2003/05/28 by W. Richard Walker, John J. Skowronski, Charles P. Thompson · 4 citations
Psychology · Neuroscience · #Identity, Memory, and Therapy #Memory Processes and Influences #Aging and Gerontology Research
paper · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.7.2.203
openalex publication_date 2003/05/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/11
People's recollections of the past are often positively biased. This bias has 2 causes. The 1st cause lies in people's perceptions of events. The authors review the results of several studies and present several new comparative analyses of these studies, all of which indicate that people perceive events in their lives to more often be pleasant than unpleasant. A 2nd cause is the fading affect bias: The affect associated with unpleasant events fades faster than the affect associated with pleasant events. The authors review the results of several studies documenting this bias and present evidence indicating that dysphoria (mild depression) disrupts such bias. Taken together, this evidence suggests that autobiographical memory represents an important exception to the theoretical claim that bad is stronger than good.