Affect regulation and the breadth of interpersonal engagement.

This study investigated the hypothesis that the breadth of responsiveness to a social event rests on adaptive capacities that permit an individual to experience those subjective states evoked by the interaction. Individuals with high or low ego adaptability were placed in same- or mixed-sex dyads with another person of the same level of adaptability and asked to complete a series of stimulating social interaction tasks. Analysis of videotapes made of these interactions, scored for verbal and nonverbal behaviors that reflect emotional and interpersonal engagement, strongly confirmed the hypothesis. In addition, post hoc explorations suggested that ego adaptability supported emotional expressiveness across social contexts, whereas its effect may have been attenuated by gender-related display rules for the more interpersonal forms of social engagement