Social Affiliation as a Way to Socially Regulate Emotions: Effects of Others’ Situational and Emotional Similarities

To consider social affiliation as an emotion regulation strategy raises the question of the distinct roles of the situational and emotional similarities of a potential partner. In study 1, 46 female participants briefly described a personal event of a low or high negative intensity. They then had the opportunity to either remain alone or to affiliate with another person, who either supposedly participated in the same experiment (situational similarity) or did not. In the same task, the 48 female participants of study 2 had the opportunity to be alone or with another person, who either supposedly experienced the same emotions (emotional similarity) or did not. The results showed that situational and emotional similarities increased affiliation. We discuss the potential personal and social benefits of these two similarities to individuals who experience an emotion and, more globally, we discuss the role of social affiliation in emotion regulation.