Sex Differences in the Recall of Affective Experiences

Three studies tested hypotheses for sex differences in the recall of life events: differences in (a) affect intensity at encoding, (b) affect intensity at retrieval, (c) rehearsal, (d) detail of encoding, and (e) artifacts such as motivation or verbal ability. In Study 1 ( N = 419), women recalled more positive ( p < .01) and more negative ( p < .05) life events than men. Differences in retrieval mood were not found. Study 2 ( N = 55) replicated the recall differences and showed that neither rehearsal nor artifacts were responsible. Sex differences in recalling neutral everyday events also were obtained ( p < .05), suggesting that affect intensity was not responsible. In Study 3 ( N = 132), affective reactions to events were unrelated to recall, but sex differences in the detail of encoding ( p < .001) were related to recall ( p < .05). Sex differences in autobiographical memory are reliable and may be due to differences in the detail of encoding.