Individual Differences in the Wegner Rebound Effect: Evidence for a Moderator Variable in Thought Rebound following Thought Suppression

Subjects classified as rebounders had significantly higher ACT Mathematics subtest scores than did the subjects classified as nonrebounders, suggesting that there is a moderator variable related to mathematics ability for the rebound effect.

Abstract

Wegner, Schneider, Carter, and White in 1987 found that attempts to suppress thoughts of a white bear produced even greater preoccupation with that stimulus--a rebound effect. This effect was investigated in Exp. 1 using both Wegner's white bear stimulus and a more personally meaningful stimulus (an upcoming test). The rebound effect was not observed with either stimulus. Exp. 2 was conducted to examine the hypothesis that this failure to replicate Wegner, et al.'s rebound effect reflected individual differences in the respective subject pools. A within-subjects design was used to classify subjects as rebounders or nonrebounders by comparing each subject's expression of a thought following suppression to their own baseline expression of that thought. Subjects classified as rebounders had significantly higher ACT Mathematics subtest scores than did the subjects classified as nonrebounders. This suggests that there is a moderator variable related to mathematics ability for the rebound effect.