AICE PhD student Lisanne Pauw has, together with her supervisors Agneta Fischer, Gerben van Kleef, and Disa Sauter, published an article in Cognition and Emotion. When in emotional distress, people often turn to others for social support. A general distinction has been made between two types of support that are differentially effective: Whereas socio-affective support temporarily alleviates emotional distress, cognitive support may contribute to better long-term recovery. In a set of studies, Pauw and colleagues examined what type of support individuals seek. After first confirming in a pilot study that these two types of support can be reliably distinguished, Study 1 and 2 experimentally tested participants’ support evaluations in response to different emotional situations using vignettes. Findings showed that individuals perceived any type of reaction that included socio-affective support as preferable. The evaluation of cognitive support, however, was dependent on the specific emotion. Taken together, the findings suggest that individuals evaluate different types of support in a way that is unlikely to benefit emotional recovery in the long run. The full paper is available via the link below.