Further characterisation of self-defining memories in young adults: A study of a Swiss sample

Abstract

Several individual differences affecting four dimensions of self-defining memories (SDMs)—structure, content, affect, and autobiographical reasoning (Blagov & Singer, 2004; McLean & Fournier, 2008; Singer & Salovey, 1993)—have been observed in young adults (principally in North America). In this study we aimed to investigate the relationships between the different dimensions of SDMs, providing further evidence of the content validity of the Self-Defining Memory task. It was possible to discern two specific profiles from the three SDMs collected from each participant. Almost half the participants retrieved specific SDMs with little autobiographical reasoning and tension; the other participants retrieved an opposite profile, suggesting that there are individual differences in the cognitive and affective processes related to the construction of SDMs. The second aim of the study was to conduct a cross-cultural extension of research on SDMs, using a sample of Swiss young adults. The results were similar to those obtained by previous studies, suggesting a certain cultural invariability. The only difference observed concerned the number of SDMs containing meaning making. Swiss young adults attribute more explicit meanings to their memories than North American young adults, suggesting that they are more engaged in autobiographical reasoning.

Keywords:

• Self-defining memories
• Self
• Memory dimensions
• Content validity

Acknowledgements

We thank Nathalie Scherer for help with the data collection, memory transcription, and coding.

Notes

¹Preliminary analyses to test whether hierarchical-type models were more adapted to the data were computed (i.e., empty models). The results suggested that there was no interdependence among memories of a single person. This justifies taking memory as the unit of analysis.