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Cognitive psychology of human memory (thesaurus)

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Concept information

phenomenon > memory phenomenon > consistency bias

Preferred term

consistency bias  

Definition

  • Memory bias, which consists of making a memory consistent with the subject's judgments, attitudes, evaluations, beliefs, or states at the time of remembering.

Broader concept

Belongs to group

Bibliographic citation(s)

  • • Conway, M., & Ross, M. (1984). Getting what you want by revising what you had. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47(4), 738–748. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.47.4.738

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]
  • • Markus, G. B. (1986). Stability and change in political attitudes: Observed, recalled, and “explained.” Political Behavior, 8(1), 21–44. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987591

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]

Creator

  • Frank Arnould

Editorial note

  • Markus (1986) asked subjects interviewed in 1982 to recall their political attitudes as expressed in a previous survey in 1973. The results show that their recollections are closer to their attitudes assessed in 1982 than to the attitudes actually expressed nine years earlier (with the exception of the assessment of the liberal or conservative value of their political views).

In the research by Conway and Ross published in 1984, students were divided into two groups: a group of students who were to receive a university program that was supposed to improve their learning skills and a control group of students who were placed on a waiting list for this program. For both groups, an initial interview before the onset of the program consists of asking them to self-assess their learning skills and time spent studying. A similar interview is conducted at the end of the program. In the final interview, they are also asked to recall their initial assessments. 
While the two groups do not differ on the initial assessment and the program is found ineffective, students who participated in the program recall initial assessments of their skills that are lower than they were (except for the assessment of study time) while students on the waiting list recall assessments that do not differ much from those actually made in the first interview. Students who participated in the program likely reconstructed a memory of their initial assessments to make it consistent with what was expected from the university program, namely, the improvement of their learning skills.

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URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/P66-K8B8SFG1-9

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