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Continuity and Correlates of Emotions and Motives in Self‐Defining Memories
Author(s) -
Sutin Angelina R.,
Robins Richard W.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2005.00329.x
Subject(s) - psychology , personality , set (abstract data type) , narcissism , context (archaeology) , autobiographical memory , social psychology , childhood memory , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , episodic memory , recall , cognition , paleontology , neuroscience , programming language , computer science , biology
Two studies examined emotions and motives in self‐defining memories. In Study 1, participants recalled five self‐defining memories (four recent and one earliest childhood), rated their emotions and motives during each memory, and completed a set of personality measures. A subset of participants provided a second set of memories, as well as emotion and motive ratings, approximately 2 weeks after the initial session. Results suggest that emotions and motives are moderately stable across memories and over time and show theoretically meaningful relations with self‐esteem, narcissism, and affective dispositions. Study 2 extended the findings of Study 1 to a longitudinal context. Emotions and motives coded from self‐defining memories were associated with changes in personality, well‐being, and academic performance over a 4‐year period.