Meghan I. H. Lindeman

An exploration of the relationship among valence, fading affect, rehearsal frequency, and memory vividness for past personal events

ABSTRACT The affect associated with negative (or unpleasant) memories typically tends to fade faster than the affect associated with positive (or pleasant) memories, a phenomenon called the fading affect bias (FAB). We conducted a study to explore the mechanisms related to the FAB. A retrospective recall procedure was used to obtain three self-report measures (memory vividness, rehearsal frequency, affective fading) for both positive events and negative events. Affect for positive events faded less than affect for negative events, and positive events were recalled more vividly than negative events. The perceived vividness of an event (memory vividness) and the extent to which an event has been rehearsed (rehearsal frequency) were explored as possible mediators of the relation between event valence and affect fading. Additional models conceived of affect fading and rehearsal frequency as contributors to a memory’s vividness. Results suggested that memory vividness was a plausible mediator of the relation between an event’s valence and affect fading. Rehearsal frequency was also a plausible mediator of this relation, but only via its effects on memory vividness. Additional modelling results suggested that affect fading and rehearsal frequency were both plausible mediators of the relation between an event’s valence and the event’s rated memory vividness.

Discounting input from older adults: the role of age salience on partner age effects in the social contagion of memory

ABSTRACT Three experiments examined the impact of partner age on the magnitude of socially suggested false memories. Young participants recalled household scenes in collaboration with an implied young or older adult partner who intentionally recalled false items. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with only the age of their partner (low age-salience context); in Experiment 2, participants were presented with the age of their partner along with a photograph and biographical information about their partner (high age-salience context); in Experiment 3, age salience was varied within the same experiment. Across experiments, participants in both the low age-salience and high age-salience contexts incorporated their partners’ misleading suggestions into their own subsequent recall and recognition reports, thus demonstrating social contagion with implied partners. Importantly, the effect of partner age differed across conditions. Participants in the high age-salience context were less likely to incorporate misleading suggestions from older adult partners than from young adult partners, but participants in the low age-salience context were equally likely to incorporate suggestions from young and older adult partners. Participants discount the memory of older adult partners only when age is highly salient.

Women and Self-Promotion: A Test of Three Theories:

Although self-promotion (communicating one’s past accomplishments and positive characteristics) is important for obtaining career and educational opportunities, women feel uncomfortable when doing it, which limits their self-promotion success. This study tested which of the three possible theoretical mechanisms explained women’s limited self-promotion success: (1) cognitive dissonance, (2) stereotype threat, and (3) backlash avoidance. In this experiment, college women (N = 123) wrote a scholarship application essay and the ownership of the essay was varied experimentally. The essays were evaluated by the authors themselves and independent judges. The results were most consistent with a backlash avoidance mechanism whereby women feel uncomfortable self-promoting due to perceived social consequences.

Dodging the double bind: the role of warmth and competence on the relationship between interview communication styles and perceptions of women’s hirability

ABSTRACT In two studies we examine how feminine, masculine and hybrid impression management tactics affect perceptions of job applicants in interview settings. Study 1 (N = 133) results indicated that a hybrid tactic was more effective than a feminine tactic to portray competence. Similarly, a hybrid tactic was more effective than a masculine tactic to portray warmth. Further, perceptions of competence and warmth predicted ratings of likability and hirability. Study 2 (N = 222) replicated Study 1 and showed that applicant gender did not affect the results. The results indicated that hybrid tactics enable members of both genders to appear competent and warm in an interview.

Discounting seniors: Implications of age stereotypes at work.

People of all ages are increasingly expected to work effectively with one another. Building positive relationships among employees and preventing interpersonal conflicts in the workplace contributes to the effectiveness of an organization. Issues that arise between colleagues due to ageism may have detrimental effects on both employees and the overall organization. Research suggests that both actual and perceived age discrimination at work has increased in the past years. Synthesizing current findings in the literature, we discuss both stereotypes and metastereotypes of older workers. Importantly, we also illustrate interventions to decrease ageism in the workplace and offer strategies organizations can utilize to decrease the detrimental effects of ageism in the context of a workplace. As our workforce continues to age, this is a timely issue that should not be ignored and will not be resolved on its own.

The Power Within: How Individual Interest Promotes Domain-Relevant Task Engagement

Individual interest is a relatively enduring motivation to acquire knowledge and experience within a particular domain for the purpose of having that knowledge and experience. As such, the decision to select tasks within a domain of individual interest is essential to its nature. This chapter lays out a theoretical causal model that attempts to explain how the components of individual interest—stored knowledge and stored value—put into motion other key processes that lead to the selection of domain-relevant tasks. These key processes have been developed in somewhat diverse research traditions, and they include desired possible selves, mastery goals, implicit and explicit goal schemas, and level of construal, among others. All of these processes focus on how experiences with the domain contribute to the developing self-concept. Moreover, once task engagement begins, these key processes can also support task engagement in the moment because they promote individuals’ willingness and ability to care about doing well, perceive themselves as sufficiently competent, and become absorbed in the task. Finally, we speculate about how memories of past task engagement contribute to the recognition of a domain of individual interest as a feature of the self.