PRAGMATICS AND THE EFFECT OF INSTRUCTIONS TO FORGET INFORMATION THAT VARIES IN THE MAGNITUDE OF A TRAIT

The effect of the evaluative nature of to-be-forgotten information on the use of and memory for this information was investigated. Behaviors about a person in a role-playing context were presented to 148 underg raduates who were instructed to form an impression. All subjects recei ved a set of positive and neutral behaviors; some also received a set of negative behaviors that varied in degree of unkindness. Some subjec ts receiving negative behaviors were instructed to forget them because they were either ''confidential'' or ''incorrect.'' Subjects given co nfidential behaviors rated the target person more negatively than did those given incorrect behaviors. Further, subjects presented with extr emely unkind confidential behaviors gave more extreme negative ratings than those presented with confidential behaviors that were moderately unkind. These results are discussed in terms of a segregation + taggi ng framework (Golding, Fowler, Long, & Latta, 1990) with regard to ins tructions to forget.