Investigating memory conformity and item accuracy: a modified approach

Abstract

The social contagion of memory effect refers to a propensity for an individual to incorporate information provided by others into the individual’s recall. Notably, both true and false memories may be transmitted from one individual to another. The social influence behind this phenomenon stems from normative and informative influence where individuals conform to the memory of others due to affiliative motives and a relative evaluation of memory accuracy between source and self. Through the use of a novel procedure, the present study attempted to diminish the effects of normative influence and study the mechanisms behind informative influence. The purpose of the study aimed to investigate the effects of exposure to a social source (vs. non-social source) of misinformation and stimulus presentation duration (15 seconds vs. 60 seconds) on both true and false recall. Misinformation was disguised using a recognition task given to participants in between an initial recall task and a final recall task. Overall, main effects were found for both exposure to a social source of misinformation and memory strength for both true recall and false recall. However, an interaction effect was found only for false recall. The present study extends the findings of Wright’s (2010) social influence model and suggests that individuals who perceive a social source of information would perceive it as more credible than a nonsocial source. Furthermore, receiving contradictory information from a social source may decrease belief in one’s memory. These findings have important implications on judicial procedures and efforts to combat fake news.