In the book "Why Life Speeds Up as You Get Older," author Douwe Draaisma asks himself: "Why do we have an insanely good memory for humiliations?" "My worst sins" have a humiliating effect.

In his search for an answer, he turned to psychologist Willem Wagenaar. Wagenaar had studied his diary and the way his memory worked. He analyzed the events in the diary by categorizing them. He chose the category: "very unpleasant events of which I was the cause, My worst sins."“

Of the 1,605 events he kept notes about over four years, eleven fell into this category. Wagenaar gives the example of the time he spoke sharply to a woman parking in front of his house. It turned out to be a disabled woman with a special permit, visiting the neighbors.

Of all the types of memories, the memories in this category turned out to be the easiest to recall. This was even easier than the very unpleasant memories that he himself recalled. not The cause was. While Wagenaar generally tended to forget unpleasant memories faster than pleasant ones, the truly unpleasant memories turned out to have been very carefully recorded.

Wagenaar suspects that vivid memories of such events play a role in adjusting our self-image. To this end, our memory stores the exceptions, the events that are most difficult to reconcile with our self-image, so well. These memories ensure that our self-image doesn't become too far removed from reality.

In this respect, "worst sins" share a secret productivity with humiliations. Humiliations sometimes have an effect that, as it were, guarantees retention. Moreover, "worst sins" and humiliations can do more than improve self-image. Sometimes they give a decisive turn to life and are enshrined in memory with due reverence.

Original source: W.A. Wagenaar, 'Remembering my worst sins: how autobiographical memory serves the updating of the conceptual self'“