*minimum 250 words Discussion: Ironic Effects of Mental Control Purpose: Use stu
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Question
*minimum 250 words
Discussion: Ironic Effects of Mental Control
Purpose: Use student-generated examples to discuss the ironic effects of thought suppression and Wegner’s analysis of mental control.
Wegner has remarked that “….the portrayal of suppression as the parent of obsession may contain a degree of truth.” Think of an example from your own experience in which you were “obsessed” with a particular thought. Despite your efforts not think about it, your mind was constantly coming back to it.
1. What kind thoughts are we most likely to “obsess” about? Only negative? Positive also?
2. What things do people do to try to avoid unwanted thoughts?
3. When do our suppression efforts fail? Assuming we can avoid an unwanted thought, but just not all the time, what conditions seem to allow the forbidden thought to re-appear in our conscious awareness?
Explanation / Answer
According to wegners mental control analysis there is irony in an individuals exercise of mental control for their are two processes that police the mental control of thoughts that it aims to put in the periphery, namely, the monitoring process and the operation process.
The former deals with aspect of surveillance, predominantly of the thoughts that it aims to curb. And, the latter aims to provide the mental content that should be in place as opposed to the one that is being avoided.
Now, in order to push certain unwanted mental processes in the periphery the montioting process is over activated which causes an individual to capitalize further on the mental context that they were originally avoiding, hence ironically, inhibiting their own mental control.
1. We are most likely to obsess over thoughts that are negative in content and context as they give an individual the inclination to Ruminate further, that is, there is an innate propensity towards negave affectivity.
2. The most common form of avoiding unwanted thoughts is displacement and or sublimation, that is channeling of the unwanted energy into more acceptable and wanted mediums.
3. A trigger or the stimulus itself are enough for an individual to fail at their suppression thoughts, which bring the subliminal onto the radar of consciousness.
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