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Abstract Koole, S. L. & van Knippenberg, A. (2007). Controlling your mind without ironic consequences: Self-affirmation eliminates rebound effects after thought suppression. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 671-677.
Thought suppression can ironically heighten the accessibility of unwanted thoughts (Wegner, 1994). The present research explored whether self-affirmation may counteract such ironic effects of thought suppression. Participants either suppressed or used stereotypes in an impression formation task. Subsequently, self-affirmation was manipulated by providing participants with positive or neutral personality feedback, and stereotype accessibility was assessed. The results showed that suppression led to a rebound of stereotypic associations among neutral-feedback participants, but not among positive-feedback participants. The authors conclude that self-affirmation enhances the efficiency of mental control.
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