![]() We tried to examine whether there are additional mechanisms allowing people to reduce the probability of thinking unwanted thoughts in the first place." "People are usually aware of their attempts to distract themselves from unwanted thoughts, or maybe suppress them in some other way, although they can rarely judge how well these attempts work. The findings suggest that proactively suppressing an unwanted thought (rather than reactively suppressing it by replacing it with something else) could help us reduce them happening in the first place. "However, was considerably lower among participants asked to suppress associations compared to the group in which no such suppression was requested." How can we stop intrusive thoughts? "Reporting an association has always increased its strength," said Fradkin. It didn't eliminate it completely, though. So, if a person ensured that an unwanted thought – in this case, the word 'chair' – was not given any strength after its first appearance, they could actually reduce the chance of it popping up in their mind a second time. But when they did, they took more time to think of it than the people in the group without the incentive to suppress repeated words. People in the suppression group, still, at times and inadvertently, reported a repeated association, said Fradkin. ![]() Your brain is temporal soup: How past narratives trap our future thoughts.How false memories can shape a criminal court case. ![]() This, the psychologists say, suggested the association in their mind strengthened each time, and the thought took less and less time to arrive in their minds. So, the 'chair' response to the word 'table' was given quicker the fourth time they saw it compared to the third, which was faster than the second, and so on. The game's short time limit meant the participants that did best would be the ones who could suppress the thoughts of words they'd already said.įradkin and Eldar noticed that in the 40 participants who were not given the rule, any repeated responses would come faster and faster each time they were said. All 80 people were told they would get paid for their participation, but half the group were told that they would get an additional bonus only if they did not repeat any words – if they used the response 'chair' for the cue 'table' more than once, they'd lose out. For example, they may have been shown the cue word 'table', and come up with the response 'chair'.Įach cue was shown five different times throughout the experiment. They were shown a series of cue words, and for each they were asked to quickly give an associated word. ![]() Instead, we should overcome unwanted thoughts using proactive thinking.įor the new study, Dr Isaac Fradkin and Dr Eran Eldar asked 80 participants to play a word game. But research from psychologists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem suggests that distracting ourselves in this reactive way might actually be making the thought stronger. When we notice an intrusive thought, we will usually react by trying to replace it quickly with something else, something happier. These internal intrusions can be as harmless as the urge to touch a button that reads 'DO NOT PRESS', or as debilitating as the thought that you can't step outside or you'll be immediately judged – an experience some with social anxiety might be familiar with. Most people experience unwanted thoughts from time to time. Scientists may have figured out how to control intrusive thoughts
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