Paper Title
Repressive coping: Distraction using pleasant thoughts and memories.
Keywords
- Repressive Coping
- Pleasant Thoughts
- Happy Memories
- Negative Affect
- Cognitive Defenses
- Emotional Distress
- Mood-Congruent Recall
- Associative Structure
- Memory Manipulation
- Distraction Techniques
- Coping Strategies
- Repression Mechanisms
- Mood Regulation
- Emotional Resilience
- Cognitive Avoidance
- Psychological Defense Mechanisms
Research Impact Tools
Publication Info
Volume: 73 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 45–62
Published On
July, 1997
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Abstract
To avoid exposure to unpleasant or unwanted emotional material, some people may distract themselves by summoning up pleasant thoughts such as happy memories. Manipulation of negative affect might therefore result in heightened accessibility of pleasant thoughts and memories, contrary to hypotheses of mood-congruent recall. In Experiment 1, repressors were faster to recall happy memories after watching an unpleasant film than after watching a neutral film. Nonrepressors showed the opposite effect (i.e., mood-congruent memory). In Experiment 2, after an unpleasant film, repressors were faster to recall a happy memory than to recall a sad memory. In Experiment 3, repressors spontaneously generated pleasant thoughts after watching an unpleasant film, whereas nonrepressors did not. Thus, repressors apparently cope with exposure to negative affective material by accessing pleasant thoughts. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive defenses against emotional distress and the associative structure of repression. (APA PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
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