The appraisal rebound effect: cognitive appraisals on the rebound

Although there have been many demonstrations of ironic thought processes, no demonstration to date has examined the effect of suppressing appraisals. Ironic phenomena in this domain have tremendous theoretical and practical importance to person perception, trait attribution, and social cognition in general. The authors propose the appraisal rebound hypothesis, which states that the suppression of an appraisal paradoxically activates it. Appraisal rebound was demonstrated across three studies with three different appraisals: unfairness, agency-others, and perceived control. The appraisal rebound effect was also found to be specific only to the suppressed appraisal. These results add to the growing literature on the many ways in which ironic mental processes affect daily thinking and feeling. Specifically, the findings are discussed with regard to emotion regulation, normal chronic emotionality, and psychopathology.