Exploring the Fading Affect Bias Using a Within-Participants Experimental Design

Abstract

The affect prompted by memory for negative events fades faster across time than the affect prompted by memory for positive events, a phenomenon known as the fading affect bias. This case study discusses the planning and implementation of a quantitative study investigating possible mechanisms by which the fading affect bias occurs. Specifically, the described study was designed to test the links between event valence, event rehearsal, memory vividness, and the fading of affect prompted by event memory. After outlining our hypothesized model, we solicited participants for an online within-participants experiment. We tested our hypothesized model, as well as other possible models, using regression-based modeling. This case study discusses the decisions that were made as the study progressed through the research process. This included (a) the idea phase, (b) the study design phase, (c) the data coding phase, (d) the data analysis phase, (e) the data interpretation phase, and (f) the manuscript preparation and submission phase.

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