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People from different cultures often tell diverse stories about their past experiences. Research in the past two decades has revealed systematic differences in the content (self-focus vs other-focus), structure (specific vs general), valence (positive vs negative), accessibility (memory density and detailedness), developmental origin (age and density of earliest childhood memories), and functional usage (self-definition, relationship maintenance, behavioral guidance, and emotion regulation) of autobiographical memory across cultures. I outline a cultural dynamic theory of autobiographical memory that aims to synthesize the findings and provide a coherent guide to future investigation. The theory posits that (1) autobiographical memory takes place in the dynamic transaction between an active individual and his or her changing environment; (2) it is situated in culturally conditioned time and space over a multitude of timescales; and (3) it develops in the process of children acquiring cultural knowledge about the self and the purpose of the past through early socialization. I further discuss how the theory can provide insights into collective memory and future simulation.
Qi Wang (Thu,) studied this question.