Remembering and reminiscing: How individual lives are constructed in family narratives

Abstract

Stories we tell about our lives very much define who we are as individuals, within particular families, cultures and historical periods. In this article, I review psychological research that demonstrates how autobiographical memories are created and re-created in daily interactions in which we share our stories with others, and how this process is modulated by individual, gendered and cultural models of self expressed in everyday family reminiscing. I focus on two critical developmental periods: the preschool years when autobiography is just beginning to emerge; and adolescence when autobiographical memories begin to coalesce into an overarching life narrative that defines self, others and values. I show how individual differences in the ways in which families reminisce are related to individual autobiographical narratives. Importantly, just as our individual narratives are shaped by cultural and historical models of selves and lives, individuals come to shape their culture and their historical moment by the stories they tell.