Thought confidence as a determinant of persuasion: The self-validation hypothesis.

Previous research in the domain of attitude change has described 2 primary dimensions of thinking that impact persuasion processes and outcomes: the extent (amount) of thinking and the direction (valence) of issue-relevant thought. The authors examined the possibility that another, more meta-cognitive aspect of thinking is also important--the degree of confidence people have in their own thoughts. Four studies test the notion that thought confidence affects the extent of persuasion. When positive thoughts dominate in response to a message, increasing confidence in those thoughts increases persuasion, but when negative thoughts dominate, increasing confidence decreases persuasion. In addition, using self-reported and manipulated thought confidence in separate studies, the authors provide evidence that the magnitude of the attitude-thought relationship depends on the confidence people have in their thoughts. Finally, the authors also show that these self-validation effects are most likely in situations that foster high amounts of information processing activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic amnesia and the paradox of intentional forgetting.

Hypnotic amnesia is often interpreted as a deliberate effort to avoid thinking of ideas or thoughts targeted for amnesia. However, as D. M. Wegner (1989) showed, nonhypnotized individuals who deliberately attempt to suppress certain thoughts or images paradoxically suffer intrusions of the proscribed material. The authors replicated Wegner's findings in 2 separate investigations. However, they also found that hypnotic amnesia did not have such paradoxical effects. Indeed, the great majority of high-hypnotizable individuals administered suggestions for amnesia showed no such intrusions whatsoever, indicating that thought suppression and hypnotic amnesia represent quite different processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Divergent thinking ability is related to faster relatedness judgments.

Creativity is commonly defined as the novel and useful combination of concepts previously thought to be unrelated. Fundamentally, this process rests on the ability to judge relatedness between concepts. The authors conducted an experiment to test the connection between divergent thinking ability and the speed of judging relatedness. Our results demonstrated that people with higher divergent thinking ability are faster in judging whether two concepts are related or unrelated. In real life, this can lead to a substantial advantage in the number of potentially useful relationships that could be assessed per unit of time. Equally important, there was no link between IQ and speed of judging relatedness. These results are interpreted in relation to a recently proposed model of creative cognition suggesting that creative people are faster in information processing under conditions of low ambiguity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Qualitative effects of rehearsal on memories for perceived and imagined complex events.

Three experiments explored the effects of rehearsal and the passage of time on qualitative characteristics of memories for perceived and imagined complex events. Subjects thought or talked about events, focusing on either the perceptual (e.g., colors, sounds) or apperceptive (e.g., thoughts, feelings) aspects of the events (Experiment 1). Thinking about apperceptive aspects of events decreased the salience of context and sensory characteristics of memories and made memories for perceived and imagined events seem more similar in the subjective amounts of thoughts and feelings included in the memories. When the aspects of events subjects thought about were unspecified, thinking about events primarily affected rated clarity (Experiment 2). The clarity of imagined events was more affected than was the clarity of perceived events by whether the memories had been rated previously (Experiments 1 & 3). Over 24 hrs, clarity and sensory ratings decreased more for imagined than for perceived events (Experiment 3). Implications for reality monitoring (M. K. Johnson and C. L. Raye [see PA, Vol 65:6694]) are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some psychological effects associated with positive and negative thinking about stressful event outcomes: Was Pollyanna right?

173 undergraduates completed an event-outcome appraisal questionnaire designed to make salient positive and negative thoughts about the outcomes of recent stressful events. Ss' well-being was assessed both immediately after the salience manipulation and again 8 wks later. Results show that positive thinking increased the well-being that Ss reported immediately after their thoughts were assessed but was unrelated to the well-being they reported after the 8-wk delay. It is suggested that although thinking positively about past event outcomes may temporarily lead to perceptions of increased well-being while the thoughts are salient, it has no enduring influence. In contrast, negative thinking was associated with lower reported well-being not only when the thoughts were salient but after a delay as well. Psychological effects associated with both types of thinking were due mostly to self-relevant thoughts rather than to externally relevant ones. Negative thinking about prior stressor outcomes appeared to increase vulnerability to the impact of later ones on several aspects of well-being. It is concluded that the absence of negative thinking, rather than the presence of positive thinking, is beneficial. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of worrisome thinking in the suppression of cardiovascular response to phobic imagery

Speech-fearful subjects repeatedly imagined a phobic image while heart rate and subjective reports of fear were monitored. Subject groups differed according to the type of mental activity that preceded each image. One group thought about a relaxing situation (Relaxation) and one group engaged in worrisome thinking (General-Worry). Three other groups were pre-trained to worry during their pre-image mentation periods with an emphasis on: (a) the thoughts; (b) the images; or (c) the affect experienced during worry. Cardiovascular effects occurred only on the first image presentation. Thought-Worry produced significantly less heart rate response than did Relaxation; the other worry conditions fell nonsignificantly between these two groups. Within-group correlations between heart rate response to the image and the reported predominance of thought relative to imagery during the preceding mentation period showed that: (a) greater worrisome thinking in General-Worry was related to less cardiovascular response; and (b) greater relaxed thinking in Relaxation was associated with greater cardiovascular response. These results support the hypothesis that it is the worrisome thinking aspect of worry that may inhibit the emotional processing of phobic material and that Gray's mismatch theory of anxiety elicitation may account for these effects.     

Do procedures for verbal reporting of thinking have to be reactive? A meta-analysis and recommendations for best reporting methods.

Since its establishment, psychology has struggled to find valid methods for studying thoughts and subjective experiences. Thirty years ago, Ericsson and Simon (1980) proposed that participants can give concurrent verbal expression to their thoughts (think aloud) while completing tasks without changing objectively measurable performance (accuracy). In contrast, directed requests for concurrent verbal reports, such as explanations or directions to describe particular kinds of information, were predicted to change thought processes as a consequence of the need to generate this information, thus altering performance. By comparing performance of concurrent verbal reporting conditions with their matching silent control condition, Ericsson and Simon found several studies demonstrating that directed verbalization was associated with changes in performance. In contrast, the lack of effects of thinking aloud was merely suggested by a handful of experimental studies. In this article, Ericsson and Simon's model is tested by a meta-analysis of 94 studies comparing performance while giving concurrent verbalizations to a matching condition without verbalization. Findings based on nearly 3,500 participants show that the “think-aloud” effect size is indistinguishable from zero (r = –.03) and that this procedure remains nonreactive even after statistically controlling additional factors such as task type (primarily visual or nonvisual). In contrast, procedures that entail describing or explaining thoughts and actions are significantly reactive, leading to higher performance than silent control conditions. All verbal reporting procedures tend to increase times to complete tasks. These results suggest that think-aloud should be distinguished from other methods in future studies. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Category learning with minimal prior knowledge.

In 6 experiments, the authors examined the use of prior knowledge in category learning. Previous studies of the effects of knowledge on category learning have used categories in which knowledge was related to all of the category's features. However, people's knowledge of real-world categories often consists of many "rote" features that are not related to their prior knowledge. Five experiments found that even minimal prior knowledge (1 knowledge-relevant feature and 5 rote features per exemplar) can facilitate category learning. Posttests revealed that although the knowledge aided learning, subjects also acquired the rote features that were not related to knowledge, contradicting predictions of an attentional explanation of the knowledge effect. The results of Experiment 6 suggested that subjects attempt to link even rote features to their knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The "inner voice" and suicide.

Argues that despite the lack of reliable prognostic signs of suicide in the behavior of potential suicide victims, there is clinical evidence that the majority of these people are tortured by a subliminal voice or thought process that is degrading and derisive to the self. This pattern of thoughts is generally accompanied by depression and lowered self-esteem. Under certain conditions, this system of hostile thoughts becomes progressively ascendant until it finally takes precedence over thought processes of rational self-interest. It is suggested that using laboratory procedures, these thoughts can be formulated and brought directly into consciousness when they are put in terms of a "voice." This voice is described as a core defense that originates in family interactions. The dynamics and probable sources of the voice are analyzed, and the relationship between this destructive thought process and actual suicidal behavior are explored. The case of a 30-yr-old woman who attempted suicide illustrates 3 levels of intensity of the voice in terms of affect. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Out of mind but back in sight: Stereotypes on the rebound.

For a variety of reasons, social perceivers may often attempt to actively inhibit stereotypic thoughts before their effects impinge on judgment and behavior. However, research on the psychology of mental control raises doubts about the efficacy of this strategy. Indeed, this work suggests that when people attempt to suppress unwanted thoughts, these thoughts are likely to subsequently reappear with even greater insistence than if they had never been suppressed (i.e., a "rebound" effect). The present research comprised an investigation of the extent to which this kind of rebound effect extends to unwanted stereotypic thoughts about others. The results provide strong support for the existence of this effect. Relative to control Ss (i.e., stereotype users), stereotype suppressors responded more pejoratively to a stereotyped target on a range of dependent measures. We discuss our findings in the wider context of models of mind, thought suppression, and social stereotyping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-handicapping, excuse making, and counterfactual thinking: Consequences for self-esteem and future motivation.

Researchers interested in counterfactual thinking have often found that upward counterfactual thoughts lead to increased motivation to improve in the future, although at the cost of increased negative affect. The present studies suggest that because upward counterfactual thoughts indicate reasons for a poor performance, they can also serve as excuses. In this case, upward counterfactual thoughts should result in more positive self-esteem and reduced future motivation. Five studies demonstrated these effects in the context of self-handicapping. First, upward counterfactual thinking was increased in the presence of a self-handicap. Second, upward counterfactual thoughts indicating the presence of a self-handicap protected self-esteem following failure. Finally, upward counterfactual thoughts that protect self-esteem reduced preparation for a subsequent performance as well as performance itself. These findings suggest that the consequences of upward counterfactuals for affect and motivation are moderated by the goals of the individual as well as the content of the thoughts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Smokers’ thoughts and worries: A study using ecological momentary assessment.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate smokers’ thoughts and worries about their smoking behavior. Researchers have sometimes asked smokers to make such self-assessments but typically using retrospective summary judgments. Design: Using ecological momentary assessment, community and student smokers reported five times daily during two separate 1-week intervals. Main Outcome Measures: Smokers reported their thoughts about smoking, worries about smoking, and level of contemplation to quit smoking. Results: Smokers reported thinking negatively about their smoking 26.8% of the time they had a cigarette. The most frequent thoughts reported by smokers related to immediate reinforcement of smoking (e.g., “How I smell like cigarettes”). However, smokers reported more intense worry about thoughts related to health concerns (e.g., “Symptoms I'm having because of smoking”). The occurrence of negative thoughts was significantly and positively related to contemplation about quitting, worry about smoking, and risk perceptions. Finally, self-reported worry intensity was more strongly related to contemplation of quitting than negative thought occurrence. Conclusion: Our results show that thoughts about smoking (i.e., cognitions) and feelings about smoking (i.e., worry) are loosely connected and it is feelings rather than cognitions that are most related to contemplation to quit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diagnostic accuracy would be improved by developing more categories of "non-disease"

Studies on the ways in which doctors think have shown the importance of intuitive processes in the formulation of a diagnosis. They have also suggested that intuitively generated diagnoses are used to aid the memory of relevant clinical facts during a clinical consultation. Only some symptoms and signs can be ordered into or subsumed under a diagnostic label. Others, which have not been thought of as constituting a disease, will tend to be lost from memory. If a diagnosis were to be thought of, not as the label of a disease but as a mental construct by means of which data are ordered and remembered, that is, as an invention whose utility is to be judged by the degree to which clinical thinking is facilitated, it would become reasonable to develop diagnoses to cover larger areas of clinical phenomenology. Some examples of the usefulness of such diagnoses of "non-disease" are given ant it is suggested that clinical thinking might be improved by the wider use of the concept.     

How power influences moral thinking.

The authors conducted 5 studies to test the idea that both thinking about and having power affects the way in which people resolve moral dilemmas. It is shown that high power increases the use of rule-based (deontological) moral thinking styles, whereas low power increases reliance on outcome-based (consequentialist) moral thinking. Stated differently, in determining whether an act is right or wrong, the powerful focus on whether rules and principles are violated, whereas the powerless focus on the consequences. For this reason, the powerful are also more inclined to stick to the rules, irrespective of whether this has positive or negative effects, whereas the powerless are more inclined to make exceptions. The first 3 experiments show that thinking about power increases rule-based thinking and decreases outcome-based thinking in participants’ moral decision making. A 4th experiment shows the mediating role of moral orientation in the effect of power on moral decisions. The 5th experiment demonstrates the role of self-interest by showing that the power–moral link is reversed when rule-based decisions threaten participants’ own self-interests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of What intelligence tests miss: The psychology of rational thought.

Reviews the book, What intelligence tests miss: The psychology of rational thought by Keith E. Stanovich (see record 2008-06992-000). Speed of processing seems to reign in the world of the mind. Although a person’s speed of processing may in part dictate who amongst us performs well on intelligence tests, this speed may not necessarily guarantee good decisions, personal contentment, and the meeting of goals in real life. Stanovich’s book is a scholarly, yet captivating, survey of research on rational thought and action, and what it means to be a truly industrious thinker. The book is divided into 13 chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 attempt to persuade the reader that measured intelligence is different from rationality—measured intelligence is essentially about raw speed of processing while rationality is about sophisticated problem solving. Chapter 3 elucidates the theoretical models, including the reflective, algorithmic, and autonomous minds, which help account for the distinction between measured intelligence and rationality. Chapters 4 and 5 flesh out the differences between intelligence and rationality. Chapters 6 through 9 expose the strategies the cognitive miser (a metaphor to guide and describe key ideas about human thinking) employs to cut corners in thinking. Chapters 10 and 11 focus on both the positive thinking strategies that should be taught in school and the contaminated forms of thinking that impede us from weighing and sifting through the information we encounter in the world and then evaluating it effectively. Chapters 12 and 13 provide a useful review of the forms of thinking that lead to irrational beliefs and actions, and conclude with the social benefits of better thinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The suppression of exciting thoughts.

We examined how the suppression of an exciting thought influences sympathetic arousal as indexed by skin conductance level (SCL). Subjects were asked to think aloud as they followed instructions to think about or not to think about various topics. Experiment 1 showed that trying not to think about sex, like thinking about sex, elevates SCL in comparison to thinking about or not thinking about less exciting topics (e.g., dancing). Experiment 2 revealed that the suppression of the thought of sex yielded SCL elevation whether or not subjects believed their think-aloud reports would be private or public, and it also revealed that the effect dissipated over the course of a few minutes. Experiment 3 found such dissipation again but showed that subsequent intrusions of the suppressed exciting thought are associated with further elevations in SCL over 30 min. Because such an association was not found when subjects were trying to think about the exciting thought, it was suggested that the suppression of exciting thoughts might be involved in the production of chronic emotional responses such as phobias and obsessive preoccupations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A microgenetic approach to perception and thought.

"The present paper has been prepared as a microgenetic approach to perception and thought. Within this approach, thoughts and percepts are believed to undergo a very brief, but theoretically important, microdevelopment. Evidence was offered both to support the possibility that such microdevelopments do occur in the normal process of thinking and perceiving and to suggest some of the formal characteristics of such evolutions. Further, an attempt was made to delineate some of the possible implications of this approach for cognitive functioning in abnormal individuals and normal individuals under atypical conditions." 139-item bibliography. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hope: An individual motive for social commerce.

The authors suggest that people of all ages are goal oriented and that 2 related thought processes typically accompany this goal-related thinking. First, there are pathway thoughts, which tap the perceived capability to generate 1 or more workable routes to desired goals. Second, there are agentic thoughts, which reflect the perception that one can initiate and sustain movement toward a goal along the given pathways. Together, pathway and agentic goal-directed thinking define hope in the present model. After describing how hope develops, the self-report instruments for measuring hope in children and adults are reviewed. How hope is sustained in the context of larger groups is explored, and the importance of shared goals as the foundation of communal hope is described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Referential Thinking Scale as a measure of schizotypy: Scale development and initial construct validation.

This article describes the development of a measure of schizotypic referential thinking. The authors present a 34-item questionnaire that includes a wide variety of referential thoughts and experiences, including both simple and guilty ideas of reference. The Referential Thinking Scale (REF) displays adequate internal consistency and strong relations with other measures of schizotypy, such as the well-known Perceptual Aberration and Magical Ideation Scales. Item-level factor analysis of the REF suggests that referential thought is multidimensional in nature, including both simple and guilty ideas of reference components. The REF displays minimal relations with acquiescence, social desirability, and sex. The REF does not appear to assess normative personality constructs that involve heightened self-awareness such as self-monitoring, self-consciousness, or social desirability, nor does it appear to be unduly related to psychological state variables. The REF was developed in order to provide an additional schizotypy measure for use in large-scale screening efforts and schizotypy studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chronic thought suppression

We conducted several tests of the idea that an inclination toward thought suppression is associated with obsessive thinking and emotional reactivity. Initially, we developed a self-report measure of thought suppression through successive factor-analytic procedures and found that it exhibited acceptable internal consistency and temporal stability. This measure, the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI), was found to correlate with measures of obsessional thinking and depressive and anxious affect, to predict signs of clinical obsession among individuals prone toward obsessional thinking, to predict depression among individuals motivated to dislike negative thoughts, and to predict failure of electrodermal responses to habituate among people having emotional thoughts. The WBSI was inversely correlated with repression as assessed by the Repression-Sensitization Scale, and so taps a trait that is quite unlike repression as traditionally conceived.