Romantic relationships and fading of affect for memories of the shared past
Romantic relationships and fading of affect for memories of the shared past
The tendency for the affect associated with positive autobiographical events to fade less over time than the affect associated with negative autobiographical events (the fading affect bias, FAB) has been observed in a variety of contexts, but numerous mediators have been reported. This current study searches for the FAB, and for potential moderators of the FAB, in the context of romantic relationship memories. Both nonsexual types of memories and sexual types of memories showed the FAB. Moreover, the FAB emerged for memories of current relationships, but not for memories of past failed relationships. The FAB also emerged for securely attached individuals, but not for individuals exhibiting other attachment styles. In addition, the FAB was moderated by relationship quality, (for failed relationships) need to belong, sexual esteem, and sexual depression. Implications of these findings both for memory and for relationships are discussed.
1-12
Zengel, Bettina
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Lee, Ellen M.
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Walker, W. Richard
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Skowronski, John J.
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Zengel, Bettina
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Lee, Ellen M.
bf66f056-9f7c-468e-852a-64896027e95f
Walker, W. Richard
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Skowronski, John J.
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Zengel, Bettina, Lee, Ellen M., Walker, W. Richard and Skowronski, John J.
(2019)
Romantic relationships and fading of affect for memories of the shared past.
Applied Cognitive Psychology, .
(doi:10.1002/acp.3527).
Abstract
The tendency for the affect associated with positive autobiographical events to fade less over time than the affect associated with negative autobiographical events (the fading affect bias, FAB) has been observed in a variety of contexts, but numerous mediators have been reported. This current study searches for the FAB, and for potential moderators of the FAB, in the context of romantic relationship memories. Both nonsexual types of memories and sexual types of memories showed the FAB. Moreover, the FAB emerged for memories of current relationships, but not for memories of past failed relationships. The FAB also emerged for securely attached individuals, but not for individuals exhibiting other attachment styles. In addition, the FAB was moderated by relationship quality, (for failed relationships) need to belong, sexual esteem, and sexual depression. Implications of these findings both for memory and for relationships are discussed.
Text
Romantic Relationships and Fading of Affect for the Shared Past - Applied Cognitive Psychology - 2nd Resubmission
- Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 18 January 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 24 January 2019
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 428288
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/428288
ISSN: 0888-4080
PURE UUID: 91e05cef-1663-432a-9fce-0bee0f05351e
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Date deposited: 20 Feb 2019 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 07:35
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Contributors
Author:
Bettina Zengel
Author:
Ellen M. Lee
Author:
W. Richard Walker
Author:
John J. Skowronski
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