The so-called “autobiographical memory” in women is better developed than in men, in particular, they can remember more details about their past and better remember the emotions they experienced, scientists say.
At the same time, studies usually did not take into account the context of the presentation of these memories, in particular, two important factors – to whom exactly the participant told about the events of his life and whether he did it in writing or orally.
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Psychologists Azriel Grysman and Amelia Denney of Hamilton College in New York conducted a similar study to test how similar factors might affect autobiographical memories. The experiment involved 178 students, their average age was 19 years (77 men and 101 women). Participants were asked to describe some stressful life situation they had experienced. In this case, they were asked to limit themselves to short-term situations lasting no more than one day. At the same time, students were asked to first remember this event in as much detail as possible, and then begin their description, which could be brief or detailed – at the discretion of the participant. At the same time, half of the students shared their memories with a male researcher, and the other half with a woman. In addition, half of the students from each group spoke about the event aloud, and the other half typed their story on a computer in the presence of the experimenter.
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Most of the students described events such as problems with school, fights (especially with friends or a regular partner), injuries, death of pets, and so on. At the same time, they alternated descriptions of events and their own assessments and interpretations of these events. It is noteworthy that the longest descriptions were given by male students who spoke with the female researcher, while they told more details and details of what happened. However, the nature of the story itself did not significantly depend on the gender of the listener and on the form of presentation (written or oral). But women were less likely to mention their inner experiences (feelings and emotions) when talking with a man. They were also less likely to express their own opinion about what happened in the oral story.
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The authors of the study note that when talking about unpleasant events, it may have been difficult for participants to openly share their difficult experiences with psychologists, while it is possible that there were also differences between the sexes. They believe that it might make sense to conduct a similar study in which people will talk about joyful events in their lives.
Summing up, the authors note the dependence of autobiographical memory on the context of the situation. They cite psychologist Robin Fivush as saying, “Autobiographical memories are not something we have, they’re something we create through interaction (with others).” They also note that for this reason, the written statements of the autobiography may differ markedly from the oral story in the process of communicating with the interlocutor.
Подробнее см. А. Grysman, A. Denney «Gender, experimenter gender and medium of report influence the content of autobiographical memory report», Memory, January 2016.