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Thoughts on suppression
Abstract
For over two decades researchers have shown that there are unexpected consequences when
an individual actively tries to avoid certain thoughts. First, you will start thinking about the thought you are trying to avoid more. Second, if the thought is about a behaviour, you increase the likelihood of engaging in that behaviour. In short, avoidance makes you less able to control what you think and what you do. Further research is necessary to explore why thought avoidance is such a prolific self- control strategy when all available evidence points to its counterintuitive consequences
... Thought suppression (i.e., trying not to think about something ) may cause a post-suppression rebound effect, whereby the individual comes to think about the to-be-avoided thought more often rather than less often (Clark, Ball, & Pape, 1991; Wegner, Schneider, Carter, & White, 1987). Furthermore, thought suppression may increase behavior associated with the suppressed thought (Erskine & Georgiou, 2011). For example, suppressing thoughts of food may increase subsequent food consumption (Erskine, 2008;). ...
Studies indicate that while suppressing smoking thoughts increases subsequent smoking, it may have no impact on desire to smoke. However, previous research has examined suppression of general smoking thoughts rather than thoughts specifically related to desire to smoke. The present study investigated whether suppression of thoughts of desire to smoke results in subsequently elevated ratings of desire to smoke. An experimental study examined the effects of suppressing thoughts of desire to smoke, versus expressing thoughts of desire to smoke, versus a control group thinking about anything, on ratings of desire to smoke and tobacco withdrawal symptoms at four time points (before manipulations, just after manipulations, 5 min after, 10 min after). In addition, effects of suppressing thoughts of desire to smoke on subsequent reports of thoughts of desire to smoke were examined. Suppressing the thoughts of desire to smoke caused thought rebound (i.e., greater subsequent reports of thoughts of desire to smoke). However, compared with control groups, this suppression did not elevate subsequent ratings of desire to smoke. Suppressing the thoughts of desire to smoke does not elevate subsequent ratings of this desire. Increased cigarette consumption following suppression of smoking thoughts may be mediated by mechanisms other than increased desire to smoke.
A study investigated how the ability to suppress thoughts in the laboratory was affected by type of thought suppressed (positive, negative, neutral), participants' age and working memory capacity (WMC). Linked variables (Use of thought suppression, social desirability, and mindfulness) were measured to assess whether they modified susceptibility to thought intrusion. Younger, middle aged and older adults suppressed three different valenced thoughts in a counterbalanced order for 5-min per thought. Participants then completed a WMC task and questionnaire measures of the linked variables. Valence had no effect on intrusions. WMC was positively related to intrusions; higher WMC corresponded to greater intrusions. Age was negatively related to intrusions; with increasing age intrusions decreased. Hierarchical regression showed only age and backward digit span (WMC) significantly predicted intrusions. The relationship between WMC and intrusions was not moderated by age. WMC and age both independently predict level of intrusion, and no synergistic effect was found.
Research to understand how individuals cope with intrusive negative or threatening thoughts suggests a variety of different cognitive strategies aimed at thought control. In this review, two of these strategies – thought suppression and repressive coping – are discussed in the context of addictive behaviour. Thought suppression involves conscious, volitional attempts to expel a thought from awareness, whereas repressive coping, which involves the avoidance of thoughts without the corresponding conscious intention, appears to be a far more automated process. Whilst there has been an emerging body of research exploring the role of thought suppression in addictive behaviour, there remains a dearth of research which has considered the role of repressive coping in the development of, and recovery from, addiction. Based on a review of the literature, and a discussion of the supposed mechanisms which underpin these strategies for exercising mental control, a conceptual model is proposed which posits a potential common mechanism. This model makes a number of predictions which require exploration in future research to fully understand the cognitive strategies utilised by individuals to control intrusive thoughts related to their addictive behaviour.
Historically, cognitive researchers have largely ignored the domain of sport in their quest to understand how the mind works. This neglect is due, in part, to the limitations of the information processing paradigm that dominated cognitive psychology in its formative years. With the emergence of the embodiment approach to cognition, however, sport has become a dynamic natural laboratory in which to investigate the relationship between thinking and skilled action. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore some insights into the relationship between thinking and action that have emerged from recent research on exceptional performance states (e.g., ‘flow’ and ‘choking’) in athletes. The paper begins by explaining why cognitive psychologists’ traditional indifference to sport has been replaced by a more enthusiastic attitude in recent years. The next section provides some insights into the relationship between thinking and skilled action that have emerged from research on ‘flow’ (or peak performance) and ‘choking’ (or impaired performance) experiences in athletes. The third section of the paper explores some practical issues that arise when athletes seek to exert conscious control over their thoughts in competitive situations. The final part of the paper considers the implications of research on thinking in action in sport for practical attempts to improve thinking skills in domains such as business organizations and schools.
Cognitive-behavioral models of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) assert that negative appraisals of obsessional thoughts lead to distress over the thoughts and drive ameliorative actions such as thought suppression and compulsions. These responses in turn play a role in the persistence of the disorder. However, past research has not examined (a) what factors lead individuals to suppress obsessional thoughts; (b) whether certain predictors and consequences relate to suppression uniquely or can be explained by general factors such as negative mood and neuroticism; or (c) individuals' natural active suppression of obsessions. The current study addresses these limitations by examining the roles of natural suppression and distress over thought intrusions in the thought-appraisal/OC symptoms relationship while controlling for general factors. Ninety-one nonclinical participants completed a variety of measures assessing theoretically relevant constructs. After their obsessional thought was primed, they recorded their thoughts for 6 minutes and then rated their suppression effort. Four hours later, longer-term outcomes were assessed. Path analyses supported most components of cognitive-behavioral models.
People sometimes find themselves making movement errors that represent the ironic opposite of what they intended to do. These studies examined this tendency in the case of putting a golf ball and swinging a handheld pendulum, and found that ironic errors were particularly likely when participants who were instructed to avoid them tried to do so under mental load or physical load. The idea that such errors may be prompted by a monitoring process that increases sensitivity to the most undesirable outcome of an intention was supported by the finding of a tendency for ironic errors to be more evident when participants were allowed to monitor their action visually than when they could not.
The cognitive and emotional demands of modern life mean that it has become increasingly important to learn how to manage effectively
our mental processes and behavior. Central to the achievement of mental control is the suppression, or inhibiton, of unwanted
or inappropriate thoughts or behaviors. Our recent work has considered the potential utility of instructing individuals to
suppress sexually deviant thoughts as a therapy technique for sexual offenders. Of special concern was the subsequent hyperaccessibility,
or “rebound,” of the very thoughts which were previously suppressed. The present study is a preliminary experimental investigation
of the ability of incarcerated child molesters to suppress unwanted sexual thoughts and the subsequent impact of this suppression
on the accessibility of the suppressed thoughts. Participants completed an articulated thoughts task under instructions to
suppress sex-related thoughts or under no specific instructions. Suppression instructions reduced the incidence of sex-related
thoughts. In a subsequent color naming task (Stroop Task), the accessibility of the previously suppressed thoughts was tested.
Both sex-related and child-related words were more accessible after prior suppression instructions for preferential child
molesters than for either situational child molesters or nonsexual offenders. Implications for treatment of sexual offenders
and for offender typology are discussed.
The clinical literature has long illustrated the paradoxical findings that deliberate attempts to suppress particular thoughts actually increase their occurrence. These unwanted, often intrusive, thoughts that are a major feature of obsessive disorders, depression, sleep disorders, and a range of other disturbances are of particular clinical concern. The exploration of psychological factors associated with cognitive control is, then, clinically relevant. In the current article we consider the role of mental control, especially thought suppression, in explaining the occurrence of unwanted thoughts, specifically in relation to deviant sexual thoughts. Many features of sexual offending, such as the effects of stress or strong affective states on offending and the rapid escalation in severity and frequency of sexual offending, reported by both therapists and researchers, can be explained by the mental control literature. In addition, the role of suppression in therapy for sexual offenders and its implications for relapse are considered. We argue that the use of suppression techniques by therapists is not sufficient to prevent the occurrence of sexually deviant thoughts and the recurrence of sexual offenses. Therapists also must teach offenders to manage stress effectively and to develop appropriate beliefs about what is controllable. Making suppression techniques automatic and avoiding high‐risk situations for offending are also important skills for the offender to learn in therapy.
Recent studies on the co-occurrent use of alcohol and tobacco have suggested that efforts to control the use of one substance may influence the use of the other. However, little is known about how cognitive strategies used to regulate the use of one substance may affect cross-substance use. In this study, 50 social drinkers who were daily smokers were exposed to the sight and smell of their favorite alcoholic beverage under instructions to either monitor or suppress their urge for alcohol. During a subsequent trial, participants were permitted to smoke while smoking topography was assessed. Although urge ratings were not influenced by instructional set, participants who had previously suppressed their urge to drink alcohol showed more intense smoking behavior than those who had monitored. Results are discussed in terms of the cross-substance effects of urge suppression and their implications for polysubstance treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The tendency to use thought suppression in everyday life as assessed by the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI) has been related to several psychopathological and personality factors. However, previous research has primarily investigated a limited set of psychopathological factors and their relation to the use of thought suppression in younger adults only. Virtually nothing is known about the relation between thought suppression and psychopathology in older adults. The present study examined a wide variety of variables that have been theoretically and empirically linked to thought suppression and used regression models to predict the tendency to suppress thoughts in everyday life, in both younger (mean age 20) and older (mean age 73) adult samples. Results demonstrated that in both samples, the use of thought suppression was best predicted by rumination and trait anxiety. In addition, young participants had significantly higher WBSI scores than older adults but this age difference disappeared when controlling for low levels of anxiety and rumination in older adults.
Normal sleepers were instructed either to fall asleep as quickly as they could or to fall asleep whenever they desired, under a high mental load (listening to John Philip Sousa marches) or a low mental load (listening to sleep-conducive new age music). Under low load, participants trying to fall asleep quickly did so faster than those attempting only to fall asleep whenever they desired. Under high load, however, and consistent with the ironic process theory of mental control (Wegner, D. M., 1994, Psychological Review, 101, 34-52), sleep onset latency was greater for participants attempting to fall asleep quickly than for those not attempting to do so.
Two studies found that intentional relaxation under conditions of mental load or stress produces ironic increases in skin conductance level (SCL). In Experiment 1, participants instructed to relax under the high mental load of rehearsing a long number had higher SCL than those instructed to relax under low load, and tended to have higher SCL than those under high load not instructed to relax. In Experiment 2, participants were instructed to relax or were not so instructed while they answered questions described either as measures of IQ or as unimportant. Those in the more loading and stressful situation who were asked to relax had greater SCL during the questions than those not asked to relax.
Participants were asked to carry out a series of simple tasks while following mental control instructions. In advance of each task, they either suppressed thoughts of their intention to perform the task, concentrated on such thoughts, or monitored their thoughts without trying to change them. Suppression resulted in reduced reports of intentionality as compared to monitoring, and as compared to concentration. There was a weak trend for suppression to enhance reported intentionality for a repetition of the action carried out after suppression instructions had been discontinued.
Abstinent alcoholics were compared to a non-alcoholic control group on a modified Stroop color-naming task. Alcoholics took significantly longer to name the color of the word "alcohol" than to name the color of non-alcohol words (i.e., they showed an interference effect) after they had first tried to suppress thoughts of alcohol. Alcoholics who had freely expressed thoughts about alcohol prior to the Stroop did not show such interference. Control participants who had suppressed thoughts of alcohol showed no interference effect. The results overall suggest that when alcoholics try to suppress thoughts of alcohol, these thoughts may become hyperaccessible immediately afterward.