Recent controversy over memories retrieved in therapy has highlighted the i
mportance of increasing our understanding of individual differences in sugg
estibility and false-memory production. The purpose of this laboratory stud
y was to assess the ability of several clinically relevant variables (acqui
escence. self-esteem and negative affect) to predict the tendency to yield
to suggestive questioning, to alter responses in the face of interpersonal
criticism, or to produce false memories (in this study, false recall of imp
lied words). Results indicated that acquiescence significantly predicted su
ggestibility, as did competence self-esteem scores, but global self-esteem
and negative affect scores did not. False-memory production (i.e., false re
call of implied words) was associated with higher levels of both acquiescen
ce and negative affect, but the tendency to alter responses after criticism
was not significantly predicted by any variable.