Gender differences and autobiographical memories
Autobiographical memory is essentially a system that contains episodic memories from individuals’ lives, autobiographical memory is what makes each and every one of us different to another, and essentially what forms the self, connecting us to others, history and the future.
“Autobiographical memories from the mundane to the profound, help form the self, they provide personal historical context or personal biography for who we are now: they are in essence a ‘database’ of the self.”(Conway, A and Holmes, E, 2005, p228)
There has been research conducted into gender differences within autobiographical memories and although not fully understood it has become an apparent theme, that female participants provide more detailed, richer accounts of experiences relating to their memories.
A greater emotional connection a memory seems to show it is somehow easier to access this memory and that sometimes memories can even become intrusive and presented when a person is not trying to access these consciously. This is commonly associated with PTSD when episodic memories represent themselves causing the person distress after the original event.
In the research article by Bloise, S and Johnson, K (2007) the specific area tested within this paper was that of gender differences when related to personal experiences. Two scripts were presented to participants one with emotional reference and one with neutral reference to a couple’s life. The research was conducted to see if there would be a difference in the amount of emotional information retained by the different sexes. Would there be a difference in the amount of neutral information retained by women and are women better at organising information into retrievable detailed representations making the information needed during recall easier to access.
Results from this particular study supported the hypothesis that women retained more emotional information, that they also retained more neutral information with no trade off
“Autobiographical memories from the mundane to the profound, help form the self, they provide personal historical context or personal biography for who we are now: they are in essence a ‘database’ of the self.”(Conway, A and Holmes, E, 2005, p228)
There has been research conducted into gender differences within autobiographical memories and although not fully understood it has become an apparent theme, that female participants provide more detailed, richer accounts of experiences relating to their memories.
A greater emotional connection a memory seems to show it is somehow easier to access this memory and that sometimes memories can even become intrusive and presented when a person is not trying to access these consciously. This is commonly associated with PTSD when episodic memories represent themselves causing the person distress after the original event.
In the research article by Bloise, S and Johnson, K (2007) the specific area tested within this paper was that of gender differences when related to personal experiences. Two scripts were presented to participants one with emotional reference and one with neutral reference to a couple’s life. The research was conducted to see if there would be a difference in the amount of emotional information retained by the different sexes. Would there be a difference in the amount of neutral information retained by women and are women better at organising information into retrievable detailed representations making the information needed during recall easier to access.
Results from this particular study supported the hypothesis that women retained more emotional information, that they also retained more neutral information with no trade off
References: Bloise, S.M. Johnson, M.K. (2007). Memory for emotional and neutral information: Gender and individual differences in emotional sensitivity. Memory. 15 (2), pp.192-204. Conway, M.A. Holmes, E.A. (2005). Autobiographical memory and the working self. In: Kaye, H. Cognitive Psychology. Milton Keynes: The Open University. pp.227-263. Davis, P.J (1999) ‘Gender differences in autobiographical memory for childhood emotional experiences’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 76, pp.498-510. Green, A. Barry, C. Bignell, S. Braisby, N. Dobbyn, C. Hayes, P. Hull, P. Kaye, H. Naish, P. Ness, H. Richardson, J. Smith, M. (2005). Project Booklet 2. Milton Keynes: The Open University. pp.1-75. Popovski, M. Bates, G.W. (2005). Autobiographical Memory and Dysphoria: The Effect of Mood, Gender, And Cue Type on Generality and Latency. North American Journal of Psychology. 7 (3), pp.505-518. St Jacques, P.L. Conway, M. Cabeza, R. (2011). Gender differences in autobiographical memory for everyday events: Retrieval elicited by Sensecam images versus verbal cues. Memory. 19 (7), pp.723-732