REPRESSIVE COPING - DISTRACTION USING PLEASANT THOUGHTS AND MEMORIES

To avoid exposure to unpleasant or unwanted emotional material, some p eople may distract themselves by summoning up pleasant thoughts such a s happy memories. Manipulation of negative affect might therefore resu lt in heightened accessibility of pleasant thoughts and memories, cont rary to hypotheses of mood-congruent recall. In Experiment 1, represso rs were faster to recall happy memories after watching an unpleasant f ilm than after watching a neutral film. Nonrepressors showed the oppos ite effect (i.e., mood-congruent memory). In Experiment 2, after an un pleasant film, repressors were faster to recall a happy memory than to recall a sad memory. In Experiment 3, repressors spontaneously genera ted pleasant thoughts after watching an unpleasant film, whereas nonre pressors did not. Thus, repressors apparently cope with exposure to ne gative affective material by accessing pleasant thoughts. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive defenses against emotional distress an d the associative structure of repression.