Busy perceivers and ineffective suppression goals: a critical role for distracter thoughts.

Full Abstract

With limited cognitive resources, suppressing thoughts can be ineffective. The detrimental effects of cognitive load on suppression have typically been attributed to increased accessibility of avoided thoughts. However, little research has examined distracter thoughts and their contribution to these effects. In three studies, participants pursued suppression goals related to social judgments (e.g., avoid negative thoughts about a target's performance) with sufficient or diminished cognitive resources. Compared to suppressors not under cognitive load, suppressors under load drew more negative social inferences when pursuing a negative suppression goal and more positive inferences under a positive suppression goal; load did not similarly disrupt a concentration goal (i.e., focus on positive thoughts). Across studies, load reduced high-quality oppositely valenced distracter thoughts, and these distracter thoughts mediated the detrimental effects of load on social inferences. The discussion focuses on mechanisms underlying the effects of load on suppression, implications, and future directions for research on ironic processes.

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Author information

Author/s: Reich, Darcy A (DA); Mather, Robert D (RD);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA. darcy.reich@ttu.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Personality and social psychology bulletin (Pers Soc Psychol Bull), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-May; vol 34 (issue 5) : pp 706-18

Dates: Created 2008/04/16; Completed 2008/07/28;

PMID: 18319378, 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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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Aptitude
Attention
Awareness
Child
Culture
Female
Goals
Humans
Intelligence

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