The relationship between affect and memory: Motivation-based selective generation
Description
In two studies, motivational factors which could influence the extent to which negative affect selectively facilitates memory for negative material were investigated. In the first experiment, male undergraduates memorized words with positive, negative, and neutral connotations. The men were then exposed to treatments intended to make them either happy, angry, or unchanged in affect, and either anticipated or did not anticipate a later opportunity to evaluate the individual responsible for their treatment. They were next asked to recall then recognize the words. Angered men in the evaluation (retaliation) condition were found to recall more words with a negative semantic content than other words, and more than all other subjects. In contrast, happy men recalled more positive words regardless of evaluation condition. No recognition differences were found. In the second experiment, memory for details of a provoking experience was tested. Male undergraduates either received or did not receive information that they would later have an opportunity to retaliate against a provocateur, with the information being given either before or after they were provoked. Men informed that they would be able to retaliate more accurately recalled the details of the provoking experience, but the timing of retaliation information had no bearing on memory for these details. Results are discussed in terms of motivation-based selective generation of items in memory