The Autobiographical Self In Time And Culture

This book traces the developmental, social, cultural, and historical origins of the autobiographical self - the self that is made of memories of the personal past and of the family and the community. It combines rigorous research, compelling theoretical insights, sensitive survey of real memories and memory conversations, and fascinating personal anecdotes to convey a message: the autobiographical self is conditioned by one's time and culture.

In this volume, Qi Wang traces the developmental, social, cultural, and historical origins of the autobiographical self - the self that is made of memories of the personal past and of the family and the community. Wang combines rigorous research, sensitive survey of real memories and memory conversations, and fascinating personal anecdotes into a state-of-the-art book. As a "marginal woman" who grew up in the East and works and lives in the West, Wang's analysis is unique, insightful, and approachable. Her accounts of her own family stories, extraordinarily careful and thorough documentation of research findings, and compelling theoretical insights together convey an unequivocal message: The autobiographical self is conditioned by one's time and culture. Beginning with a perceptive examination of the form, content, and function of parent-child conversations of personal and family stories, Wang undertakes to show how the autobiographical self is formed in and shaped by the process of family storytelling situated in specific cultural contexts. By contrasting the development of autobiographical writings in Western and Chinese literatures, Wang seeks to demonstrate the cultural stance of the autobiographical self in historical time. She examines the autobiographical self in personal time, thoughtfully analyzing the form, structure, and content of everyday memories to reveal the role of culture in modulating information processing and determining how the autobiographical self is remembered. Focusing on memories of early childhood, Wang seeks to answer the question of when the autobiographical self begins from a cross-cultural perspective. She sets out further to explore some of the most controversial issues in current psychological research of autobiographical memory, focusing particularly on issues of memory representations versus memory narratives and silence versus voice in the construction of the autobiographical self appropriate to one's cultural assumptions. She concludes with historical analyses of the influences of the larger social, political, and economic forces on the autobiographical self, and takes a forward look at the autobiographical self as a product of modern technology.

The topic of autobiographical memory has held a prominent role in memory research for the past 30 years, as it has proven indispensable to the understanding of human memory and cognition. An important focus of autobiographical memory research is uncovering the basic structure, nature, and organization of the autobiographical memory system. This book explores the organization and structure of autobiographical memory. Based on over thirty years of research, and the latest empirical findings, it presents the major theories and problems in the science of autobiographical memory organization. At its core are two influential global views on the organization, structure, and function of autobiographical memory (chapters 2 and 3). In addition, the volume examines the organization of autobiographical memory from a developmental perspective (chapter 4). It includes a chapter examining the neuroscience of autobiographical memory organization (chapter 7), and a chapter examining organization from a functional perspective (chapter 6). Also covered is the role of culture in forming autobiographical memory (chapter 5), the role of the self in organizing autobiographical memory (chapter 8), insights from the reminiscence bump on organization (chapter 9), and a chapter on the organization of episodic autobiographical memories (chapter 10). For students and researcher with an interest in memory, the volume is a timely and important addition to their literature.

Focusing primarily on the period from the eighteenth-century to the present, this interdisciplinary volume takes a fresh look at the institutions and practices of autobiography and self-portraiture in Europe, the United States and other cultures.

Provides background content and teaching ideas to support the integration of culture in a wide range of psychology courses.

We remember in social contexts. We reminisce about the past together, collaborate to remember shared experiences, and, even when we are alone, we remember in the context of our communities and cultures. Taking an interdisciplinary approach throughout, this text comprehensively covers collaborative remembering across the fields of developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, social psychology, discourse processing, philosophy, neuropsychology, design, and media studies. It highlights points of overlap and contrast across the many disciplinary perspectives and, with its sections on 'Approaches of Collaborative Remembering' and 'Applications of Collaborative Remembering', also connects basic and applied research. Written with late-stage undergraduates and early-stage graduates in mind, the book is also a valuable tool for memory specialists and academics in the fields of psychology, cognitive science and philosophy who are interested in collaborative memory research.

The unprecedented economic growth in many East Asian societies in the few past decades have placed the region center stage, and increasing globalization has made East-West cultural understanding of even greater importance today. The Psychological and Cultural Foundations of East Asian Cognition is one of the most comprehensive volumes on East Asian cognition and thinking styles to date, and is one of the first to bring together a large body of empirical research on naïve dialecticism and analytic/holistic thinking theories stemming from Richard Nisbett's highly influential The Geography of Thought. Edited by Julie Spencer-Rodgers and Kaiping Peng, The Psychological and Cultural Foundations of East Asian Cognition expertly examines the psychological, philosophical, and cultural underpinnings and consequences of these thinking theories for human thought, emotion, and behavior. In the past couple of decades, research on this topic has flourished, and East-West cultural differences have been documented in almost all aspects of the human condition, from the manner in which people reason and make decisions, conceptualize themselves and those around them, to how they cope with stress and mental illness, and interact with others, including romantic partners and social groups. Contributions to this volume cover such fascinating and diverse topics as cultural neuroscience and the brain, lifespan development, attitudes and group perception, romantic relationships, the adoption of foreign mindsets and perspectives, creativity, emotion, the self-concept, racial and ethnic identity, psychopathology, and coping processes and wellbeing. Further, the research featured within this volume has practical implications for business and organizational management, international relations and politics, education, and clinical and counseling psychology, and may be of particular interest to business professionals, managers in government and non-profit sectors, as well as educators and clinicians working with East Asians and Americans of East Asian descent.

Autobiographical memory is constituted from the integration of several memory skills, as well as the ability to narrate. This all helps in understanding our relation to self, family contexts, culture, brain development, and traumatic experiences. The present volume discusses contemporary approaches to childhood memories and examines cutting-edge research on the development of autobiographical memory. The chapters in this book written by a group of leading authors, each make a unique contribution by describing a specific developmental domain. In providing a multinational and multicultural perspective on autobiographical memory development—and by covering a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, this state-of-the-book is essential reading on the autobiographical memory system for memory researchers and graduate students. It is also of interest to scholars and students working more broadly in the fields of cognitive, developmental, and social psychology, and to academics who are conducting interdisciplinary research on neuroscience, family relationships, narrative methods, culture, and oral history.