Evidence for the role of self-reference in the effects of mood on memory in normal college students

The main purpose of this research is to examine the relationships among self-reference, mood state, and memory. In experiment one the question of why mood-congruent effects are obtained reliably in elated mood, but inconsistently obtained in depressed mood was examined. Earlier studies utilizing more self-referent material were more likely to obtain mood-congruent effects for both elated and depressed moods. Hypothesis one predicted that the use of autobiographical material as a source of stimulus material would lead to mood-congruent findings for both elated and depressed moods.;Hypothesis one of experiment one was supported, suggesting that mood-congruent effects for both elated and depressed moods can be obtained when autobiographical memory is used as a source of stimulus material. Second, though significant differences between clustering of pleasant and unpleasant memories for subjects undergoing mood inductions were obtained, only the ratio for clustering of unpleasant memories in the elation group was significantly different from chance. Finally, there was no evidence that demand characteristics played a role in this experiment.;In experiment two, the results indicated that subjects had significantly shorter response latencies to their own memories. However, because of a confound between the memory condensing task and the self-reference of the material, the self-reference effect cannot be said to have been conclusively replicated. Finally, no significant mood-congruent findings were obtained.;The results were discussed in terms of their relevance for understanding the relationship between self-focused attention and the directive function of affect, and the organization of affective material in long term memory.;Hypothesis two in this experiment was related to the organization of affective material in memory. Because mood inductions should lead to the activation of affectively congruent schemas, subjects receiving mood inductions should exhibit more organization for congruent information. Statistical methods designed to measure the amount of clustering in free recall were used to test this prediction. A third purpose of this experiment was to investigate the influence of demand characteristics on research involving mood induction techniques which are designed for use in laboratory settings. Experiment two was, in part, an attempt to replicate the self-reference effect, using autobiographical memories as stimulus material.