Davis (1999) found that men were more likely to report a higher number of memories than women under which recall condition?
The correct answer and explanation is:
The correct answer is the autobiographical recall condition.
In Davis’s (1999) study on gender differences in memory recall, it was found that men were more likely to report a higher number of memories than women when they were asked to recall autobiographical events. This condition focused on personal, life experiences, where participants were asked to retrieve events from their own past. The study suggested that men, when prompted to recall such memories, had a broader scope of autobiographical details available to them compared to women, leading to a higher number of memories reported.
The gender difference observed in this study could be attributed to a variety of factors. One possibility is that men might have a different cognitive or emotional approach to recalling memories. For example, they may be more inclined to remember objective events or milestones that fit a certain narrative of their lives, while women might focus more on the emotional context of memories. As a result, women may recall fewer, but more emotionally significant memories, which may be perceived as more relevant or detailed but not necessarily more in number.
Another consideration is the way in which men and women might process memories. Some theories in psychology suggest that men might be more likely to encode events in a manner that allows them to quickly recall discrete pieces of information, such as facts or achievements, while women may encode events in a more relational or emotional manner, which might make the retrieval of specific events less frequent but potentially more vivid when recalled.
Davis’s findings provide insight into how gender could influence memory recall, suggesting that the differences might not just lie in the content of memories but also in how individuals approach the process of remembering and retrieving personal experiences.