The power of extraversion? Reduced false memories for positive events

Evidence on the relation between personality traits and false memories is scarce and partly contradictory. For example, extraverts have been found to be less suggestible to induced memory distortion (through the misinformation paradigm); however, they tend to produce a higher amount of spontaneous false memories (through the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm). Whether Extraversion influences false memories for positive and negative events is unclear. The current study was aimed at clarifying the effects of Extraversion (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire) on false memories using an ecological paradigm for emotional events. Participants were 151 volunteering undergraduate students. Results showed that Extraversion predicted reduced false memories for positive events, compared to negative ones. No effects of Neuroticism and Psychoticism were found. Results are discussed in terms of the stable characteristics of the rememberer that may affect memory distortions.