The effect of emotional words on repression.
The effect of emotional words on repression.
Introduction:
Repression takes place when we block memories or shameful events from consciousness. From this we can either completely block out the unpleasant memory, or refrain ourselves from remembering it.
Recent research into repression comes from Myers and Brewin. According to Myers ad Brewin, 'repressors' score low on anxiety and high on defensiveness. Myers and Brewin identified female repressors and gave them and other groups the task of recalling unhappy childhood memories as quickly as possible. The repressors took twice as long to recall the unhappy memories as the other groups did. There is evidence from repressors, indicating that an emotional stimulus takes longer to be remembered.
Levinger and Clark (1961) also offer support for the idea of repression. In this experiment, people were asked to produce associates to 60 words, 30 of which had neutral meanings, and 30 of which had high negative emotional content. They were then asked to recall those words they had produced. Less emotional words were remembered than neutral.
Kline (1981) regarded this study as providing 'irrefutable evidence for the Freudian concept of repression'. On the other hand, results from Kleinsmith and Kaplan (1964) suggested that this effect may reverse after a delay. Levinger and Clark's study was replicated; however, in addition, recall was tested immediately and after a delay. Associations to emotional words were more poorly recalled immediately than associations to words which were neutral, however tended to be better recalled a month later.
This shows that there was no real difference between emotional and neutral words in time.
Other researchers such as Yuille and Cutshall (1986) state that witnessing a stressful/emotional event does not weaken the memory for details of that certain event, and Kohler and Wilke (1999) state that long term and short term memory recall is effected by emotional factors.
The reason the Levinger and Clark experiment is being carried out is because of the lack of consistencies in the background research. There are contradictions between the researchers, as some state that emotional material has an effect on short term and long term memory, some state that emotional material is repressed, therefore cannot be recalled, and others state that emotional material is repressed for a short time only.
Participants in this study will be given a list of words, equally mixed with emotional and neutral words. They will note associations for all the words on the sheet given. They will then, on a separate piece of paper, be asked to recall all the words they had written.
The aim of this study is to replicate that of Levinger and Clark's, and to see if the theory is correct.
The experimental hypothesis for this experiment would be that there will be a difference in the number of words recalled, but it is not clear in which condition this will take place. A direct hypothesis cannot be given, due to the inconsistencies in the background research.
The null hypothesis for this experiment is that the emotionality of the word will not affect recall of the associative word.
Method:
The method used is similar to that of a laboratory experiment. A list of 20 words, 10 emotional and 10 neutral, were given to participants, asking them ...
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The experimental hypothesis for this experiment would be that there will be a difference in the number of words recalled, but it is not clear in which condition this will take place. A direct hypothesis cannot be given, due to the inconsistencies in the background research.
The null hypothesis for this experiment is that the emotionality of the word will not affect recall of the associative word.
Method:
The method used is similar to that of a laboratory experiment. A list of 20 words, 10 emotional and 10 neutral, were given to participants, asking them to generate associations for. They were then, on another sheet, asked to recall all the words they had generated.
This method was effective, as it could be replicated many times, obtaining similar and more accurate results.
The independent variables are the words used, which can be described as emotional and neutral words. The dependent variable is the memory recall, which can be described as the number of emotional and neutral words recalled.
The design for this experiment is repeated measures. The same participant will be used in each condition of the study. This design was chosen, as it will rule out individual differences between people. It is needed as the participants are being tested on the type of word remembered; therefore need to look at the two types within the same experiment.
The participants used in the experiment were of age range 16-19 years. There were both males and females who took part in the study, however there were fewer females. The target population were students and sampling was done at random and with opportunity: students, who were found free, were asked to take part in the study.
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The equipment used was a stopwatch, used to record time allowed for the participants in each section, and the word list, on which they were instructed to write.
When designing the wordlist, the ratio of emotional words to neutral were taken into account, the position of the words on the page were also taken into account, therefore two lists were made, with the words in different places. The length of words was also taken into consideration, as there were not words which were extremely long.
Each participant was tested in a quiet area, and were all given the same time as each other to generate and recall the words. They had 1 1/2 minutes to generate the words, as it was enough for them to work through the list speedily, as requested. The participants had 2 minutes to recall the words - this gave them ample time to think about the words they had generated. The second paper was given after the words had been generated, so they didn't know that they had to recall the words afterwards. The instructions given were:
"Below is a list of 20 words. Next to each of them, write down the first word that comes into your mind. Do not spend very long on the words, and work through the list as quickly as possible. You will have 1 1/2 minutes to complete this task:" and the second page:
"Now write down all of the words you had generated on the previous page. Please write down as many as you can remember. You have TWO minutes to do this."
I believe the information provided is enough for the study to be fully replicable.
The situational variables which could have influenced the results were the state of mind of the participant. They could have been in a very mind-taxing session of the day, and therefore not be in the optimum state of mind to perform the way they would usually. Telephones sounding, may also distract the participant, therefore they were asked to switch their phones off. Randomisation was used, as there were two sets of word lists, therefore participants were not only looking at the same set of words in the same order. The instructions given, however, were same for both word lists.
Results:
Table 1: Table to show the measures of central tendency and dispersion of emotional and neutral words recalled.
Emotional
Neutral
Mean
4.5
4.1
Mode
4
4
Median
4
4
Range
5
9
Standard Deviation
.62
2.32
The mean number of words recalled was higher in the emotional section, however the standard deviation was higher in the neutral words section, meaning that the data was more spread out. This could be due to individual differences of people, where some words may have more meaning to the participant than others
The modes and medians of both studies were identical, showing that there was not a huge difference with the number of words recalled from each section.
Bar graph to show the difference between the two means:
The bar chart shows the difference between the two means. One is that of the neutral condition, and the other is that of the emotional condition. The mean is higher in the emotional condition.
The experimental hypothesis is most likely to be supported by the results of the study, as there was a difference between the two conditions. There was a higher mean of 4.5 words for the emotional condition which has a mean of 4.1.
Discussion:
The variables produced effective results to the extent that a difference between the two conditions could be seen, however there was not a huge difference.
The study has some ecological validity, as the two conditions of emotional and neutral words are seen in everyday life, in real life situations. People are surrounded by hurt, anger, confusion, pain, nature, peace, work etc; therefore the study can show what conditions affect us the most.
Another study which could be used instead of this one, would be to recite the words to the participant, asking them to respond verbally, then asking them to write as many as they could remember. This could be more effective, as the participants will not be recalling the words using imagery. This however may be difficult, as it cannot be done at one time, with many participants. It will have to be done separately, as the participants will need to speak themselves, and hear themselves. To overcome the problem of different time gaps between each word, every time the experiment will take place, the word list can be recorded and then played by a tape.
The study did not produce reliable results. This is because not everybody's results were similar. I believe the method used was correct; however the words chosen may not have been the best. The emotional words were extremely prominent and overpowering, which meant that the participant may have been receptive to those words more than the neutral ones.
The instructions given were all the same, however the procedures may have been different, as there were two separate people conducting the study at different times. The individual experimenter may have their own approach towards conducting an experiment; therefore each group of participants may be influenced in different ways. The levels of control may be different with each experimenter, and with each time the study was conducted. This is because the study was conducted in many different places, due to opportunity sampling. Variables would be harder to monitor, as they would be different every time.
These factors could have been improved if the experiments were taken place in the same place, at the same time, with all participants being given a standard procedure. This way, any variables would have affected most of the participants, and could even have been controlled without many problems.
The time given to participants to recall words should also have been lowered. Two minutes was too long, and gave the participants too much time to think about what they had written in the previous exercise.
The results of the study imply that emotional words are not directly repressed, as the participants in this study recalled more emotional words. These results are not true of the studies of Myers and Brewin, Kleinsmith and Kaplan or Levinger and Clark. Levinger and Clark's result showed that more neutral words were recalled than emotional, due to the theory of repression. These results however, do not support that theory, as there is no evidence for repression. These results may be different from those of Levinger and Clark's as only people of the age group 16-19 were used. The participants were all people who attend college, and they may not have many bad memories they have repressed in the past, therefore need to repress anything while taking the study. They could also not be effected much by words which are emotionally challenging.
This is also why it is difficult to generalise the findings to populations outside of the sample group. People of ages 16-19 have a different mental composition than others may have, therefore will produce different results. If the results from this study are used for the whole population, they would be extremely inaccurate, as data from one sample group cannot be used for a different sample group. The test will need to be replicated using the second sample group, so they can receive their own set of results.
The study may be related to everyday life, as it shows the type of things people remember. Emotional words have a greater effect on people, therefore in everyday life, things with emotional content will be remembered more e.g. horror movies, stories and so on.
Appendix:
Raw Data Table:
Number of Emotional
words recalled
Number of Neutral
words recalled
7
4
4
4
3
2
3
5
2
2
5
5
2
6
5
2
4
4
3
6
2
6
4
5
4
3
4
4
2
7
6
7
3
7
0
2
6
4
4
3
6
6
5
2
4
4
5
07
87
Standardised Instructions:
The standardised instructions given to each participant were:
"Below is a list of 20 words. Next to each of them, write down the first word that comes into your mind. Do not spend very long on the words, and work through the list as quickly as possible. You will have 1 1/2 minutes to complete this task:"
and the second page:
"Now write down all of the words you had generated on the previous page. Please write down as many as you can remember. You have TWO minutes to do this."
Word Lists:
The two word lists used are as follows:
LIST 1:
. GUN
2. TOILET
3. FOOD
4. DEATH
5. BLOOD
6. STAB
7. GAME
8. WAR
9. BOOK
0. TERROR
1. PEOPLE
2. MURDER
3. KILL
4. JUICE
5. PAIN
6. CHAIR
7. PRINTER
8. SCHOOL
9. CORPSE
20. DOG
LIST 2:
21. DEATH
22. DOG
23. PEOPLE
24. PAIN
25. MURDER
26. WAR
27. PRINTER
28. SCHOOL
29. FOOD
30. KILL
31. TOILET
32. BOOK
33. BLOOD
34. GUN
35. STAB
36. GAME
37. JUICE
38. CHAIR
39. TERROR
40. CORPSE
Calculations:
Emotional Condition:
x
f
x²
f x²
2
5
4
20
3
2
9
8
4
6
6
96
5
3
25
75
6
4
36
44
7
4
49
96
549
Mean:
Median:
Mode:
Range:
Standard Deviation:
Neutral Condition:
x
f
x²
f x²
2
4
4
6
3
4
9
3
4
7
6
12
5
4
25
00
6
3
36
08
0
00
00
533
Mean:
Median:
Mode:
Range:
Standard Deviation:
Psychology Coursework The effect of emotional words on repression
Parveen Wariabharaj Page 1
