Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 5, 2025

The Modified Temptation Resistance Task: A Paradigm to Elicit Children's Strategic Lie-telling
Published on: April 6, 2018
Factors promoting greater preoccupation with a secret
Christopher G Davis1, Hannah Brazeau1
1Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract:
The secrets that are most taxing to one's health and well-being are those that are the most preoccupying to the secret-keeper. However, it is currently unclear what makes a secret preoccupying. We conducted a four-wave longitudinal study to assess four factors that should contribute to one's degree of preoccupation with a secret kept from one's spouse/romantic partner: perceived cost of revealing the secret, frequency of cues, fear of discovery, and individual differences in self-concealment. Multilevel modelling of data from an online sample of 143 adults (51% women, 49% men; Mage = 39.9, SD = 9.3) keeping a secret from their spouse/partner indicated that all four factors independently and positively predict greater preoccupation with a secret. Further, the first three factors also significantly predicted how preoccupied one would be with one's secret two weeks later, taking into account how preoccupied one was with the secret at present. We conclude that the characteristics of the secret, as well as the secret-keeper, can contribute to how preoccupying a secret is to an individual.
Related Concept Videos
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Relationship Growth
Self-Presentation

