Essays on the Behavioral Economics of Motivated Memory.

Summary This thesis investigates whether individuals manipulate their memory to forget certain information that threatens their beliefs. It experimentally tests the existence and strength of motivated memory in three economically relevant contexts: social preferences, individual performance, and dishonest decisions. Chapter 1 examines whether individuals exhibit motivated memory in social interactions. Do individuals forget the consequences of their actions on others? If so, does this depend on the nature (e.g., selfish or altruistic) of their actions? Our results confirm the selectivity of memories. Individuals remember the consequences of their actions on others better when they were generous than when they were selfish. In contrast, the direction and magnitude of memory errors did not differ by the nature of the choices. Chapter 2 disentangles two mechanisms identified as possible explanations for the existence of selective memory regarding individual performance: self-reinforcement and mood congruence. We test the existence of motivated memory in a controlled environment where the two theories offer divergent predictions. Our results support the existence and relative dominance of the self-reinforcement effect over mood congruence, and thus underscore the importance of motivational rather than affective factors in the formation of motivated beliefs.Chapter 3 examines whether individuals forget their dishonest behaviors not only for hedonic reasons but also for strategic reasons, when forgetting serves to justify a future decision. We find that hedonic considerations alone are not sufficient to trigger memory manipulation. On the other hand, when forgetting is used as an excuse not to engage in morally responsible behavior, individuals manipulate their memory. These results show that memory errors in economic contexts may result from cognitive impairment but also from memory motivated by the desire not to have to confront information that could damage one's self-image and call into question one's future choices.