Department of Psychology, Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Ave., Haverford, PA 19041, USA.
Memory. 2013 Jan;21(1):79-96. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2012.706615. Epub 2012 Aug 15.
The aim of this study was to examine how three factors-neuroticism, implicit theories of personality, and memory telling-relate to patterns of healthy and unhealthy meaning making in two kinds of negative memories: traumas and transgressions. Healthy meaning making was defined as self-growth, whereas unhealthy meaning making was defined as viewing the self as damaged in traumas (damaged self) and as a bad person in transgressions (bad self). A total of 85 adult participants completed survey measures of personality and memory telling (retrospective reports of extent to which memory was shared with others) and wrote a narrative of a trauma and a transgression which were coded for specific forms of meaning making. Results revealed distinct patterns of associations for trauma and transgression memories. The combination of low neuroticism and an incremental theory (belief that personality can change) predicted self-growth in traumas, whereas memory telling was predictive of self-growth in transgressions, especially among incremental theorists. For unhealthy forms of meaning making, an entity theory (belief that personality is fixed) was associated with the bad self in transgressions, and viewing the self as damaged by traumas was more common among younger adults than older adults.
本研究旨在探讨神经质、人格内隐理论和记忆讲述这三个因素如何与两种负面记忆（创伤和过失）的健康和不健康意义构建模式相关。健康的意义构建被定义为自我成长，而不健康的意义构建则被定义为在创伤中视自己为受损（受损的自我），在过失中视自己为坏人（坏的自我）。共有 85 名成年参与者完成了人格和记忆讲述（对记忆与他人分享程度的回顾性报告）的调查测量，并撰写了创伤和过失的叙述，这些叙述都针对特定形式的意义构建进行了编码。结果揭示了创伤和过失记忆的不同关联模式。低神经质和渐进式理论（相信人格可以改变）的结合预测了创伤中的自我成长，而记忆讲述则预测了过失中的自我成长，尤其是在渐进式理论者中。对于不健康的意义构建模式，实体理论（相信人格是固定的）与过失中的坏自我相关，而在创伤中视自己为受损的情况在年轻人中比在老年人中更为常见。
