Glossary // Glossary term Empirical

Distraction

An attentional regulation strategy that shifts attention away from the emotional aspects of a situation or from the situation altogether. Meta-analytic evidence indicates that distraction reduces emotional experience in the short term, and in venting experiments it was followed by less aggression than rumination. Because it does not change the appraisal of the situation, its effects are generally expected to be shorter-lived than those of reappraisal when the situation recurs.

Where the site uses it

The venting hypothesis: what experiments show about letting anger out
Controlled experiments on venting anger found that it keeps anger active and increases aggression. This note reviews the evidence, its limits, and the regulation strategies that reduce anger instead.
Let anger cool instead of venting it
Hitting, shouting or ranting while focused on a provocation keeps anger active and increases aggression. Lowering arousal and gaining distance reduce anger without rehearsing it.

Studies behind it

The works the definition rests on, with the level of evidence each was appraised at.

Bushman, B. J. (2002). Does venting anger feed or extinguish the flame? Catharsis, rumination, distraction, anger, and aggressive responding. doi:10.1177/0146167202289002

Level B Experiment

Supports the claim that hitting a punching bag while ruminating produced more anger and aggression than doing nothing. A single laboratory experiment with a noise-blast aggression measure.
Webb, T. L., Miles, E., & Sheeran, P. (2012). Dealing with feeling: A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of strategies derived from the process model of emotion regulation. doi:10.1037/a0027600

Level A Meta-analysis

Supports the claims that cognitive change had a small-to-medium effect, distraction was effective, concentration on feelings was not, and suppressing the experience of emotion was ineffective. Effects come from short laboratory inductions and vary with moderators.