How Describing Autobiographical Events Can Affect Autobiographical Memories

In this article we argue that social discourse can affect the structure and content of autobiographical memory. In making this argument, we review literature documenting the impact of social factors, including culture, social roles, and social disclosure frequency, on aspects of autobiographical memory. We also describe several social norms that govern social discourse and speculate about the effect that such norms might have on autobiographical memory. In addition, we review the mental structures and processes that might serve to mediate the relation between social discourse and autobiographical memory and offer suggestions about how both social and cognitive factors might be integrated into a common model accounting for autobiographical memory.