Abstracting and extracting: Causal coherence and the development of the life story

This study compared life story memories of emerging adults and early adolescents to other autobiographical memories. Participants described three scenes of their respective life stories, a high point, low point, and turning point narrative, and described the connections between them in a fourth narrative. Participants also related four autobiographical narratives from corresponding time periods for comparison. Narratives were analysed for two measures of causal coherence, narrative complexity and meaning making, and for thematic coherence. Life story narratives contained more self-related lessons and insights and greater recognition of complexity than non-life-story narratives, but these differences were confined to narratives of turning points and connections between events. Thematic connections between narratives were more abstract and self-related in life story narratives. Emerging adults' narratives, when compared to those of early adolescents, showed more evidence of self-related abstract thinking and recognition of multiple dimensions. Findings indicate consistent ways in which life story memories differ from other autobiographic memories, and show evidence of development in adolescence.     

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.     

谢宗信道长生平

原中国道教协会副会长、湖北省道教协会会长、安徽省道教协会会长、湖北省政协第五、六、七、八届委员,现任中国道教协会顾问、湖北省道教协会顾问、北京白云观方丈、道教全真龙门派第二十三代玄裔弟子谢宗信道长因病于2005年5月5日13时57分在黄冈市仙逝,享年92岁。谢宗信道长,     

李道纯生平事迹与著述考

一、生平事迹 李道纯的生平,由于史书上没有完整的记载,所以,一切有关他生平事迹的记述都说"不详",这给李道纯的研究者留下了一个难题,一个时代并不算很久远、著述宏富、被称为"真人"的道教学者,为什么就没有他的生平与学术的完整记载?这甚至不如生活时代早于他的全真祖师们.我们可以看到重阳、丹阳、玉阳、长春等人的比较完整的生平记载,而号称全真道士的李道纯怎么反而没有类似的记载呢?同样,这种不知所从来、不知所终的行迹,也给所有想了解他的人们留下了更为神秘的印象,似乎历史上的道家及隐者都是如此.其实,这是一个难以自洽的矛盾.     

曹仙姑的生平、著作再考

曹仙姑,北宋著名女冠。初名希蕴,后宋徽宗赐名道冲,诏加号清虚文逸大师、道真仁静先生。自从陈撄宁先生于20世纪30年代作《〈灵源大道歌〉白话注解》以来,曹仙姑之名开始广为道教研究者和气功爱好者所知。然曹仙姑之生平事迹,陈先生及时贤均未加深考。笔者于前几年曾发现一些有关曹仙姑的文献,乃撰成《曹仙姑的生平、著作考》一文,发表于《中国道教》2002年第4期。在该文中,笔者据明代李濂《汴京硚异记》卷二“曹仙姑”条勾勒了曹仙姑生平的轮廓,又据明《正统道藏》中董醇所编《群仙要语纂集》卷下所载《文逸曹仙姑大道歌》,解决了有关《大…     

The reminiscence bump in older adults' life story transitions

Older adults' memories of events that occurred in adolescence and early adulthood are over-represented compared to other lifetime periods. Prior research on this reminiscence bump has focused on qualities of individual memories. The present study used a novel interview method to examine the potential role played by mental representations of extended lifetime periods. Older adults provided oral life stories, and they divided their transcribed narratives into “chapters”. Participants' ages at chapter beginnings and endings showed pronounced reminiscence bumps. The results are consistent with the idea that personal episodes occurring near the boundaries of extended lifetime periods receive preferential processing that enhances long-term memory.     

Medicine and the arts

Three years' experience in teaching a course in Literature and Medicine is reviewed. Examples of the ‘Laboratory’ or ‘in vitro’ functions of art are given, as they relate to and benefit both medical students and practitioners. The usefulness of literature (especially) in the medical setting is underscored, together with the need for medical personnel to be more aware of their heritage in this area. Examples of well-known physicians who have excelled in the arts (literature, music, painting/sculpture) are given and their major contributions discussed. There are some surprises.