Getting a life: the emergence of the life story in adolescence

In the life story, autobiographical remembering and self-understanding are combined to create a coherent account of one's past. A gap is demonstrated between developmental research on the story-organization of autobiographical remembering of events in childhood and of life narratives in adulthood. This gap is bridged by substantiating D.P. McAdams's (1985) claim that the life story develops in adolescence. Two manifestations of the life story, life narratives and autobiographical reasoning, are delineated in terms of 4 types of global coherence (temporal, biographical, causal, and thematic). A review of research shows that the cognitive tools necessary for constructing global coherence in a life story and the social-motivational demands to construct a life story develop during adolescence. The authors delineate the implications of the life story framework for other research areas such as coping, attachment, psychotherapeutic process, and the organization of autobiographical memory.     

A dysphoric's TALE: The relationship between the self-reported functions of autobiographical memory and symptoms of depression

Autobiographical memory (AM) is believed to serve self, social and directive functions; however, little is known regarding how this triad of functions operates in depression. Using the Thinking About Life Experiences questionnaire [Bluck, S., & Alea, N. (2011). Crafting the TALE: Construction of a measure to assess the functions of autobiographical remembering. Memory, 19, 470–486.; Bluck, S., Alea, N., Habermas, T., & Rubin, D. C. (2005). A TALE of three functions: The self–reported uses of autobiographical memory. Social Cognition, 23, 91–117.], two studies explored the relationship between depressive symptomology and the self-reported frequency and usefulness of AMs for self, social and directive purposes. Study 1 revealed that thinking more frequently but talking less frequently about past life events was significantly associated with higher depression scores. Recalling past events more frequently to maintain self-continuity was also significantly associated with higher depressive symptomology. However, results from Study 2 indicated that higher levels of depression were also significantly associated with less-frequent useful recollections of past life events for self-continuity purposes. Taken together, the findings suggest atypical utilisations of AM to serve self-continuity functions in depression and can be interpreted within the wider context of ruminative thought processes.     

The Development of the Temporal Macrostructure of Life Narratives Across Adolescence: Beginnings, Linear Narrative Form, and Endings

ABSTRACT The ontogeny of the ability to describe people culminates in adolescence in the development of the life story. An overarching temporal macrostructure and framing by a prehistory and a future-oriented global evaluation of life helps integrate disparate autobiographical memories into a coherent story. Two life narratives each of 8-, 12-, 16-, and 20-year-olds ( N =102) were analyzed in terms of how well-formed their beginnings and endings are and how much they follow a linear temporal order. By age 12, the majority of life narratives began with birth, ended in the present, and followed a chronological order. In late adolescence and early adulthood, more elaborate birth narratives and retrospective evaluations of life and outlooks into the future were added. These formal characteristics were related to biographical practices, biographical knowledge, and fluid intelligence. Text-analytical methods are proposed as a method for the analysis of biographical and autobiographical reasoning and understanding.     

Young and Older Adults' Expression of Emotional Experience: Do Autobiographical Narratives Tell a Different Story?

Though autobiographical remembering is a common means of emotional expression in everyday life, rarely have autobiographical narratives been used to assess emotion. Studies rely instead on retrospective scalar measures. In this study, 87 young (M = 20) and older (M = 62) adults' scalar reports and narratives of the salience, frequency, and intensity of emotional reactions to the OJ Simpson verdict announcement were compared. Scalar measures and autobiographical narratives sometimes tell different stories about certain aspects of emotion. Supporting theory, scalars measures, and narratives both indicate greater salience of emotion in late life. In contrast to expectation, older adults more frequently expressed negative affect in their narratives, but not in scalars measures. Both types of measures did, however, show a higher intensity of sadness in older adults. Theories of emotion and aging may benefit from incorporating the role of memory, and reactions to specific negative life events.     

The sense of self-continuity as a resource in adaptive coping with job loss

This study examined the relation between the sense of self-continuity, defined as the ability to perceive oneself as extending temporally backwards into the past and forwards into the future, and the adaptiveness of strategies of coping with job loss. We created a web site that was linked to several Israeli web sites dealing with unemployment in the high- tech sector. Respondents were 211 Israeli men and women, aged 18–58, both employed and unemployed, who answered some biographical questions and completed two questionnaires online: the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (Roger, Jarvis & Najarian, 1993) and a version of the Possible Selves Questionnaire (Markus & Nurius, 1986). The results indicated that individuals who had suffered job loss had a lower sense of self-continuity than those who had not suffered job loss and this did not differ by the field of their previous employment (high-tech or other) or length of unemployment. Those individuals with a higher sense of self-continuity evidenced greater adaptiveness in coping, independently of the number of months they had been unemployed. This study is important in demonstrating that the sense of self-continuity is a resource in coping adaptively at times of crisis, suggesting that enhancing the sense of self-continuity may be a beneficial means of helping individuals cope more effectively with job loss.     

Adult age differences in autobiographical reasoning in narratives

Two studies examined age differences in autobiographical reasoning within narratives about personal experiences. In Study 1 (n=63), people completed brief interviews about turning points and crises in their lives. Older participants were more likely to narrate crises in ways that connected the experience to the speaker's sense of self, that is, to show autobiographical reasoning. This increase was primarily evident in young adulthood and midlife. In Study 2 (n=115), adults provided written narratives about heterogeneous autobiographical experiences. Age was associated with linear increases in the likelihood of autobiographical reasoning. The results are discussed in terms of narrative approaches to self-development across the life span.     

Brief Report: Comparing the Autobiographical Remembering of Iranian Immigrant Trauma Survivors with That of Iranian and British Trauma Survivors

This study investigated how culture and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) influence the autobiographical remembering of Iranian trauma survivors living in Britain compared to the remembering of British trauma survivors living in their host culture (Britain) and Iranians in their culture of origin (Iran). Iranian immigrants with and without PTSD completed measures of autobiographical remembering. Data was compared to previously collected data from British and Iranian trauma survivors with and without PTSD. It was found that the memory‐content of Iranian immigrants' memories resembled that of Iranian trauma survivors in Iran, while the phenomenological properties of their autobiographical remembering more closely resembled that of British trauma survivors. Moreover, there were pan‐cultural distortions and deficits in the autobiographical remembering of those with PTSD. The findings suggest that immigrants with PTSD have similar disruptions and distortions in their autobiographical remembering as that of individuals with PTSD living in their host culture and culture of origin.Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigating the mediating role of self-construal on the relationship between cultural group (Malay and Australian) and the characteristics and functional use of autobiographical memory

ABSTRACT

Cultural differences in autobiographical memory characteristics and function have often been presumed to be associated with different cultural beliefs related to the self. The current research aimed to investigate whether self-construal mediated the relationship between cultural group and the characteristics and functional use of autobiographical memory. Caucasian Australians (n?=?71) and Malay Malaysians (n?=?50) completed an online questionnaire that included the Self-Defining Memory task, the Thinking About Life Experiences Revised Questionnaire and the Self Construal Scale. As expected, the Australian group provided longer, more autonomously oriented, specific memories than the Malay group. However, contrary to our predictions, self-construal did not mediate the relationships between cultural group and memory characteristics. The Malay group reported more frequently using autobiographical memories for self-continuity than the Australian group. Finally, there was support for an indirect pathway between cultural group and use of autobiographical memories for self-continuity and social-bonding through self-construal (i.e. independent self relative to interdependent self). The findings highlight the importance of explicitly examining values assumed to be associated with autobiographical remembering, and relating these values to memory characteristics and function.     

Experimentally Increasing Self-Continuity Improves Subjective Well-Being and Protects against Self-Esteem Deterioration from an Ego-Deflating Task

‘Self-continuity,’ or ‘continuous identity’ is the sense of cross-temporal persistence of identity and is associated with positive mood and decreased suicidality. Few studies have examined whether self-continuity is affected by reviewing cross-temporal patterns of personality traits and if increasing self-continuity improves subjective well-being. Study 1 examined the effects of writing about patterns of cross-temporal personality traits and found that this led to increased future self-continuity and reported life satisfaction. Study 2 examined the effects of a structured interview about cross-temporal personality traits and visualizing past/future selves and found that this led to increased future self-continuity, satisfaction with life, positive mood, and less deterioration in self-esteem after an impossible anagram task. These results suggest that increasing self-continuity may improve psychological health and well-being by increasing identity stability.     

Redemptive processing of impactful COVID-19 experiences predicts well-being among older but not younger adults

People engage in autobiographical reasoning to make sense of major life events. This study examined whether younger and older adults utilized different autobiographical reasoning strategies to make sense of highly emotional and impactful experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that older adults would show higher levels of redemptive processing, younger adults would show higher levels of exploratory processing, and that these respective processes would be associated with well-being for each group. Two samples of younger (n = 245; ages 17–22) and older (n = 224; ages 55–83) adults provided written narratives about their most impactful positive and negative experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic and responded to a questionnaire assessing well-being. We found that younger and older adults did not differ in their use of exploratory and redemptive processing. Redemptive processing was uniquely predictive of well-being among older adults, although this relationship disappeared when positive and negative events were considered independently. These results suggest that the ability to positively reframe COVID-related events could be particularly important for the well-being of older adults.     

Remembering the Historical Roots of Remembering the Personal Past

As scholars, remembering the historical past in one's area of study provides a foundation for purposefully pursuing knowledge. As individuals, remembering our personal past provides direction and purpose in everyday life. Taken together, these percepts provide the impetus for the current paper, which traces the contributions of six early pioneers who wrote about how humans remember their personal past. Analysis demonstrates how their historical ideas support current literatures focused on the personal past: reminiscence‐based mental health interventions, the adaptive psychosocial functions of autobiographical remembering, and the construction of identity as a life story. Three future research directions are also briefly presented: the human ability for mental ‘time travel’, a lifespan approach to remembering the personal past, and reflection on one's past as a route to wisdom. Understanding the human phenomenon of remembering the personal past has long‐standing historical roots that continue to stimulate basic and applied research. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Remembering the past and imagining the future: Examining the consequences of mental time travel on memory

Cognitive, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging evidence suggests that remembering the past and imagining the future rely on overlapping processes in episodic memory. The three experiments reported here examine the consequences of remembering the past and imagining the future on the accessibility of other information in memory. Participants first studied events associated with a specific context and then either (a) retrieved past autobiographical events associated with that same context or (b) imagined future autobiographical events associated with that same context. Replicating and extending evidence of retrieval-induced forgetting, remembering autobiographical events from the past caused participants to forget the related studied events. However, imagining future autobiographical events failed to cause participants to forget the related studied events. These results suggest an important difference in the memorial consequences of remembering and imagining.     

The unpredictable past: spontaneous autobiographical memories outnumber autobiographical memories retrieved strategically

Involuntary autobiographical memories are spontaneously arising memories of personal events, whereas voluntary memories are retrieved strategically. Voluntary remembering has been studied in numerous experiments while involuntary remembering has been largely ignored. It is generally assumed that voluntary recall is the standard way of remembering, whereas involuntary recall is the exception. However, little is known about the actual frequency of these two types of remembering in daily life. Here, 48 Danish undergraduates recorded their involuntary versus voluntary autobiographical memories during a day using a mechanical counter. Involuntary memories were reported three times as frequently as voluntary memories. Compared to voluntary memories, they were associated less with problem solving and social sharing and more with day dreaming, periods of boredom, no reasons for remembering and predominantly came to mind during unfocused attention. The findings suggest that involuntary recall is a typical way of accessing the personal past.     

Remembering the past and imagining the future: examining the consequences of mental time travel on memory

Cognitive, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging evidence suggests that remembering the past and imagining the future rely on overlapping processes in episodic memory. The three experiments reported here examine the consequences of remembering the past and imagining the future on the accessibility of other information in memory. Participants first studied events associated with a specific context and then either (a) retrieved past autobiographical events associated with that same context or (b) imagined future autobiographical events associated with that same context. Replicating and extending evidence of retrieval-induced forgetting, remembering autobiographical events from the past caused participants to forget the related studied events. However, imagining future autobiographical events failed to cause participants to forget the related studied events. These results suggest an important difference in the memorial consequences of remembering and imagining.     

Dreaming the other's past: Why remembering may still be relevant to psychoanalytic therapy,at least in some traditions

Against the background of a reconstruction of the reasons for the vanishing role of remembering in the history of psychoanalysis, Botella's (2014, Int J Psychoanal, 95 ) arguments regarding the therapeutic significance of reconstruction and remembering and of the therapist's role are discussed. The difference between intellectual reconstruction and actual emotional remembering are underlined, the term regredience is compared to competing concepts such as equally suspended attention, countertransference and reverie. It is argued that to conceptualize the use of countertransferential associations for reconstructing past traumatic events is difficult with a monadic conception of the unconscious and problematic both in terms of truth claims and in terms of achieving a shared creative atmosphere in which therapist and patient participate alike. It is concluded that historical truth may be important for traumatic experiences, and that biographical reconstruction and change in the subjective life story help to make sense of neurotic patterns and integrate diachronic identity.     

Autobiographical remembering and self-composing

A interpretive synopsis based on our empirical research and theoretical perspectives on autobiographical remembering and self-composing is presented. Conceptual links are made among Kelly's notions of personal constructs, autobiographical remembering, and self. The influences of attitudes on remembering personally significant information, either by oneself or with others, are emphasized. The possible functions of autobiographical remembering are explored through an ecological perspective. Two functions are identified: a coherence or unity function and an interpersonal function. A sense of coherence is achieved in (re)constructive or productive remembering; intimacies are established and maintained in productive interactions. It is proposed that a sense of self can be instantaneously experienced directly through an improvisational process of self-composition in autobiographical remembering and interacting.     

Culture,psychological proximity to the past and future,and self-continuity

The present research explores how culture influences individuals’ psychological proximity to the past and future, which may predict differences in perceived self-continuity across time. In Studies 1 and 2, we hypothesized and found that Chinese participants saw the past and future as more connected and subjectively closer to the present compared to Euro-Canadians. Following this, we expected and found in Studies 3 and 4 that Chinese participants perceived greater self-continuity over time than Euro-Canadians. Additionally, perceived closeness to the past mediated the effect of culture on past–present self-continuity, which subsequently predicted present–future self-continuity. Study 5 further documented a causal effect of perceived distance to the past on self-continuity. These results suggest that cultural differences in temporal attention to the past and future play a pivotal role in people's sense of self-continuity across time. This has important implications for temporal focalism, intertemporal discounting, and social interactions between Chinese and Euro-Canadians.     

The Italian version of the Thinking About Life Experiences Questionnaire and its relationship with gender,age, and life events on Facebook

The present study provided a cross-cultural validation of the Thinking About Life Experiences Scale-revised (TALE-R) in an Italian sample of Facebook users (n = 492; female = 378; male = 114; mean age 26.1) to test for replication and universality of the TALE-R three-factor model. Furthermore, it explored the interrelations among gender, age, the scores at the TALE-R and the frequency of posting textual/visual information about individuals' life events on Facebook. Results at exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis gave empirical support to both of a tripartite model for the functions of autobiographical memory (i.e., directive-behavior, social-bonding, and self-continuity) and measurement invariance of this three-factor model across gender and age. Further results at linear correlation and regression analyses showed that directive-behavior and self-continuity functions of autobiographical memory are significantly related to the ways people use Facebook for personal documentation. Age differences more than gender influence this association. Discussion and conclusion reported both theoretical and empirical implications of the findings of the study.     

Michael Jackson,Bin Laden and I: Functions of positive and negative,public and private flashbulb memories

This study examined the perceived psychosocial functions of flashbulb memories: It compared positive and negative public flashbulb memories (positive: Bin Laden's death, negative: Michael Jackson's death) with private ones (positive: pregnancy, negative: death of a loved one). A sample of n = 389 young and n = 176 middle-aged adults answered canonical category questions used to identify flashbulb memories and rated the personal significance, the psychological temporal distance, and the functions of each memory (i.e., self-continuity, social-boding, directive functions). Hierarchical regressions showed that, in general, private memories were rated more functional than public memories. Positive and negative private memories were comparable in self-continuity and directionality, but the positive private memory more strongly served social functions. In line with the positivity bias in autobiographical memory, positive flashbulb memories felt psychologically closer than negative ones. Finally, middle-aged adults rated their memories as less functional regarding self-continuity and social-bonding than young adults. Results are discussed regarding the tripartite model of autobiographical memory functions.