Mnemic neglect

and dual processes

Karolyn Budzek
Attention & Memory
Fall 2007
Mnemic neglect
 People recall feedback more poorly when
it is threatening and about the self
 Sedikides & Green (2000; 2004); Green &
Sedikides (2004)
 Mnemic neglect model
 Two-stage processing sequence
 Stage 1: Information is compared to self
 If self-threatening or inconsistent,
processing ceases
 If positive or self-congruent…
 Stage 2: Elaborative processing occurs
 Links are made with episodic memories about the
self
 Mnemic neglect model at encoding

Stage 1 Stage 2

 Incongruent
information

 Congruent
information

How does this relate

to my self-concept?
 Mnemic neglect model at retrieval

Stage 1 Stage 2
 Incongruent
information

 Congruent
information
 Mnemic neglect as dual processes

Familiarity Recollection
 Incongruent
information

 Congruent
information
 Mnemic neglect findings
 Received computer personality feedback
 positive or negative
 self or Chris
 Recall for self-negative was lower
 Under limited presentation time, recall
for all four categories was equally low
 Poorer recall for high diagnosticity
feedback

Sedikides & Green, 2000; Green & Sedikides, 2004

Recall of feedback
Green, Pinter, & Sedikides, 2005
0.5
Central
Negative
0.4
Positive
0.3

Peripheral
0.2
Negative
0.1
Positive

0
Self Chris Self Chris
High diagnosticity Low diagnosticity
Utility of social cognition ‘models’
 Emphasis on previously bundled
context effects
 Relation to course topics
 Koriat – Memory Accuracy
 Brown – SIMPLE
 False memories?
Problems
 Why is this “defensive” neglect
happening at both encoding and
retrieval?
 Nairne, Encoding—Retrieval Match
 Does it make more sense to suggest
that it is encoded and suppressed?
 Dream rebound. Wegner
 How is the self represented in memory??
 Mnemic neglect model at encoding

Stage 1 Stage 2

 Incongruent
information

 Congruent
information

How does this relate

to my self-concept?
 Strategic use of available
cognitive resources
 Narcissists have self-serving recall in the
valence of the romantic histories they
provide after romantic selection or rejection
 Egoistic self-enhancers have a bias for
positive information, unless a video camera
was present
Enhancement vs. verification
 Findings: people prefer positive feedback
 Confound: Most people are high self-esteem
 Conclusion: People actually prefer verifying
feedback; congruent with their self-concept
 Mnemic neglect response:
Self-protection is one of several self-
evaluation motives like self-improvement