The influence of gender and gender typicality on autobiographical memory across event types and age groups

Abstract

Gender differences in autobiographical memory emerge in some data collection paradigms and not others. The present study included an extensive analysis of gender differences in autobiographical narratives. Data were collected from 196 participants, evenly split by gender and by age group (emerging adults, ages 18-29, and young adults, ages 30-40). Each participant reported four narratives, including an event that had occurred in the last 2 years, a high point, a low point, and a self-defining memory. Additionally, all participants completed self-report measures of masculine and feminine gender typicality. The narratives were coded along six dimensions-namely coherence, connectedness, agency, affect, factual elaboration, and interpretive elaboration. The results indicated that females expressed more affect, connection, and factual elaboration than males across all narratives, and that feminine typicality predicted increased connectedness in narratives. Masculine typicality predicted higher agency, lower connectedness, and lower affect, but only for some narratives and not others. These findings support an approach that views autobiographical reminiscing as a feminine-typed activity and that identifies gender differences as being linked to categorical gender, but also to one's feminine gender typicality, whereas the influences of masculine gender typicality were more context-dependent. We suggest that implicit gendered socialization and more explicit gender typicality each contribute to gendered autobiographies.

Healthcare experiences of patients with age-related macular degeneration: have things improved? Cross-sectional survey responses of Macular Society members in 2013 compared with 1999

“…The literature on autobiographical memory suggests that women recall more details than men. 26 In this study, however, men were more likely to report receiving several aspects of information and support provision than women. This suggests that recall bias was not the main problem here but rather women may have received less information and support than men.…”

Exploring Self-Defining Memories in Old Age and their Digital Cues

“…We also acknowledge the limitation of the sample consisting mainly of female participants and its possible impact on cues generated through the gendered practice of craft. Despite the relationship between gender and emotional aspects of autobiographical memories [19], previous findings Session 3: Personal Health & Wellness DIS 2018, June 9-13, 2018, Hong Kong indicated limited gender impact on self-defining memories [4]. Future work however is needed for exploring the role of self-defining memories and their cues for older males, and for experimentally assessing the impact of identified cues on the richer recall of people living with dementia.…”

I like you better when you are coherent. Narrating autobiographical memories in a coherent manner has a positive impact on listeners’ social evaluations

“…With regards to gender, we opted to use all female voices, because we expected the main population of participants to be female. This decision was made in line with research on gender differences in narrative style [37,[78][79][80], making sure that the speakers' narrative style was more similar to the participants' style [81]. In line with the out-group homogeneity principle, we are more likely to form differentiated data-driven representations of individuals who are similar to ourselves (in-group, here females) than of those who are distinctly different (outgroup, here males) [82].This would enhance the differentiation between speakers and result in a more nuanced social evaluation [83].…”