An integrative study of autobiographical memory for positive and negative experiences

  1. García Bajos, Elvira 1
  2. Migueles Seco, Malen 1
  1. 1 Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
    info

    Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

    Lejona, España

    ROR https://ror.org/000xsnr85

Revista:
The Spanish Journal of Psychology

ISSN: 1138-7416

Año de publicación: 2013

Número: 16

Páginas: 1-11

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.1017/SJP.2013.103 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: The Spanish Journal of Psychology

Resumen

In this study we examined autobiographical memory for emotional experiences from an integrative perspective, analyzing nature, distribution, content and phenomenological assessment of the experiences. Undergraduate students produced positive or negative life experiences, dated them and indicated their emotional level. Afterwards, they chose an experience to narrate, and rated their memory for the experience. The positive and negative experiences were grouped into 14 categories, although most of them fell into four areas: studies, family, friends and couple. The number of positive and negative experiences progressively increased from very few childhood memories to a larger percentage of more recent events. The distribution was equivalent, except during adolescence, in which a greater number of negative than positive experiences were recorded. The negative narratives included more emotional details, references to cognitive processes, mental rehearsal and justifications than the positive narratives. But the positive experiences obtained higher ratings in vividness and sensorial details than the negative experiences.

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