ERIC Number: EJ1363245
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1740-5629
EISSN: EISSN-1740-5610
Available Date: N/A
The Acquisition of the Cultural Life Script: Children Have a Less Normative and Less Sequential Concept of the Life Course than Adults
European Journal of Developmental Psychology, v18 n1 p96-111 2021
Autobiographical remembering develops in childhood. A late-developing cognitive tool is the cultural life script. The present study aimed at exploring the beginnings of its acquisition and at replicating its acquisition in early adolescence in a Southern-European culture. Study 1 established the Portuguese normative adult cultural life script, against which the cultural life scripts provided by 6- to 16-year-olds could be compared in Study 2. The acquisition of the cultural life script in early to mid-adolescence was confirmed with multiple indicators. In 6- to 8-year olds, life script knowledge was only rudimentary. However, children still agreed highly on a set of mostly non-normative life events which they named as typical for a normal life that are not part of the adult life script. We conclude that children's non-normative concept of life is less helpful for remembering, narrating, and planning a life than is the adult cultural life script with normative events.
Descriptors: Cultural Influences, Autobiographies, Memory, Experience, Children, Adolescents, Adults, Age Differences, Child Development, Adolescent Development, Foreign Countries
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Portugal
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A