An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the remediation of negative emotion will be most effective when the remedial procedure matches the experience or cognition that induced the negative state. Other hypotheses examined were (1) that negative states induced by cognitive reflection related to the self would be resistant to remediation and (2) that changes in emotional expressions may make it appear that a negative state has been effectively remediated when lingering effects on behavior and cognition indicate otherwise. Negative emotional states were induced in 150 second-grade children by one of four processes involving social rejection content: cognition that focused on the self (thinking about being rejected) or a peer (thinking about a peer's being rejected) or experience relating to the self (actually being rejected) or to a peer (observing a peer being rejected). These processes were followed by a positive remedial induction (social acceptance) whose process did or did not match that of the negative induction. Except for negative self-cognitions, it was found that the behavioral and cognitive consequences of negative emotion were alleviated when the positive remediation was of the same type as the original induction. Regardless of their type, emotional expressions were consistently positive following remediation. (Results are discussed in terms of differing processes for maintaining negative emotion as a function of the character of induction, and implications for understanding clinical depression in children are noted.) (Author/RH)