Regulation Research

Emotional Regulation:

Phase 3 - Researching into Emotional Regulation

"...the ability to exert control over one's own emotional state".

PLAN

Understand Emotional Regulation
Approach - How can we use this in our Design?
Broaden my knowledge into regulation and self-care techniques - how can we apply Gamification to this?
The impact of Sight and Sound.

WEEK 6 - Emotional Regulation

Within this section I will be documenting my research into Emotional Regulation. Our main goal for this project is to encourage emotional and physical regulation, to help people cope with feelings and sensations of anxiety, stress and overwhelm.

To have an informed understanding of this, I will be researching into the relevant techniques and coping mechanisms that people can undertake, some of which we can implement into our Games Design and apply to our Project Ideation.

WHERE DO I BEGIN?

I will begin my research by understanding the basis of Emotional Regulation. I have already briefly covered this topic within my Music Psychology Research, however, I'd like to be direct with my research and have a more informed approach. To begin this, I need to state how I will be using the method of regulation within my Design.

EMOTIONAL REGULATION - The basis of our Game

The foundations of our game is to provide people with the means to regulate their emotions. The gaming experience will be designed to help them gain control of their emotions and reflect upon them in a safe and comfortable environment. The visuals, sound and interactions will be designed to encourage physical and emotional regulation by evoking feelings of calm and relaxation. Throughout my research I have gained knowledge regarding ways to achieve this through sound and visuals, however, interactions are a huge part of gameplay and player engagement which I am keen to develop further. Together Kiera and I have established our Target Audience to be students/adults in education around the ages 16-21. From our own personal experiences and talking to others, we are aware that these individuals would benefit from an experience like this the most. School, University and the overload of responsibility can be both stressful and overwhelming, around that age is when you are less aware of how to manage this and therefore I believe this game would be appreciated greatly.

Throughout Phase 1 and 2 I read about certain treatments and methods available to cope with anxiety, depression and other related mental health issues. However, this was mostly based on Therapy treatments involving professional support and Therapists. Unfortunately, we cannot provide people with this kind of treatment and have to adapt in other ways. While reading about overcoming Phobias and the Psychology of Music, I came across 'Self-care', Grounding Techniques and Coping mechanisms which can be performed from the comfort of your own home.

These are simple exercises used to reduce feelings of anxiety, stress and panic without the need for professional support or assistance! Some of which I found really interesting, like Eco-Therapy. The result of these practices can be referred to as 'Emotional Regulation'.

SO...WHAT IS EMOTIONAL REGULATION?

“Emotional regulation refers to the process by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express their feelings. Emotional regulation can be automatic or controlled, conscious or unconscious, and may have effects at one or more points in the emotion producing process.” - (Gross, 1998, p. 275).

Emotional Regulation is circled around both positive and negative feelings and how we can strengthen, use and control them! It involves three main components:

Initiating actions triggered by emotions
Inhibiting actions triggered by emotions
Modulating responses triggered by emotions

HOW CAN WE USE IT?

Research Link: https://positivepsychology.com/emotion-regulation/

"Studies on emotional regulation indicate that there is a significant positive correlation between emotion regulation and depression management. People with lower levels of anxiety show higher emotional control and social-emotional intelligence."

In a stressful or anxiety provoking scenario, our brains natural responses it the 'fight-or-flight' reaction. Which is a 'physiological reaction' that occurs in a harmful or threatening event/scenario. Using Emotional Regulation processes, it allows us to 'buy time' before we act upon our natural 'fight or flight' trigger. Undertaking these practises can save ourselves from sudden emotional breakdowns or burnout.

It can involve rethinking the way we behave in challenging situations to reduce feelings of anger, anxiety, stress and fear. We can undertake practices to help us feel more calm. I like to relate this back to my Music Psychology research because I read a lot about how listening to music can evoke happy and calm feelings, similar to the regulation process. If I were to create an experience that uses these practices, it would not only help people in the moment, but help them control their emotions in the long-run. Our audience (students) will learn from our experience, impacting the way they behave when they experience these feeling again.

STRATEGIES

Understanding how to deal with these feelings and reactions

Self-regulation is based on pausing between feelings and reactions. Our initial reaction is impulsive and we often don't think enough about it. However, with self-control we can stay calm under pressure and prevent outbursts or breakdowns!

1. Self-Awareness

Noticing what we feel and being able to be direct. Identify exactly how you feel and allow yourself to reflect upon your feelings. It's suggested to name the specific emotions that you can feel within that very moment. An idea could be to reflect upon this by noting it down.

2. Mindful Awareness

Mindfulness allows us to explore aspects of the 'external world' - Essentially being in control of your body. This can include breath control or sensory relaxation. These can be used to calm the storm!

3. Cognitive Reappraisal

Altering the way we think - similar to CBT which I covered in Phase 1. This can involve thought replacement or role reversals, seeing situations from different perspectives.

4. Self-Compassion

Set aside time for yourself. Remind yourself of what you're good at, your talents and virtues! This can help change the way we feel and react to our emotions. This can also involve positive affirmations, breath control, and journalling.

5. Emotional support

Communication with others can help us with emotional support. This might be talking to a therapist or professional and to not be ashamed of this. Moreover, spending time with people that you trust and have a good relationship with.

Emotional Regulation Activities and Exercises

Practices, modulating emotions and dealing with this on our own!

1. Self-Soothing Exercises

Negative experiences can bring anger, sadness, overwhelm, panic, anxiety and stress but we can reduce the effects of this through self-soothing techniques. This helps managing thoughts and emotions. They come in several variations.

Self-compassion and meditation
Music - listen to music and unwind with relaxing sound
Reminiscence Therapy - involves sitting and recollecting good memories, helps to resolve conflicts involving others.
Breathing exercises - breath control, breath counting and simple breath relaxation.
Hot baths, relaxing massages, cooking, pampering etc.

2. Breathing Exercises

There are three breathing exercises that can help modulate our emotions:

Breath Counting - sit calmly and begin counting. Focus on breathing and follow yourself counting as you inhale and exhale.
Breath Shifting - Place on hand on your chest and one on your abdomen. Focus on your breath, chest and belly movement.
Breath Relaxation - works well for stress, anxiety and emotional disorders. Sit back, close your eyes and take deep breaths until you feel the connection between your mind and body. The negative thoughts should fade away.

3. Emotional Catharsis - Reflection

These processes help to let go emotions when it's hard to eliminate them. These can help achieve mental balance:

Observe your emotions, don't try to change them.
Evaluate the experience and feelings that come with that emotion you feel.
Emotions are a state of mind - recognise this.
Naming the emotions or writing them down - similar to journalling.
Talk about them with a friend, family or therapist - don't ever be afraid of judgement.

Self-awareness techniques can also help to identify the way you feel by thinking about what might be causing them and putting this into words. Here's a chart that can help to do this:

SUMMARY

To summarise, I have identified the different ways to encourage emotional regulation and understood the effect of different processes. Next I'd like to dive deeper into these practices by focusing on self-soothing techniques which can be used by people without the need of a therapist or assistance. I am interested in exploring ways gamification can be applied to apply this to my Design. By doing so, I can provide Users with an experience that use proven regulation techniques to divert their negative thoughts and feelings.

As my Target Audience are students around 16 years old, I'd like to provide them with the support to manage their feelings as well as learn ways of coping with them on their own. This could simply be by having them respond to these processes in their own way.

WHY IS EMOTIONAL REGULATION IMPORTANT?

Emotional Regulation can help us to manage our emotions when they get the better of us. By doing so, we can learn and undertake solutions to prevent us from having breakdowns or burnouts. This can cause unnecessary suffering and I am really passionate towards helping people deal with this as is my teammate Kiera.

Research Link: https://www.betterup.com/blog/emotional-regulation-skills

5 steps to self-regulate our emotions:

Create space - Take a pause. Take a breath. Slow down the moment between the trigger and the response. (Fight or Flight)
Notice what you feel - become aware. Tune in to yourself. Self-reflection.
Name what you feel - to gain control of the situation.
Accept the emotion - Realise your emotions are valid! Practise self-compassion.
Mindfulness - live in the moment and use your senses to notice what is happening around you.

TECHNIQUES

GROUNDING & SELF-SOOTHING TECHNIQUES

Grounding and self-soothing can be used to:

Self-soothe
Manage difficult, overwhelming emotions and sensations
Used as tools to cope with negative emotions

Research Link: https://eddinscounseling.com/grounding-techniques-self-soothing-emotional-regulation/

ANXIETY AND STRESS

Helping you feel in control

One of our Project Goals is to reduce feelings of anxiety and stress and I have recently learned how these techniques can help you to feel in control of these feelings and stay in the present moment. These are practices based on 'bringing your body back to homeostasis'.

The more present you are = the safer you feel. This means to create a safe gaming environment, players must feel present and self-aware.

HOW DOES GROUNDING WORK?

Focus on the physical world

Practising these techniques will allow you to have more control when you are upset as they will naturally come to you. Grounding is focused on letting go of negative feelings and keeping yourself calm. Both adults and children can use these techniques but you can of course make your own up too - whatever suits you best.

GROUNDING TECHNIQUES DEMO

Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFxRs1oFiEE

A LIST OF GROUNDING TECHNIQUES

I specifically chose the ones I thought could be turned into game-like elements.

Clench and release your fists
Walk slowly
Focus on breathing, notice each inhale and exhale
Eat something and describe the flavours
Scan the room and notice five things you see
Five things you can hear, smell and taste
Describe your environment in detail using all senses!
54321 Grounding technique - refer to all senses
Tense and relax muscles

GROUNDING TECHNIQUES MOOD-BOARD:

I put together a mood-board of Google Images Grounding exercises and Techniques. They mostly involve breathing, observing the environment and being aware of your 5 senses.

GAMIFICATION

How could I implement this into Games Design?

I could visually display grounding techniques in the form of shapes, colours or animations. Players would have to physically respond to this technique for example match the rhythm of the beating pulse! In addition to this, observation of your 5 senses is an effective way to ease your mind in stressful scenarios, so maybe have players reflect upon their senses during or after the experience? This could be in the form of a drawing, or note taking.

What do I know already?

Kiera did some research into Safe Spaces during Phase 2 and recognised that being aware of your senses is essential to feeling safe in your environment. In order to achieve this in our design, maybe we can implement the senses into the experience! We already know a lot about sight and sound and how this can benefit mental health, however it'd be fun to explore smell and taste if we have the time. Touch can be triggered through haptics such as controller vibrations or rumbles. At the beginning of the project we established that Sight and Sound are two very important aspects of our project, so It'll be necessary to summarise this research and show how it's influencing our design.

OVERWHELM

Helping you to remain calm and relaxed

Overwhelm can be caused by a number of different factors, but we can learn to manage this by using self-soothing techniques to help us feel calm and more relaxed. Essentially, they help us to regulate and feel ourselves again. It's important to understand that some techniques might work for others and not work for you, but this can differ between people.

SELF-SOOTHING

How do they help?

These techniques help you to remain calm and relaxed during situations of fear and panic. These can help when you are feeling overwhelmed both physically and emotionally!

A LIST OF SELF-SOOTHING TECHNIQUES

I listed the techniques I thought could be applied to games.

Get yourself a hot beverage
Wrap yourself in a blanket
Light scented candles or oil
Playing soothing music
Go out in the warm sun for 15-30 mins
Engage in rhythmic activities such as knitting, biking, swimming or dancing.
Read an inspirational quote.
Practice deep breathing

THE SENSES

This article also provided strategies for each sense! I found this fascinating as the senses are something we have looked into simulating through Immersive technology. Being aware of these strategies could influence the kind of interactions that might take place in the environment. Although, for these to be effective, they would work best in a physical space rather than a mobile platform!

TOUCH

Massage
Stretching
Swimming
Playing with animals
Wrapping up in a blanket
Sinking into a chair
Firm grip

TASTE

Sip herbal tea
Chew gum
Hard candy

SMELL

Flowers
Lavender or Vanilla
Scented candles
Deeply breathing
Cinnamon
Oil diffusers

SIGHT

Pictures of loved ones
Memories
Reading a book
Light a candle and watch the flame
Spend time outdoors and notice surroundings
A flower

SOUND

Relaxing music
Hum or sing
Positive statements
Play a musical instrument
Pay attention to sounds of nature around you
Create a playlist you enjoy

THE EFFECT

Summary

Overall the effect of paying attention to your senses can help you gain control of yourself and your body as well as focus on the present and be in the moment. It's important to be self-aware and this method can bring you back to your senses when negative thoughts might have control over you.

SELF-SOOTHING TECHNIQUES MOOD-BOARD:

Using what I knew already and my new research I put together a quick mood-board of the different techniques as well as what they might look like visually.

PINTEREST LINK: https://pin.it/38v0EoW

GAMIFICATION

How could I implement this into Games Design?

I have been thinking about ways I could integrate these techniques into a game-like environment. I already know that soothing music and sound will be used to increase feelings of calm but I could also consider the importance of observation and connecting with nature!

I read into Eco-therapy in Phase 1 and learned about the use of green spaces to help manage emotions. The game could possibly consist of a green environment where players are able to interact with its features, or observe what they can see and hear and reflect upon it. This gives me an idea of the kind of environment/visual appearance our game might have as well as the interactions that might take place. If we take forward this idea of observation and reflection, players can be required to interact with the environment and then after reflect upon their experience.

SELF-REFLECTION MOOD-BOARD:

I like the idea of 'Self-reflection' and 'Observation' through journalling, drawing, note-taking and art so I created this mood-board of Reflection Journals. It might be worth thinking about how this could be implemented in-game, in a more playful and less daunting approach.

PINTEREST LINK: https://pin.it/38v0EoW

In Toby Milner-Gulland's talk in Week 2 (Week 2 Notion) he spoke about making technology and serious games more playful and tactile using a Games Design approach. This might be something I could reflect upon to enhance my ideas.

In addition to this, I recently came across the game 'Aloe Bud' which was created to help people manage their time, organise a routine and undertake self-care practices. The purpose of this application is allow people to reflect and keep a log of this.

This can be found here: Game Analysis

SUMMARY

To summarise my research into the different regulating techniques, I have identified the relevant practices which could further influence this project. I have spoken a little about how these could be used in-game so I can use this research to further idea generation and apply this to my ideas. Before I do this, I thought it would be a good idea to mind-map the relevant themes found from this research and highlight potential game avenues for each! This could influence the kind of interactions that might take place in our games.

HOW CAN WE REFLECT/REALISE THIS INTO OUR DESIGN?

I used a 'Miro' Concept Map to brainstorm game interactions and elements from the relevant themes found within my Emotional Regulation Research! This allowed me to think about how I can realise these themes in potential game ideas. This will ensure that I design the game with our initial goals in mind and fulfil what is expected from us - If we propose a game that aims to encourage emotional regulation, then it better work!

MIRO LINK: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVOWFmsio=/?invite_link_id=248303385891

THEMES X GAME IDEAS

Problem Solving - A theme throughout my research was problem solving and using these practices to manage how we deal with impulsive behaviour and the 'fight or flight' reaction. Ways we could implement this in game might be in the form of basic puzzles which players must eliminate one at a time to progress. This can help them to manage real-life problems and put them into perspective. Completion of puzzles would then give players a sense of achievement. Puzzles could be environmental obstacles.

Reflection - A huge part of the self-regulation process is reflecting upon how you feel which can also be linked to observation. It could be an idea to give players the chance to reflect upon their gaming experience, maybe through drawings or sketch-notes which they can then discard.

Observation - This theme could lead into exploration. Players could be given the opportunity to explore their surroundings, by making discoveries and findings. Moreover, this could be a narrative-based game which players will have to interact with to control it's outcome. This requires focus and players would have to divert their negative thoughts to the gameplay.

The Senses - We could trigger players senses in the experience using technology like Virtual Reality, haptics, surround sound and focus heavily on sound and visual. These will be designed to engage players and will fulfil our project goal "an immersive gameplay experience".

Self-Regulation practices - Physical techniques could be integrated into the environment and players are required to respond to them. E.g. breath with the beating pulse to steady your breathing.

Engagement/Focus on the moment - To ensure players focus on the present, we could provide them with a guided narrative which players would have to interact with. Although, we aim for this to be a replay-able experience which should be available in times of stress or panic. Once players have played the game once, there will be no appeal to revisit.

SUMMARY

I have evaluated possible game avenues identified through my regulation research which will influence my idea generation. I have a clear idea of the kind of gameplay and interactive elements I'd like to use. I will also be continuing my research into Immersion for this project because Kiera and I focus on making it as engaging and immersive as possible. This can add emotion and depth to the game.

Immersion Research - About Immersion, how to create an Immersive experience/game.

Immersive Technology - Technology which could be used to achieve this like different types of sound, projection mapping, physical spaces and motion tracking.

EVALUATION & REFLECTION

I understand the term Regulation as a whole and have established ways in which we can apply this process to our game, by using Gamification to turn these processes into potential game elements! To summarise my research, Emotional Regulation is a term used to describe the way we can control our emotions, resulting in us feeling calmer and more relaxed in stressful events or scenarios. It undertakes the process of practicing regulation techniques which can help you in the moment and impact your reactions in the long-run. As this is mine and Kiera's project goal, we will ensure that our experience achieves this through testing, user research and an understanding of human behaviour. It's important to evaluate how players feel before, during and after gameplay. This can be done through Experience Maps and Surveys. Referring back to my intended player experience, this will help us determine what's best to have our desired effect on players.

I will continue Project Ideation by brainstorming concept ideas and continue my research into themes that might support my ideas. During this time I plan to gather inspiration from games, potential visuals and spaces which will be documented here: Inspiration. As well as play some games, evaluate and review them based on features, objectives and my overall opinion: Game Analysis.