Page 14 [14]
OCR
Part I. Interdisciplinary Approach to Storytelling | 13 1.2 Individual and Collective Memory Constructions Autobiographical memory is conceptually structured: it involves temporality and a narrative structure that makes memories accessible and reconstructible. The autobiographical self is the conscious, historical experience of the self which can reconstruct events of one’s personal past and represent them in narrative form during social interactions with friends and family members. By evoking events, humans create a personal story about who they are, give meaning to the events, and outline the social relations that are important to them. The recollection and interpretation of memories may vary depending on the situation and goals of the storyteller (Fivush, 2019). Recalling context is a key element in the reconstruction and articulation of the life narrative. Events are organized into thematic units based on ontological categories, and actors, locations, time, objects, as well as actions and related thoughts are also reflected in the narrative of memories (Kirdly, 2007). The architecture of autobiographical reminiscence is the life-stage structure (Schacter, 1996), the thematic framework of memory reconstruction in which the scene units of autobiographical recall appear. People recall a common event in different ways, each adding a different element to their narrative which is special to them. However, memories can also be distorted by the passage of time, elements taken from the narratives of others, and the recollector’s prior knowledge, prejudices and emotional state. The core story and contextual framework of traumatic events is usually accurate, and distortions are only in the small details. Preschool-age children have problems with recalling sources, and their storytelling can be strongly influenced by suggestive questions. Children of this age can also confabulate a story, and imagined events can appear in a realistic context or are confused with real events (Schacter, 1996). The so-called narrative turn in psychology in the 1980s brought with it a whole new approach: the linguistic structure of narratives became the object of study. According to the basic premise of the movement, language is a means of forming meaning and thus of understanding the world, and therefore the structure and language of the narrative reveal much about the narrator's individual attitudes, emotions and identity. In the texts of narrative - in most cases autobiographical - interviews the turns of events, the structure of the narrative and the use of language also provide data about the narrator’s identity constructions and status. The method of narrative content analysis differentiates individual narratives into three categories: the canonical event, which is a predictable, common sequence of events; the narrative perspective (the relational architecture of the narrator and the narratives characters); and narrative coherence (causality) (Szokolszky, 2020). In the case studies of life narratives, common motifs and patterns can be observed between the narratives of individuals who have experienced the same (usually traumatic) event. Researchers group the common elements of the narratives into thematic
