Retrieval Selectivity in the Processing of Self-referent Information: Testing the Boundaries of Self-protection

The mnemic neglect model (formerly the inconsistency – negativity neglect model, Sedikides & Green, 2000) contends that people recall self-referent feedback more poorly than other-referent feedback when it carries negative implications for central self-aspects, because such feedback is perceived as threatening. We tested the prediction that participants manifest such mnemic neglect only when the central negative feedback is highly diagnostic of self-aspects (high in threat potential), not when it is low in diagnosticity (low in threat potential). Participants read negative and positive feedback behaviors that referred either to the self or another person and that were either high or low in diagnosticity. As predicted, mnemic neglect was evident only for central negative behaviors high in diagnosticity. This retrieval selectivity illustrates the strategic nature of self-protection. People treat the self as a priceless possession: they guard it, protect it, and defend it with vigilance and vigor. They do this by denying their faults, disavowing blame for their failures, reacting angrily to direct negative feedback, recruiting additional positive qualities to offset unfavorable feedback for failure, reconstructing their past