REPRESSION AND AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY

Recent research by Davis on repression and autobiographical memory has suggested that repressors, who are operationally defined by a pattern of low self-reported anxiety and high defensiveness, have limited access to negative affective memories. We report preliminary data from a study in which we have extended her research and looked exclusively at childhood memories. Age of repressors’ earliest negative memory was substantially older than for non-repressors; repressors also recalled fewer negative early experiences and took significantly longer to recall negative childhood memories than did non-repressors. We conclude that repressors have limited access to negative childhood memories and, using a directed forgetting task, test the hypothesis that they have a generalised capacity to inhibit unwanted material. Finally we discuss strategies for linking the existence of a defensive coping style to adverse early experiences.

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