Make your emotions heard: How emotion sharing boosts interpersonal emotion regulation across various interpersonal distances

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2026.0840

Abstract

Abstract:

Emotional support from friends or strangers serves as a crucial resource for individuals coping with emergencies. However, assistance provided by strangers is often less effective than that offered by friends. How does interpersonal distance influence the regulator’s regulatory process? Can emotion sharing by the target mitigate the adverse effects of greater interpersonal distance? This study investigated the roles of interpersonal distance and emotion sharing in interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) through two experiments. Experiment 1 revealed that regulators selected more contextually adaptive strategies for friends than for strangers. Experiment 2 further measured changes in regulators’ pupil diameter as an index of cognitive resource engagement. The results showed that interpersonal distance influenced regulators across three key phases: emotion identification, strategy selection, and strategy output. Importantly, explicit emotion sharing by the target significantly reduced the negative effects of interpersonal distance, thereby optimizing IER processes between strangers. This study not only supports and extends the Social Regulatory Cycle Model but also provides practical guidance for optimizing IER processes and enhancing the quality of social interactions.

Key words: interpersonal emotion regulation, interpersonal distance, emotion sharing, pupil diameter

LI Sijin, TANG Yuyao, LI Qi, WANG Tingdong, ZHANG Dandan. (2026). Make your emotions heard: How emotion sharing boosts interpersonal emotion regulation across various interpersonal distances. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 58(5), 840-852.

Figures/Tables 3

Figure 1. Procedure and main results of Experiment 1. (A) Schematic diagram of a single trial. During the experiment, participants were asked to imagine either a friend or a stranger viewing negative emotional images. After image presentation, participants selected one of two emotion regulation strategies—cognitive reappraisal (e.g., An ambulance is approaching) or distraction (e.g., Consider this week's schedule)—with no time limit, to help the imagined individual improve their emotional experience. RT = reaction time. (B) Proportion of distraction strategy selection. Higher scores indicate a greater tendency to select distraction strategies for regulating negative emotions in friends or strangers. Error bars represent standard errors. *** p < 0.001; n.s., not significant.

Figure 2. Procedure for a single trial in Experiment 2. Taking the “emotion sharing” condition as an example, during the emotion identification phase, participants were shown the target's negative emotion intensity rating after viewing the image (actually a pre-programmed value). Subsequently, participants selected a strategy and verbalized a specific regulation plan. After approximately every five trials, participants reported the difficulty of strategy output on a 9-point rating scale, with 1 indicating “very easy” and 9 indicating “very difficult”.

Figure 3. Subjective ratings and pupil diameter results. (A) Proportion of distraction strategy selection. Higher scores indicate a greater tendency for participants to select distraction strategies to regulate negative emotions in friends/strangers. (B) Strategy output difficulty ratings. Higher scores indicate greater difficulty. (C) Pupil diameter change during the emotion identification phase. (D) Pupil diameter change during the strategy output phase. (E) The moderating effect of emotion sharing on the relationship between interpersonal distance and interpersonal emotion regulation. Interpersonal distance (0 = friend, 1 = stranger) and emotion sharing (0 = absent, 1 = present) are categorical variables, while all indicators of interpersonal emotion regulation are continuous variables. ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001; n.s. denotes no significant difference.

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