chapter 4
Thinking Traps
B
ecause emotion regulation is one of the core topics of
this book, it’s important that you examine how you
can use certain thinking styles to regulate your emotions.
The way you think is often linked to the way you feel. In
some instances, you may fall prey to certain thinking traps
that cause you to respond to your emotions in unhelpful
ways. Such thinking traps are at the root of anxious emo-
tions and, thus, deserve special focus. In this chapter, we will
examine the consequences of different thinking styles on
emotional expression and how mindfulness can rescue you
from unproductive thinking styles.
Different Thinking Styles
So far in this book, we have discussed several models of emo-
tions, which emphasize different action tendencies that are
motivated by various kinds of feelings. In recent years,
research psychologists have dedicated more and more atten-
tion to learning about how people react to emotions, or their
response styles. This concept refers to individual differences
in the way people respond to negative and positive emotions