Open AccessEffects of self‐complexity on mood‐incongruent recall 1
Author(s) -
SAKAKI MICHIKO
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
japanese psychological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-5884
pISSN - 0021-5368
DOI - 10.1111/j.0021-5368.2004.00244.x
Subject(s) - recall , psychology , mood , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology
Some people cope with negative moods by retrieving positive memories, which is mood‐incongruent recall. Though mood‐incongruent recall is helpful for mood‐regulation, the factors that influence people's ability to utilize mood‐incongruent recall are not well understood. This study investigated whether complex knowledge structure is a factor for the ability of mood‐incongruent recall, based on self‐complexity. In the experiment, 50 participants were requested to recall positive memories in both neutral and negative moods. The results of this study indicated that self‐complexity was an important factor associated with participants’ ability to recall positive memories while they were in negative moods. Participants who rated high in self‐complexity were those whose knowledge is structured in a complex way, recalled more highly positive memories in negative moods than in neutral moods. On the other hand, participants who were rated low in self‐complexity with simple knowledge structures recalled memories with a lower extent of positivity in negative moods than those in neutral moods.