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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 12, 1502-1514 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/01461672002612005
© 2000 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

The Emotional Impact of Chosen and Imposed Thoughts

Richard M. Wenzlaff

The University of Texas at San Antonio, rwenzlaff{at}utsa.edu

James P. LePage

The University of Texas at San Antonio

Two studies tested the idea that perceptions of choice can alter the self-relevance and emotional impact of thoughts. Participants who were initially in either a positive or negative mood engaged in a thought exercise that involved either positive or negative thinking. Half of the participants received information stressing the optional nature of the task, thereby fostering a sense of choice and personal determination. The results indicate that under high-choice, mood-incongruent thinking was especially self-relevant, memorable, and produced the most mood change. The findings raise new considerations for self-perception and cognitive dissonance theories and offer insights into the relationship between cognition and emotion.


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