The Subjective Activational Baseline

[turboswami]

Emotional Regulation strategies act along a fluid baseline, personalized and dynamic, which governs the degree of overall emotional activation to a situation . Each regulatory strategy modulates the degree of reaction to an activating situation, and its overall effectiveness is depend upon the positive or negative degree of this baseline level. Yet

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[turboswami]

The emotional regulation model of James Gross describes a set of strategies for avoiding full limbic reaction to an arousing situation. Avoiding that situation is the most obvious and effective strategy, yet cognitive reappraisal (or thinking differently) about what is happening in that situation is also a potential strategy. Actual supression of emotion, after the situation has aroused you, is the least effective and most unhealthy of all the strategies.

Yet, all these happen within seconds the moment that we, say, encounter an ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend going into class. If they didnt see you, you can avoid them completely...but odds are you are going to end up having an uncomfortable and awkward situation seconds later, and it is going to make you react physiologically with raised heartbeat, sweat, etc. Cognitive Reappraisal, in that case, would be you telling yourself "Wow, look at this stupid lug she's got herself now! Man, she is looking like hell - I'm so glad I dont have HER in my life anymore." in an attempt to lessen the arousing feelings of jealousy, anger, whatever.

My idea with the baseplane and the monk was that this temporary changing of one's frame of mind: cognitive reappraisal, need not be temporary OR wait for the arousing situation in order to change one's frame of mind and overall state of reactivity. A monk who practices positive regard meditation, for instance, is always essentially training himself to achieve and stay in that specific frame of mind, and the benefits OF that frame of mind - like lesser emotional arousal, lower heartrate, lower cortisol levels, are always his to enjoy. They are not temporary.

So, we have little to say about the flood of emotion we feel during an activating situation - when it is happening, it is happening. But we can consciously mold or shape ourselves and our surroundings in different ways which can reduce the emotional stress of that potential situation.