The role of narratorship and expertise in social remembering

Adam D. Brown, Alin Coman, William Hirst

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

Are individuals more likely to serve as a vehicle for social contagion because they are perceived as experts or because they talk a lot? This study parses the contribution of expertise and narratorship by asking groups of three or four individuals to study variants of a curriculum vitaeCV) and then to recall the CV individually, as a group, and once again individually, with a recognition test following the final recall. The group was falsely led to believe that one member had expertise. Narratorship was also determined. Expertise and Narratorship contributed independently to critical false recollections, with Narratorship contributing more than Expertise. The way a conversation unfolds and the emergence of a narrator can reshape memories.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)119-129
Number of pages11
JournalSocial Psychology
Volume40
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Social Psychology
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • General Psychology

Keywords

  • Collective memory
  • Expertise
  • Memory
  • Narrator
  • Social contagion

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