1. Examining the Relationship Between
the Personality Construct of Grit and
the Fading Affect Bias in
Autobiographical Memory
Idrian Evans, and Gabrielle McDaniel
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Richard Walker

2. The Fading Affect Bias
• Negative emotions associated with
autobiographical events fade faster than
positive emotions associated with
autobiographical events
• This is not forgetting or repression. People
remember the event very well, but the
emotion has faded.

3. The Fading Affect Bias
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
3.5
Months
1-Year 4.5-Years
Retention Interval
Pleasant
Unpleasant
Mean Drop in Emotional Intensity

4. GRIT
• A personality construct associated with Sustained
and passionate pursuit of a given interest or long
term goal. Determination.
• Angela Duckworth (2007) conducted an
experiment examining grit and success.
• A questionnaire was given to 1,545 individuals
over 25. Assessed IQ, GPA, and educational
attainment (whether or not they graduated
college)
• Grit was a better predictor of college success
(GPA, graduation) than IQ

5. Ways of Coping
• The Lazarus and Folkman Ways of Coping
Scale is a 50 item survey that assesses 7
methods of coping with emotional events
• Confrontive Coping, Dissonance, Seeking
Social Support, Accepting Responsibility,
Escape/Avoidance, Planning, and Positive
Reappraisal.
• Focused on Accepting Responsibility and
Positive Reappraisal

6. Hypotheses
• H1: There is an increase in the FAB, when a
person has a high level of Grit.
• H2: There is an increase in the FAB, when
there is an increase in Positive Coping
• H3: There is an increase in the FAB, when
there is an increase in Accepting Responsibility

7. Methods
• 67 participants from WSSU (predominantly
females between 18 and 45)
• Completed the 5 item grit scale. Divided scores
into 3 groups roughly equal in size.
• Low Grit (2.3-3.3 ) 22 Participants
• Mod Grit (3.4.3.8) 23 Participants
• High Grit (3.9-4.6) 22 Participants
• Completed a 50 item survey assessing the 7
methods of coping with emotional events.
Divided scores into 3 groups roughly equal in
size.

8. Methods
• Accepting Responsibility
• Low Responsibility (0-6), 16 participants
• Mod Responsibility (7-9), 27 participants
• High Responsibility (10-12), 24 participants
• Positive Reappraisal
• Low positive coping (7-13), 24 participants
• Mod positive coping (14-16), 22 participants
• High positive coping (17-22), 21 participants

9. Memory Recall/Ratings
• Participants were instructed to recall 6 event
memories, 3 positive and 3 negative
• Given 20 minutes to recall as many details as possible
for each event
• Asked to provide ratings for how pleasant or
unpleasant the emotion associated with the event was
at the time of the event
• Asked to provide ratings for how pleasant or
unpleasant the emotion associated with the event is
now
• Used these ratings to calculate how much the
perceived emotion changed for each event memory

10. Analysis
• A 2 (Positive vs Negative Memory) X 3 (Low,
Mod, Hi Grit) Mixed Analysis of Variance was
conducted on the change in emotion scores.
• The between groups factor was level of grit.
• The within groups factor was whether the
event memory was Positive or Negative.
• The dependent variable was the change in
emotion.

11. Grit
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Low Grit Mod Grit Hi Grit
Positive
Negative
Mean Drop in Emotional Intensity
Low Grit (2.3-3.3) N=22
Mod Grit (3.4-3.9) N=23
High Grit (4.0-4.6) N=22

12. Positive Coping
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
1 2 3
Positive
Negative
Mean Drop in Affect Intensity
Positive Coping Groups
Low Positive Coping (7-13) N=22
Mod Positive Coping (14-16) N=24
Hi Positive Coping (17-22) N=21

13. Accepting Responsibility
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1 2 3
Mean Drop in Affect Intensity
Accept Responsibility
Low Accept Responsibility (0-6) N=16
Mod Accept Responsibility (7-9) N=27
Hi Accept Responsibility (10-12) N=24

14. Conclusion
• H1: There is an increase in the FAB, when a
person has a high level of Grit. Supported!
• H2: There is an increase in the FAB, when
there is an increase in Positive Coping.
Supported!
• H3: There is an increase in the FAB, when
there is an increase in Accepting
Responsibility. Not Supported!