Abstract
Two studies addressed dysphoric individuals' suppression of unwanted thoughts. The mood-congruence hypothesis was that dysphoric subjects would be less successful suppressing negative thoughts and more successful suppressing positive thoughts than nondysphoric subjects. The cognitive-effort hypothesis was that dysphoric relative to nondysphoric subjects would be less successful suppressing thoughts of any kind, particularly in the latter portion of a suppression period. In Study 1, dysphoric and nondysphoric subjects were given either success or failure feedback on a test. They were then asked not to think of this test while completing a 5-min think-aloud procedure. In line with the mood-congruence hypothesis, dysphoric subjects had more intrusions of failure and fewer intrusions of success than nondysphoric subjects. In line with the cognitive-effort hypothesis, dysphoric subjects in both feedback conditions exhibited more intrusions in the fifth, final minute of the think-aloud period. In Study 2, dysphoric and nondysphoric subjects were instructed not to think of the neutral target white bear. Again, dysphoric relative to nondysphoric subjects exhibited more intrusions in the fifth, final minute of the think-aloud period.
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This research was supported by research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Fonds pour la Formation de chercheurs et l'aide à la recherche du Québec (FCAR) awarded to Michael Conway. Andrew Howell and Constantina Giannopoulos were supported by SSHRC and FCAR graduate fellowships, respectively. The authors thank Karin Stiefenhofer for her work on the project.
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Conway, M., Howell, A. & Giannopoulos, C. Dysphoria and thought suppression. Cogn Ther Res 15, 153–166 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173205
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173205