The Effect of Remembering Success or Failure Memories on Self-Efficacy:

1. The Effect of Remembering Success or Failure Memories on Self-Efficacy: The Role of Memory Perspective Ezgi Aytürk & Sami Gülgöz, 2013 Koç University İstanbul, Turkey ABSTRACT RESULTS SAMPLE AND DESIGN The main goal of this research was to test whether memory perspective moderates the effect of remembering failure- or success- related autobiographical memories on perceived self efficacy. One hundred six undergraduate students were asked to remember either a success or a failure memory. Participants in each group were instructed to visualize their memories either from the first person-actor perspective, or from the third person-observer perspective. Subjects’ perceived self efficacy was assessed before and after the experimental manipulation by both self-report and implicit measures. Results revealed that, when remembering a failure memory, taking the first person perspective decreased, and the third person perspective increased subjects’ self-efficacy when assessed with a self-report questionnaire. However, this effect was not observed when self-efficacy was measured implicitly. • A significant interaction effect of valence and memory perspective on self-efficacy was found after controlling baseline self-efficacy (F(2,98)=3.265, p<.05). Taking the first person perspective increased and the first person perspective decreased the self-efficacy of participants in the failure-memory condition. • There was no main effect of valence (F(2,98)= 0.121, p>.05) or memory perspective (F(1,98)= 1.181, p>.05) on self-efficacy. Participants: One hundred six (66 females) undergraduate students participated (Mage: 21.44, SD=1.353). A 3(memory type) x 2(memory perspective) between-subjects design was used. Table 1. Sample sizes by experimental conditions MATERIALS General Self-efficacy Scale (Magaletta, & Oliver, 1999). Consisting of 17 item 5-point Likert Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale is a self-report questionnaire to measure individuals’ belief in their ability to start, continue, and complete actions to achieve their goals. Self Liking/ Self Competence Scale (Tafarodi & Swan, 2001). Consisting of 16 item 5-point Likert scale, Self Liking/ Self Competence Scale has two subscales named “self liking” and “self competence’’. Self liking subscale measures whether individuals are pleased with themselves, whereas self-competence subscale measures individuals’ perceptions about themselves in terms of being competent, skillful, and successful in achieving their goals. Implicit Association Test - Self-esteem (Greenwald, McGhee, Schwartz, 1998) is a computerized measure to tap individuals’ automatic associations between mental representations of concepts. In this study, subjects’ implicit associations between self and “pleasantness” was measured. Figure 2. Interaction effect of memory perspective and memory type on self-efficacy. BACKGROUND • No significant effect of memory perspective (F(1,90)=.724, p>.05) or memory type (F(2,90)=.530, p>.05) was found with the Implicit Association Test. McIsaac and Eich (2004), and Sanitioso (2008) suggested that memory perspective functions to promote individuals’ well being by defining the connection between the pictured and the present self. They suggested that the third person perspective serves a distancing function between the present and pictured selves whereas the first person perspective connects the pictured self to the present self by incorporating the internal information (e.g. sensory details) of the pictured self to the event representation. On the other hand, Libby and Eibach (2011) suggested that memory perspective is a representational tool which determines the information individuals incorporate into their event representation. They claimed that rather than merely distancing or connecting the pictured and present selves, memory perspective influences the way individuals define the meaning of the event. In this model, the first person perspective is conceptualized to promote bottom-up processing of event representation in which concrete details, sensory, and internal information are incorporated as if the rememberer relives the past event. On the other hand, the third person perspective is conceptualized to promote top-down processing of the event representation by focusing on the meaning of the event in a broader context of one’s life or self concept. DISCUSSION To date, numerous research has reported the moderating role of memory perspective on the effect of memory remembering and individuals’ self concepts. In this study, one might speculate that, taking the first person perspective when remembering a past failure made individuals to relive the event, and negatively influenced their on-line judgments about their self-efficacy as a consequence. On the other hand, taking the third person perspective distanced them from their remembered failed-self and helped them to reevaluate or reframe their failures from a different perspective, and reverse its influence on their self-concepts. Nevertheless, the absence of these effects on an implicit measure should warn us to be cautious about an expectancy effect in any further research on the subject. Figure 1. Illustration of sample Implicit Association Test trials. PROCEDURE The whole experimental session took place in a laboratory room with three computers. After arriving to the laboratory and signing the consent form, participants were asked to complete a computerized survey to measure the baseline level of their self efficacy. Then they were instructed to remember a personal memory either about a past success of past failure on a domain that is important to them. Next, participants were given a general description of the memory perspective, and instructed to take either the first or the third person perspective when visualizing their memories. They were also asked to write a summary of their memories from the given perspective. Perspective manipulation phase was followed by presenting participants with the post-test measures ofself-efficacy. REFERENCES Greenwald, A.G., McGhee, D.E., Schwartz, J.L.K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: the implicit association test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74,1464–80. Libby, L.K., & Eibach, R.P. (2011b). Visual perspective in mental imagery: A representational tool that functions in judgment, emotion, and self-insight. In M.P. Zanna and J.M. Olson (Eds.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 44, pp. 185 – 245). San Diego: Academic Press. Magaletta, P.R., Oliver, J.M. (1999). The hope construct, will, and ways: their relations with self-efficacy, optimism, and general well-being. Journal of Clinical Psychoogy, 55, 539-551. McIssac, H. K., & Eich, E. (2004). Vantage point in traumatic memory. Psychological Science, 15, 248–253. Sanitioso, R. B. (2008). Motivated self and recall: Visual perspectives in remembering past behaviors. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 566–575. Tafarodi, R. W., & Swan, W. B. (2001). Two-dimensional self-esteem: Theory and measurement. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 653- 673. Contact info: eayturk@ku.edu.tr