory reliability and validity. (2) When negative emotions were induced by negative self-evaluation, both II-SC and TSC sentences effectively reduced negative affect, with no significant difference in efficacy; however II-SC required less cognitive effort. (3) When negative emotions were elicited through frustrating tasks that depleted cognitive resources, both II-SC and TSC alleviated negative affect, but the resource dependence of TSC reduced its effectiveness, resulting in better regulatory effects for II-SC. Nevertheless, no significant group differences were found in perceived regulation effort, and neither physiological activation associated with negative emotion induction.
In conclusion, the current study developed a standardized and valid self-compassion sentence collection based on implementation intention, and demonstrated its effectiveness in regulating negative emotions. These II-SC sentences enable individuals with depressive tendencies to engage in automatic and efficient emotion regulation through self-compassion, thereby enhancing its regulatory efficacy and offering a potential approach for coping with the diverse stressors encountered in daily life.

Key words: self-compassion, implementation intention, sentence collection, emotion regulation, depressive tendency

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