The Role of Mental Processes in the Failure of Inhibition.pdf

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The Role of Mental Processes in the Failure of Inhibition
Author(s): Richard M. Wenzlaff and Daniel M. Wegner
Source:
Psychological Inquiry,
Vol. 9, No. 3 (1998), pp. 231-233
Published by:
Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1449563
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The Role ofMentalProcessesin theFailure ofInhibition
Studies
and
Division Behavioral Cultural
of
of
The University Texasat San Antonio
RichardM. Wenzlaff
of
Department Psychology
of
The University Virginia
where
often
determines
a
Where begin journey
you
the
toward under-
beganhertravels
youendup.Polivy
of
in study diet-
of
inhibition the
standing psychological
thus
to
and
ingandeating, herapproach inhibition be-
she
of
Fromthere,
the
ginswith self-control behavior.
and
of
movedintoconsiderations theroleof emotion
to role
and
inhibition, finally the
in
motivation behavior
of
to
This
has
ofthought. path ledher conceive cognitive
as
of
as
inhibition a latecomer sorts, she claimsthat
ex-
mechanisms" issue)cannot
(this
cognitive
"strictly
reactions emotional
and
of
the
plain widerange adverse
with general
the
associated
phenomenon
disturbances
a
em-
she
Instead, advocates modelthat
ofinhibition.
of
and
the
phasizes interactionbiological psychological
that
in
drives arenotsuffi-
unexpressed
motives which
can
processes build
attenuated psychological
by
ciently
in
unleashthemselves unintended,
up and eventually
harmful
ways.
andpotentially
Schneider,
(e.g.,Wegner,
thought
with
We started
&
Wegner, Roper,
&
Carter, White,1987; Wenzlaff,
of
has
point departure led us on a very
1988),andthis
Polivy'smodelis vaguecon-
different Whereas
trip.
mechanisms contribute
that
the
cerning psychological
the
and
difficulty, sheacknowledges need
toinhibition
we
of
formoreresearch, beganour study inhibition
problems
with specific
a
focuson themechanism.
We
of
mechanism suffi-
are
believethebasicoutlines this
of
clearat thispointthat
ciently
problems behavior,
can
to
emotion, thought all be traced thecognitive
and
in
processes
involved mental
control. assuming
By
that
in
thecognitive
processes
involved thought
suppres-
to
sionhavelimited
as-
applicability themotivational
of
has
pects inhibition,
Polivy prematurely
dismissed
a
theoretical
account provides
that
the
precisely compre-
hensive
she
perspective seeks.
In largepart,
Polivybases herassessment the
of
relevance thought
of
on
limited
suppression an early
modeloftheprocess
(Wegner,
1989).Essentially,
the
initial
research thought
on
suppression
simply
reported
that
peoplehavedifficulty
suppressing
thoughts
when
are
to
they instructed do so, andexamined
someofthe
implications this
of
effect.
Polivyhas notkept with
up
thisliterature,
as she
no
unfortunately, offers citation
of
of
orassessment themore
general
theory ironic
pro-
cesses ofmental
control grewoutof thethought
that
work(Wegner,1994, 1997; Wegner&
suppression
Wenzlaff,
1996). This theory
specifiesthe mecha-
and
nismsinvolvedin thought
suppression, mental
231
Daniel M. Wegner
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COMMENTARIES
control
moregenerally, well as thecircumstances
as
thatcan producecognitive,
emotional, motiva-
and
tionalproblems. brief
A
consideration thetheory
of
to
highlights relevance theissuesPolivy
its
raises.
It is worth
noting theoutset
at
that
mental
control
processes
haveimplications
beyond
strictly
cognitive
phenomena-asthoughts
affect
motivational
directly
and emotionalstates as well as behavior (e.g.,
&
Gollwitzer Bargh,
&
1996;Wegner Bargh,
1998).If
this
werenotthecase andinhibition
relied
exclusively
we
on domain-specific
processes, wouldface a dire
we
somemo-
predicament
indeed.
Although can exert
dicumofcontrol
overourthoughts,
without
cognitive
to
mediation wouldweendeavor inhibit
how
unwanted
emotions drives?One might
or
envisioninhibitory
such
remain-
techniques as taking
psychotropic
drugs,
the
inglockedin a roomuntil unwanted
urges
pass,or
The pointhere,of
oneselfunconscious.
rendering
a
control
modelhasdirect
is
course, that mental
impli-
for
of
cations notonlythecognitive
aspects inhibition
the
and
facets.
butalso for emotional motivational
of
to
mental
According thetheory ironic
processes,
two
an
control
involves mechanisms: intentional
oper-
that
that
the
ating
process seeksthoughts promote pre-
state and an ironicmonitoring
ferred
systemthat
for
contents signalthefailure
to
searches mental
that
achievethedesiredstate(Wegner,
1994). Bothpro-
the
of
cessesincrease cognitive
accessibility themen-
are
for
talcontents which
they searching. whena
So,
to
personis trying be happy,the operating
process
to
contents
searchesformental
pertinent happiness,
for
whereas monitoring
the
searches thoughts
process
thatindicatehappiness
has not been achieved.Al-
the
though operating
processis effortful,
consciously
and relatively
the
guided,
proficient, monitoring
sys-
temis usually
less
of
unconscious, demanding mental
and
effort, thus proficient.
less
Under normalcircumstances two processes
the
workin concert that operating
the
so
fills
system the
mind
with
desired
and monitoring
thoughts the
process
it
actionat thefirst
subtly
prompts to further
signof
failure.
Becausethemonitor
watchful lapsesin
of
stays
it
to
sensitive theun-
control,
however, keepsthemind
wanted
material.
whenmental
Therefore,
capacity
is
and
taxed theeffortful
is
the
operating
process limited,
moresubtle
sensitivity
supplied themonitor
by
ironi-
callycan createthemental
statethatcorresponds
to
control
failure.
Under
mental
load,then,
intentions
to
control mind
the
unleash monitoring
a
system not
that
of
onlysearches thefailure mental
for
control then
but
also tends
that
to
itself create failure reviews re-
(for
of
search
see
evidence, Wegner,
&
1994;Wegner Smart,
&
1997;Wegner Wenzlaff,
1996).
thatoccurwhenthe operating
The ironiceffects
is
can
system disabled be attenuated
depending how
on
the goal of suppression
was originally
framed.
Al-
though wouldseemequivalent say that person
it
to
a
232
who desires be relaxedalso desiresnotto be anx-
to
ious,these
frames
differ
subtly their
in
implications
for
the searchstrategies will be undertaken
that
during
suppression. To create relaxation-an ap-
proach-oriented
goal-the operating
process would
seekrelaxing
mental
contents themonitoring
and
pro-
cess wouldseek failures createsuchthoughts.
to
The
monitored failures could range from anxi-
contents a widevariety neutral
to
ety-producing
of
or
relaxation-irrelevant
contents.
in
Disruptions theoper-
ating
system
wouldthrust awareness contents
into
the
of themonitoring
in
system
that, thiscase, wouldbe
both nonrelaxing
and a wide range of
thoughts
to
irrelevant anxiety. might
thoughts
This
produce
only
a smallincrease anxiousness.
in
On the otherhand,to avoid anxiety-an avoid-
ance-oriented
goal-nonanxious mental contents
wouldbe needed.
Thiswouldrequire operating
an
pro-
cess seeking
both
contents neutral re-
and
or
relaxing
laxation-irrelevant
contents a monitoring
and
process
contents. thiscase,
In
seekingonlyanxiety-relevant
of
disruption theoperating
wouldshift
atten-
system
tionto exclusively
anxiousthoughts,
thereby
produc-
in
ing marked
increments anxiety.
Thus,theway in
which frames goal state
one
the
determines extent
the
towhich
demands toironic
lead
cognitive
thought
sup-
pression
effects Wegner,
(cf.
Broome,& Blumberg,
&
1996;Wegner,
Erber, Zanakos,1993).
The theory ironic
of
of
processes mental
control
of-
fers
into questions
insights the
Polivy
posesconcerning
thedeleterious often
and
effects inhibi-
of
paradoxical
A
tion. reanalysis someofthespecific
of
she
examples
showsthepotential
highlighted
of
utility themental
control
model. example, Polivy
For
as
points indi-
out,
viduals
whoshould highly
be
motivated control
to
their
behavioral
dangerous
excesses(e.g., drinking,
eating,
the
smoking, areoften very
etc.)
whom
inhi-
peoplefor
bition
seemsto backfire. is worth
It
noting,
however,
that paradoxical
the
effects inhibition
of
rarely
occur
immediately;
peoplewhopractice
abstinence
typically
enjoyan initial
of
period relative
success.The inhibi-
tion-induced
that
backsliding canoccur often
is
precipi-
tated stress situations cuethe
or
by
that
unwanted
behav-
ior(e.g.,Heatherton,
Herman, Polivy,
&
1991;Sayette,
1993).Themental
control
model
predicts the
that result-
ingcognitive
demands
would
disable operating
the
sys-
temand facilitate ironic
the
effects themonitoring
of
in
processthat, turn,
wouldcause an upsurge un-
in
wanted
thoughts desires.
and
The discouragement
and
that
a
self-reproach follows binge
episodewouldexac-
erbate
matters
further couldlead theperson for-
and
to
sakethedesired
goal state,
thereby
the
allowing moni-
toringprocess to proceed unabated.The process
described is equally
here
relevant theinhibition a
to
of
widerange thoughts,
of
perceptions,
emotions, be-
and
haviors,
including
those associatedwithdepression
(Wenzlaff Bates,1998;Wenzlaff al., 1988),anxi-
&
et
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COMMENTARIES
&
ety(Trinder Salkovskis,
1994),movement
(Wegner,
Richard Wenzlaff,
M.
Divisionof Behavioral
and
in
&
Ansfield, Pilloff, press),
sleep(Ansfield,
Cultural
Wegner,
Sciences,San Antonio, 78249. E-mail:
TX
& Bowser, 1993), and prejudice (Macrae,
rwenzlaf@
lonestar.ustar.utsa.edu
Bodenhausen,
Milne,& Jetten,
1994).
A test anytheory inhibition whether can
of
of
is
it
for
of
failure
account notonlyinstances inhibitory
but
References
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exampleswhere
through
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a
Notes
Supportfor this workwas providedin partby
NIMH Grant 49127 toDanielM. Wegner.
MH
tive vulnerability depression: How lapses in mental
to
controlreveal depressivethinking.
Manuscript
submitted
forpublication.
R.
Wenzlaff, M.,Wegner, M.,& Roper, W. (1988). Depression
D.
D.
and mentalcontrol:The resurgence unwanted
of
negative
thoughts.
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of
and
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882-892.
233
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