Lectures 7 & 8:
Mental Control
Don’t Think About?
Background Reading
Wegner, D.M. (1994). Ironic processes of mental control. Psychological
Review, 101, 34-52.
Wegner, D.., & Wenzlaff, R.M. (1996). Mental control. In E.T. Higgins &
A.W. Kruglanski (Eds.) Social psychology: Handbook of basic
principles (pp. 466-492. New York: Guilford.
Wenzlaff, R.M., & Wegner, D.M. (2000). Thought suppression. Annual
Review of Psychology, 51, 59-91.
Forbidden Thoughts
Unwanted Thoughts - Top 10 (US)
10. food and eating
9. health
8. sexual impulses
7. physical appearance
6. lack of money
5. fear of being victimized
4. death of loved ones
3. worries about the future
2. school worries
1. problems in relationships
Unwanted Stuff (UK)
• Unwanted Action Impulses
becoming violent during sex
jumping on track as a train approaches
crashing the car on purpose
saying rude things to people
jumping from a tall building
• Unwanted Thoughts
accident to loved one
food calorie content
humiliating experiences from past
wishing someone dead
Important Questions
• How do we control our minds?
• Is mind control successful?
• Who or what is in control?
A Brief History of Mind Control
Brief History Continued
• Freudian years (‘tales from the darkside’)
repression vs. suppression
conscious vs. unconscious control
voluntary inhibition
• early research (don’t list)
action inhibition (don’t kiss)
communication inhibition (don’t swear)
emotion inhibition (don’t lie)
Exerting the Will
Acts of Will
• will - ‘effort’ of attention
• paddling in the stream of consciousness
wanted vs. unwanted thoughts
directing attention
regulating the contents of consciousness
• how effective is mind control?
ironic (i.e., unintended) effects
A Wee Thought Experiment
Literary Insights
Don’t Think About
“Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will
see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute.”
Polar Bears Revisited!
Don’t Think About White Bears:
Wegner et al. (1987)
Task
Participants asked to suppress the thought of a white bear.
These individuals thought aloud for 5 minutes and rang a
bell if the thought came to mind during suppression
(participants typically rang the bell and mentioned white
bears occasionally during this time - 6 times).
when these participants were next asked to think about
anything at all (including white bears) they produced more
mentions and more bell rings than did participants who
could think about anything (including white bears) at all
from the outset of the experiment.
Post-Suppression Rebound
16
14
12
10
mention
bell
8
6
4
2
0
suppress
control
Suppression - A Case Study
Of course now the only thing I’m going to think about is a white bear.
OK, I mean its hard to think that I can see a bell*…and don’t think
about a white bear. Um, what was I thinking of before? See, if I think
about flowers a lot*…I’ll think about a white bear, it’s impossible.* I
could ring this bell over and over* and over* and over* and…a white
bear*…and OK…so, my fingernails are really bad they…um…they
need to be painted because they are…um…they’re chipping at the
ends. One thing about this is every time that I really want
like…um…to talk, think, to not think* about the white bear, then it
makes me think about the white bear so it doesn’t work, so I’m going
to have to try harder not to think abut the white bear.
Halloween, people from Venus, purple hair, relaxed toes...
Get Out of My Mind!!!
• combating rebound
• how to minimize mental intrusions
self distraction
not white bears, but…
• why does rebound occur?
distractors as reminders
The Secret of Success:
Red VW
Types of Distraction
• focused vs. unfocused distraction
• perils of distractor cueing
few vs. many
Power of Distraction:
Wegner et al. (1987)
Task
As before (don’t think about white bear). When a
whitebear comes to mind, think about a red VW (i.e.,
focused distraction) or anything at all (i.e., unfocused
distraction)
Results
Phase 1 - both groups report equivalent numbers of white
bear thoughts. Phase 2 - rebound eliminated for those
previously thinking about a Red VW.
A Red VW For Your Thoughts
35
30
25
20
suppress
later
15
10
5
0
unfocused
red VW
The Power of Context
Change the Context:
Wegner et al. (1991)
Task
suppress or express thoughts (white bears) in the context of
a slide show (classroom scenes or household objects).
Then express thoughts in either the same or different
context.
Results
a change of context eliminated rebound effects. Thus,
distractors serve as reminders.
Charting Rebound Effects
• old flames
• eating disorders
• emotions
• violence
Fanning Old Flames:
Gold & Wegner (1991)
• Phase 1 - participants spent 9 min thinking about an old
flame (if still in love - elevated GSR)
• Phase 2 - participants spent 9 mins suppressing either
thoughts about their old flame or the Statue of Liberty.
• Phase 3 - think about old flame. Elevated GSR observed in
participants who were previously instructed to suppress
thoughts about their old flame.
Binge Eating
• Polivy & Herman (1985) report that inhibition of eating
may lead to subsequent eating disorders and obesity.
Dieters are particularly inclined to overeat immediately
after having broken a diet (rebound?) - similar effects with
smoking and alcoholism.
Emotional Rebound
• rebound following inhibition of emotion associated with a
traumatic event.
• Pennebaker (1990) has shown that long-term inhibition can
impair subsequent health (psychological & physical).
Violent Behaviour
• Megargee (1971) - violent criminals show 2 contrasting
patterns of response to violence-promoting situations:
under-controlled and over-controlled. Over-controlled
individuals hold back all aggressive tendencies until some
situation triggers an extremely violent episode.