Thought suppression and dietary restraint

Abstract

The thesis commences with a review of thought suppression research and focuses on the effects of suppressing personally relevant material. Limitations of the research are discussed, in addition to the current theoretical understandings of thought suppression phenomenon. Following this, the review focuses on the clinical applications of thought suppression research in relation to dietary restraint. However, results have been inconsistent and further studies are required to differentiate between the effects of dietary restraint and disinhibition and investigate individual differences in thought suppression attempts. In view of this, the empirical paper investigated the effects of thought suppression, dietary restraint and disinhibition on automatic cognitive processes, in addition to individual differences in thought control techniques. Participants classified as low restraint, inhibited restraint and disinhibited restraint were instructed to either suppress or not suppress their thoughts prior to completing a modified Stroop task. It was found that, contrary to predictions, thought suppression decreased reaction time on the Stroop task. Furthermore, disinhibited restrainers were more likely to engage in thought suppression attempts, experienced higher levels of anxiety and were less likely to use adaptive thought control techniques compared to low restrainers and inhibited restrainers. Results are considered in relation to previous research, and methodological limitations as well as clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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