When Not Thinking Leads to Being and Doing: Stereotype Suppression and the Self

Suppressing stereotypes often results in more stereotype use, an effect attributed to heightened stereotype activation. The authors report two experiments examining the consequences of suppression on two self-relevant outcomes: the active self-concept and overt behavior. Participants who suppressed stereotypes incorporated stereotypic traits into their self-concepts and demonstrated stereotype-congruent behavior compared to those who were exposed to the same stereotypes but did not sup-press them. These findings address issues emerging from current theories of suppression, priming, and the active self. Keywords stereotype suppression, active self-concept, behavior The capacity to control one’s conscious thoughts is vital for everyday human functioning. The ability to focus attention on the task at hand while ignoring unwanted distractions allows people to achieve their goals. However, research indicates that thought suppression can lead to unintended outcomes. Wegner, Schneider, Carter, and White (1987; for a review, see Wegner, 1994) first established a rebound effect when they found that participants who suppressed thoughts of a white bear later experienced increases in white bear thoughts. Thus, suppres-sing thoughts of a concept led to a ‘‘rebound’ ’ in the concept’s accessibility once suppression had ended. Rebound effects have been demonstrated following suppres-sion of various concepts, including traits (Newman, Duff, &amp