Life scripts for emotionally charged autobiographical memories: A cultural explanation of the reminiscence bump

Two studies examined the ability of the life script account to explain the reminiscence bump for emotionally charged autobiographical memories among Malaysian participants. In Study 1 volunteers, aged 50-90 years, participated in a two-phased task. In the first phase, participants estimated the timi...

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Main Authors: Haque, S., Hasking, Penelope
Format: Journal Article
Published: Psychology Press 2010
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41945
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author Haque, S.
Hasking, Penelope
author_facet Haque, S.
Hasking, Penelope
author_sort Haque, S.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Two studies examined the ability of the life script account to explain the reminiscence bump for emotionally charged autobiographical memories among Malaysian participants. In Study 1 volunteers, aged 50-90 years, participated in a two-phased task. In the first phase, participants estimated the timing of 11 life events (both positive and negative) that may occur in a prototypical life course within their own culture. Two weeks later the participants retrieved the same set of events from their lives and reported how old they were when those events occurred. In the second study 92 undergraduate students produced life scripts for the same 11 events. The findings revealed reminiscence bumps in both life script and retrieval curves for the memories judged happiest, most important, most in love, and most jealous. A reminiscence bump was also noted for success, although this was later in the lifespan than other reminiscence bumps. It was suggested that the life scripts can be used as an alternative account for the reminiscence bump, for highly positive and occasionally for negative autobiographical memories.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-419452017-09-13T14:21:31Z Life scripts for emotionally charged autobiographical memories: A cultural explanation of the reminiscence bump Haque, S. Hasking, Penelope Two studies examined the ability of the life script account to explain the reminiscence bump for emotionally charged autobiographical memories among Malaysian participants. In Study 1 volunteers, aged 50-90 years, participated in a two-phased task. In the first phase, participants estimated the timing of 11 life events (both positive and negative) that may occur in a prototypical life course within their own culture. Two weeks later the participants retrieved the same set of events from their lives and reported how old they were when those events occurred. In the second study 92 undergraduate students produced life scripts for the same 11 events. The findings revealed reminiscence bumps in both life script and retrieval curves for the memories judged happiest, most important, most in love, and most jealous. A reminiscence bump was also noted for success, although this was later in the lifespan than other reminiscence bumps. It was suggested that the life scripts can be used as an alternative account for the reminiscence bump, for highly positive and occasionally for negative autobiographical memories. 2010 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41945 10.1080/09658211.2010.506442 Psychology Press restricted
spellingShingle Haque, S.
Hasking, Penelope
Life scripts for emotionally charged autobiographical memories: A cultural explanation of the reminiscence bump
title Life scripts for emotionally charged autobiographical memories: A cultural explanation of the reminiscence bump
title_full Life scripts for emotionally charged autobiographical memories: A cultural explanation of the reminiscence bump
title_fullStr Life scripts for emotionally charged autobiographical memories: A cultural explanation of the reminiscence bump
title_full_unstemmed Life scripts for emotionally charged autobiographical memories: A cultural explanation of the reminiscence bump
title_short Life scripts for emotionally charged autobiographical memories: A cultural explanation of the reminiscence bump
title_sort life scripts for emotionally charged autobiographical memories: a cultural explanation of the reminiscence bump
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41945