Negotiating false memories: Interviewer and rememberer characteristics relate to memory distortion

In a recent study, more than half of the participants were led to create a partial or complete false memory far an emotional childhood event (e.g., se rious animal attack). Using a subsample from that study, we examined the hy pothesis that memory distortion is related to characteristics of interviewe rs and rememberers. The relations between susceptibility to memory distorti on and (a) dissociation (Dissociative Experiences Scale) and (b) personalit y traits (NEO-Five Factor Inventory) were investigated. Results indicated t hat participants who exhibited memory distortion scored significantly highe r on the dissociative scale than their counterparts who did not exhibit mem ory distortion. Further, susceptibility to memory distortion was associated with higher extraversion scores in interviewers and lower extraversion sco res in participants. This pattern of findings suggests that Salse memories may derive from a social negotiation between particular interviewers and re memberers.