Lecture 5 - Motivated Forgetting Flashcards
Define positivity bias
Tendency to recall more pleasant memories than either neutral or unpleasant ones
Describe how positivity bias has been shown in ageing
3 groups of adults had to look at positive pictures & more neutral pictures, they then had to recall the photos they had seen, older adults recalled 2x as many positive as negative images
Describe Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST) in terms of positivity bias in ageing
- We have less time to live so we focus more on positive things
- Older: focus shifts from future-orientated goals to maintaining sense of well-being
- Older: more skilled in emotion regulation
- Older: reflects top-down motivational mechanisms
Describe Cognitive Decline for positivity bias
Positive information less cognitively demanding than negative information (as older people have lower cognitive ability)
Describe ageing brain model for positivity bias
Age-related impairments in amygdala (processes negative emotions) function lead to reduced neural and affective responses to negative stimli
Describe Fleming’s (2003) results for the ageing brain model
- YA & OA recalled more words than AD patients
- AD recalled more negative than positive or neutral words
- YA & OA similar recall of positive and negative
Describe the results of Leclerc & Kensigner’s (2011) fMRI study
In the PFC:
- YA: greater activation for positive pictures
- OA: greater activation for negative pictures
In the amygdala:
- YA: greater activation for negative pictures
- OA: greater activation for positive pictures
Describe repression as per Freud
- A psychological mechanism aimed at rejecting and keeping something out of consciousness
- Repressed material still influences behaviours, dreams and emotional reactions
- Sometime the repressed concepts pop up again later
What are the differences between repression and suppression
Repression: an unconscious process, automatic
Suppression: a conscious process, intentional goal-directed
What are the 3 kinds of forgetting?
Intentional forgetting
Psychogenic amnesia
Other forgetting
Define intentional forgetting
Conscious goal to forgetting
Conscious repression
Intentional context shifts
Define psychogenic amnesia
Profound forgetting of the events of one’s life, not due to neurological damage or dysfunction
Define other forgetting
Not accidental but also not conscious
What are the 2 methods of directed forgetting?
- Item-method directed forgetting
2. List-method directed forgetting
Describe the item-method
Study phase - sees a list of words
Test phase - name all of the words on the list
Successful intentional forgetting results in what?
Increased PFC activity
Decreased hippocampus activity
Describe Mnemic Neglect Effect (Sedikides & Green, 2000)
- P’s completed a mock personality questionnaire
- Computer program provided list of 32 behaviours
- ‘Self’ condition - behaviours relate to themselves
- ‘Chris’ condition - behaviours relate to someone else
- P’s do not remember as many negative behaviours about themselves as they do about ‘chris’
Describe retrieval inhibition hypothesis
- Forget instructions inhibit List 1 items
- Reduces the activation of unwanted memories (remain available)
- Re-presenting forgotten items restores their activation levels (explains why items can be recognised but not recalled)
Describe context shift hypothesis
- Forget instructions separate List 1 from List 2 items
- Mental context shifts between the lists
- List 2 context lingers into the final test
- New context is a poor retrieval cue for List 1 items
- May involve inhibition of the unwanted context
Describe intentional retrieval suppression
- Stopping retrieval of an unwanted memory
- Engage cognitive mechanisms similar to stopping a motor action
Describe retrieval suppression in terms of the neural basis (Anderson et al., 2004)
- Increased activity in the PFC and anterior cingulate cortex
- Decreased activity in the hippocampus
How is thought substitution different to suppression?
Thought substitution involves redirecting retrieval of an unpleasant memory compared to suppression which involves stopping retrieval
What are the motives or motivated forgetting?
- Regulating negative affect
- Justifying inappropriate behaviour
- Maintaining beliefs & attitudes
- Deceiving others & oneself
- Preserving self image
- Forgiving others
- Maintaining attachment
Describe regulating negative affect
Memories that evoke fear, anger, sadness, guilt, shame trigger people to regulate emotions
Describe justifying inappropriate behaviour
Dissonance creates discomfort that is reduced via motivated forgetting
Describe maintaining beliefs & attitudes
Selectively forget information not in line with our beliefs
Describe deceiving others & oneself
Use retrieval suppression to disguise guilty knowledge of a crime
Describe preserving self image
Selectively remembering feedback consistent with positive traits
Describe forgiving others
Individual differences in forgiveness predicted by inhibitory control
Describe maintaining attachment
Selective memory of experiences compatible with attachment, survive and thrive in an environment
