Factor structure of overall autobiographical memory usage: The directive, self and social functions revisited

Abstract

According to theory, autobiographical memory serves three broad functions of overall usage: directive, self, and social. However, there is evidence to suggest that the tripartite model may be better conceptualised in terms of a four-factor model with two social functions. In the present study we examined the two models in Danish and German samples, using the Thinking About Life Experiences Questionnaire (TALE; Bluck, Alea, Habermas, & Rubin, 2005), which measures the overall usage of the three functions generalised across concrete memories. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the four-factor model and rejected the theoretical three-factor model in both samples. The results are discussed in relation to cultural differences in overall autobiographical memory usage as well as sharing versus non-sharing aspects of social remembering.

Keywords:

• Autobiographical memory
• Function

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Annette Bohn for help with the German version of the TALE, and for suggesting the empirical three-factor model (Model 3E). Thanks to Annette Bohn, Kim Berg Johannessen, Amanda Miles, Hildur Finnbogadóttir, and Dorthe Berntsen for comments on the manuscript. Thanks to Mark Shevlin for help with the statistics. This work was supported by the Danish National Research Foundation and the MindLab UNIK initiative at Aarhus University, which is funded by the Danish Ministry of Science and Technology and Innovation.

Notes

¹A folk high school [folkehøjskole] in Denmark is an institution of non-formal and continuing adult education, often with a dominance of creative and artistic topics such as music, drama, and painting. A typical folk high school student is a young person who has finished ordinary high school, and who wants to spend some time exploring a creative topic before beginning his or her college education.