People reluctant to relive special moments in fear of ruining them

Washington, Nov 18 : The memory of the first honeymoon has such a special place in people's lives that they are reluctant to repeat it - thinking a repetition might taint the unforgettable moments.

That's the conclusion of a new research in the Journal of Consumer Research, which found that people tend to treat their memories of previous special experiences as assets to be protected.

"When asked if they would like to return to a place where they had a 'particularly special' versus 'pleasant but not particularly special' vacation or evening out, people were more interested in returning to the place where the initial event that they experienced was simply pleasant rather than truly special," author Gal Zauberman (University of Pennsylvania) and Rebecca K. Ratner (University of Maryland), and B. Kyu Kim (University of Pennsylvania) stated.

The analyst found that participants were apprehensive about repeating their prized experience unless confident that the second experience would be very similar to the initial experiences.

It has been revealed that people intend to keep mementos, which can remind them of the pleasant experience, which is known as 'memory pointer'.

For example, more participants said they would rather own a CD of their favorite band than a Mayan sculpture, unless they had taken a particularly meaningful trip to Mayan ruins.

The researchers said: "Those considering a trip that was simply pleasant-for instance, with sunny weather and lots of time to read on the beach but no meaningful experiences-did not feel the need to acquire those items that they thought would help them remember the experience later.

"This desire to protect memories of meaningful experiences emerged even though participants thought that these experiences would be more memorable than mundane experiences would be".

ANI