Emotion Regulation Questionnaire ERQ

The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) was developed by Stanford University psychology professor James J. The Gross team developed the most widely used standardized self-report emotion regulation measurement tool in the world in 2003. It core measures the frequency of use of the two most universal emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. The original version has 10 questions. Its reliability and validity have been verified in cross-cultural studies in more than 40 countries and regions. It is currently mainly used in three major scenarios: clinical psychological assessment, basic psychology research, and corporate/school psychological screening. The score itself does not directly correspond to "mental health or not" and is only used as a reference for emotion regulation patterns.

When I helped with the psychological census for freshmen in the psychological center of a university two years ago, every time I collected the questionnaire, I would always encounter a few students who came over to ask me. I had just filled out dozens of questions measuring emotional states. Why did there still be 10 questions at the end asking questions such as "I will calm down by changing my views on things" and "I will not show it when I am angry"? These 10 questions are the most commonly used original ERQ.

Many people think that emotional regulation is just "how to comfort yourself when you are in a bad mood." However, the emotional process model proposed by Gross has actually made it clear for a long time: emotions emerge following the chain of "event-interpretation-emotional response", and adjustment strategies are inserted in different links, and the effects are completely different. Cognitive reappraisal is to get stuck in the "interpretation" link - for example, when you are stepped on by someone while trying to catch the subway, you were about to get angry, but then you think, "He didn't mean to be so crowded during the morning rush hour." Your anger is reduced in an instant. This is a typical cognitive reappraisal. Expressive suppression is when the emotional reaction has already emerged, and you suppress the outward emotions - for example, when your boss scolds you, your eyes are red because of your grievance, but you still hold the seam of your pants and say "I will change it next time" with a smile. This is expressive suppression. All ERQ questions are essentially statistics of which method you are more accustomed to using. The two scores are independent. It does not mean that if you re-score a high score, your inhibition score will necessarily be low. Many people have high scores in both. When encountering major events, they will first think about it from another perspective. If they really can't suppress their emotions, they will not explode in front of outsiders.

In the early years, academic circles overwhelmingly believed that "cognitive reappraisal is an all-around good strategy, while expressive suppression is the root of all evil." Related studies piled up like a mountain, saying that people who often use suppression are more likely to be anxious and depressed, and even have higher cardiovascular stress than others. But later research from the cultural psychology school directly overturned half of this conclusion - don't mention it, in a collectivist cultural context, expression suppression is not necessarily a bad thing. I have previously participated in an EAP project for a Pearl River Delta manufacturing company and evaluated front-line team leaders. I found that those team leaders who can hold down their positions generally have higher expression inhibition scores than newcomers who just took office. If you encounter a dilemma situation where workers are upset and the leader is pushing for progress, if you let your anger out on the spot, the scene will explode. If you suppress your emotions to solve the problem first, and then find a channel to vent afterwards, it will be more suitable for the situation. There are even studies on East Asian people that show that using expressive suppression in low-intensity social conflicts can actually reduce subsequent interpersonal conflicts and reduce long-term psychological pressure. If you direct all your emotions outward, you will easily be evaluated as having "low emotional intelligence" and you will have more troubles in the future.

However, I have encountered more misuse cases of ERQ over the years than correct usage. The most common thing is that someone randomly finds a version on the Internet that has not been verified for reliability and validity. After taking the test and seeing that their expressive suppression score is high, they label themselves "emotional internal consumption" and then turn around to find various courses on "getting rid of emotional suppression". This is just a waste of time. First of all, we must understand that ERQ measures "frequency of use", not "adjustment ability", let alone "mental health level". If you work as a customer service, HR, or teacher, the original job requirements require you to control your emotions and not expose them. It is normal to have a high score on expression inhibition. As long as you don't feel uncomfortable, there will be no problem at all. In order to save trouble, some institutions randomly deleted a few questions and used them. Originally, there were 6 cognitive reappraisal questions and 4 expressive suppression questions in the original 10 questions. After deletion, the dimensions were all distorted, and the test results had no reference value at all.

I had a visitor who was an HR person in an Internet company. When she took the ERQ for the first time, her cognitive reappraisal score was only 2 points (out of 42 points), and her expressive inhibition score was almost up to 28 points out of 28. She said that her chest felt like a piece of wet cotton stuffed in her chest after get off work every day, and she didn't even want to talk to her friends while eating. We forced her to "don't suppress her emotions" before we even came up. We first helped her break down the scene: in the work scene, when she encounters candidates letting off steam and the business department passing the blame, she should restrain herself when she should. But she doesn't have to hold on to it after get off work. If she wants to curse, she can scold her. If she wants to complain, she can talk to her friends. At the same time, she can slowly practice it in the workplace. Use cognitive reappraisal - for example, she used to think that the candidate was "deliberately trying to trick me", but later she changed it to "He has a high probability of getting an offer that doubles the salary. If it were me, I would choose that one too." After taking the test again six months later, her cognitive reappraisal score rose to over 30, not to mention that her chest was blocked, and she was promoted to supervisor last month.

ERQ has also been iterating in the past two years. There is a simplified version of 6 questions suitable for quick screening, and an adapted version specifically for teenagers under 12 years old. In fact, it is essentially a "weighing scale" in the emotional field - a high weight does not mean that you are in poor health, maybe you have more muscles.； A high expressive inhibition score doesn't mean you have a problem, it may just be a professional need. Its role is never to label you, but to help you see more clearly how you are used to dealing with emotions. As for whether or not to adjust, and how to adjust, it ultimately has to be combined with your own life scenarios, right?