Do gender stereotypes give rise to false memories?

False memory is normally examined by the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm and it has shown an indirect association with gender stereotypes. In this study, gender effect on false memory formation along with the influence of emotional words stimuli were examined. ۶۰ subjects (۳۰ female) were recruited and they were exposed to ۴ lists of ۱۲ words in a DRM paradigm. Effects of gender stereotypes were examined using ۲ lists of gender-categorized words. In addition, the emotional effect of the stimuli was also investigated by ۲ lists of negatively-balanced or neutral lures (eg. blood or chair). Subsequently, false memory rates in the male and female participants were statistically compared using a mixed ANOVA model. The results showed a significant differential effect of gender on false memory formation as well as negative and neutral word stimuli.

Keywords:

False memory , Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm , gender stereotypes