Demiray Burcu, Freund Alexandra M
Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; University Research Priority Program "Dynamics of Healthy Aging", University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Conscious Cogn. 2017 Mar;49:117-131. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2017.01.004. Epub 2017 Feb 7.
Three studies examined the self-enhancement function of autobiographical memory (measured with subjective temporal distance of memories). Participants recalled a memory of an attained and a failed goal and rated the subjective distance between each memory and the present. Study 1 showed that young adults with higher self-esteem felt closer to memories of attained goals and farther from failure memories than those with lower self-esteem. In Study 2, young, middle-aged and older adults with higher self-esteem felt closer to success memories, whereas self-esteem was unrelated to the temporal distance of failure memories. In both studies, feeling closer to success memories (and far from failure) led to enhanced mood. In Study 3, state self-esteem was experimentally manipulated. The manipulation had no effect on young and older adults, but middle-aged adults whose self-esteem was decreased, felt closer to success memories than failure memories. Results are discussed in relation to the temporal self-appraisal theory.
三项研究考察了自传体记忆的自我提升功能（通过记忆的主观时间距离来衡量）。参与者回忆起一个已达成的目标和一个未达成的目标的记忆，并对每个记忆与当下之间的主观距离进行评分。研究1表明，自尊水平较高的年轻人比自尊水平较低的年轻人感觉与已达成目标的记忆更亲近，与失败记忆的距离更远。在研究2中，自尊水平较高的年轻人、中年人和老年人感觉与成功记忆更亲近，而自尊与失败记忆的时间距离无关。在两项研究中，感觉与成功记忆更亲近（且远离失败）会导致情绪提升。在研究3中，对状态自尊进行了实验性操纵。该操纵对年轻人和老年人没有影响，但自尊水平降低的中年人感觉与成功记忆比与失败记忆更亲近。研究结果结合时间自我评估理论进行了讨论。
