Situation Selection

Situation selection is a strategy for choosing events/circumstances likely to evoke desired emotions or avoiding those likely to evoke undesired emotions. It’s the first of five stages of the process model of emotion regulation (the others are situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, andresponse modulation). Situation selection is how we regulate our emotions by deliberately and directly influencing our environment, such as avoiding a meeting we know will be emotionally charged or seeking out a friend who makes us feel good. Studies suggest this strategy can be particularly effective for those who struggle with other forms of emotion regulation.