The who and what of validation: an experimental examination of validation and invalidation of specific emotions and the moderating effect of emotion dysregulation

Summary & key facts

Researchers ran a lab study with about 120 people to see how being told that their feelings make sense (validation) or don’t (invalidation) changed emotional reactions. Participants listened to a rejection scene, reported which emotion felt strongest, and then received either validating or invalidating feedback about that emotion while their feelings, heart rate, and skin sweat were measured. The main result was that validation helped in some cases but not others: for people who have trouble managing strong emotions, validating shame or sadness was linked to bigger increases in feeling more positive, while validating fear was linked to smaller increases in positive feeling. Invalidation did not show different effects based on people’s emotion-management difficulties. The study was short and done in a lab, so it doesn’t prove how validation works in real therapy or long-term relationships.

Key facts:

• About 120 people took part. They first filled out a questionnaire about how well they manage strong emotions (emotion dysregulation).
• Each person listened to a rejection-themed mental story, picked their strongest emotion, and then got either validating or invalidating feedback about that emotion.
• Researchers measured feelings continuously and tracked heart rate and skin conductance (a measure of sweating linked to arousal) during the tasks.
• People with greater difficulty managing emotions showed bigger increases in positive feelings when shame or sadness was validated.
• Those same people showed smaller increases in positive feelings when fear was validated.
• There were no clear differences tied to emotion-management difficulties when people were invalidated; invalidation did not show a moderating effect on any measure.
• Because this was a short lab test using imagined rejection, the findings do not prove that the same patterns would happen in real-life conversations or long-term therapy.

Abstract

The effects of validation appear emotion specific and dependent on levels of emotion dysregulation. These findings may help inform more strategic use of validation in psychotherapeutic interventions.

Topics

Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development Emotions and Moral Behavior Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications

Categories

Psychology Social Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Cognitive psychology Psychology Social psychology

Conditions & symptoms

Anxiety Depression PTSD Anxiety or worry Feeling disconnected from others Sadness or low mood