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Gender differences in autobiographical memory : females latently express communality more than do males

Karlsson, Kristina P. ; Sikström, Sverker LU orcid ; Jönsson, Fredrik U. ; Sendén, Marie Gustafsson and Willander, Johan (2019) In Journal of Cognitive Psychology 31(7). p.651-664
Abstract

Gender differences have been found in several aspects of autobiographical memory (i.e. personally experienced events). For example, previous studies have shown that females’ autobiographical memories contain more communal and emotional expressions than do males. However, an important question concerns whether these differences can be observed both in the manifest content (i.e. what is actually said) and in the latent content (i.e. the underlying meaning of what is said). In the present exploratory study, we extended the current knowledge concerning gender differences in autobiographical memory by investigating the manifestly expressed words, as well as the latently expressed words in autobiographical memory descriptions. We observed an... (More)

Gender differences have been found in several aspects of autobiographical memory (i.e. personally experienced events). For example, previous studies have shown that females’ autobiographical memories contain more communal and emotional expressions than do males. However, an important question concerns whether these differences can be observed both in the manifest content (i.e. what is actually said) and in the latent content (i.e. the underlying meaning of what is said). In the present exploratory study, we extended the current knowledge concerning gender differences in autobiographical memory by investigating the manifestly expressed words, as well as the latently expressed words in autobiographical memory descriptions. We observed an overall gender difference in the latent content of the autobiographical memories. Furthermore, females latently described their memories in more communal terms than males did. No other gender differences were found. Our results indicate that females’ autobiographical memories are more communally oriented than male's.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Autobiographical memory, content analysis, gender differences, LIWC, LSA
in
Journal of Cognitive Psychology
volume
31
issue
7
pages
651 - 664
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:85071420597
ISSN
2044-5911
DOI
10.1080/20445911.2019.1659281
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8f9081da-0ba5-4e66-8644-30268cd9d17b
date added to LUP
2019-09-17 13:08:59
date last changed
2022-04-26 05:38:02
@article{8f9081da-0ba5-4e66-8644-30268cd9d17b,
  abstract     = {{<p>Gender differences have been found in several aspects of autobiographical memory (i.e. personally experienced events). For example, previous studies have shown that females’ autobiographical memories contain more communal and emotional expressions than do males. However, an important question concerns whether these differences can be observed both in the manifest content (i.e. what is actually said) and in the latent content (i.e. the underlying meaning of what is said). In the present exploratory study, we extended the current knowledge concerning gender differences in autobiographical memory by investigating the manifestly expressed words, as well as the latently expressed words in autobiographical memory descriptions. We observed an overall gender difference in the latent content of the autobiographical memories. Furthermore, females latently described their memories in more communal terms than males did. No other gender differences were found. Our results indicate that females’ autobiographical memories are more communally oriented than male's.</p>}},
  author       = {{Karlsson, Kristina P. and Sikström, Sverker and Jönsson, Fredrik U. and Sendén, Marie Gustafsson and Willander, Johan}},
  issn         = {{2044-5911}},
  keywords     = {{Autobiographical memory; content analysis; gender differences; LIWC; LSA}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{651--664}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Journal of Cognitive Psychology}},
  title        = {{Gender differences in autobiographical memory : females latently express communality more than do males}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2019.1659281}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/20445911.2019.1659281}},
  volume       = {{31}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}