This study aimed to explore whether emotional expressivity promotes motivated forgetting of negative memory. The study from three levels and four studies: questionnaire, behavioral experiment, and intervention, using the Emotional Expressivity Scale, Thought Control Ability Questionnaire, and Think/No Think (TNT) Paradigm. The results showed that: (1) There was a significant positive correlation between emotional expressivity and thought control ability; (2) There was no significant difference in the motivated forgetting of negative memory between individuals with high and low emotional expressivity; (3) Motivated forgetting did not significant difference between emotion expression group and control group, indicating that emotional expressivity did not effected motivated forgetting ability. The research results indicated that emotion expression ability positively and significantly predicted thought control ability, but the level of emotional expression ability or emotional expression intervention did not affected the motivated forgetting of negative memories.

motivated forgetting, emotional expressivity, negative memory