[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-143138-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":85,"doc-detail-143138-en":135},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":78,"head_meta":80,"extra_data":82,"updated_unix":84},105,"en","the-cognitive-consequences-of-secrecy","The Cognitive Consequences of Secrecy","","The study examines how intentionally keeping secrets alters cognitive processing, including suppression and intrusive recurrence of secret thoughts. Four research paradigms test these links across tasks such as Stroop word accessibility, memory for secret versus truth/lie topics, correlations among suppression and intrusive thinking during secret-keeping, and ratings of everyday topics for intrusiveness, suppression, and secrecy. Results show secrecy-driven control demands can paradoxically heighten obsession and recall, highlighting harmful intrapsychic consequences.",{"@graph":14,"@context":77},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-cognitive-consequences-of-secrecy/143138/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-cognitive-consequences-of-secrecy/143138.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Clementine","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-08-25",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",15,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69,73],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"How does keeping a word secret affect cognitive accessibility in the first study?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"In Study 1, keeping a word secret enhanced the word’s cognitive accessibility on a Stroop color-naming task.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What does Study 2 find about recall timing for secret-related topics?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Study 2 shows that secret memory topics were recalled earlier than topics about which participants told a lie or the truth.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How are suppression and intrusive thinking related when participants keep secrets (Study 3)?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Study 3 finds a positive correlation between ratings of suppression and intrusive thinking of the secret among participants who were keeping secrets.",{"name":74,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":75},"Why can secrecy become dangerous even when someone tries hard to conceal it?",{"text":76,"@type":64},"Secrecy requires both behavioral effort and mental suppression. This control can trigger a paradoxical increase in intrusive preoccupation, making concealment increasingly challenging.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":79,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":81,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":83,"site_id":7},143138,1787693244,{"code":4,"msg":86,"data":87},"success",[88,92,96,100,105,110,115,119,124,127,131],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},8,30,"research-report",{"id":120,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":122,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":126},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":128,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":128,"slug":130},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":134},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":86,"data":136},{"doc_id":83,"user_id":137,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":138,"doc_module":4,"category_id":116,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":139,"file_id":140,"file_url":141,"file_type":142,"file_size":143,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":144,"language":145,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":146,"faqs":147,"seo_title":148,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":84,"read_time":149,"preview_page_count":4},1374391974564,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/14000253aa45c000a9e?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779874745381141002","# The Cognitive Consequences of Secrecy\n\nJulie D.Lane and Daniel M.WegnerUniversity of Virginia  \nFour research paradigms explored links from secrecy to the suppression and intrusive recurrence ofsecret thoughts.In Study 1,keeping a word secret enhanced cognitive accessibility of the word on aStroop color-naming task.Study 2 revealed that secret memory topics were recalled earlier thantopics about which a lie or the truth was told.Study 3 showed that when participants were keepingsecrets,their ratings of suppression and intrusive thinking of the secret became positively correlated.Study 4 participants rated 50 everyday topics for intrusiveness,suppression,and secrecy.Acrosstopics,positive mean within-subject correlations were found among these variables.  \nKeeping our thoughts to ourselves is not easy.Secrecy is anactive process,as it requires much deliberate behavioral andmental work.Even then,it is not always the case that the moreenergy we put into keeping a secret the more successful we willbe.At times,it seems that the more we try to hide something,the more likely we are to reveal that very thing.The cognitivemaneuvers necessary for keeping a secret create an intentionalsuppression of the secret thought,the consequence of which isa paradoxical obsessive preoccupation with the secret that can,in some cases,make perseverance in concealing the secret a se-rious challenge.Our research was designed to explore these cog-nitive consequences of secrecy.  \nTo begin with,it is useful to say something about the defini-tion of secrecy.As we see it,secrecy is a form of intentionaldeception that is peculiar for two reasons.First,whereas decep-tion involves inducing a beliefin another person that one knowsto be false,secrecy involves preventing the other from knowingsomething one believes to be true.In this sense,whereas decep-tion is usually understood as an act of commission,secrecy isan act of deceptive omission.Coverups,distractions,or othercommissions might be motivated by secrecy,but the secre itselfwould simply remain unsaid.The second distinction is that se-crecy is something one can do alone in a room.Although decep-tion is normally thought of as a social transaction of some kindin which one person acts on another by lying or withholdingthe truth,secrecy can be remarkably private despite these social  \nWe thank Bella DePaulo and Daniel Gilbert for suggestions concern-ing this article,and Tempe Brownell,Jennifer Field,Dionne Godette,Sära Lofti,David Park,Christina Skullman,and Brian Sorrell for theirhelpin conducting the research.  \nPeople tend to identify their minds with the“place”where theyconduct their secret thoughts.They even come to suppose thatthere is a special mystery about how we publish our thoughts in-stead of realizing that we employ a special artifice to keep them toourselves.(Ryle,1949,p.27)  \nCorrespondence concerning this article should be addressed to Julie D.Lane or Daniel M.Wegner,Department of Psychology,Gilmer Hall,Uni-versity of Virginia,Charlottesville,Virginia 22903.Electronic mail may besent via the Internet to jdl8f@virginia.edu or dwegner@virginia.edu.  \nramifications.One can have a secret even from a distant,imag-inary,or long-dead audience.Although secrecy is ultimately asocial act—or rather an antisocial act,in the sense that it istargeted toward some audience to whom the truth is to be de-nied—it is also potentially quite personal.  \nPeople keep secrets from others for fear of the real or imag-ined repercussions the hidden information would bring withexposure,not realizing that the intrapsychic consequences ofthis silence can be devastating(Wegner,1989).In families inwhich an important fact,such as abuse or parentage,has beenkept secret over the years the family will often show dysfunc-tionality related directly to the secret(Imber-Black,1993).Along this same vein,experimental evidence has revealed thatpeople who do not disclose their secrets about traumatic expe-riences run the risk of psycholog","cbCair4Q2YSaMGhN","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCair4Q2YSaMGhN","pdf",1940980,17,"English","# The Cognitive Consequences of Secrecy\n## Research findings across four studies\n## Defining secrecy and key distinctions\n## Psychological and health consequences of concealment\n## Why secrecy is difficult: behavioral and mental work","[{\"question\":\"How does keeping a word secret affect cognitive accessibility in the first study?\",\"answer\":\"In Study 1, keeping a word secret enhanced the word’s cognitive accessibility on a Stroop color-naming task.\"},{\"question\":\"What does Study 2 find about recall timing for secret-related topics?\",\"answer\":\"Study 2 shows that secret memory topics were recalled earlier than topics about which participants told a lie or the truth.\"},{\"question\":\"How are suppression and intrusive thinking related when participants keep secrets (Study 3)?\",\"answer\":\"Study 3 finds a positive correlation between ratings of suppression and intrusive thinking of the secret among participants who were keeping secrets.\"},{\"question\":\"Why can secrecy become dangerous even when someone tries hard to conceal it?\",\"answer\":\"Secrecy requires both behavioral effort and mental suppression. This control can trigger a paradoxical increase in intrusive preoccupation, making concealment increasingly challenging.\"}]","The Cognitive Consequences of Secrecy | PDF",43]