But the takeaway of the 2015 film – said by Variety to “for ever change the way people think about the way people think” – was that both emotions were necessary, and Sadness was as valid a part of life as Joy. Now there is a case for not only accepting Sadness, as in Inside Out – but embodying her, too. Researchers from Hong Kong and Texas recently found that individuals asked to think of their sadness as a person reported feeling less sad afterwards, a result they attributed to the increased distance perceived between the self and the emotion.
Study participants were asked to imagine Sadness’s personality, appearance, conversational style and how they might interact with them. In doing so, the idea was they would make it separate and less relevant to them. “The underlying mechanics of it is detachment – when they think about sadness as a person, it’s like they are endowing independence to the emotion,” says Li Yang, a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin and corresponding author of the paper, published in September in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. “They feel detached from it, and that’s why they would feel less sad afterwards.”
Sadness is well established by research as leading people to focus on short-term and often indulgent rewards. By picturing their sadness with human traits and characteristics, study participants ameliorated its effect and were then more likely to display self-control. Such anthropomorphic thinking was even shown to be an effective advance strategy, preparing consumers to choose a healthier (or more practical) option.
“We think about it as a new way to regulate your emotions,” says Yang. There are obvious limitations to the study, she says – researchers investigated the short-term effects of anthropomorphic thinking on only sadness and its opposite emotion. Picturing happiness as a person also diluted its effect, suggesting the strategy could backfire.
It is also not known whether it would be as effective in detaching from other negative emotions, such as guilt or embarrassment, which are more inherently self-involved, says Yang. Depression, too, is far more complex than just sadness.
But many of us could benefit from better harnessing the power of the mind over emotions, as established time and again by research into emotional regulation. Even a simple change in language can help change your perspective.
Dr Ozlem Ayduk, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, says 20 years of research has shown self-distancing to be important in minimising distress caused by negative memories or experiences. In early studies asking participants to assume the position of an observer, replaying “the scene in their mind’s eye, as if they were a fly on the wall”, was consistently linked to a lower emotional response – be that sadness, anxiety, anger or even anticipated instances of them in the future. Ayduk’s studies have shown such distancing to be effective whether imposed in study conditions or reached for spontaneously, and over a variety of different stress-inducing situations – from being called on to speak in public, to even thinking about the Ebola crisis. Moreover, the benefits seem to persist over time.
It works by creating an opportunity to process a difficult event, and reframe its meaning on the basis of its facts alone. “The problem, when we are in our own egocentric mode, is that we are feeling anxious, angry or sad and we can’t see it any other way, partly because of those emotions,” says Ayduk. “As you turn down the emotions, different perspectives become available – and as different perspectives become available, the emotions turn down.”
More recently, in looking for more techniques for emotional regulation, Ayduk and other researchers have turned their attention to internal monologue. In attempting to process and move on from difficult emotions or experiences, it is accepted that analysing them yourself can be helpful. But Ayduk says this can easily become unconstructive if it tips into rumination, a risk factor for depression and anxiety, that potentially increases their impact.
In a study published in the journal Nature in 2017, Ayduk and her collaborators found that switching your self-talk from first person to third person may be helpful in managing emotions during stressful times. The example they gave was a man upset about being dumped: he was found to be less emotionally reactive when he reflected on his feelings in the third person (“Why is John upset?”) than when he addressed himself directly (“Why am I upset?”)
Robust effects were recorded in study participants responding to distressing imagery and personal challenges. “We use names and third- and second-person pronouns to refer exclusively to other people, so, by making that switch in language as we reflect about ourselves, we could trick our minds to think about ourselves as if we are other people,” says Ayduk.
Talking about yourself to
