Trait anxiety reduces affective fading for both positive and negative autobiographical memories

Abstract

The affect associated with negative events fades faster than the affect associated with positive events (the Fading Affect Bias; the FAB). The research that we report examined the relation between trait anxiety and the FAB. Study 1 assessed anxiety using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale; Studies 2 and 3 used the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Studies 1 and 2 used retrospective procedures to probe positive event memories and negative event memories while Study 3 used a diary procedure. The results of all 3 studies showed that increased anxiety was associated with both a lowered FAB and lower overall affect fading for both positive events and negative events. These results suggest that for people free of trait anxiety, the FAB reflects the operation of a healthy coping mechanism in autobiographical memory that is disrupted by trait anxiety.

Fading of Affect Associated with Negative Child‐Related Memories Varies by Parental Child Abuse Potential

“…However, participants who reported higher levels of depressive symptoms did not exhibit the FAB effect (i.e., the fading of affect intensity associated with positive events and negative events did not differ). Similar disruption of FAB effects has been reported for individuals who report symptoms of anxiety (Walker, Yancu, & Skowronski, ) and who endorse high levels of narcissistic traits (Ritchie, Walker, Marsh, Hart, & Skowronski, ).…”

“…Specifically, Study 2 results revealed that even high CPA risk parents evinced a robust FAB when recalling general events. If depression or anxiety accounted for the results of Study 1, given the Walker et al () and Walker et al () results, one would have expected that high CPA risk parents would have evinced a general reduction in the FAB. This did not occur.…”

“…Some might also look to dispositional negative affect (e.g., depression, anxiety) as the cause for the reduced FAB effects observed among high CPA risk parents in Study 1. Indeed, these negative affect‐related psychological characteristics may impair the ability to effectively manage negative affect (Walker et al, , Walker et al, ). These psychological characteristics also typify high CPA risk parents (Mammen et al, ; Milner, ).…”

Romantic relationships and fading of affect for memories of the shared past

“…For example, in our study, the FAB for memories of events in romantic relationships was moderated by both an individual's level of sexual depression and their level of sexual self‐esteem. However, though new findings, these results closely mimic research results documenting similar alterations of the FAB in response to individual differences in general depression, anxiety, general self‐esteem, and dispositional negative mood (Ritchie et al, ; Walker et al, ; Walker, Skowronski, Gibbons, et al, ). Perhaps more novel is our finding that for those who exhibit a high need to belong, the FAB is actually reversed.…”

“…The reasoning also fits with observations indicating that the FAB is not equally evinced for all people and for all events. The FAB is diminished in individuals exhibiting dysphoria (Walker, Skowronski, Gibbons, Vogl, & Thompson, ), dispositional negative mood (Ritchie, Skowronski, Hartnett, Wells, & Walker, ), and trait anxiety (Walker, Yancu, & Skowronski, ). The FAB also varies across various properties of events, such as (a) event age (Gibbons et al, ; Ritchie et al, ; Walker et al, ), (b) whether an event is typical or atypical (Ritchie et al, ), (c) event self‐importance (Ritchie et al, ; Ritchie, Skowronski, Cadogan, & Sedikides, ), (d) whether events are psychologically open (e.g., are relevant to the current self) or are psychologically closed (e.g., are not seen as relevant to the current self; Beike & Crone, ; Beike & Wirth‐Beaumont, ; Ritchie et al, ), and (e) the vividness with which a memory is recalled (Lindeman, Zengel, & Skowronski, ; Ritchie & Batteson, ).…”