TY - JOUR A1 - Hutmacher, Fabian A1 - Schläger, Linus A1 - Meerson, Rinat T1 - Autobiographical memory in the digital age: Insights based on the subjective reports of users of smart journaling apps JF - Applied Cognitive Psychology N2 - Humans have long used external memory aids to support remembering. However, modern digital technologies could facilitate recording and remembering personal information in an unprecedented manner. The present research sought to understand the potential impact of these technologies on autobiographical memory based on interviews with users of smart journaling apps. In Study 1 (N = 12), participants who had no prior experience with smart journaling apps tested the app Day One for 2 weeks and were interviewed about their subjective perceptions afterwards. In order to cross-validate the obtained findings, Study 2 (N = 4) was based on in-depth interviews with long-time users of different smart journaling apps. Taken together, the two studies provide insights into the way autobiographical remembering may change in the digital age – but also into the opportunities and risks potentially associated with the use of technologies that allow creating a detailed and multimedia-based record of one's life. KW - autobiographical memory KW - total recall KW - smart journaling KW - digital age KW - new media Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-318620 SN - 0888-4080 VL - 37 IS - 4 SP - 686 EP - 698 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hutmacher, Fabian A1 - Morgenroth, Karolina T1 - The beginning of the life story: The meaning of the earliest autobiographical memory from an adult perspective JF - Applied Cognitive Psychology N2 - Earliest autobiographical memories mark a potential beginning of our life story. However, their meaning has hardly been investigated. Against this background, participants (N = 182) were asked to think about two kinds of meaning: the meaning that the remembered event might have had in the moment of experience and the meaning that the memory of the event has for their present life situation. With respect to the meaning in the moment of experience, participants most frequently referred to situational characteristics. The meaning for the present life situation was most frequently related to aspects of the memory that told something about the person beyond the immediate context of the remembered event. Moreover, these meanings were more frequently associated with continuity than with a contrast between then and now. Apart from these overarching commonalities, our data also show that the earliest autobiographical memories of different people can tell very different stories. KW - earliest autobiographical memories KW - meaning-making KW - early memory KW - autobiographical memory KW - life story Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-318610 SN - 0888-4080 VL - 36 IS - 3 SP - 612 EP - 622 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mayrhofer, Roland A1 - Hutmacher, Fabian T1 - The Principle of Inversion: Why the Quantitative-Empirical Paradigm Cannot Serve as a Unifying Basis for Psychology as an Academic Discipline JF - Frontiers in Psychology KW - self-perception of psychology KW - principle of inversion KW - methods in psychology KW - operationalism KW - definitions of psychology Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-219487 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rudloff, Jan Philipp A1 - Hutmacher, Fabian A1 - Appel, Markus T1 - Beliefs about the nature of knowledge shape responses to the pandemic: Epistemic beliefs, the Dark Factor of Personality, and COVID‐19–related conspiracy ideation and behavior JF - Journal of Personality N2 - Objective Global challenges such as climate change or the COVID‐19 pandemic have drawn public attention to conspiracy theories and citizens' non‐compliance to science‐based behavioral guidelines. We focus on individuals' worldviews about how one can and should construct reality (epistemic beliefs) to explain the endorsement of conspiracy theories and behavior during the COVID‐19 pandemic and propose the Dark Factor of Personality (D) as an antecedent of post‐truth epistemic beliefs. Method and Results This model is tested in four pre‐registered studies. In Study 1 (N = 321), we found first evidence for a positive association between D and post‐truth epistemic beliefs (Faith in Intuition for Facts, Need for Evidence, Truth is Political). In Study 2 (N = 453), we tested the model proper by further showing that post‐truth epistemic beliefs predict the endorsement of COVID‐19 conspiracies and disregarding COVID‐19 behavioral guidelines. Study 3 (N = 923) largely replicated these results at a later stage of the pandemic. Finally, in Study 4 (N = 513), we replicated the results in a German sample, corroborating their cross‐cultural validity. Interactions with political orientation were observed. Conclusion Our research highlights that epistemic beliefs need to be taken into account when addressing major challenges to humankind. KW - conspiracy theories KW - COVID‐19 KW - Dark Factor of Personality KW - epistemic beliefs KW - post‐truth Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-293793 VL - 90 IS - 6 SP - 937 EP - 955 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hutmacher, Fabian A1 - Kuhbandner, Christof T1 - Does the Attentional Boost Effect Depend on the Intentionality of Encoding? Investigating the Mechanisms Underlying Memory for Visual Objects Presented at Behaviorally Relevant Moments in Time JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - Pictures in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream are better remembered when they are simultaneously presented with targets of an unrelated detection task than when they are presented with distractors. However, it is unclear whether this so-called “attentional boost effect” depends on the intentionality of encoding. While there are studies suggesting that the attentional boost effect even occurs when encoding is incidental, there are several methodological issues with these studies, which may have undermined the incidental encoding instructions. The present study (N = 141) investigated the role of the intentionality of encoding with an improved experimental design. Specifically, to prevent a spill-over of intentional resources to the pictures in the RSVP stream, the speed of the stream was increased (to four pictures per second) and each picture was presented only once during the course of the experiment. An attentional boost effect was only found when encoding was intentional but not when encoding was incidental. Interestingly, memory performance for incidentally encoded pictures was nevertheless substantially above chance, independently of whether images were presented with search-relevant targets or distractors. These results suggest that the attentional boost effect is a memory advantage that occurs only under intentional encoding conditions, and that perceptual long-term memory representations are formed as a natural product of perception, independently of the presence of behaviorally relevant events. KW - attentional boost effect KW - visual long-term memory KW - incidental encoding KW - intentional encoding KW - perceptual long-term memory Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-215902 VL - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hutmacher, Fabian A1 - Mayrhofer, Roland T1 - Psychology as a historical science? Theoretical assumptions, methodological considerations, and potential pitfalls JF - Current Psychology N2 - The current condition of (Western) academic psychology can be criticized for various reasons. In the past years, many debates have been centered around the so-called “replication crisis” and the “WEIRD people problem”. However, one aspect which has received relatively little attention is the fact that psychological research is typically limited to currently living individuals, while the psychology of the past remains unexplored. We find that more research in the field of historical psychology is required to capture both the similarities and differences between psychological mechanisms both then and now. We begin by outlining the potential benefits of understanding psychology also as a historical science and explore these benefits using the example of stress. Finally, we consider methodological, ideological, and practical pitfalls, which could endanger the attempt to direct more attention toward cross-temporal variation. Nevertheless, we suggest that historical psychology would contribute to making academic psychology a truly universal endeavor that explores the psychology of all humans. KW - historical psychology KW - history of psychology KW - replication crisis KW - methodological pluralism Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-324491 SN - 1046-1310 VL - 42 IS - 22 ER -