Abstract
The present study investigated the relationship among construct accessibility, self-schema and person memory. Three hundred and thirty-four subjects received 40 behavioral descriptions of a stimulus person, consisting of eight specific behaviors on each of five trait-dimensions. Subjects also rated personality traits of their acquaintances and themselves on nine-point bipolar scales and ranked the importance of the five trait-dimensions. Weights, which subjects assigned to each of the five dimensions, were calculated as indices of construct accessibility. Self-schema scores of each subject were also calculated based on his/her ratings. Multiple regression analyses indicated that the dimensional weights and selfschema scores were positively correlated with the recall performance of the descriptions of the stimulus person. The schematics recalled significantly more descriptions than the aschematics, whether their self-schema was positive or negative. Subjects who had positive self-schema showed higher construct accessibility than the aschematics. It was argued that the relationship between construct accessibility and self-schema might be affected by motivational factors such as self-esteem.
