LAUSR

ABSTRACT Memory bias entails preferential recall of a certain kind of information over another. The present research explores the self-verification motive in memory bias to maintain self-esteem. It is hypothesised that people with high self-esteem will remember more positive content and people with low self-esteem will remember more negative content to maintain their self-esteem. Two experiments were conducted to test it. Experiment one (N = 48) uses two groups of high and low self-esteem based on their self-esteem score. In experiment two (N = 44), self-esteem is manipulated in the laboratory by providing positive or negative feedback to participants on a performance task. In both experiments, memory bias is measured by the number of positive or negative adjectives recalled after seeing them on a computer screen. Results of both studies confirm the hypotheses and show that people remember/recall the words that fit into their present self-schema more and forget the words which go against it.