Reactance and thought suppression

Two studies explored whether dispositional reactance moderates the effects of thought suppression. In Study 1 (N = 87) and Study 2 (N = 114), higher and lower reactant undergraduates were instructed either to suppress or to express their own intrusive thoughts during a stream-of-consciousness writing task. Results revealed that among higher reactant participants, those in the suppression group subsequently reported feeling more out of control of and disturbed by their intrusive thoughts and by their thoughts in general than did those in the expression group. Among the lower reactant participants, this pattern was reversed: Those in the expression group reported feeling more out of control of their thoughts than did those in the suppression group. The findings suggest that being motivated to restore one's freedom may paradoxically leave one feeling more out of control of one's thoughts after suppressing them.