Journal article
On the Persistence of Positive Events in Life Scripts
Applied cognitive psychology, Vol.22(1), pp.95-111
2008
DOI: 10.1002/acp.1363
Abstract
The life script account of the reminiscence bump in autobiographical memories suggests that cultural expectations about the nature and timing of transitional events lead to the bump. The empirical evidence for life scripts is limited. We tested the generality of the life script by looking at the effects of culture, gender and cohorts. Turkish participants were asked (a) to list the seven most important events a newborn or an elderly would experience during his/her lifetime and (b) to estimate the prevalence, importance, age-at-event and emotional valence of each event. We obtained a clear life script containing more positive than negative events; there was also stronger agreement about the timing of positive than of negative events. The life script for this sample overlapped substantially with earlier data from Denmark. Events and their characteristics were not influenced by the gender of either the participants or the target person. Finally, many aspects of the life script, but not the bump, changed depending on for whom the script was constructed (newborn vs. elderly).
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- On the Persistence of Positive Events in Life Scripts
- Creators
- Ahu ERDOGAN - Bogazici University, Istanbul, TurkeyBengi BARAN - Bogazici University, Istanbul, TurkeyBillur AVLAR - Bogazici University, Istanbul, TurkeyA. Caglar TAS - Bogazici University, Istanbul, TurkeyAli I TEKCAN - Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Applied cognitive psychology, Vol.22(1), pp.95-111
- Publisher
- Wiley; Chichester
- DOI
- 10.1002/acp.1363
- ISSN
- 0888-4080
- eISSN
- 1099-0720
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2008
- Academic Unit
- Psychiatry; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984070877702771
Metrics
11 Record Views