Powerful, Proven Techniques For Emotional Well-Being

Using “positive-approaching” emotion regulation tactics improves mood.

Posted March 21, 2025 | Reviewed by Tyler Woods

Published in a recent issue of Emotion Review , a paper by Isaacowitz and Wolfe discusses differences in the usage of emotion regulation techniques and their effectiveness.

What is emotion regulation?

Emotion regulation refers to the process of trying to manage and control our emotions. It involves attempting to influence not only which emotions we have but also their intensity, duration, and expression.

Some examples of emotion regulation are:

When people decide that emotion regulation is required in a situation, they must also decide which emotion regulation strategy to use and how to implement the strategy, meaning what tactic to use.

Strategies and tactics are described below.

Emotion-regulation strategies

Emotion-regulation strategies refer to techniques a person uses to manage their emotions.

There are five categories of strategies:

Emotion regulation tactics

Emotion regulation tactics refer to the specific ways strategies are implemented. Simply put, they are behaviors one may adopt to achieve an emotion-regulation goal.

For each of the five categories of emotion-regulation strategies reviewed above, there are sub-categories of tactics.

These tactics involve two “directions” and two “valences”: moving toward ( approaching ) or moving away ( receding ) from either positive or negative elements.

Crossing valence and direction results in the following pairs: negative-approaching, negative-receding, positive-approaching, and positive-receding tactics.

I describe the first three of these tactics, along with relevant examples, for each of the five families of emotion regulation strategies. The fourth tactic (i.e., avoiding positive aspects of negative situations) rarely improves mood, so it is not discussed further.

1. Situation selection strategy

2. Situation modification strategy

3. Attentional deployment strategy

4. Cognitive change strategy (reappraisal)

5. Response modulation strategy

Which emotion-regulation tactics are more effective?

One reason some people experience higher levels of emotional well-being is that they use more effective ways to regulate their emotions.

Isaacowitz and Wolfe’s paper discusses past research that suggests many older adults experience happiness and emotional well-being because they use positive-approaching tactics .

Positive-approaching tactics were associated with “better affective experience after regulation attempts than negative-receding tactics.” This was true of all age groups.

Furthermore, the use of “negative-receding tactics was associated with relatively worse mood outcomes after regulation, especially for younger adults.” This is worrisome since young people “used negative-receding tactics the most.”

Emotion-regulation strategies refer to ways people try to manage and control their emotions. Common strategies include approaching/avoiding a situation, shifting one’s attention, modifying the environment, reinterpreting the situation, and altering one’s response.

Emotion-regulation tactics refer to how strategies are implemented. Tactics involve moving toward or away from positive or negative elements in a situation. Here are some examples:

People who have higher levels of emotional well-being are more likely to use positive-approaching tactics.

Negative-receding tactics, in contrast, are less likely to make one feel better.

Note that using positive-approaching tactics does not mean ignoring problems. It simply means choosing to “ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive,” as the song says.

Many positive-approaching techniques are simple and easy to use; for instance, playing your favorite music, watching a funny TV show, or chatting with a good friend. Other techniques (e.g., finding the silver lining in a stressful event) may take some practice.

Some may work better in one situation or at a particular time. So, experiment to find which emotion-regulation tactics work best for you.

Facebook image: seto contreras/Shutterstock

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Arash Emamzadeh attended the University of British Columbia in Canada, where he studied genetics and psychology. He has also done graduate work in clinical psychology and neuropsychology in U.S.

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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.