RECONSTRUCTING SELVES - AN ANALYSIS OF DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN WOMENS CONTEMPORANEOUS AND RETROSPECTIVE ACCOUNTS OF THE TRANSITION TO MOTHERHOOD
- 31 July 1994
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in British Journal of Psychology
- Vol. 85 (3), 371-392
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1994.tb02530.x
Abstract
This paper empirically examines the notion of self-reconstruction. Accounts of personal identity were obtained from women at four time points during the transition to motherhood. The study compares the women's accounts of pregnancy recorded in real-time with those obtained retrospectively - after the child's birth, and looks for discrepancies between them. The women's retrospective records of pregnancy point to a number of reconstructive narratives: glossing over difficulties, emphasizing personal growth, highlighting continuity of self, sometimes combining different narratives within the same retrospective report. The findings are theorized in terms of the notion of self-reconstruction, whereby it is argued individuals modify their biographical presentations in order to produce self-enhancing personal accounts. It is suggested that cognitive, motivational and rhetorical factors all play a part in this process.Keywords
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