Most-memorable experiences: Evidence for a link between implicit and explicit motives and social cognitive processes in everyday life.

Abstract

Two studies investigated the relationship of implicit and explicit motives to most-memorable experiences (MMEs). Participants completed implicit and explicit measures of task and social motives and recorded their MMEs for 60 days. In Study 1, implicit motives were expected to be related to affective MMEs about the implicit motive, whereas explicit motives were expected to be related to routine MMEs corresponding to self-descriptions. When the MMEs were analyzed for affective and routine content, the predictions were supported in both areas. In Study 2, implicit and explicit motives were primed in either domain. Participants then recalled 12 MMEs that immediately came to mind. These MMEs were scored as routine or affective experiences related to each domain. Participants recalled more prime-relevant MMEs in each priming condition.I am grateful to Joel Aronoff, John Best, Galen Bodenhausen, Lawrence Messe, and Joel Weinberger for their insightful comments on earlier drafts of this article. Thanks are also extended to Bob Wyer and the members of the Personality and Social Ecology Brown Bag Seminar at the University of Illinois for their suggestions on Study 2.1 am indebted to the following people for their help in conducting these studies and coding the experimental materials:

Experimental Research on Just-World Theory: Problems, Developments, and Future Challenges.

“…Thus, the self-report individual-difference scales that Schmitt (1998) suggested as potentially better indicators of the need to believe in a just world may also be poor approximations of this motive. Dalbert (2001) has proposed that there may be implicit and explicit versions of the justice motive similar to McClelland and others' (e.g., Biernat, 1989;McClelland et al, 1989;Woike, 1995) distinction between implicit versus explicit or self-attributed motives in other domains (e.g., achievement, power, and affiliation). It is possible that the need to believe in a just world may also occur in both implicit and explicit forms.…”

Continuity and Change in the Life Story: A Longitudinal Study of Autobiographical Memories in Emerging Adulthood

“…Themes of communion express desires for love, friendship, and community. McAdams et al (1996) and Woike (1995) have linked agentic and communal themes to TAT-based motives for power and intimacy respectively. McAdams et al (2004) also found that communion themes in life-narrative accounts were modestly associated with the trait of agreeableness, and Mansfield and McAdams (1996) found a positive association between communion and measures of generativity in midlife adults.…”

“…A common research strategy is to collect narrative accounts of important scenes in the life story, code them for psychologically significant themes and images, and then relate the resultant scores to other measures of personality, development, or well-being. For example, studies have documented significant relationships between life-narrative themes and selfreport traits (McAdams et al, 2004), TAT-based motives (McAdams, Hoffman, Mansfield, & Day, 1996;Woike, 1995), and developmental stages and concerns (Bauer & McAdams, 2004a;Bluck & Gluck, 2004;Conway & Holmes, 2004;King, Scollon, Ramsey, & Williams, 2000; McAdams, Diamond, de St. Aubin, & Mansfield, 1997;Pals, 1999). Research also shows that themes of personal redemption (McAdams, Reynolds, Lewis, Patten, & Bowman, 2001) and self-determination and growth (Bauer & McAdams, 2004b;Bauer, McAdams, & Sakaeda, 2005;King & Raspin, 2004;King & Smith, 2004) in key life-story scenes predict psychological well-being and successful coping with stress.…”

Emerging from the CAVE: Attributional Style and the Narrative Study of Identity in Midlife Adults

“…In a parallel vein, personality researchers have recently sought to augment traditional self-report trait scales (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 1985) with assessments of cognitive, motivational, and emotional themes in autobiographical narratives (e.g., McAdams, 2001;Singer, 2004;Woike, 1995). McAdams (1995) has argued that narrative methodologies tap into a deeper level of personality than typically accessed with trait scales-the level of identity as a life story.…”