title: Suppression of intrusive thoughts and working memory capacity in repressive coping.
abstract: Previous research using a thought suppression paradigm found that repressors are more skilled in suppressing anxious autobiographical thoughts than low anxious, high anxious, and defensive high anxious people. Another line of research showed that individual differences in working memory capacity are related to the ability to intentionally suppress intrusive thoughts. This study aimed at combining these findings and sought to investigate whether repressors' superior ability to suppress intrusive thoughts is related to a larger working memory capacity. Results indicate that in a thought suppression paradigm, repressors report fewer intrusive thoughts for their most anxious experiences than participants in the 3 other subgroups. Furthermore, the superior ability of repressors to avoid intrusive thoughts can be explained largely by their higher working memory capacity.
authors.affiliation: Maastricht University.
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Geraerts
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Merckelbach
authors.forename: Marko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jelicic
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Habets
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001325:Autobiographies as Topic; D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013850:Thinking