involuntary retrieval

the spontaneous retrieval of a memory into consciousness that occurs without an intention to retrieve it, in contrast to voluntary retrieval, which involves a deliberate search to retrieve a specific memory. Sometimes an autobiographical memory is involuntarily retrieved, as in the Proust phenomenon.

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Psychology term of the day

December 25th 2024

actor–observer effect

in attribution theory, the tendency for individuals acting in a situation to attribute the causes of their behavior to external or situational factors, such as social pressure, but for observers to attribute the same behavior to internal or dispositional factors, such as personality. See fundamental attribution error. See also dispositional attribution; situational attribution. [introduced in 1971 by U.S. psychologists Edward E. Jones (1926–1993) and Richard E. Nisbett (1941– )]