White Bear Suppression Procedure

Background

The White Bear Suppression Paradigm (WBSP) is a cognitive-behavioral paradigm to measure the effect of thought suppression. Daniel Wegner and colleagues first tested this concept in 1987. They asked study participants to speak out loud for five minutes while actively trying not to think about a 'White Bear', instructing them to ring a bell every time the image of a 'White Bear' popped into their minds. The researchers found that not only were participants generally unable to suppress thoughts of a 'White Bear', they also significantly increased thinking of a 'White Bear' once the suppression period ended as compared to a group who could think (or not think) of a 'White Bear' right from the start. Wegner et al suggest that attempted thought suppression has paradoxical effects as a self-control strategy by potentially producing the very obsession that it is attempting to avoid. In real-life situations in which people are desperately trying to quit a craving (e.g. smoking, alcohol, junk food), this paradoxical increase in preoccupation with the 'forbidden fruit' by trying to avoid thinking about it, might actually contribute to their difficulty in quitting the craving.

Task Procedure

The Millisecond WBSP adapts the original Wegner design to a computerized administration. Instead of ringing a bell, participants are asked to press the spacebar on the computer. All participants work through the following three stages in the Millisecond WBSP:

1. 'Free Thoughts' Stage: Participants are instructed to vocalize their thoughts for 5 minutes. This stage familiarizes participants with speaking their thoughts out loud while being recorded.

2. 'Suppression' Stage: Participants are instructed to vocalize their thoughts for 5 minutes while being instructed to NOT think of a 'White Bear'. If they think of a 'White Bear', they are instructed to press the Spacebar.

3. 'Expression' Stage: Participants are instructed to vocalize their thoughts for 5 minutes. If they happen to think of a 'White Bear', they are instructed to press the Spacebar.

Each stage lasts for 5 minutes, and the script records a soundfile. The order of the Suppression/Expression conditions can be counterbalanced by groupnumber assignment. An additional group can be run that gets a distractor item to think about during the suppression stage.

What it Measures

The White Bear Suppression Paradigm (WBSP) is a laboratory measure of the paradoxical effect of thought suppression

Psychological domains

• Executive Control & Inhibition: Our brain's (in)ability to control goal-directed behavior and thoughts, and filter out irrelevant information.
• Memory Retrieval & Inhibition: (In)Ability to inhibit accessing certain memories or thoughts
• Metacognition: Ability to self-monitor brain systems—specifically how the mind tries to judge its own state ("Am I thinking about the bear right now?").

Main Performance Metrics

• Response Counts: Counts of spacebar presses during the suppression and expression stages.

Psychiatric Conditions

The White Bear Suppression Paradigm (WBSP) has been used to study the following conditions

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
• Substance Abuse
• Eating Disorders

References

Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit White Bear Suppression Procedure.

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Wegner, D.M, Schneider, D.J, Carter, S.R, & White, T.L (1987). Paradoxical Effects of Thought Suppression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 53, 5–13

Giuliano, R.J., & Wicha, N.Y. (2010). Why the white bear is still there: electrophysiological evidence for ironic semantic activation during thought suppression. Brain research, 1316, 62–74.