Suppressing unwanted memories: where there is a will, there is a way?

Full Abstract

Research suggests that suppressing unwanted thoughts, generally, is an ineffective thought control strategy, because suppression attempts oftentimes fail, and, furthermore, result in a paradoxical increase of unwanted thoughts, later on. The present study sought to investigate whether manipulated expectations about suppression efficacy determine actual effects of suppression attempts. To test this hypothesis, participants listened to an audiotaped story, and were subsequently appointed to one of four conditions:
a no-instruction-control (n = 20), suppression (n = 20), suppression-works (n = 20; participants were told that suppression generally is a fruitful strategy), or suppression-does-not-work (n = 25; participants were told that suppression primarily has paradoxical effects) condition. Two hours later, participants' memories of the story were tested, and several metamemory questions were answered. Induced expectations actually determined the perceived efficacy of suppression attempts, as well as thought frequency, although perceived or actual accuracy of recollections was not affected by the instructions.

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Author information

Author/s: Rassin, E (E); van Brakel, A (A); Diederen, E (E);

Affiliation: Erasmus University Rotterdam, Faculty of Social Sciences, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. rassin@fsw.eur.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Behaviour research and therapy (Behav Res Ther), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Jun; vol 41 (issue 6) : pp 727-36

Dates: Created 2003/05/06; Completed 2003/09/29; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12732379, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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