Hoe sterk is imaginatie-inflatie?

Previous research has indicated that imagining low-probability childhood events promotes confidence that the events actually happened (imagination inflation). The present study examined the size of this imagination inflation phenomenon. Subjects (n = 34) rated the probability of 60 childhood events. Four weeks later, they came to the laboratory and were asked to imagine four low-probability childhood event items. Next, new confidence ratings of the target items as well as the other childhood items were collected. Subjects also completed measures of social desirability, mental imagery, and dissociation. A higher percentage of inflated confidence ratings was found for target (i.e., imagined) items than for control items. However, the size of this imagination-inflation effect was not very impressive. The discussion critically evaluates the claim that imagination inflation is a model of therapy induced false memories.