In Human Memory, Good Can Be Stronger Than Bad

Author ORCID Identifier

John Skowronski:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3582-9743

Publication Title

Current Directions in Psychological Science

ISSN

09637214

E-ISSN

43844

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Some researchers assert that the psychological impact of negative information is more powerful than that of positive information. This assertion is qualified in the domain of human memory, in which (a) positive content is often favored (in the strength of memories for real stimuli or events and in false-memory generation) over negative content and (b) the affect prompted by memories of positive events is more temporally persistent than the affect prompted by memories of negative events. We suggest that both of these phenomena reflect the actions of self-motives (i.e., self-protection and self-enhancement), which instigate self-regulatory activity and self-relevant processes.

First Page

86

Last Page

91

Publication Date

2-1-2020

DOI

10.1177/0963721419896363

Keywords

memory, self, self-enhancement, self-motives, self-protection

Department

Department of Psychology

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