Why might stressful experiences disrupt these emotion regulation processes? A variety of social stressors—including stigma and social exclusion—have been shown to be “ego depleting” (Baumeister, et al. 2005; Inzlicht et al. 2006). Ego depletion refers to a process whereby exerting self-control or effort in one domain consumes regulatory resources, reducing their availability for use in other domains (Baumeister, et al. 1998). Ego depletion studies have shown that engaging in effortful processes to control or manage emotional experiences depletes regulatory resources, reducing self-control in other areas (Baumeister et al. 1998; Stucke and Baumeister 2006). This literature indicates that stressful experiences can deplete regulatory resources, including the ability to adaptively modulate emotional experiences. Moreover, experimental evidence suggests that exerting effort to modulate or control one’s emotions reduces the capacity to inhibit aggressive behavior (Stucke and Baumeister 2006), highlighting one explanation for our findings that emotion regulation difficulties result in increased propensity for aggressive behavior.
