Suppressing Emotions Affects Goals

How does suppressing our emotions influence how we approach goals and our capacity to achieve them?  That is a question related to a well-studied area of psychology typically called “ego depletion” (Baumeister, 2002) about which I have written previously.  In brief, ego depletion posits that self-control is a limited resource; when we exert self-control in one situation, there is less self-control energy available to apply toward another situation that occurs in close temporal proximity.  For instance, if hungry but you force yourself to skip lunch to finish a job, you have less self-control to devote to refraining from arguing with an irritating co-worker.

In the above example, you did not suppress your negative emotions, but instead expressed them due to having been depleted by hunger.  You simply lacked the self-control to suppress your negativity because self-control took more energy than you had to give.  What about suppressing emotions while pursuing a goal?  If suppression requires energy, would that suppression deplete your capacity to reach your goal and/or to relate amicably to others?

Rachel S. Low, and her colleagues (2016) pursued that line of research.  Study subjects were told to select personal, current goals and for a two month period to report every two weeks the extent to which they suppressed their emotions both during goal pursuit and when discussing the goals with their romantic partner. 

Consistent with ego depletion theory, subjects who suppressed negative emotion most often were those who also put forth the least goal-directed effort and least attained their goals.  Moreover, they had more depression and perceived the least closeness/support vis-a-vis their partners.  Similarly, their partners rated them in ways consistent with the subjects’ own unsatisfying self-reported limitations. 

All the above was essentially in accord with what the researchers had anticipated given previous studies.  A less expected finding concerned the role of context.  Specifically, Low found that emotional suppression in the context of goal pursuit more powerfully predicted goal achievement that did the subjects' habitual level of emotional suppression. That is, those who suppressed emotion during the execution of their tasks performed those tasks more poorly.  In short, knowing how much an individual is suppressing emotion while performing a specific task is more predictive of their success than is knowing a person's usual but non-contextualized tendency to do so.  

Low and her group suggested that the effort required to suppress negative emotion specifically undermined the individuals' abilities to muster the energy needed to maintain the necessary "approach orientation" and "problem solving" perspective to the goal at hand. The researchers presumed that the failure to rise above goal-debilitating challenges, in turn, contributed to the subjects' depressed mood.  

What implications from the Low group's results empower us to establish and maintain a healthful lifestyle?  I suggest the following:

1.  Problem solving and planning alone will not enable you to reach your healthful lifestyle goals.  Emotions count as well.

2.  Your emotional state while performing a healthful activity, rather than your usual emotional state, is particularly important.

3.  Since you need to expend energy to reach and to maintain your healthful lifestyle goals, you must prioritize your energy expenditure to reach those goals.  Moreover, anything that you do that robs you of your energy will impair your ability to make healthful lifestyle changes.  That of course means that excessive "partying" will be as detrimental as overworking.

4.  Do your best to establish and maintain a supportive context  - place, time, people, and so forth - for your healthful goal pursuits that imposes the least negative emotion and that fosters the greatest energy.      

References    

Baumeister, R. (2002). Ego Depletion and Self-Control Failure: An Energy Model of the Self's Executive Function. Self and Identity, 1, 2, 129–136. doi:10.1080/152988602317319302.

Low, R., Overall, N., Hammond, M., & Girme, Y. (2016).  Emotional Suppression During Personal Goal Pursuit Impedes Goal Strivings and Achievement.  Emotion, April, 29. Retrieved online, No Pagination Specified. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0000218.