Autobiographical Memory

The impetus for this book is the belief that a comprehensive description of autobiographical memory in both form and function must be an eclectic, interdisciplinary endeavour. Unlike cognitive and experimental psychologists, who have conducted most of their work in laboratories and have been concerned with rote memory tasks, Ross looks at motivation and emotion as components of human memory and assembles a diverse body of sources that have heretofore been ignored by psychologists in their study of memory. He organizes his discussions along three lines of inquiry: (1) the subjective or experimental dimension of autobiographical memory, (2) the early development and later recall of childhood memories, and (3) social, historical, and folkloric perspectives on autobiographical retention. Rich and original scope, this work calls on the names of James, Titchener, Freud, Piaget, Baldwin, Janet, Proust, Sartre, Bergson, Russell, Strauss, and Merleau-Ponty, among others, to broaden our current understanding of the experience of autobiographical memory.

It is a truism in psychology that self and autobiographical memory are linked, yet we still know surprisingly little about the nature of this relation. Scholars from multiple disciplines, including cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, anthropology and philosophy have begun theorizing and writing about the ways in which autobiographical memory is organized, the role that narratives play in the development of autobiographical memory, and the relations between autobiographical memory, narrative, and self concept. If narratives are a critical link between memory and self, then it becomes apparent that the roles of language and social interaction are paramount. These are the issues addressed in this volume. Although individual authors offer their own unique perspectives in illuminating the nature of the link between self and memory, the contributors share a perspective that both memory and self are constructed through specific forms of social interactions and/or cultural frameworks that lead to the formation of an autobiographical narrative. Taken together, the chapters weave a coherent story about how each of us creates a life narrative embedded in social-cultural frameworks that define what is appropriate to remember, how to remember it, and what it means to be a self with an autobiographical past.

The evocation of narrative as a way to understand the content of consciousness, including memory, autobiography, self, and imagination, has sparked truly interdisciplinary work among psychologists, philosophers, and literary critics. Even neuroscientists have taken an interest in the stories people create to understand themselves, their past, and the world around them. The research presented in this volume should appeal to researchers enmeshed in these problems, as well as the general reader with an interest in the philosophical problem of what consciousness is and how it functions in the everyday world.

Noted scholars from a broad range of sub-disciplines in psychology discuss the ways in which the memories of our lives come to influence who we are, our personalities, and our emotional functioning. Other topics covered include how our personalities and self-concepts influence what we remember from our lives, and the notion of memory and the self as interdependent psychological phenomena.