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Asymmetric memory recall of positive and negative events in social interactions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

King King Li
King King Li*
Affiliation:
School of Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and The Key Laboratory of Mathematical Economics (SUFE), Ministry of Education, Shanghai 200433, China
*
e-mail: likingking@gmail.com
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Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that negative emotion can enhance memory accuracy. However, they were not conducted in the context of social interactions using the methodology of experimental economics. Based on the present study, we find that in such a context, individuals’ memory recall accuracy depends on the kindness of acts and who performed them, and negative emotion may lower memory accuracy. A victim of an unkind act is more likely to forget than someone who benefited from a kind act. This result supports the hypothesis that individuals may strategically manipulate their memory by forgetting an unpleasant experience. We also find that individuals who committed an unkind act tend to perceive it as less unkind as time moves on. They also tend to believe that a higher percentage of players have also committed the unkind act. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that individuals strategically manipulate their memory and beliefs to maintain self-esteem or feel less guilty.

Keywords

Memory recall biasPerception biasStability of perceptions across timeStability of social preference across time
Type
Original Paper
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 2013 , pp. 248 - 262
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Economic Science Association

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Footnotes

Electronic Supplementary Material The online version of this article (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-012-9325-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

I thank Chew Soo Hong, Daniel Zizzo, Robert Sugden, Anthony Ziegelmeyer, and especially Toru Suzuki and Robert Wyer for helpful comments and discussions. I also thank the Max Planck Society for financial support.

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