Collective memories serve similar functions to autobiographical memories

ABSTRACT

People from the same country often hold shared, culturally-shaped memories about important events from that country’s history, known as collective memories. Although empirical research has started to shed light on the properties of these memories, none has systematically examined the functions these memories. To what extent do collective memories serve functions? We hypothesised that collective memories serve functions for a collective similar to those that autobiographical memories serve for individuals—directive, identity, and social functions. We conducted two experiments using adapted versions of the Thinking About Life Experiences questionnaire (TALE) in which we asked people to rate the functions of their collective memories. Across both experiments, we found evidence that collective memories serve directive, identity, and social functions for the collective. These results suggest collective memories perform important roles in their collectives.

KEYWORDS:

• Collective memory
• Memory functions
• Autobiographical memory
• Nationally relevant memories

Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to Dana Harris for her help with data collection and the Qualtrics survey. We also thank the members of the Umanath Memory and Aging and Garry labs for their feedback on the manuscript, and gratefully acknowledge the support of the New Zealand Government through the Marsden Fund, administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand on behalf of the Marsden Fund Council (grant number 17-UOO-173). R. Burnell gratefully acknowledges support from the University of Waikato.

Author contributions

R. Burnell, S. Umanath, and M. Garry developed the study concept and design together. R. Burnell & S. Umanath created the experimental materials. R. Burnell organised data collection, and performed all data analyses. R. Burnell drafted the manuscript with S. Umanath. M. Garry provided critical revisions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

All numerical data have been made available via the Open Science Framework, along with the analysis script (https://osf.io/rfjq3/). Our ethical approval precludes us from making subjects’ written responses publicly available, but these responses are available on request.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Royal Society of New Zealand: [grant no 17-UOO-173].