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Abstract
The intensity of negative emotions associated with event memories fades to a greater extent over time than positive emotions (fading affect bias or FAB). In this study, we examine how the presence and behaviour of a listener during social disclosure influences the FAB and the linguistic characteristics of event narratives. Participants recalled pleasant and unpleasant events and rated each event for its emotional intensity. Recalled events were then allocated to one of three experimental conditions: no disclosure, private verbal disclosure without a listener or social disclosure to another participant whose behaviour was experimentally manipulated. Participants again rated the emotional intensity of the events immediately after these manipulations and after a one-week delay. Verbal disclosure alone was not sufficient to enhance the FAB. However, social disclosure increased positive emotional intensity, regardless of the behaviour of the listener. Whilst talking to an interactive listener led unpleasant event memories to decrease in emotional intensity, talking to a non-responsive listener increased their negative emotional intensity. Further, listener behaviour influenced the extent of emotional expression in written event narratives. This study provides original evidence that listener behaviour during social disclosure is an important factor in the effects of social disclosure in the FAB.
Portions of this research were presented at the British Psychological Society Cognitive Section Annual Conference (2010), the 5th International Conference on Memory (2011) and the iCog Inaugural Interdisciplinarity in Cognitive Science Conference (2013). This research was supported by a Ph.D. scholarship awarded to Kate Muir from the Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, UK, under the supervision of Dr Charity Brown and Dr Anna Madill and forms part of Kate Muir's Ph.D. thesis. We would like to thank everyone who took part in this research. We are grateful also to Rhiannon Turner and anonymous reviewers for their comments on a draft of this paper.
Portions of this research were presented at the British Psychological Society Cognitive Section Annual Conference (2010), the 5th International Conference on Memory (2011) and the iCog Inaugural Interdisciplinarity in Cognitive Science Conference (2013). This research was supported by a Ph.D. scholarship awarded to Kate Muir from the Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, UK, under the supervision of Dr Charity Brown and Dr Anna Madill and forms part of Kate Muir's Ph.D. thesis. We would like to thank everyone who took part in this research. We are grateful also to Rhiannon Turner and anonymous reviewers for their comments on a draft of this paper.