People expect experiences of dissociation to be negative—But do not tend to remember them that way.
Psychology of Consciousness Theory Research and Practice June 4, 2026 Andrea Taylor, Monique Woolerton, Steven J. Lynn et al.
Across three experiments with 1,482 participants, people recalled past dissociative experiences as most often neutral and more often positive than negative, even among experiences linked to psychopathology and among individuals with clinically interesting levels of dissociation. When imagining future dissociative experiences, expectations depended on familiarity: novel experiences were rated as more likely to be negative and less likely positive or neutral than familiar ones. The findings suggest that people may draw less on past dissociative experiences to predict future ones compared to other types of experiences.