How did you feel when “The Crocodile Hunter” died? Voicing and silencing in conversation influences memory for an autobiographical event

Abstract

Conversations about the past can involve voicing and silencing; processes of validation and invalidation that shape recall. In this experiment we examined the products and processes of remembering a significant autobiographical event in conversation with others. Following the death of Australian celebrity Steve Irwin, in an adapted version of the collaborative recall paradigm, 69 participants described and rated their memories for hearing of his death. Participants then completed a free recall phase where they either discussed the event in groups of three or wrote about the event on their own. Finally, participants completed the original questionnaire again, both 1 week and 1 month after the free recall phase. Discussion influenced later memories for hearing of Irwin's death, particularly memories for emotion and shock. Qualitative analysis of the free recall phase suggested that during conversation a shared understanding of the event developed, but that emotional reactions to the event were silenced in ways that minimised the event's impact. These findings are discussed in terms of the processes and consequences of sharing public and personal memories in conversation.

The psychology of memory, extended cognition, and socially distributed remembering

“…Specifically, participants who discussed the event in a group setting later remembered themselves as being less shocked and less emotional, relative both to their own original reports and to the participants who had not engaged in group discussion. Our qualitative analysis revealed that even this brief conversational interaction with a group of strangers led (in this cohort) to emotion minimisation, as more extreme emotional responses initially offered by some participants (both in the first individual recall, and at the outset of the group interaction) were (in some cases and to some extent) schematised and normalized: this collaborative discussion of appropriate responses had enduring effects on individual participants' memories for their own emotions even a month later (Harris et al 2010a). …”

“…In the individual case, this is known as "flashbulb memory" (Conway 1995). In our study, student participants first answered a questionnaire individually, describing their (unshared but more or less similar) memories of hearing of the death of Steve Irwin, the Australian "Crocodile Hunter", including factual details of their circumstances at the time and of the event itself, and their own reactions to the news (Harris et al 2010a). Participants told us, for example, that Irwin "will be remembered throughout Australia and worldwide history forever," or that "it is unbelievable how much he affected everybody's lives," while another noted that "I still feel shock and sadness, simply because why him?…”

The fading affect bias: Effects of social disclosure to an interactive versus non-responsive listener

“…Harris, Barnier, Sutton and Keil (2010) found that participants who discussed their emotional reactions to a public event in a group reported feeling less shocked and less emotional afterwards compared to before the discussion, and compared to participants who did not engage in group discussion. Examination of the group transcripts revealed that participants engaged in a process of negotiation as to how to respond to the event.…”

“…For instance, confederates could be trained to behave in either a challenging or empathetic manner in response to social disclosures to unpleasant events (Lepore et al, 2004). Along similar lines, confederates could also be trained to respond in ways which are helpful (expressions of love, concern and understanding) or unhelpful (minimising the seriousness of an event or emphasising negativity; Lehman & Hemphill, 1990), or in ways which validate or reject the speaker's feelings about the event (Harris, Barnier, Sutton & Keil, 2010) to provide further evidence as to specific listener responses which are instrumental in enhancing the FAB. Further research could also involve extending the current paradigm to investigate the effects of disclosure through different mediums, such as written disclosure, social disclosure via computer mediated communication (i.e., social networking sites or webcams), voice only communication (i.e., telephone calls), and disclosure using technology (i.e., text message or email) compared to face-to face social disclosure.…”

Forgetting in context: The effects of age, emotion, and social factors on retrieval-induced forgetting

“…Although research has demonstrated SS-RIF for both neutral information (e.g., Cuc, et al, 2007; Brown, Kramer, Romano, & Hirst, in press; Stone, Barnier, Sutton, & Hirst, 2010) and emotional information (e.g., Coman, Manier, & Hirst, 2009; Harris, Barnier, Sutton, & Keil, 2010), it is unclear whether there are magnitude differences in SS-RIF for neutral and emotional information 1. In service of emotion regulation goals, Listeners may be less likely to co-retrieve negative, compared with positive, information.…”