Premium
The Role of Need Satisfaction as a Distinct and Basic Psychological Component of Autobiographical Memories: A Look at Well‐Being
Author(s) -
Philippe Frederick L.,
Koestner Richard,
BeaulieuPelletier Genevieve,
Lecours Serge
Publication year - 2011
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.1467-6494.2010.00710.x
Subject(s) - autobiographical memory , psychology , autonomy , competence (human resources) , personality , life satisfaction , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , recall , political science , law
The purpose of the present research was to show that satisfaction of the psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness constitutes a basic component characterizing autobiographical memories. In Study 1, a coding scheme and a self‐rating method for measuring need satisfaction in memories were developed and shown to be highly related to each other. Across 3 studies using graduate and undergraduate students (Study 1: N =244; Study 2: N =309; Study 3: N =159), need satisfaction was found to be moderately associated with well‐being measures, over and above several other memory components usually assessed in research on autobiographical memories. In addition, this association between need satisfaction in autobiographical memories and well‐being held, even after controlling for person‐level measures, such as personality traits, self‐determined orientation, or experience of need satisfaction in general in one's life, thus suggesting that autobiographical memory and semantic self‐knowledge are distinct databases.