Have you ever gotten so angry that you’ve done something really spiteful? Or felt so much love for your child that you’ve bored someone to tears by recounting your child’s exploits? Or been so sad that life has temporarily lost its meaning? If your answer to any of these questions is “yes”—or if anyone you care about would answer “yes”—then this chapter is for you.

The focus of this chapter is emotion regulation, which refers to how we try to influence which emotions we have, when we have them, and how we experience and express these emotions (Gross, 1998b). Although the topic of emotion regulation is a relatively late addition to the field of emotion, a concern with emotion regulation is anything but new. Emotion regulation has been a focus in the study of psychological defenses (Freud, 1926/1959), stress and coping (Lazarus, 1966), attachment (Bowlby, 1969), and self-regulation (Mischel, Shoda, & Rodriguez, 1989).