The emergence of cultural self-constructs: autobiographical memory and self-description in European American and Chinese children.
This study examined the emergence of cultural self-constructs as reflected in children's remembered and conceptual aspects of the self. European American and Chinese children in preschool through 2nd grade participated (N=180). Children each recounted 4 autobiographical events and described themselves in response to open-ended questions. American children often provided elaborate and detailed memories focusing on their own roles, preferences, and feelings; they also frequently described themselves in terms of personal attributes, abstract dispositions, and inner traits in a positive light. Chinese children provided relatively skeletal accounts of past experiences that centered on social interactions and daily routines, and they often described themselves in terms of social roles, context-specific characteristics, and oven behaviors in a neutral or modest tone. Findings are discussed in light of the self as a constructed meaning system of culture that emerges early in life.
Wang
Qi
Q
Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-4401, USA. qw23@cornell.edu
D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007207:Individuation; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010553:Personality Development; D012649:Self Concept; D012951:Socialization; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*