"When I was little": childhood recollections in Chinese and European Canadian grade school children.
Recollection of early childhood experiences was investigated in 225 European Canadian and 133 Chinese children (ages 8, 11, and 14) by a memory fluency task that measured accessibility of multiple early memories and elicited the earliest memory. Younger children provided memories of events that occurred at earlier ages than older children. Furthermore, Canadian children produced more memories and had an earlier age of first memory than did Chinese children, with cultural differences in both measures increasing with age. It appears that while adultlike childhood amnesia is still emerging among Canadian children, Chinese children by age 14 already resemble adults. Content of Canadian versus Chinese children's memories reflected an autonomous versus relational self-construal. Results are discussed in terms of sociocultural influences on memory.
Peterson
Carole
C
Psychology Department, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland A1B 3X9, Canada. carole@mun.ca
Wang
Qi
Q
Hou
Yubo
Y
D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002681:China; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D012649:Self Concept; D013997:Time Factors; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*