ABSTRACT
Examining emotions and their management is increasingly becoming an essential focus within the social psychological approach to the study of collective violence. This chapter focusses on how exposure to violence can affect emotion regulation strategies. Emotion regulation is the inclination and ability to manage the experience and expression of negative emotions. To summarize, the findings give a clear indication of the emotional consequences of living in long-drawn conflict by highlighting the significant relationship between exposure to direct violence and emotion regulation, specifically the ability to reappraise negative emotional experiences. Moreover, support for violence and the idea of a vile world showed significant interaction effects with exposure to violence, wherein the relationship between ETV and reappraisal was notably stronger for those who are more accepting of violent methods and consider the world to be dangerous and harmful towards their community. This re-emphasizes that protracted conflict situations that could sustain extremist attitudes can further discourage positive emotional coping.
