Self-reference effect in psychology

 

The self-reference effect refers to consistent findings that people demonstrate better recall of information that is personalized.

A recent quote from Sarah Bentley and her colleagues:

People reliably encode information more effectively when it is related in some way to the self—a phenomenon known as the self-reference effect. This effect has been recognized in psychological research for almost 40 years, and its scope as a tool for investigating the self-concept is still expanding. The self-reference effect has been used within a broad range of psychological research, from cultural to neuroscientific, cognitive to clinical.  (Bentley et al., 2017)

Examples

Creating pin numbers and passwords based on one's personal history of dates and events.

Remembering the name of a person's you just met because you have a family member with the same name or you create a personal connection with the name.

Cite this post

Sutton, G. W. (2023, September 26). Self-reference effect in psychology. Psychology Concepts and Theories. Retrieved from https://suttonpsychology.blogspot.com/2023/09/self-reference-effect-in-psychology.html

Reference

Bentley, S. V., Greenaway, K. H., & Haslam, S. A. (2017). An online paradigm for exploring the self-reference effect. PLoS ONE, 12(5), Article e0176611. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176611

Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

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