A motivational model of post-suppressional rebound

A motivational inference model (MIMO) of post-suppressional rebound (PSR) is proposed, according to which the difficulty experienced during suppression and suppression failures is attributed to motivation to perform the suppressed activity and thereby enhances this motivation. Along with existing theories of motivation, we argue that as long as the motivation is active, related constructs remain accessible, and fulfilling this motivation inhibits the accessibility of such constructs. According to MIMO, PSR is the fulfilment of a need, induced by suppression, to do the suppressed activity. Two lines of research provide evidence for MIMO. First, we show that attribution of experienced difficulty of suppression to an external stimulus, which blocks the normal attribution of such difficulty to motivation to do the suppressed activity, eliminates PSR. Second, we show that expression after suppression acts as a means of fulfilment of the motivation induced by suppression and therefore reduces the accessibility of the suppressed construct. Novel predictions about PSR are derived from MIMO, and the model's implications for theories of suppression, as well as for more general theories of cognition and motivation, are discussed.