A positive Living-in-History effect: the case of the fall of the Berlin Wall

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Memory

Publication Date

11-26-2019

Abstract

© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Research has shown that individuals use a combination of cultural life script events and historical events when dating personal memories, providing evidence for a cultural life script effect and Living-in-History (LiH) effect on the temporal organisation of autobiographical memory. Yet, in contrast to life script events, the LiH effect has only been found for negative events such as war or natural disasters. Therefore, this study tested whether a positive historical event, here the fall of the Berlin Fall, also elicits a LiH effect and whether this effect would differ due to the subsequent changes in life. Comparing West and East Germans, we found a moderate LiH effect for the fall of the Berlin Wall in East Germans but not in West Germans. Yet, the LiH effect in East Germans did not relate to the perceived change in life or the valence of the historical event. Additionally, this study replicated the finding that life script events serve as temporal landmarks when navigating through one’s autobiographical timeline.

ISSN

0965-8211

Publisher

Routledge

Volume

27

Issue

10

First Page

1381

Last Page

1389

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

cultural life script, Living-in-History effect, memory dating, reminiscence bump, transition theory

Scopus ID

85071732590

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Green: A manuscript of this publication is openly available in a repository

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