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The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies
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The Self Choice Effect When Choosing for Others.

Mayson C Astle1, Brandon J Schmeichel1

  • 1Texas A&M University, College Station, USA.

Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|July 27, 2024
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Choosing information for others, like choosing for yourself, significantly improves memory recall. This "choice effect" on memory extends beyond self-reference, impacting how we remember information selected for others.

Keywords:
choicememoryselfself-choice effectself-other decision making

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Memory Studies
  • Decision-Making Research

Background:

  • The self-choice effect demonstrates that individuals better remember information they select compared to assigned information.
  • Existing research primarily focuses on the impact of self-choice on memory.
  • The cognitive mechanisms underlying the self-choice effect are not fully understood, particularly whether they are exclusively self-referential.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether the act of choosing information for another person enhances memory recall.
  • To determine if the benefits of choice on memory are limited to self-selection or extend to choosing for others.
  • To explore the boundary conditions and underlying mechanisms of the choice effect on memory.

Main Methods:

  • Multiple experimental studies were conducted involving participants making choices for themselves or for others.
  • Memory recall was assessed for chosen and unchosen information across different experimental conditions.
  • A meta-analysis was performed to synthesize findings across all studies.

Main Results:

  • Both choosing for oneself and choosing for others significantly improved memory compared to having no choice.
  • The memory enhancement from choosing for others was consistent regardless of the relationship's closeness.
  • The benefit of choosing for others was observed only for the items that were actually chosen, not for all items considered.
  • A meta-analysis confirmed that choosing for others enhances memory comparably to choosing for oneself.

Conclusions:

  • The choice effect on memory is not solely dependent on self-reference.
  • Choosing for others provides a memory benefit comparable to self-choice, suggesting broader cognitive processes are involved.
  • These findings challenge the notion that memory benefits of choice are exclusively tied to personal relevance.