Reich Darcy A, Mather Robert D
Department of Psychology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA.
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2008 May;34(5):706-18. doi: 10.1177/0146167207313732. Epub 2008 Mar 4.
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.
由于认知资源有限，抑制想法可能无效。认知负荷对抑制的有害影响通常归因于被回避想法的可及性增加。然而，很少有研究考察分心想法及其对这些影响的作用。在三项研究中，参与者在认知资源充足或减少的情况下追求与社会判断相关的抑制目标（例如，避免对目标表现产生负面想法）。与未承受认知负荷的抑制者相比，承受负荷的抑制者在追求负面抑制目标时会做出更多负面的社会推断，而在追求正面抑制目标时会做出更多正面推断；负荷对专注目标（即专注于正面想法）没有类似的干扰。在各项研究中，负荷减少了高质量的具有相反效价的分心想法，并且这些分心想法介导了负荷对社会推断的有害影响。讨论集中在负荷对抑制产生影响的潜在机制、影响以及反讽过程研究的未来方向。
