Book contents
- Autobiographical Memory and the Life Story
- Reviews
- Autobiographical Memory and the Life Story
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Part I How Research on Autobiographical Memory Contrasts with and Integrates the Life Story Approach
- Part II How the Environment of Autobiographical Memory Shapes the Life Story
- Chapter 5 Conceptualizing Cultural Life Scripts as Master Narratives
- Chapter 6 The Origins of Adolescents’ Autobiographical Memories and Life Stories in Mother–Child Reminiscing
- Chapter 7 Other Voices, Other Lives, and Our Own Life Stories
- Chapter 8 Social Support for Causal Coherence
- Chapter 9 Agency and Communion When Remembering Parents in Young Adulthood
- Chapter 10 Vicarious Life Stories
- Part III How Deviating Autobiographical Memories Shape the Life Story
- Index
- References
Chapter 8 - Social Support for Causal Coherence
from Part II - How the Environment of Autobiographical Memory Shapes the Life Story
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2025
Book contents
- Autobiographical Memory and the Life Story
- Reviews
- Autobiographical Memory and the Life Story
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Part I How Research on Autobiographical Memory Contrasts with and Integrates the Life Story Approach
- Part II How the Environment of Autobiographical Memory Shapes the Life Story
- Chapter 5 Conceptualizing Cultural Life Scripts as Master Narratives
- Chapter 6 The Origins of Adolescents’ Autobiographical Memories and Life Stories in Mother–Child Reminiscing
- Chapter 7 Other Voices, Other Lives, and Our Own Life Stories
- Chapter 8 Social Support for Causal Coherence
- Chapter 9 Agency and Communion When Remembering Parents in Young Adulthood
- Chapter 10 Vicarious Life Stories
- Part III How Deviating Autobiographical Memories Shape the Life Story
- Index
- References
Summary
Causal coherence (Habermas & Bluck, 2000) is a cognitive process that is integral to the life story and is shaped by social and cultural forces. However, the majority of life story research focuses on individual recall of life events, obtained either via interviews with a researcher or from participants writing down their memories. This chapter analyzes four narratives of recent, negative events shared among friend dyads in which listeners made many contributions. Narratives were coded for causal coherence and categorized as independently produced, prompted by listeners, or suggested by listeners. Qualitative analysis shows examples of how the most responsive listeners prompted statements of casual coherence. Comparisons to other narrating scenarios – four from distracted listeners and six from long narratives told to attentive listeners who made fewer contributions – show that the narratives told to the most responsive listeners had the most statements of causal coherence. Based on these results, this chapter explores the disconnect between the theoretical role of social and cultural processes in the life story and the dearth of studies examining these processes directly.
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- Autobiographical Memory and the Life StoryNew Perspectives on Narrative Identity, pp. 156 - 175Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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