Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Gendered Autobiographical Memory: Feminist Approaches to Theory and Method

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Feminist Perspectives on Building a Better Psychological Science of Gender

Abstract

Sense of self and autobiographical memory are inextricably intertwined. In this chapter, we use a feminist lens to review the literature on autobiographical memory focusing on gender as conceptualized and assessed in three simultaneously embedded contexts, the local context, the developmental context, and the cultural context. A personal narrative that is produced within a specific social interaction is influenced by that local context, as well as the developmental history of the individual as embedded within a sociocultural context that frames the structure and interpretation of individual lives. Importantly, in discussing the local context, we underscore the research interaction itself as a context and provide a critical analysis of methods used to study autobiographical memory. After explicating the local, developmental, and cultural contexts, we present three data sets that illustrate how any given autobiographical narrative is simultaneously influenced by the local, developmental, and cultural context in which it is expressed. We end the chapter with a final note about how our approach provides a new way to understand both stability and change in autobiography and narrative identity over time.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alea, N., Arneaud, M. J., & Ali, S. (2013). The quality of self, social, and directive memories are there adult age group differences? International Journal of Behavioral Development, 1–12. doi:10.1177/0165025413484244.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. (2010). Concepts of memory. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 81, e1. doi:10.1136/jnnp.2010.217554.1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baron, J. M., & Bluck, S. (2009). Autobiographical memory sharing in everyday life: Characteristics of a good story. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 33, 105–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartlett, F. C. (1932). Remembering: A study in experimental and social psychology. New York, NY: Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauer, P. J. (2007). Remembering the times of our lives: Memory in infancy and beyond. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauer, P. J., Stennes, L., & Haight, J. C. (2003). Representation of the inner self in autobiography: Women’s and men’s use of internal states language in personal narratives. Memory, 11, 27–42.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bauer, P. J., Tasdemir-Ozdes, A., & Larkina, M. (2014). Adults’ reports of their earliest memories: Consistency in events, ages, and narrative characteristics over time. Consciousness and Cognition, 27, 76–88.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bernsten, D., & Rubin, D. C. (2004). Cultural life scripts structure recall from autobiographical memory. Memory and Cognition, 32, 427–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berntsen, D., & Rubin, D. C. (2012). Understanding autobiographical memory: Theories and approaches. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bigler, R. S., & Liben, L. S. (2007). Developmental intergroup theory: Explaining and reducing children’s social stereotyping and prejudice. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 162–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bischoping, K. (1993). Gender differences in conversation topics: 1922-1990. Sex Roles, 28, 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bluck, S., & Alea, N. (2009). Thinking and talking about the past: Why remember? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23, 1089–1104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bohanek, J. G., & Fivush, R. (2010). Personal narratives, well-being, and gender in adolescence. Cognitive Development, 25, 368–379.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bohanek, J. G., Fivush, R., Zaman, W., Thomas-Lepore, C., Merchant, S., & Duke, P. (2009). Narrative interaction in family dinnertime conversations: Relations to child well-being. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 55(4), 488–515.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. S. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckner, J. P., & Fivush, R. (1998a). Gender and self in children’s autobiographical narratives. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 12, 407–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buckner, J. P., & Fivush, R. (2000). Gendered themes in family reminiscing. Memory, 8, 401–412.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buckner, J., & Fivush, R. (1998b). Gender and self in children’s autobiographical narratives. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 12, 407–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, P. H. (1998). It’s all in the family: Intersections of gender, race, and nation. Hypatia, 13(3), 62–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conway, M. A., Singer, J. A., & Tagini, A. (2004). The self in autobiographical memory: Correspondence and coherence. Social Cognition, 22, 491–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Craig, L., & Mullan, K. (2010). Parenthood, gender and work-family time in the United States, Australia, Italy, France, and Denmark. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 1344–1361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deaux, K., & Major, B. (1987). Putting gender into context: An interactional model of gender-related behavior. Psychological Review, 94, 369–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, L. M. (2014). Careful what you ask for: Reconsidering feminist epistemology and autobiographical narrative in research on sexual identity development. Signs, 40(1).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ely, R., & Ryan, E. (2008). Remembering talk: Individual and gender differences in reported speech. Memory, 16(4), 395–409.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Escobedo, J. R., & Adolphs, R. (2010). Becoming a better person: Temporal remoteness biases autobiographical memories for moral events. Emotion, 10, 511–518.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Fiese, B. H., & Skillman, G. (2000). Gender differences in family stories: Moderating influence of parent gender role and child gender. Sex Roles, 43, 267–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fivush, R. (2000). Accuracy, authorship and voice: Feminist approaches to autobiographical memory. In P. Miller & E. Scholnick (Eds.), Towards a feminist developmental psychology (pp. 85–106). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fivush, R. (2004). Voice and silence: A feminist model of autobiographical memory. In J. Lucariello, J. A. Hudson, R. Fivush, & P. J. Bauer (Eds.), The development of the mediated mind: Sociolcultural context and cognitive development (pp. 79–100). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fivush, R. (2008). Remembering and reminiscing: How individual lives are constructed in family narratives. Memory Studies, 1, 45–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fivush, R. (2010). Speaking silence: The social construction of voice and silence in cultural and autobiographical narratives. Memory, 18, 88–98.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fivush, R., Bohanek, J. G., & Zaman, W. (2011). Personal and intergenerational narratives in relation to adolescents’ well-being. In T. Habermas (Ed.), The development of autobiographical reasoning in adolescence and beyond: New directions in child and adolescent development (Vol. 131, pp. 45–57). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. doi:10.1002/cd.288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fivush, R., & Nelson, K. (2004). Culture and language in the emergence of autobiographical memory. Psychological Science, 15, 586–590.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fivush, R., & Zaman, W. (2013). Gender, subjectivity and autobiography. In P. J. Bauer & R. Fivush (Eds.), Handbook of the development of children’s memory. New York, NY: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frattaroli, J. (2006). Experimental disclosure and its moderators: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(6), 823.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, A., & Pines, A. (1991). Sex differences in gender-related childhood memories. Sex Roles, 25, 25–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gergen, M. (2001). Feminist reconstructions in psychology: Narrative gender and performance. New York, NY: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenhoot, A. F., & McLean, K. C. (2013). Introduction to this special issue meaning in personal memories: Is more always better? Memory, 21(1), 2–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grysman, A. (2015). Collecting narrative data on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 29(4), 573–583.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grysman, A., & Denney, A. (2016). Content, context, and the construction of gendered autobiographical memory. Memory. doi:10.1080/09658211.2015.1133829.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grysman, A., & Hudson, J. A. (2013). Gender differences in autobiographical memory: Developmental and methodological considerations. Developmental Review, 33(3), 239–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grysman, A., Merrill, N., & Fivush, R. (2016). Emotion, gender, and gender typical identity in autobiographical memory. Memory, 1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, T., & Bluck, S. (2000). Getting a life: The emergence of the life story in adolescence. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 748–769.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haque, S., & Conway, M. A. (2001). Sampling the process of autobiographical memory construction. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 13(4), 529–547.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspectives. Feminist Studies, 14, 575–599.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harbus, A. (2011). Exposure to life-writing as an impact on autobiographical memory. Memory Studies, 4(2), 206–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harding, S. (1993). Rethinking standpoint epistemology: What is “strong” objectivity. In L. Alcoff & E. Potter (Eds.), Feminist epistemologies (pp. 49–82). New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassabis, D., & Maguire, E. A. (2007). Deconstructing episodic memory with construction. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(7), 299–306.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hayne, H., & MacDonald, S. (2003). The socialization of autobiographical memory in children and adults: The roles of culture and gender. In R. Fivush & C. Haden (Eds.), Autobiographical memory and the construction of a narrative self: Developmental and cultural perspectives (pp. 149–167). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2-3), 61–83.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hirst, W., & Manier, D. (2008). Towards a psychology of collective memory. Memory, 16(3), 183–200.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, M. K., Foley, M. A., Suengas, A. G., & Raye, C. L. (1988). Phenomenal characteristics of memories for perceived and imagined autobiographical events. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 117(4), 371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Josselson, R. (2000). Stability and change in early memories over 22 years: Themes, variations, and cadenzas. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 64(4), 462–481.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Katz-Wise, S. L., Priess, H. A., & Hyde, J. S. (2010). Gender-role attitudes and behavior across the transition to parenthood. Developmental Psychology, 46(1), 18.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kroger, J. (2003). Identity development during adolescence. In G. R. Adams & M. D. Berzonsky (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of adolescence. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Löckenhoff, C. E., Chan, W., McCrae, R. R., De Fruyt, F., Jussim, L., De Bolle, M., et al. (2014). Gender stereotypes of personality: universal and accurate? Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45(5), 675–694. doi:10.1177/0022022113520075.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luminet, O., & Curci, A. (Eds.). (2008). Flashbulb memories: New issues and new perspectives. New York, NY: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, C. L., & Ruble, D. N. (2010). Patterns of gender development. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 353–381.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Mason, W., & Suri, S. (2012). Conducting behavioral research on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Behavioral Research Methods, 44, 1–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAdams, D. P. (2001). The psychology of life stories. Review of General Psychology, 5, 100–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAdams, D. P., Reynolds, J., Lewis, M. L., Patton, A., & Bowman, P. J. (2001). When bad things turn good and good things turn bad: Sequences of redemption and contamination in life narrative, and their relation to psychosocial adaptation in midlife adults and in students. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 472–483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLean, K. C., & Pratt, M. W. (2006). Life’s little (and big) lessons: identity statuses and meaning-making in the turning point narratives of emerging adults. Developmental Psychology, 42(4), 714.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McLean, K. C., & Syed, M. (Eds.). (2014). The Oxford handbook of identity development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLean, K., Pasupathi, M., & Pals, J. (2007). Selves creating stories creating selves: A process model of self-development. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11, 262–278.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, K., & Fivush, R. (2004). The emergence of autobiographical memory: A social cultural developmental theory. Psychological Review, 111, 486–511.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neumann, A., & Phillipot, P. (2007). Specifying what makes a personal memory unique enhances emotion regulation. Emotion, 7, 566–578.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Newman, M. L., Groom, C. J., Handelman, L. D., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2008). Gender differences in language use: An analysis of 14,000 text sample. Discourse Processes, 45, 211–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paolacci, G., Chandler, J., & Ipeirotis, P. G. (2010). Running experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Judgment and Decision Making, 5, 411–419.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pasupathi, M., Mansour, E., & Brubaker, J. R. (2007). Developing a life story: Constructing relations between self and experience in autobiographical narratives. Human Development, 50, 85–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pasupathi, M., & Wainryb, C. (2010). On telling the whole story: Facts and interpretations in autobiographical memory narratives from childhood through midadolescence. Developmental Psychology, 46(3), 735–746.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C. (2012). Children’s autobiographical memories across the years: Forensic implications of childhood amnesia and eyewitness memory for stressful events. Developmental Review, 32(3), 287–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prentice, D. A., & Carranza, E. (2002). What women and men should be, shouldn’t be, are allowed to be and don’t have to be: The contents of prescriptive gender stereotypes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26, 269–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reese, E., Haden, C. A., & Fivush, R. (1996). Mothers, fathers, daughters, sons: Gender differences in autobiographical reminiscing. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 29(1), 27–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ricoeur, P. (1991). Life in quest of narrative. In D. Wood (Ed.), On Paul Ricoeur: Narrative and interpretation (pp. 20–33). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rime, B. (2007). The social sharing of emotion as an interface between individual and collective processes in the construction of emotional climate. Journal of Social Issues, 63, 307–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosser, S. V., & Miller, P. J. (2000). Feminist theories: Implications for developmental psychology. In P. Miller & E. Scholnick (Eds.), Towards a feminist developmental psychology (pp. 11–28). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, D. C., Schrauf, R. W., & Greenberg, D. L. (2003). Belief and recollection of autobiographical memories. Memory & Cognition, 31(6), 887–901.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., Hassabis, D., Martin, V. C., Spreng, R. N., & Szpunar, K. K. (2012). The future of memory: remembering, imagining, and the brain. Neuron, 76(4), 677–694.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, R., & Lewis, P. (2005). An investigation of silence and a scrutiny of transparency: Re-examining gender in organization literature through the concepts of voice and visibility. Human Relations, 58, 1253–1275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spence, J. T. Helmreich, R., & Stapp, J. (1974). The Personal Attributes Questionnaire: A measure of sex role stereotypes and masculinity-femininity. Journal Supplement Abstract Service Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 4, 43. (Ms. No. 617)

    Google Scholar 

  • St. Jacques, P. L., & Levine, B. (2007). Ageing and autobiographical memory for emotional and neutral events. Memory, 15, 129–144.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Steensma, T. D., Kreukels, B. P., de Vries, A. L., & Cohen-Kettenis, P. T. (2013). Gender identity development in adolescence. Hormones and behavior, 64(2), 288–297.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutin, A. R., & Robins, R. W. (2007). Phenomenology of autobiographical memories: The memory experiences questionnaire. Memory, 15(4), 390–411.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, J., Harris, C. B., Keil, P. G., & Barnier, A. J. (2010). The psychology of memory, extended cognition, and socially distributed remembering. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 9(4), 521–560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Talarico, J. M., LaBar, K. S., & Rubin, D. C. (2004). Emotional intensity predicts autobiographical memory experience. Memory & Cognition, 32(7), 1118–1132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tannen, D. (1990). You just don’t understand: Women and men in conversation. New York, NY: William Morrow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorne, A., & McLean, K. C. (2002). Gendered reminiscence practices and self-definition in late adolescence. Sex Roles, 46, 262–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagenaar, W. A., & Groeneweg, J. (1990). The memory of concentration camp survivors. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 4(2), 77–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Q. (2013). Culture and memory. In P. J. Bauer & R. Fivush (Eds.), Handbook of the development of children’s memory. New York, NY: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Q., Hou, Y., Tang, H., & Wiprovnick, A. (2011). Travelling backwards and forwards in time: Culture and gender in the episodic specificity of past and future events. Memory, 19, 103–109.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Q., & Ross, M. (2007). Culture and memory. In S. Kitayama & D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 645–667). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner, L. R., & Shields, S. A. (2013). The intersections of sexuality, gender, and race: Identity research at the crossroads. Sex Roles, 68(11-12), 803–810.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Werner-Seidler, A., & Moulds, M. L. (2011). Autobiographical memory characteristics in depression vulnerability: Formerly depressed individuals recall less vivid positive memories. Cognition & Emotion, 25(6), 1087–1103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Robyn Fivush

  2. Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, USA

    Azriel Grysman

Authors
  1. Robyn Fivush
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Azriel Grysman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robyn Fivush .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

    Tomi-Ann Roberts

  2. Psychology, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

    Nicola Curtin

  3. Psychology, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, USA

    Lauren E. Duncan

  4. Psychology and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Lilia M. Cortina

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Fivush, R., Grysman, A. (2016). Gendered Autobiographical Memory: Feminist Approaches to Theory and Method. In: Roberts, TA., Curtin, N., Duncan, L., Cortina, L. (eds) Feminist Perspectives on Building a Better Psychological Science of Gender. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32141-7_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation