Self-protecting motivation, indexed by self-threat, modifies retrieval-induced-forgetting and confidence in employment decision bias against out-group targets (original) (raw)
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Prejudice in person memory: Self-threat biases memories of stigmatized group members
European Journal of Social Psychology, 2015
The present research investigated whether self-threat biases memory via retrieval-induced forgetting. Results show that people under self-threat whose goal is to restore their self-worth by making prejudicial judgments that deprecate others are more likely to exhibit an enhanced RIF effect for positive items and a reduced RIF for negative items ascribed to a stereotyped target (i.e., homosexual). Overall, the present findings are consistent with the view that motivation can affect the magnitude of RIF effects in person memory and that, in turn, they can serve as mechanisms for justifying desired conclusions. À4 (18.82) 95% CI [À14.42, 6.42] G. Pica et al.
Motivated Forgetting in Response to Social Identity Threat
Journal of Consumer Research
Motivated forgetting was first introduced by Freud (1915), who proposed that threatening and unwanted memories can be suppressed from consciousness. Our investigation of this phenomenon explores whether social identity threat can motivate people to subsequently forget identity-linked marketing promotions. To this effect, we find that, whereas social identity priming improves memory for identity-linked promotions, priming coupled with social identity threat (i.e., negative identity-related feedback) impairs memory. Importantly, this identity threat effect occurs only among people who identify strongly with their ingroup and only for explicit memory. Implicit memory, in contrast, remains intact under threat. Additionally, the identity threat effect is eliminated (i.e., explicit memory is restored) if people affirm the threatened social identity, thereby mitigating the threat, prior to memory retrieval. Finally, the identity threat effect occurs only when automatic processes guide forgetting. When forgetting is guided by deliberate and controlled processes, the to-be-forgotten memories intrude into consciousness.
Enhanced Memory for both Threat and Neutral Information Under Conditions of Intergroup Threat
Frontiers in psychology, 2015
Few studies have examined the effect of intergroup threat on cognitive outcomes such as memory. Different theoretical perspectives can inform how intergroup threat should affect memory for threat-relevant and neutral information, such as the mood-congruency approach, Yerkes-Dodson law, Easterbrook's theory, and also evolutionary perspectives. To test among these, we conducted two experiments to examine how exposure to intergroup threats affected memory compared to control conditions. In study 1, we manipulated symbolic threat and examined participants' memory for threat and neutral words. In study 2, memory performance was assessed following the induction of realistic threat. Across the studies, in the control condition participants showed better memory for threat-related than neutral information. However, participants under threat remembered neutral information as well as threat-related information. In addition, participants in the threat condition remembered threat-related...
Mere effort and stereotype threat performance effects
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2007
Although the fact that stereotype threat impacts performance is well established, the underlying process(es) is(are) not clear. Recently, T. Schmader and M. Johns (2003) argued for a working memory interference account, which proposes that performance suffers because cognitive resources are expended on processing information associated with negative stereotypes. The antisaccade task provides a vehicle to test this account because optimal performance requires working memory resources to inhibit the tendency to look at an irrelevant, peripheral cue (the prepotent response) and to generate volitional saccades to the target. If stereotype threat occupies working memory resources, then the ability to inhibit the prepotent response and to launch volitional saccades will be impaired, and performance will suffer. In contrast, S. Harkins's (2006) mere effort account argues that stereotype threat participants are motivated to perform well, which potentiates the prepotent response, but also leads to efforts to counter this tendency if participants recognize that the response is incorrect, know the correct response, and have the opportunity to make it. Results from 4 experiments support the mere effort but not the working memory interference account.
Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 2014
Previous research has indicated that repressors forget more negative memories which may be due to enhanced inhibitory abilities. To investigate this issue the retrieval practice paradigm was modified for use with neutral and negative personality traits. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants chose neutral and negative traits which were self descriptive and then performed retrieval practice on the neutral traits. Repressors and low anxious participants were found to demonstrate forgetting of negative traits with repressors forgetting more negative traits than low anxious participants. In Experiment 2 the inhibitory account was tested by comparing retrieval practice with representation. Retrieval practice led to forgetting but re-presentation did not. In Experiment 3 forgetting of neutral traits was evident in the repressors and low anxious groups but repressors did not exhibit increased forgetting. In Experiment 4 the cue independent method was used to examine inhibition for neutral material. All groups demonstrated forgetting but repressors did not demonstrate enhanced inhibition. These findings indicate that repressors demonstrate enhanced forgetting only for self referential negative information.
Task Demands Moderate Stereotype Threat Effects on Memory Performance
The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 2009
Previous research has demonstrated that older adults ' memory performance is adversely affected by the explicit activation of negative stereotypes about aging. In this study, we examined the impact of stereotype threat on recognition memory, with specifi c interest in (a) the generalizability of previously observed effects, (b) the subjective experience of memory, and (c) the moderating effects of task demands. Older participants subjected to threat performed worse than did those in a nonthreat condition but only when performance constraints were high (i.e., memory decisions had to be made within a limited time frame). This effect was refl ected in the subjective experience of memory, with participants in this condition having a lower ratio of " remember " to " know " responses. The absence of threat effects when constraints were minimal provides important boundary information regarding stereotype infl uences on memory performance.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2012
Previous research has demonstrated that stereotype threat induces a prevention focus and impairs central executive functions. The present research examines how these 2 consequences of stereotype threat are related. The authors argue that the prevention focus is responsible for the effects of stereotype threat on executive functions and cognitive performance. However, because the prevention focus is adapted to deal with threatening situations, the authors propose that it also leads to some beneficial responses to stereotype threat. Specifically, because stereotype threat signals a high risk of failure, a prevention focus initiates immediate recruitment of cognitive control resources. The authors further argue that this response initially facilitates cognitive performance but that the additional cognitive demands associated with working under threat lead to cognitive depletion over time. Study 1 demonstrates that stereotype threat (vs. control) facilitates immediate cognitive control capacity during a stereotype-relevant task. Study 2 experimentally demonstrates the process by showing that stereotype threat (vs. control) facilitates cognitive control as a default, as well as when a prevention focus has been experimentally induced, but not when a promotion focus has been induced. Study 3 shows that stereotype threat facilitates initial math performance under a prevention focus, whereas no effect is found under a promotion focus. Consistent with previous research, however, stereotype threat impaired math performance over time under a prevention focus, but not under a promotion focus.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2005
The current research explored the interaction of context and motivation to control prejudice reactions (MCPR) on automatic evaluative responses toward individuals of different races. Three studies incorporated contextual backgrounds into an evaluative priming procedure. Across all three studies, White participants low in MCPR demonstrated automatic ingroup biases when threatening contexts were presented. However, in contexts where targets could be construed as threatening, Whites high in MCPR showed automatic outgroup biases in favor of Blacks over Whites. Importantly, this outgroup bias was driven by an automatic inhibition of negative responses toward Blacks. The results indicate that even at the automatic level, people high in motivation to control prejudice can inhibit negative responses toward Blacks in contexts that have cues associated with prejudice.