Specific autobiographical memories are a resource for identity strength among mature but not emerging adults

ABSTRACT

Four studies, three pre-planned on Open Science Framework, with 2296 participants explored the potential role of recollecting autobiographical memories in enhancing the sense of identity. Among emerging adults (college students under age 25), recollecting important autobiographical memories did not strengthen sense of identity. Autobiographical memories failed to strengthen identity among emerging adults despite inducing low self-clarity first; despite attempts to prime self-consistent memories by having emerging adults report their stable self-aspects first; and despite attempts to inspire self-event connections by asking emerging adults to explain how the memories exemplified something enduring about the self. Among mature adults (age 25 and older), recollecting important autobiographical memories strengthened sense of identity. Identity was strengthened regardless of whether mature adults were asked to explain how the memories exemplified something enduring about the self. Differences in types of memories or motivation did not account for the differential effects of recollecting autobiographical memories in identity. In short, mature adults appear to readily use autobiographical memories as a resource for identity in a way that emerging adults have not yet mastered.

KEYWORDS:

• Autobiographical memory
• identity
• self-concept
• adult development

Acknowledgments

We thank Jessica Arriaga, Brennan Fincher, Maddison Forrest, Darby Gilliland, Noah Ross, and Dominique Watson for coding Study 3, and Josie Collins, Kelly Fonk, Lucie Taylor, and Payton Wooster for coding Study 4.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/paqjh/?view_only = 3c2fe4f2ba044cf0af542b7b72508254. All numeric responses, recorded response times, and coding are present in the data files on OSF. Individual listed responses (i.e., autobiographical memories, self-aspects, and animal facts) are not provided in order to protect participants’ confidentiality, as some participants included information that could potentially identify them. Materials, methods, and SPSS syntax for analyses are also available at that site.

Open Scholarship

Notes

1 We did not formally preregister these studies prior to manuscript submission. However, for Studies 1, 2, and 4, we uploaded documents to an OSF page (https://osf.io/paqjh/?view_only=3c2fe4f2ba044cf0af542b7b72508254) including materials, procedures, participant recruitment, hypotheses, and data analytic plan, prior to data collection. For Study 3, we uploaded the materials and procedure prior to manuscript submission, but after data collection and after all analyses had been run. We have included the datasets for Studies 1-4 and the pilot study on this OSF page. The data files do not include the individual memories and self-descriptions provided by participants, as many included identifiable information. To protect participants” confidentiality, we have replaced their responses to these prompts with “X.”

2 These 16 task-relevant items were included in all studies. A full list of task-relevant items and analyses are available in the supplemental materials.

3 There were also methodological differences between Study 1 and 2 that might have led to differing results. Study 1 participants were unpaid students, whereas Study 2 participant were paid workers. Study 1 included a self-clarity manipulation prior to the tasks of listing autobiographical memories, self-aspects, or animal facts. However, for these differences rather than age group differences to account for why autobiographical memories enhanced strength of identity only in Study 2, they would have to interact with the task condition, such that being paid and/or completing a self-clarity manipulation influenced measures of identity only in the autobiographical memory condition and not in the other two conditions. We find that possibility unlikely. Moreover, Study 4 used identical procedures for emerging and mature adults and it allowed us to test more directly whether being motivated by pay rather than class credit influenced responses to the identity strength measures only when recollecting autobiographical memories.

4 Study 3 was completed prior to Study 2. Therefore, Self-Clarity was not included among the identity measures.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no extramural funding associated with the work featured in this article.