Stories, Statistics, and Memory

Thomas Graeber, Christopher Roth and Florian Zimmermann

No 17683, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: For most decisions, we rely on information encountered over the course of days, months or years. We consume this information in various forms, including abstract summaries of multiple data points -- statistics -- and contextualized anecdotes about individual instances -- stories. This paper proposes that we do not always have access to the full wealth of our accumulated information, and that the information type -- story versus statistic -- is a central determinant of selective memory. In controlled experiments we show that the effect of information on beliefs decays rapidly and exhibits a pronounced story-statistic gap: the average impact of stories on beliefs fades by 33% over the course of a day, but by 73% for statistics. Consistent with a model of similarity and interference in memory, prompting contextual associations with statistics improves recall. A series of mechanism experiments highlights that the lower similarity of stories to interfering information is the key driving force behind the story-statistic gap.

Date: 2022-11
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Related works:
Journal Article: Stories, Statistics, and Memory* (2024)
Working Paper: Stories, statistics, and memory (2023)
Working Paper: Stories, Statistics, and Memory (2022)
Working Paper: Stories, Statistics, and Memory (2022)
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