When we feel good and bad about ourselves: Self-esteem memories across cultures
Young adults in the United States, Croatia, and China described personal episodes of times when they felt especially good or bad about themselves. These self-esteem memories were either recent (episodes that occurred during the previous 4 weeks) or remote (episodes that occurred between
the ages of 10 and 15). Systematic content differences between memories of positive and negative self-worth were apparent primarily for remote rather than for recent memories. Across cultures, long-lasting positive memories frequently represented achievement themes, whereas negative memories
frequently represented social themes. Links between achievement success and positive self-regard, and between social distress and negative self-regard, are explained using theories of self-esteem and autobiographical memory.
Keywords: Autobiographical memory; Culture; Recent versus remote memories; Self
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA 2: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA 3: Peking University, China 4: University of Rijeka, Croatia
Publication date: 01 October 2008
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