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Motivated self-perception and perceived ease in recall of autobiographical memories

2005; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 5; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/15298860500386848

1529-8876

Rasyid Bo Sanitioso, Paula M. Niedenthal,

Social and Intergroup Psychology

The present study examines motivational influence on the perceived ease with which autobiographical memories are recalled, and the role perceived ease plays in momentary self-perception as characterized by inferences of success-promoting attributes (Kunda & Sanitioso, 1989 Kunda, Z., and Sanitioso, R., 1989. Motivated changes in the self-concept, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 25 (1989), pp. 272–285.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Participants were first induced to believe that introversion is conducive of success or of failure in one's university studies and beyond. Next, in a supposed separate experiment, they recalled five past behaviors they considered to be related to introversion. Introversion-success participants, presumably motivated to see themselves as introverted, perceived the recall task as easier than did introversion-failure participants. Perceived ease, in turn, mediated self-perception as characterized by the success-promoting trait inferences: introversion-success participants rated themselves as more introverted compared to introversion-failure participants. The present findings extend past research emphasizing the biased content in the recall of autobiographical memories (Sanitioso, Kunda, & Fong, 1990 Sanitioso, R., Kunda, Z., and Fong, G. T., 1990. Motivated recruitment of autobiographical memories, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 59 (1990), pp. 229–241.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to the subjective experience associated with the recall itself, to realize a desired self-perception.