Suppressing thoughts of past events: Are repressive copers good suppressors?

We investigated the ability of individuals with a “repressive coping style” to strategically control thoughts of events from their past, which made them feel either proud or embarrassed, within the thought suppression paradigm. We examined whether (low) anxiety and (high) defensiveness interacts to influence suppression success over and above anxiety and defensiveness alone using low anxious, repressor, high anxious, and defensive high anxious groups. For the emotionally positive “proud event”, all groups avoided event‐related thoughts when instructed to suppress. For the emotionally negative “embarrassed event”, repressors reported fewer event‐related thoughts than all other groups, even when not instructed to suppress. Repressors also reported the lowest level of suppression effort and showed no “rebound”. We discuss repressors' memory performance in terms of their natural tendency to avoid negative self‐referent material, and thought and memory control in everyday life.     

How contextual and individual characteristics influence psychological needs satisfaction: The critical roles of political skill and political will

This two-study research package investigates the interactive effects of perceptions of organizational politics, political skill, and political will on psychological need satisfaction, which has been shown to predict a number of different important organizational outcomes. Drawing primarily on social/political influence and self-determination theories, we propose that although perceptions of organizational politics (i.e., as an important situational or contextual variable) can demonstrate need-thwarting effects for some, its effects can be need-satisfying for those individuals with high levels of political skill and political will. In Study 1, we analyze a sample of 142 individuals to demonstrate that possessing political skill attenuates the negative effects of perceptions of organizational politics on psychological need satisfaction. In Study 2, we analyze a sample of 420 individuals to demonstrate that respondents with high levels of both political skill and political will experience their highest levels of need satisfaction in highly political environments. Theoretical contributions, limitations and future research directions, and practical implications are discussed.     

Preference Reversal in Ellsberg Problems

Philosophical Studies -