The Effect of Self-concept on Autobiographical Memory: Evidence from Comparing Tibetan with Han Adolescents

Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2013, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (6) : 1428-1434.

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PDF(467 KB)
Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2013, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (6) : 1428-1434.

The Effect of Self-concept on Autobiographical Memory: Evidence from Comparing Tibetan with Han Adolescents

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Abstract

This study examined the difference in the relationship of autobiographical memory and self-concept between Tibetan and Han adolescents. A total of 136 Tibetans and 139 Han Chinese adolescents in middle school from 7 to 10 grades participated in this study. Using self-concept priming paradigm, we collected participants' self-concept information by asking participants to answer the question "who I am”. The participants in each race were randomly assigned to three self-concept priming groups: independent orientation group, interdependence orientation group and control group. After finishing the self-concept priming task, participants were presented two clue words, and were asked to report autobiographical events. Participants’ language ability was assessed with vocabulary subscale of Wechsler Intelligence Scale. The results showed that: (1) The participants in independent orientation priming groups in each race reported more independent orientation contents, and the participants in interdependent orientation priming groups in each race reported more interdependent orientation contents. (2) The self-concept priming effect on autobiographical memory for Tibetan adolescents were different from that of Han adolescents. There was not significant difference in social orientation between three priming groups for both races adolescents. While self-concept priming can affect autonomous orientation in autobiographical memory narrative contents more stongly for Han adolescents' than for Tibetan. (3) We conducted an ANOVA of 2 (race: Tibetan vs. Han) × 3 (self-concept priming groups) with race and priming groups as independent variables and with the number of social events in autobiographical memory as dependent variable, language as covariate variable. The results showed that there was a significant main effect of race, F (1, 269) =3.59, p = .059. There was a significant main effect of priming groups, F (2, 269) =13.97, p < .001. There was a significant interaction effect of race and priming groups, F (2, 269) =3.36, p < .05. Analyses indicated that there was a weak effect of self-concept priming on autobiographical memory for Tibetan participants and a strong effect for Han adolescents. Regression analyses showed that For Tibetan, when age, gender and language were controlled for, the social-self ratio in self-concept cannot significantly predict the other-self ratio in autobiographical memory. For Han participants, when age, gender and language were controlled for, the social-self in self-concept can significantly predict the other-self ratio in autobiographical memory, B = .11, Beta = .22, ΔR2 = .048, Fchange = 6.43, p = .01. The findings indicated that earlier cultural construction can affect autobiographical memory for Tibetan adolescents. This sutdy showed that there exists cultural difference in the relationship between autobiographical memory and self-concept.

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autobiographical memory / self-concept / Tibetan / Han

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The Effect of Self-concept on Autobiographical Memory: Evidence from Comparing Tibetan with Han Adolescents[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2013, 36(6): 1428-1434
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