Functions of personal and vicarious life stories: identity and empathy

Author Participants Procedure Results

high school students
Majse Lind Participants: More positive personal life stories were related to
lower identity disturbance and higher empathy.
240 Danish high school students
Vicarious life stories showed a similar pattern with
174 women, 65 men respect to identity but surprisingly were unrelated to
Instruments: empathy. In addition, they found positive correlations
between personal and vicarious life stories for number
1. used two life story questionnaires: one for the of chapters, chapter valence, and valence of causal
participants’ own life story and one for the close connections. The study indicates that both personal and
other’s life story vicarious life stories may contribute to identity
2. The participants were asked to complete a
questionnaire with respect to their own life story
(For distinguishing patients with borderline
personality disorder from healthy controls)
3. The participants were also asked to complete a
life story questionnaire with respect to a close
other’s life story.
4. they were asked to answer two questions
regarding the quality of the relationship
5. The Self-Concept and Identity Measure (SCIM)
(disturbed identity, consolidated identity, and
lack of identity)
6. Empathy Quotient (EQ)

 This Article talked about Biographical memory in the introductory.

 Narrative Coherence in Adolescence: Relations With Attachment, Mentalization, and Psychopathology

Author Participants Procedure Results

Majse the adolescent Participants: Narrative coherence was negatively correlated
Lind 70 inpatient adolescents with age and no gender differences were found.
Instruments: Both higher attachment security and better
1. The Child Attachment Interview (CAI) mentalization contributed to more coherent
2. To examine narrative coherence, a coding narratives. More coherent narratives predicted less
scheme was employed (Orientation assesses, externalizing problems but mentalization was the
Structure assesses, effect assesses, Integration strongest predictor of this relation.
assesses)
3. Attachment coherence was scored based on the
content from the CAI interviews (idealization,
preoccupied anger, dismissing)
4. The Reflective Function Questionnaire for
Youths (RFQY)
5. For Internalizing and externalizing problems is
used Youth Self-Report (YSR )
 Identifying distinct sets of predictors of specific functions of autobiographical memory

Author Participants Procedure Results

Majse Participants were 100 Participants: Self-relevance of memories was related to their
Lind undergraduates Students of university functional use regardless of domain. Each function
Instruments: was also, however, predicted by a unique set of
1. Autobiographical Memory Rating Task (In variables consistent with its use in a given
counterbalanced order, participants recalled and psychosocial domain. Findings emphasise how a
rated a distant and a recent specific memory an combination of factors come into play to allow
experience that occurred at a particular place, humans to use autobiographical memory to serve
lasting no longer than one day) various different functions in navigating daily life.
2. Thinking About Life Experiences (TALE):
assessing frequency of thinking and talking
about autobiographical events to serve three
psychosocial functions (Self-Continuity, Social-
Bonding, Directing-Behavior).
3. Self-Concept Clarity Scale (SCCS): consists of
12 items asses- sing the extent self-concept is
clearly defined and internally consistent.
4. Self-relevance: Three items focus on the extent
to which the event influenced who the
participant has become as a person.
5. Memory time: recent vs. distant event
6. Events in the Autobiographical Memory Rating
Task were recent or distant so this was a within-
participant’s dichotomous variable
7. Memory valence and vividness
 Borderline Personality Disorder in Adolescence: The Role of Narrative Identity in the Intrapsychic Reasoning system

Author Participants Procedure Results

Majse American inpatient Participants: Our review identified several notable
Lind adolescents 174 BPD American inpatient adolescents characteristics related to both motivational and
(12 to 17 years) affective themes, autobiographical reasoning, and
structure of narrative identity in individuals with
Instruments: PD, although it was strongly overrepresented by
Borderline Personality Disorder Features Scale for studies focused on BPD. With regard to
Children (a 24-item self-report measure, which was motivational and affective themes, individuals
adapted from the BPD scale of the Personality with (B)PD constructed more negative narrative
Assessment Inventory: Affect Instability, Identity identities with positive beginnings transforming
Problems, Negative Relationships, Self-Harm) negatively (i.e., more contamination) across the
lifespan.
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)
(consists of six sub-dimensions of emotion
dysregulation (i.e., no acceptance of emotion
responses, difficulties in engaging in goal-directed
behavior, impulse control difficulties, lack of
emotion awareness, limited access to emotion
dysregulation strategies, and lack of emotional
clarity)
The Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition
(MASC) (is a computer-based measure examining
mentalizing abilities within everyday life situations.
Participants are invited to watch a short movie
(approximately 15 min) about four people getting
together for a dinner party)
The CAI (is an interview-based measure that
examines adolescents’ attachment organization)
Surplus and Thwarted Agency and Communion
(STAC) (1. coding system used to quantify themes
of agency and communion
2. encompasses stories with disturbed levels of
agency and communion
3. The coding system was applied to the portion of
the CAI
4. adolescent is invited to describe three
characteristics that define who he or she is and tell a
memory that demonstrates this self- defining feature
(three stories)
5. Each self-defining narrative was first screened for
the presence/absence of themes of agency and
communion using a 0 to 1 scale, with 1 indicating
the presence of the applicable theme and 0
indicating the absence of this theme
6. for each narrative, two scores were derived
7. These scores were orthogonal, meaning a given
narrative could be deemed to have one theme and
not the other, both, or neither
8. With respect to the agency: stories contained
self- defining features related to themes of mastery,
autonomy, overcom- ing challenges, emphasizing
inner resources and derive and goal achievement

In terms of communion: the narrative contained

themes of love, friendship, intimacy, empathy, trust,
and belonging to other people
To assess interrater reliability, two coders
independently coded 20% of the personal memories
derived from the CAI interview: To examine the
pro- portion of the absence/presence of agency and
communion themes and the surplus/deficit of
agency and communion themes across the three
personal memories, we averaged participants’
scores across their three memories. As a result, each
participant received a single score for both the
absence/presence of agency and communion and
also for surplus/ thwarted agency and communion.

Future Wishes of Agency and Communion: were

also examined in relation to the portion of the CAI
in which the adolescent was asked to pro- vide
three wishes for their personal future.