Using Self-Relevance to Improve Education

Written By Keira Crasta

Self-relevant material has long been understood to enhance memory retention, with the Self-Reference Effect (SRE) suggesting that individuals remember information better when it is personally relevant to them. This phenomenon is not only an important concept in cognitive psychology, but has also been explored in various other contexts such as advertising, education, and social identity. 

Self-Relevance Fosters Recollection

Students are regularly taught content that may not directly connect to their personal experiences or identities, which can lead to difficulties in retaining and engaging with the material. However, when content is made relevant to a student's life, the likelihood of retention and understanding increases performance. Previous studies have shown that information linked to one's own life experiences, roles, and social identity is encoded and recalled more effectively. Despite this, limited research has focused on how these concepts play out in adolescent populations, especially in relation to material presented in different formats, such as reading passages that are either self-relevant to the student or to an adult.

Self-Relevance and Motivation

The relationship between self-relevance and motivation, particularly intrinsic motivation, plays a critical role in educational settings. Research shows that when material is perceived as personally relevant, it fosters intrinsic motivation, leading students to engage more deeply with the content. Intrinsically motivated students find the activity appealing and enjoyable, which supports sustained engagement. 

Interest

As students develop an interest in the material, their engagement increases - this engagement further enhances their ability to retain information. This interplay between self-relevance and interest suggests that when students find the material personally relevant, not only does their memory improve, but their intrinsic motivation to engage with the material also increases.

Conclusion and Future Research

Understanding how self-relevance affects memory in adolescents has significant educational implications. If written self-relevant material can be shown to improve memory retention, educators could leverage this finding to design learning materials that better engage students. This could lead to more effective teaching strategies that help students retain information in ways that are personally meaningful to them.

Written By: Alissa Zhu

Sources:

  • Amodeo, L., Wiersema, J. R., Brass, M., & Nijhof, A. D. (2021). A comparison of self-bias measures across cognitive domains. BMC Psychology, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-021-00639-x

  • Barber, S. J., Gordon, R., & Franklin, N. (2009). Self-relevance and wishful thinking: Facilitation and distortion in source monitoring. Memory & Cognition, 37(4), 434-446. https://doi.org/10.3758/mc.37.4.434

  • Bentley, S. V., Greenaway, K. H., & Haslam, S. A. (2017). An online paradigm for exploring the self-reference effect. PLOS ONE, 12(5), e0176611. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176611

  • Vansteenkiste, M., Aelterman, N., De Muynck, G.-J., Haerens, L., Patall, E., & Reeve, J. (2017). Fostering personal meaning and self-relevance: A self-determination theory perspective on internalization. The Journal of Experimental Education, 86(1), 30-49. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2017.1381067

Keira Crasta
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