There is more to life stories than memories

Abstract

Current theories focus on the role of specific memories in organising the life story. However, temporally extended structures of autobiographical memory, like lifetime periods and mini-narratives (here termed chapters), may also play a central role in the organisation of the life story. Here, 30 elderly participants were asked to tell their life story in a free format. The life stories were divided into components and coded as chapters, specific memories, categoric memories, facts, chapters about other people, and autobiographical reasoning categories, i.e., reflections, evaluations, life lessons, and inferences about personality. The results show that chapters were much more common than specific memories in the life stories, indicating that chapters may play a role in the structuring of life stories. The number of chapters and specific memories in the life stories were unrelated, suggesting that the recounting of chapters versus specific memories does not reflect a preferred recall style.

Keywords:

• Life story
• Lifetime periods
• Chapters
• Specific memories
• Autobiographical memory

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the participants for taking the time to tell their life stories and Ina Christensen and Line Hansen for their patience and thoroughness in coding the life stories. I am also grateful to David Pillemer and Ina Christensen for their comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. The study was supported by a grant from the Research Council for the Humanities (25-04-0360).