Dear GSR specialists and practitioners!
We are pleased to announce that the GSR System Administration has received a report on a research project: “A Study of the Relationship between GSR Practice Experience and Participants’ Psychoemotional Characteristics.” The study was conducted by Brainstart (a Skolkovo Foundation resident) in collaboration with the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.
It involved 377 participants with varying degrees of GSR experience, as well as a control group unfamiliar with the methodology. The goal was to study the relationship between the number of GSR self-sessions conducted and the participants’ psychoemotional characteristics, assessed using psychometric questionnaires.
The following results were obtained: Emotional Sphere and Self-Regulation
With increasing GSR experience, general emotional intelligence, relationship maintenance, and social competence increased. This indicates a link between practical experience and better understanding and regulation of emotions, greater interpersonal effectiveness, and enhanced relationship maintenance capabilities. Self-control also increased, consistent with the idea of developing voluntary regulation of behavior and impulses.
Stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms
Greater experience with GSR was associated with reduced state- and trait-specific anxiety, general perceived stress, and cognitive-affective and somatic symptoms of depression: with increased experience, the severity of emotional distress decreased.
Personality and resource indicators.
Experience with GSR was associated with higher scores on self-esteem, self-efficacy, stress resilience, initiative for personal growth, and life satisfaction. These effects can be interpreted as a connection between practice and greater internal resources, greater confidence in the ability to cope with difficulties, and a more positive assessment of one’s own life.
Work engagement.
All three components of the work engagement scale—energy, enthusiasm, and absorption—were positively associated with experience with GSR. This indicates that more experienced participants are characterized by greater energy, internal engagement, a sense of meaningfulness, and the ability to engage deeply in work.
Coping strategies and cognitive emotion regulation.
With increasing experience, adherence to coping strategies such as denial, behavioral disengagement, self-distraction, substance use as a coping strategy, and some forms of emotion-focused responding decreased. Concurrently, the use of planning strategies increased.
Personality traits and cognitive flexibility.
Experience with GSR is associated with lower levels of neuroticism and higher levels of extroversion and conscientiousness. A positive relationship was also found with the CFI “Alternatives” scale, which reflects the ability to find different explanations and solutions.
Thus, the obtained results indicate that greater experience with GSR practice is associated with a more favorable psychological profile. The most pronounced and consistent relationships were found for reductions in anxiety, stress, and depressive symptoms, as well as for increases in emotional intelligence, self-control, engagement, and personal resources.
Many of the questionnaires used directly or indirectly reflect the experience of stress and related conditions. When interpreting the results, it is important to consider that chronic and severe stress is associated with negative consequences for the body, including accelerated aging and increased indicators of biological age, an increased risk of cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases, chronic fatigue, cognitive decline, and a number of other adverse effects.
In this regard, the identified links between greater experience in GSR practice and a reduction in stress-related and similar symptoms are of interest not only in terms of subjective well-being but also in the broader context of the potential prevention of stress-related health burdens.
Interestingly, experience in GSR is associated not only with symptomatic indicators but also with resource characteristics:
- self-control,
- self-esteem,
- self-efficacy,
- stress resilience,
- initiative for personal growth,
- work engagement.
Conclusion
Experience in GSR practice demonstrates a consistent relationship with a wide range of psychometric indicators. Longer experience is associated with lower levels of anxiety, stress, depressive symptoms, and maladaptive behavioral strategies, as well as greater self-regulation, emotional intelligence, personal resources, engagement, and life satisfaction, as well as lower rates of alcohol consumption and smoking.
These results suggest a potential systemic positive effect associated with GSR practice.
You may share this report with anyone you deem necessary, without further approval, including with clients, both individual and corporate, existing and potential (without making any promises you cannot fulfill in advance). This document may be sent to the media and government agencies only after prior approval from the GSR System Administration.
Scientific research is another step towards further integrating the GSR system into the social arena.
Sincerely, GSR System Administration
