Unconscious thought reduces intrusion development: A replication and extension

Krans, Julie; Janecko, D.; Bos, Maarten W.

doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2012.08.004

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…It is indeed theoretically possible that UT leads to less forgetting than mere distraction. However, in several experiments, recall was indeed measured, and no differences between UT and mere distraction emerged (Bos et al, 2008, 2011; Krans & Bos, 2012; Krans et al, 2013). In other experiments (Reinhard et al, 2013; Zhong et al, 2008, see also Abadie, Waroquier, & Terrier, 2015), memory was not a relevant explanatory factor to begin with.…”

Section: Finding the Right Control Conditionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In a clinical application of UT theory, participants were shown a stressful film (Krans & Bos, 2012; Krans, Janecko, & Bos, 2013). Such films are used to investigate effects of posttraumatic stress disorders and are known to lead to intrusions afterward as long as the trauma memory is disorganized and not integrated in autobiographical memory.…”

Section: Finding the Right Control Conditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Case for Thinking Without Consciousness

Dijksterhuis

Strick

2016

Perspect Psychol Sci

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People can engage in prolonged thought processes, such as when they are facing an important decision or when they are working on a scientific discovery. Such thought processes can take months or even years. We argue that while people engage in such thinking, they make progress not only when they consciously think but also sometimes when they are consciously thinking about something else-that is, while they think unconsciously. We review the literature on unconscious thought (UT) processes and conclude that there is indeed quite some evidence for UT. Conceptualized as a form of unconscious goal pursuit, UT is likely to be especially fruitful for thought processes that are complex, important, or interesting to the thinker. In addition, we discuss other characteristics of the UT process. We end with proposing Type 3 processes, in addition to Type 1 and Type 2 (or Systems 1 and 2) processes, to accommodate prolonged thought processes in models on thought.

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Section: Finding the Right Control Conditionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Finding the Right Control Conditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Case for Thinking Without Consciousness

Dijksterhuis

Strick

2016

Perspect Psychol Sci

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“…The button-pressing task is perhaps the most valid measure, as it relies on participants reporting intrusive memories in real time. Krans et al (2013) replicated and extended these results in a study of 51 participants based on the same experimental design and procedures. Once again, UT produced significantly fewer intrusive memories of the trauma film than both CT and mere distraction (control; MD); the effect sizes were similar to those observed in the prior study above (d = 0.65 for UT vs. CT, d = 0.61 for UT vs. control).…”

Section: The Unconscious Thought (Ut) Paradigmmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…The authors independently concluded that eight of the 10 studies that were initially identified by either author should be excluded. After engaging in the disagreement resolution process, they agreed that two studies should be included (Krans & Bos, 2012;Krans et al, 2013). Three of the eight excluded studies were of healthy participants who did not undergo fear conditioning (Dibbets, 2023;Rosa et al, 2009;Zhu et al, 2022); one study was of fear-conditioned participants who had already undergone fear extinction (Ai et al, 2015); in two studies, the purpose of unconscious exposure was to activate (Bélanger et al, 2013) or condition fear responses (Raio et al, 2012) rather than reduce them; and two studies did not involve exposure to the feared stimulus (Mayer & Merckelbach, 1999;Silverman et al, 1974).…”

Section: Search Strategy and Study Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“All we have to fear is fear itself”: Paradigms for reducing fear by preventing awareness of it.

Siegel,

Peterson

2024

Psychological Bulletin

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Research on unconscious fear responses has recently been translated into experimental paradigms for reducing fear that bypass conscious awareness of the phobic stimulus and thus do not induce distress. These paradigms stand in contrast to exposure therapies for anxiety disorders, which require direct confrontation of feared situations and thus are distressing. We systematically review these unconscious exposure paradigms. A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses-based search yielded 39 controlled experiments based on 10 paradigms that tested whether exposure without awareness can reduce fear-related responses. In randomized controlled trials of phobic participants, unconscious exposure interventions: (a) reduced behavioral avoidance (weighted mean d = 0.77, N = 469) and self-reported fear (d = 0.78, N = 329) during in vivo exposure to feared situations; (b) reduced neurobiological indicators of fear and enhanced such indicators of fear regulation (d = 0.81, N = 205); (c) had significantly stronger effects on reducing symptomatic behaviors and enhancing neurobiological indicators of fear regulation than did conscious exposure (d = 0.78, N = 342); and (d) produced these effects without inducing subjective fear. In fearconditioned participants, unconscious exposureinduced extinction learning (d = 0.80, N = 420), even during sleep, and yielded somewhat stronger extinction learning than conscious exposure did (d = 0.44, N = 438).We organize these findings within a neuroscientific framework and evaluate alternative mechanisms for unconscious exposure. The use of incommensurate outcome measures across exposure paradigms and nonreporting of relevant statistics limited meta-analyses. Despite steps taken to address publication bias, 25.6% of included studies came from a single laboratory. We propose potential clinical applications of these findings. Future research should clarify underlying mechanisms, use common outcome measures, and explore effects on other anxiety disorders. Public Significance StatementPhobias are among the most common psychological disorders. Most sufferers avoid or drop out of the frontline treatment, which requires them to directly confront their fears. We report findings supporting the efficacy of a new generation of interventions that address these problems by exposing phobic persons to their feared stimulus without conscious awareness, and thus without causing them to experience distress. If clinical trials support the efficacy of unconscious exposure interventions, their public health impact will be considerable, as they could be widely disseminated online.

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“…As a result, unconscious thought and conscious thought exhibit no differences in the CSPF task with open instruments. As to CSPF with closed instruments, which focus on only one research area, abstract unconscious thought may be helpless for participants to activate field-related knowledge and experience (Bos & Dijksterhuis, 2011;Krans, Janecko, & Bos, 2013;Ma, Hamilton, & Zhang, 2017), so conscious thought surpasses unconscious thought in this condition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%