Affective Counter-Regulation:

Affective counter-regulation is a built-in mechanism that regulates emotions by counteracting the dominant feeling—like when we automatically focus on strong positive emotion, we’re unconsciously driven to a negative emotion/stimulus (and vice versa). By attending to opposing emotional valence, counter-regulation can keep emotions from becoming too intense or prolonged. If I’m feeling angry, I might be drawn to positive images or situations that could help alleviate my anger or uplift my mood—counteracting negative with positive emotion. This cognitive control function is part of implicit affect regulation, where attention allocation is based on unconscious motivational needs.