The paper gives a theoretical explanation and empirical verification of a conceptual emotion-regulating model, developed in the theoretical methodological context of cultural-active paradigm. A universal hypothesis concerning emotion regulation as a system including psychological and physiological levels has been verified empirically. The psychological level may be subdivided on motivational thinking level and operational-technical ones, ruled by such psychological mechanisms as reflection and symbolical mediation. It has been figured out that motivational peculiarities determine the manifestation of other analyzed components of the system of emotion regulation. This is true not only for healthy patients, but also for patients with mitral valve prolapse (MVP). The significance of reflection and symbolical mediation in the system of cultural-active paradigm and emotion regulation has been determined. It has been proved that emotion regulation among patients with MVP differs from that of healthy people, highlighted by a very strong conflict of goal-achieving and fail-avoiding motives, lack of personal reflection and distortion of symbolical mediation, and very limited emotion-regulative resources. It has been shown that patients with MVP differ from the control group, suffering from far more strong emotional stress. It distributes an overall negative impact, reducing the ability to use emotion-regulating resource in emotionally meaningful situations effectively.
Received: 06/14/2016
Accepted: 06/27/2016
Pages: 03-17
DOI: 10.11621/npj.2016.0201
Keywords: higher mental functions (APF);
emotion regulation;
emotion regulation strategies;
mitral valve prolapse;
emotional stress;
cultural active paradigm;
emotion expression suppression;
Available Online: 08/30/2016