Abstract
This study investigated the relationship between purchase satisfaction and autobiographical memory in younger and older adults, using a questionnaire including the items of the Memory Characteristics Questionnaire (MCQ). The most memorable event on purchase was chosen by each participant. The characteristics of the remembered events were mainly examined in terms of the participants’ age and purchase satisfaction. The data from 394 undergraduates as younger participants and 207 students in a senior college as older participants were analyzed. The results indicated that events of the dissatisfied purchases were less likely to be remembered both in younger and older participants. In younger participants, purchase satisfaction affected vividness of temporal and spatial information for the events. In older ones, however, the dissatisfied purchases were vividly recalled as much as the satisfied purchases, and had the implications. These results implied the need for future studies on purchase behavior in relation to autobiographical memory.
