The evaluation of green companies changes after remembering tip of the tongue experiences

This research explores the extent to which attitudes towards an environmentally-friendly topic (a green company) are affected by a “tip of the tongue” (TOT) experience.

In this experiment, participants were first exposed to a description of a green company that elicited mostly positive or negative thoughts. As part of an apparently unrelated study, participants were then asked to describe an experience of TOT that either was or was not successfully resolved. The recalling task was independent from the thoughts about the company. Finally, participants reported their attitudes toward the green company for which they initially listed thoughts.

Participants who recalled resolving a TOT experience relied on their thoughts about the initial (unrelated) green company more in forming their evaluations than did participants who recalled an unresolved TOT experience.

Attitudes can be affected by thinking about an unrelated past meta-cognitive experience.