Anxious and distrustful – How do state anxiety and memory distrust influence the misinformation effect?

• Authors: Marta Kuczek , Malwina Szpitalak , Romuald Polczyk

Abstracts

EN

The misinformation effect is influenced by many mnestic and non-mnestic factors. This article concerns the role of two of them: 1) state anxiety, defined as a situational experience of anxiety; 2) memory distrust, understood as a constant tendency to negatively evaluate one's memory. Both factors are relevant in the situation of being a witness and are believed to have a negative effect on the magnitude of the misinformation effect. In the present research, participants’ state anxiety had an immunizing effect against misinformation. As for memory distrust, no relationship was found between negative evaluation of memory and susceptibility to misinformation. The results confirm the beneficial effect of anxiety on resisting misinformation and demonstrate a greater need for further explorations concerning memory distrust.

Keywords

EN

misinformation effect; memory; anxiety; memory distrust; witness testimony

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk
• Journal: Polish Psychological Bulletin
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 52
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 341-348

Dates

published

2021

Contributors

author

Marta Kuczek

author

Malwina Szpitalak

author

Romuald Polczyk

Identifiers

Biblioteka Nauki

2129905