The Remembering Self
Construction and Accuracy in the Self-Narrative
Published on 11. December 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
316 pages
978-0-521-08791-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book brings a surprisingly wide range of intellectual disciplines to bear on the self-narrative and the self. The same ecological/cognitive approach that successfully organized Ulric Neisser's earlier volume on The Perceived Self now relates ideas from the experimental, developmental, and clinical study of memory to insights from post-modernism and literature. Although autobiographical remembering is an essential way of giving meaning to our lives, the memories we construct are never fully consistent and often simply wrong. In the first chapter, Neisser considers the so-called 'false memory syndrome' in this context; other contributors discuss the effects of amnesia, the development of remembering in childhood, the social construction of memory and its alleged self-servingness, and the contrast between literary and psychological models of the self. Jerome Bruner, Peggy Miller, Alan Baddeley, Kenneth Gergen and Daniel Albright are among the contributors to this unusual synthesis.
Reviews / Votes
"...brings a wide range of disciplines to bear on the self-narrative and the self...relates ideas from the experimental, developmental, and clinical study of memory to insights from postmodernism and literature."--International Journal of Psychology "All the chapters are interesting; many are absorbing and provocative. It is a treat to read a book when its arguments are presented with such zest and clarity."
--John A. Robinson, Contemporary Psychology "...an admirable book on the self-narrative...truly covers the relationship between memory and self. One of its major strengths is the fact that the contributors do not, necessarily, always agree with each other about this relationship. Such opinion and counteropinion is refreshing and allows informed readers to reach their own conclusions about the processes involved and the ramifications of self-narrative...an interesting and informative treatise on self-narrative...recommended for graduate students and researchers/faculty."
--R.E. Osborne, Choice "This book presents a clear focus on a topic of great importance to researchers and clinicians. It should point the way to further research and theory development....This work is a valuable contribution."
Harris Chaiklin, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
14 Tables, unspecified; 4 Line drawings, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
515 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-08791-9 (9780521087919)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Content
1. Self-narratives: true and false Ulric Neisser; 2. Literary and psychological models of the self Daniel Albright; 3. The remembered self Jerome Bruner; 4. Composing protoselves through improvisation Craig R. Barclay; 5. Mind, text and society: self-memory in social context Kenneth J. Gergen; 6. Personal identity and autobiographical recall Greg J. Niemeyer and April E. Metzler; 7. Constructing narrative, emotion, and self in parent-child conversations about the past Robyn Fivush; 8. Narrative practices: their role in socialization and self-construction Peggy J. Miller; 9. Emotionality and narrative in the emergence of the self-concept Rebecca A. Eder; 10. Is memory self-serving? Wilem A. Wagenaar; 11. Creative remembering Michael Ross and Roger Buehler; 12. The remembered self and the enacted self Alan Baddeley; 13. The authenticity and utility of memories Eugene Winograd; 14. The remembered self in amnesics William Hirst; 15. Perception is to self as memory is to selves Edward S. Reed.