The Effect Of Autobiographical Memory And Perspective On Mood、 Working Memory And Attribution

Objective: The present study aims to explore whether recalling and writing different autobiographical memories(AM; failure vs. success) from different perspectives(first-person perspective vs. third-person perspective) could affect mood,cognitive function and attribution.Method: Participants were induced to recall and write about failure or success from first-person perspective or third-person perspective, and then working memory capacity, mood and attribution were assessed.Results : Results suggested that content of AM and perspective do not influence mood; content of AM and perspective influence working memory interactively. When recalling or writing success, participants who recall or write from third-person perspective perform better than those who recall or write from first-person perspective on working memory capacity task; in contrast, when retrieving failure, participants who recall or write from first-person perspective perform better on working memory capacity task than those who recall or write from third-person perspective. And this effect is not mediated by mood. We also found that participants are more likely to attribute to internal causes when recalling events from third-person perspective regardless of recalling failure or success, and believe the causes of events will last longer and affect more aspects of their lives when recalling success regardless of the perspective.Conclusions: the content of AM and perspective do not influence mood; but influence working memory and attribution. We interpret these effects with positive self-concept protecting and attention.