THE FUNCTIONAL INDEPENDENCE OF TRAIT AND BEHAVIORAL SELF-KNOWLEDGE - METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND NEW EMPIRICAL-FINDINGS

In a series of studies, Klein and Loftus and their colleagues found th at people who made self-descriptiveness judgments about trait words we re no faster than people who performed a control task to subsequently retrieve behavioral memories about the same traits (e.g., Klein, Loftu s, & Burton, 1989; Klein & Loftus, 1990, 1993a, 1993c). Based, in part , on these findings, Klein and Loftus (1993a; Klein, Loftus, & Kihlstr om, 1996)proposed that functionally independent memory systems underli e trait self-descriptiveness judgments and behavioral retrieval. The p resent studies had two purposes. First, we evaluate recent concerns ab out whether the control task used by Klein and Loftus provides the pro per baseline against which to assess the absence of priming between tr ait judgments and behavioral retrieval (e.g., Brown, 1993; Keenan, 199 3). Second, we present converging evidence from a powerful new techniq ue, Dunn and Kirsner's (1988) method of reversed association, in suppo rt of Klein and Loftus's proposal that trait judgments and behavioral retrieval are mediated by functionally independent memory systems.