Reliability of retrieving information from knowledge structures in memory: Self information

Abstract

It has been proposed that information about the self is better organized and more salient in memory than is information about other domains of knowledge. Yet, the data reported by Green-wald, Bellezza, and Banaji (in press) suggest that the reliability with which information about the self can be retrieved from memory is not particularly high. In the present experiment, the verbal prompts used in requesting self information from subjects were made more explicit than those used by Greenwald et al. by the addition of subcategories and examples of the self information requested. Using a test-retest procedure, only.58 of the items from six self categories that were retrieved from memory during an experimental session were again retrieved 1 week later. This value is comparable to the value of.56 found by Greenwald et al. The reliability value for the two common categories, fruit and fish, included in the experiment was.76, which was significantly greater than the value found for the self categories. These results suggest that information about the self is not particularly well-organized and salient in memory.