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Feeling good and bad about the past and future self
David B Pillemer1, Dorthe Thomsen, Kie J Kuwabara
1Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA. david.pillemer@unh.edu
Memory (Hove, England)
|September 12, 2012
Summary
Past memories of positive self-regard emphasize achievement, while negative self-regard memories focus on interpersonal themes. This distinction was not found for imagined future events, challenging existing memory construction theories.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Prior research links positive self-regard memories to achievement themes.
- Negative self-regard memories are often associated with interpersonal themes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if achievement and interpersonal themes differentiate positive and negative self-regard in imagined future events.
- To examine cross-cultural consistency in memory and imagination content.
Main Methods:
- Young adults from the United States and Denmark recalled past memories and imagined future events.
- Participants associated these events with positive or negative self-regard.
- Thematic content (achievement vs. interpersonal) was analyzed.
Main Results:
- Across cultures, past memories of positive self-regard featured achievement themes.
- Past memories of negative self-regard prominently included interpersonal themes.
- The link between emotional valence and thematic content was weak for imagined future events.
Conclusions:
- The thematic content of past memories is not consistently replicated in imagined future events.
- Findings challenge theories suggesting future imagination is solely based on past memory recombination.
- Future research should explore alternative models for the construction of imagined future episodes.