Definitionv1
Cognitive reappraisal: an antecedent-focused emotion
Cognitive reappraisal: an antecedent-focused emotion regulation strategy that requires a temporal gap to intervene early in the emotion generation process, involving reinterpretation of a situation to change its emotional impact, which is more effective than suppression because it operates before the amygdala's rapid threat-detection response has fully formed
Why This Is a Definition
This definition precisely characterizes cognitive reappraisal by its genus (emotion regulation strategy), differentia (antecedent-focused, requiring temporal gap, involving reinterpretation), and distinguishing features (superior to suppression, operates pre-amygdala). It connects the strategy to the neurobiological findings about prefrontal cortex timing and amygdala activation.