The role of thought suppression in the bonding of thought and mood

Abstract

The idea that thought suppression creates a unique bond between the suppressed item and one's mood state, such that the reactivation of one leads to the reinstatement of the other, was examined. In Experiment 1, subjects who were induced by music to experience positive or negative moods reported their thoughts while trying to think or not think about a white bear. When all subjects were subsequently asked to think about a white bear, those who were in similar moods during thought suppression and later expression displayed a particularly strong rebound of the suppressed thought. In Experiment 2, subjects ' moods following the expression of a previously suppressed or expressed thought were assessed. Analysis of the mood reports showed that subjects who had initially tried to suppress their thoughts experienced a reinstatement of the mood state that existed during the initial period of suppression. Suppressing a thought, at least on the face of it, seems uncomplicated enough. All one needs to do is think of other things. Unfortunately, people often find suppression so difficult that they need to think of other things again and again. As each new distracter fails, they keep trying to find new ones, and in