Borrowing Personal Memories
The present investigation documents memory borrowing in college-age students, defined as the telling of others' autobiographical stories as if they are one's own. In both pilot and online surveys, most undergraduates admit to borrowing personal stories from others or using details from others' experiences to embellish their own retellings. These behaviors appear primarily motivated by a desire to permanently incorporate others' experiences into one's own autobiographical record (appropriation), but other reasons include to temporarily create a more coherent or engaging conversational exchange (social connection), simplify conveying somebody else's interesting experience (convenience), or make oneself look good (status enhancement). A substantial percentage of respondents expressed uncertainty as to whether an autobiographical experience actually belonged to them or to someone else, and most respondents have confronted somebody over ownership of a particular story. Documenting memory borrowing is important as the behavior has potential consequences for the creation of false memories.
Duke Scholars
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- Experimental Psychology
- 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
- 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
- 3904 Specialist studies in education
- 1702 Cognitive Sciences
- 1701 Psychology
- 1505 Marketing
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Experimental Psychology
- 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
- 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
- 3904 Specialist studies in education
- 1702 Cognitive Sciences
- 1701 Psychology
- 1505 Marketing