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Remember the Best, Downplay the Rest!
Study:
People Tend to Play up Positive
Aspect of Meaningful Memories.
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By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News
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People may put a
positive spin on their memories as time goes by, a new study
shows.
The study,
published in the June edition of the
Journal of Personality,
focuses on people’s personal memories of events that meant a lot
to them, such as falling in love, grieving a death, or reaching
a personal goal.
In recalling those
defining events, people tended to dwell on the positive aspects
and downplay the downsides of those memories. In fact, people
viewed those events more positively and less negatively in
hindsight.
It’s as if they had
smoothed out the rough edges of those memories over time, or
seen silver linings where once they had only seen clouds.
The results may mean
that “people strive to maintain a positive and coherent sense of
self in the face of a wide range of life adversity and
opportunity,” write the researchers. They included Wendy-Jo
Wood, who worked on the study for her psychology dissertation at
Montreal’s Concordia University.
Probing Personal Memories
Participants were
more than 270 students at Concordia University. They were in
their mid-20s, on average.
First, the students
were asked to report memories of events that had been deeply
meaningful to them and were at least one year old.
The students rated
how strongly the memories they chose had affected them in areas
such as personal growth and learning about life, themselves, and
others. Their ratings affirmed the importance of those events in
the students’ lives.
Next, 77 students dug
a little deeper. They were asked to describe their memories of
five personally significant events.
Again, those memories
were at least a year old and had made a big impression on how
the students thought of themselves.
“The only important
aspect is that it leads to strong feelings and it is a memory
that you have thought about many times,” the researchers write.
“It should be familiar to you like a picture you have studied or
a song (happy or sad) you have learned by heart.”
Seeing the Best in the Past
Independent observers
rated those events as being positive or negative. The students
reported a wide range of events.
Negative events
included breakups, death or illness of loved ones, muggings, car
accidents, and moving away from close contacts. Positive events
included falling in love, vacations, completing a degree, saving
money for a purchase, or helping others.
The students didn’t
just cruise down memory lane. They also recalled how they had
felt when those events happened, and how they viewed those
events now.
The students
remembered feeling more negative when those events happened. In
contrast, they reported feeling prouder and happier about those
events in hindsight, the study shows.
It’s possible that
the students misreported their feelings, but the researchers
didn’t see a major problem with the data.
SOURCES:
Wood, W.
Journal of Personality,
June 2006; vol 75: pp 811-846. News release, Blackwell
Publishing.
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© 2006, WebMD Inc. All rights reserved. |
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