title: Age and subcultural differences on personal and general beliefs about memory.
abstract: This study examined age and cultural differences on both personal and general beliefs about memory by comparing three age groups within two subcultures belonging to the same country: Milanese and Sardinian. Two innovative instruments on general and personal beliefs with graphic-rating-scale format (General Beliefs about Memory Instrument and Personal Beliefs about Memory Instrument) and a memory task (recall of 40 words) were administrated to participants. Sardinians held more positive attitudes about the effects of aging on memory reporting a later onset of declining memory ability and control over memory across the life span. They were also more optimistic in rating their global memory efficacy, control, and retrospective change. The two subcultural groups differed in terms of memory performance, with Sardinian individuals outperforming the Milanese. Findings are discussed in relation to the view of aging in different subcultural contexts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pavia, Piazza Botta 6, 27100 Pavia, Italy. ecava@unipv.it
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cavallini
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bottiroli
authors.forename: Maria Chiara
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Fastame
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hertzog
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult