Retention of affective material: Frame of reference or intensity?

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Abstract
Reexamines the frame of reference explanation of retention of affective material and explores implications of the intensity hypothesis. 2 experiments tested the hypothesis that degree of affective tone of material changes when it is experienced under varying degrees of emotional involvement and that the intensity of perceived affect of material determines its retention. Ss were chosen from a linguistic group in India with strong feelings of pride and group identification. 20 pleasant and 20 unpleasant adjectives matched for their intensity of affect and frequency of usage were presented to 4 groups of 20 Ss each in Exp. I and 4 groups of 15 Ss each in Exp. II in a counterbalanced design. In Exp. I, Ss rated and later recalled the adjectives when these were presented as attributes of 2 different groups—their own and a fictitious group. In Exp. II, Ss rated and later recalled the adjectives when these were attributed to 2 different fictitious groups. Greater emotional involvement was provided in Exp. I than in Exp. II. The results clearly demonstrate that under varying degrees of emotional involvement, the perceived intensity of affect of material determines its retention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

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