A longitudinal investigation of repressive coping and ageing

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Aging & Mental Health on October 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13607863.2015.1060941.Two studies investigated the possibility that repressive coping is more prevalent in older adults and that this represents a developmental progression rather than a cohort effect. Study 1 examined repressive coping and mental health cross-sectionally in young and old adults. Study 2 examined whether there was a developmental progression of repressive coping prevalence rates in a longitudinal sample of older adults.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Effects of thought suppression on eating behaviour in restrained and non-restrained eaters

Original article can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/ Copyright ElsevierRecent research has shown that suppressing food related thoughts can cause a subsequent increase in consumption relative to groups not suppressing, or thinking about food. The present study examined whether the effects of thought suppression on subsequent eating behaviour would interact with participants restrained eating status. One hundred and sixteen female participants were split into three groups. One third suppressed thoughts of chocolate, one third thought about chocolate and the final third thought about anything they wished. Following this, participants took part in a task where they rated two brands of chocolate on several taste characteristics. Participants were unaware that the dependent variable was the amount of chocolate consumed and not taste preference. Participants also completed measures of dietary restraint, craving, guilt and thought suppression. Results indicated that restrained eaters in the suppression condition consumed significantly more chocolate than restrained eaters in the expression or control condition. Participants low on restraint ate statistically equivalent amounts in all three groups. In addition, participants reporting frequent use of thought suppression (assessed by the White Bear Suppression Inventory) reported greater chocolate cravings.Peer reviewe

The predictors of thought suppression in young and old adults : effects of anxiety, rumination and other variables

Original article can be found at : http://www.sciencedirect.com/ Copyright ElsevierThe tendency to use thought suppression in everyday life as assessed by the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI) has been related to several psychopathological and personality factors. However, previous research has primarily investigated a limited set of psychopathological factors and their relation to the use of thought suppression in younger adults only. Virtually nothing is known about the relation between thought suppression and psychopathology in older adults. The present study examined a wide variety of variables that have been theoretically and empirically linked to thought suppression and used regression models to predict the tendency to suppress thoughts in everyday life, in both younger (mean age 20) and older (mean age 73) adult samples. Results demonstrated that in both samples, the use of thought suppression was best predicted by rumination and trait anxiety. In addition, young participants had significantly higher WBSI scores than older adults but this age difference disappeared when controlling for low levels of anxiety and rumination in older adults.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Effects of age on phenomenology and consistency of flashbulb memories of September 11 and a staged control event

'This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.' Original article can be found at : http://psycnet.apa.org/ Copyright APAIn two studies, the special status of flashbulb memories was investigated by contrasting the effects of age on the phenomenology and consistency of flashbulb memories of September 11, over a 2-year delay period, with those of a mundane staged control event: participants learning that they had not won a small prize. Flashbulb memories produced no significant age effects for either phenomenological characteristics or test–retest consistency, as predicted by Mather's (2004) emotional compensation hypothesis. By contrast, the control event resulted in significant age effects for phenomenological characteristics (e.g., specificity and the amount of detail recalled) but not for test–retest consistency. Furthermore, in both age groups, memories of September 11 were significantly more vivid, detailed, and consistent than control memories even though the test–retest interval was twice as long for flashbulb memories. In addition, correlations between consistency scores and ratings of rehearsal were positive for control memories but negative for flashbulb memories. The theoretical implications of these findings for research on cognitive aging and flashbulb memories are discussedPeer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Voluntary involuntariness : Thought suppression and the regulation of the experience of will

Original article can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10538100 Copyright Elsevier Inc. DOI: 10.1016/S1053-8100(03)00054-0 [Full text of this article is not available in the UHRA]Participants were asked to carry out a series of simple tasks while following mental control instructions. In advance of each task, they either suppressed thoughts of their intention to perform the task, concentrated on such thoughts, or monitored their thoughts without trying to change them. Suppression resulted in reduced reports of intentionality as compared to monitoring, and as compared to concentration. There was a weak trend for suppression to enhance reported intentionality for a repetition of the action carried out after suppression instructions had been discontinued.Peer reviewe