The Role of Summary and Specific Behavioral Memories in Trait Judgments about the Self

Abstract

In a recent series of studies, Klein and Loftus and their colleagues have shown that trait judgments about the self are uninfluenced by the prior retrieval of trait-relevant behavioral memories. In this article, two types of behavioral memories are distinguished-specific and summary. A study is reported that, in contrast to the authors' earlier studies examining the effect of specific behavioral memories, shows that retrieval of summary behavioral memories does affect subsequent judgments of a trait's self-descriptiveness. The implications of the distinction between spears and summary behavioral memories for models of trait self-knowledge are discussed.