The Reminiscence Bump in Autobiographical Memory: an Investigation of the Life Script Hypothesis
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University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 2010 The reminiscence bump in autobiographical memory: An investigation of the life script hypothesis Ryan Alexander Dickson University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Dickson, Ryan Alexander, "The reminiscence bump in autobiographical memory: An investigation of the life script hypothesis" (2010). Doctoral Dissertations. 588. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/588 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE REMINISCENCE BUMP IN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE LIFE SCRIPT HYPOTHESIS BY RYAN ALEXANDER DICKSON B.A., University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2000 M.S., Western Washington University, 2003 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology May, 2010 UMI Number: 3470095 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT Dissertation Publishing UMI 3470095 Copyright 2010 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 This dissertation has been examined and approved. David B. Pillemer, Professor of Psychology Michelle D. Leichtman, Associate Professor of Psychology Rebecca M. Warner, Professor of Psychology SuzannSuzanne £tf. Graham, AssistanAssist t Professor of Education Mathew D. Schulkind, Associate Professor of Psychology, Amherst College A^\ <\ mo Date ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ©2010 Ryan Alexander Dickson IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank the members of my dissertation committee, which included Dr.'s David Pillemer, Michelle Leichtman, Rebecca Warner, Suzanne Graham, and Matthew Schulkind. Each member made valuable contributions to this research and I greatly appreciate their work on my behalf. I would especially like to thank David Pillemer, my primary advisor, for his guidance and support, for his consistent willingness to listen, as well as for the significant contributions he made to my growth as a researcher. In addition, I would like to thank Elizabeth Bruehl, Anna Waller, Teresa Ware, and Tanya Rouleau for their assistance in the completion of this research -1 am indebted to them for their time, effort, and companionship. I would also like to thank my parents, Gary and Jeanne Dickson, and my younger brother Chris Dickson, for their unfailing support and encouragement -1 certainly would not have made it this far in my education without them, and, hopefully, one day I will be able to provide the same kind of support for my children. My friends and colleagues, including Basak Sahin, Kie Kuwabara, Zorana Ivcevic, Rhyannon Bemis, and Bethany Fleck have also been a major source of support for me here at the University of New Hampshire, and I want to thank them for their friendship and help along the way. This research was supported in part by a Summer Fellowship and Dissertation Year Fellowship from the Graduate School at the University of New Hampshire, as well as by the University of New Hampshire Department of Psychology. Like Sisyphus, I move the rock... V TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix ABSTRACT x CHAPTER PAGE I: THE REMINISCENCE BUMP IN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY 1 Cultural Life Script Hypothesis 3 Alternate Hypotheses 9 Memory Distributions Accurately Reflect Reality Perspective 10 Cognitive Perspective 12 Biological or Maturational Perspective 13 Narrative, Life Story, and Identity Perspectives 14 II: DISSERTATION STUDIES 17 Hypotheses: Studies 1-3 20 Complete Script Disengagement 21 Reverse Script Engagement 22 Emotion Driven Search 23 Gender, Order, and Participant Age 24 Experiment 1 25 Method 26 VI Participants 28 Content Coding 28 Results 29 Discussion 31 Experiment 2 32 Method 32 Participants 33 Content Coding 34 Results 35 Order 35 Discussion 38 Experiment 3 39 Method 41 Participants 41 Content Coding 43 Results 44 Discussion 48 General Discussion: Studies 1-3 : 51 Hypotheses: Studies 4 and 5 53 Expected Events 53 Unexpected Events 54 Experiment 4 56 Method 56 vii Participants 57 Content Coding 58 Results.. 59 Order 59 Discussion 62 Experiments 64 Method 64 Participants 65 Content Coding 66 Results 68 Order 68 Discussion 74 General Discussion 76 REFERENCES 97 APPENDICES 102 APPENDIX A: TABLES 103 APPENDIX B: FIGURES 115 APPENDLX C: UNH INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD APPROVAL 128 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Study 1 landmark categories by memory prompt. Table 2. Study 2 positive content categories for bump and non-bump periods. Table 3. Study 2 negative content categories for bump and non-bump periods. Table 4. Study 3 positive content categories for bump and non-bump periods. Table 5. Study 3 negative content categories for bump and non-bump periods. Table 6. Study 4 expected content categories for bump and non-bump periods by valence rating. Table 7. Study 4 unexpected content categories for bump and non-bump periods by valence rating. Table 8. Study 5 expected content categories for bump and non-bump periods (neutral included). Table 9. Study 5 unexpected content categories for bump and non-bump periods (neutral included). Table 10. Study 5 expected content categories for bump and non-bump periods by valence rating. Table 11. Study 5 unexpected content categories for bump and non-bump periods by valence rating. IX LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Age distributions of positive and negative memories between the ages of 8 and 18 for college students (Study 1). Figure 2., Age distributions of surprising positive and surprising negative memories between the ages of 8 and 18 for college students (Study 1). Figure 3. Age distributions of positive and negative memories across the lifespan as predicted by college students (Study 2). Figure 4. Age distributions of surprising positive and surprising negative memories across the lifespan as predicted by college students (Study 2). Figure 5. Age distributions of positive and negative memories across the lifespan for older adults (Study 3). Figure 6. Age distributions of surprising positive and surprising negative memories across the lifespan for older adults (Study 3). Figure 7. Age distributions of expected and unexpected memories across the lifespan as predicted by college students (Study 4). Figure 8. Age distributions of expected positive and negative memories across the lifespan as predicted by college students (Study 4). Figure 9. Age distributions of unexpected positive and negative memories across the lifespan as predicted by college students (Study 4). Figure 10. Age distributions of expected and unexpected memories across the lifespan for older adults (Study 5). Figure 11. Age distributions of expected positive and negative memories across the lifespan for older adults (Study 5). Figure 12. Age distributions of unexpected positive and negative memories across the lifespan for older adults (Study 5). Note. For all figures, error bars represent standard errors. X ABSTRACT THE REMINISCENCE BUMP IN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE LIFE SCRIPT HYPOTHESIS By Ryan Alexander Dickson University of New Hampshire, May, 2010 Researchers have consistently found that older adults report a higher percentage of autobiographical memories for experiences that occurred between ages 15 and 30 compared to any other period of life. This reminiscence bump is evident for memories involving positive emotions but not for memories involving negative emotions. The life script hypothesis proposes that people share cultural knowledge for the types and timing of positive landmark events expected to occur over the life course and that this shared knowledge guides the retrieval of autobiographical memories. In a series of five studies, the valence (positive and negative) and expectedness (not surprising and surprising; expected and unexpected) dimensions of the life script account of the reminiscence bump were examined. In Study 1, college students reported positive and negative memories between the ages of 8 and 18 (corresponding to the ages where positive and negative memory distributions begin to diverge) that were either surprising or not surprising. In xi Studies 2 and 3, college students predicted and older adult recalled positive and negative memories from across the life span that were either surprising or not surprising. Finally, in Studies 4 and 5, college students predicted and older adults recalled memories that were highly expected and highly unexpected and rated these memories on positive and negative valence only after providing their descriptions. Inconsistent with life script predictions, memories cued by prompts for surprising and unexpected events demonstrated classic reminiscence bumps. The results show that positive