scholarly journals The cultural life script as cognitive schema: How the life script shapes memory for fictional life stories

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Koppel ◽  
Dorthe Berntsen
Keyword(s):  
Life Stories ◽  
Cognitive Schema ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Life Script

scholarly journals Personal life stories: Common deviations from the cultural life script

2013 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharda Umanath ◽  
Dorthe Berntsen
Keyword(s):  
Life Stories ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Life Script

Age and gender effects in the cultural life script of Japanese adults

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve M. J. Janssen ◽  
Ai Uemiya ◽  
Makiko Naka
Keyword(s):  
Gender Effects ◽  
Age And Gender ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Japanese Adults ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Life Script

scholarly journals Exploring underexposed stories: the experienced lifecourse of financially excluded older adults

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofie Van Regenmortel ◽  
An-Sofie Smetcoren ◽  
Sara Marsillas ◽  
Deborah Lambotte ◽  
Bram Fret ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Classical Education ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Life Story Interview ◽  
Individualised Care ◽  
Uncertain Future

AbstractTo gain insights into vulnerable lifecourses and give a voice to those often underrepresented in quantitative research, this study examines the life stories (past, present and future) of 19 financially excluded older adults using an adapted version of McAdams’ life-story interview scheme. Although these life stories demonstrate an accumulation of many disadvantages and an uncertain future because of current financial situations, the stories also reflect the generativity, resilience, coping strategies and agency of financially excluded older adults. We demonstrate how the experienced lifecourse is built around both negative and positive turning points and transitions which go beyond the classical education–work–retirement triumvirate, and how socio-cultural life scripts are used as a framework to build one's own life story in order to achieve continuity. The discussion highlights the potential for deploying the life-story method as a qualitative resource for providing individualised care.

scholarly journals RETROSPECTIVE LIFE HISTORY SURVEY REVEALED AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY BUMP

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S695-S695
Author(s):  
Marina Larkina ◽  
Lindsey Meister ◽  
Jacqui Smith
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life History ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Mail Survey ◽  
Reminiscence Bump ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Specific Order ◽  
Life Script

Abstract The reminiscence bump is a well-documented autobiographical memory phenomenon characterized by middle-aged and older adults reporting a disproportionate number of memories from adolescence and early adulthood (Rubin, Wetzler, & Nebes, 1986). It is typically assessed through either cue word or important memory techniques. The Life History Mail Survey (LHMS) in the Health and Retirement Study affords unique data to investigate this phenomenon among a representative US sample of older adults. At the beginning of the LHMS, participants (N=3088, M age=70, range 50-107) completed a calendar noting the important things that happened to them in seven life decades, starting with ages 0-9 and ending by ages 70-79 (or their actual age). For each life period, we coded the number of events respondents reported. We observed significantly more memories reported for the age decade 20-29, compared with other life periods (80% vs 47-66%). Our results are consistent with previous findings in the autobiographical memory literature. Follow-up analyses evaluated existing theoretical accounts of the bump, such as cultural life script theory which suggests that life events occur in a specific order and are characterized by a prototypical life course. For example, we determined whether respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics, such as age cohort, gender, marital and educational histories (information available in LHMS) influenced the size and temporal location of the reminiscence bump. We also analyzed the content of reported important life events to investigate whether types of events included in each decade of life are consistent with the cultural life script account of the phenomenon.

scholarly journals Some personal life events are more prominent than others: Younger and older adults agree on which life events matter most

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-569
Author(s):  
Sharda Umanath ◽  
Dorthe Berntsen
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Life Script

Some important life events are part of the cultural life script as expected transitional events with culturally sanctioned timing. However, not all personally important events align with the cultural life script, including some events that are widely experienced. Here, we ask whether there are specific characteristics that define the events that become part of a culture’s life script and what role life experience plays. In Experiment 1, younger adults rated life events on different measures tapping central event dimensions in autobiographical memory theories. Cross-culturally extremely frequent cultural life script events consistently received higher ratings than other commonly experienced life story events. Experiment 2 demonstrated that these findings did not interact with age. Both younger and older adults rated the extreme cultural life script events most highly. In addition, older adults rated all types of life events more highly than younger adults, suggesting a greater appreciation of life events overall.

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