Mood-Congruent
Encoding Effect in Self- and Other-Referent Judgments
M. Itoh |
The
patterns of mood-congruent encoding effect (MCE) in self- and other-referent
judgments were investigated. Subjects were sequentially presented
single words from a list of pleasant or unpleasant trait adjective
words after inducing a positive, negative or neutral mood by music.
In Experiment l, they were then required to decide whether each word
described themselves (in self-referent judgment) or their mother
(in other-referent judgment). In Experiment 2, subjects were required
to decide whether each word described a liked, disliked, or neutral
friend (in other-referent judgment). An incidental free recall test
followed the task. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that
MCE in a positive mood was observed in self-and other-referent judgments,
however, MCE in a negative mood was observed only in self-referent
judgment. It is suggested that the self-reference might strengthen
MCE in a negative mood and positive and negative moods have different
influences on memory of affective information. Key words: mood-congruent encoding effect (MCE), self- and other-referent judgments, asymmetry of the effects of positive and negative moods |