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Autobiographical memory and social skills of men and women
Author(s) -
Pohl Rüdiger F.,
Bender Michael,
Lachmann Gregor
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.1104
Subject(s) - empathy , psychology , assertiveness , socialization , developmental psychology , social skills , clinical psychology , social psychology
This study investigated gender‐specific relationships between autobiographical memory (AM) performance and two social skills, namely empathy and assertiveness. One hundred and fourteen male and female students were tested with a questionnaire on AM and two test scales for empathy and assertiveness. The results revealed positive correlations between AM performance and both social skills, thus underscoring the social function of AM. In addition we found several gender differences. Women showed superior AM performance and also scored higher in empathy, while men scored higher in assertiveness. We propose that AM, empathy, and assertiveness develop in gender‐specific mutual dependencies reflecting parental socialization. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.