Narrative & Meaning: The Effects of Autobiographical Reasoning vs Memory Reexperiencing in Life Review on Meaning in Life in Young Adults
Abstract
Despite their many commonalities, there is little research exploring connections between narrative and existential psychology. This experiment aimed to begin to bridge the gap between fields by examining the effects of a narrative life review interview intervention on meaning in life in a theoretically interesting but surprisingly understudied population: young adults. In addition, this study attempted to isolate the mechanism—autobiographical reasoning or memory re-experiencing—that causes the benefits witnessed in life review interventions. To this end, it employed a three-by-one (autobiographical reasoning versus memory re-experiencing versus control) design with post-intervention quantitative existential outcome measures reported at two time points by 212 participants. Repeated-measures MANOVA effects showed better performance by the autobiographical reasoning condition than the memory re-experiencing condition on mattering and coherence as well as better performance across all outcome measures when mediated by self-as-context. However, there was little differentiation between autobiographical reasoning and the control, and the control led to better psychological results than memory re-experiencing on all outcome measures. Possible reasons for the unexpected results are explored. Overall, the experiment suggests memory re-experiencing in life review is insufficient to cause psychological benefits when isolated from autobiographical reasoning, providing tentative support for the autobiographical reasoning hypothesis.
Citation
Guthrie, Devin (2022). Narrative & Meaning: The Effects of Autobiographical Reasoning vs Memory Reexperiencing in Life Review on Meaning in Life in Young Adults. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /197434.