Summary: Wegner’s White Bear Experiment centered around the theory of Ironic Processing, and the Ironic Process Theory posits that the more you engage in thought suppression, the more difficult it is to actually stop thinking about that particular thought.

Implications: In this study, Wegner either told participants to think about or not think about a white bear for five minutes while verbalizing their thoughts during that time period. He found that individuals who were instructed NOT to think about a white bear actually thought about it more than once per minute. After this first round, they were then told TO think about a white bear, and this group thought about white bears more than the group that had been told to think about white bears for both rounds. Frequency was measured by how many times the participant rang a bell.

Limitations: Despite the inefficiency of thought suppression, other methods exist that aid in helping one overcome painful to burdensome thoughts. These methods include exposure, meditation, decreasing multitasking efforts, or finding a meaningful distractor.

TRY IT YOURSELF:

1. Set a timer for five minutes.

2. Give yourself a prompt that follows this guideline: “For the next five minutes, don’t think about _______________.”

3. Record how many times you think about that particular item.

4. Now do the activity again but with the prompt: “For the next five minutes, try thinking about _______________.”

5. Record how many times you think about that particular item.

6. You can also switch up the prompts or ask the second prompt twice to see how your results change!

Source

Winerman, Lea. “Suppressing the 'White Bears'.” Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association, Oct. 2011, https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/10/unwanted-thoughts.