This research uses an autobiographical approach to examine the relation of age to several aspects of wisdom. In Study 1 (N ¼ 86), adolescents', young adults', and older adults' wisdom narratives were content-coded for the types of life situations mentioned and the forms that wisdom took. Types of life situations reported (e.g., life decisions) were the same across age groups. Three different forms of wisdom emerged (empathy and support; self-determination and assertion; balance and flexibility) and their frequency differed with age. In Study 2, middle-aged and older adults' (N ¼ 51) autobiographical wisdom narratives were also analysed for type of situation and form of wisdom, but with the addition of two comparison life events: being foolish and having a very positive experience. Most findings replicated Study 1. Unlike Study 1, however, regardless of age, Study 2 participants largely showed the wisdom form, empathy and support. Results are discussed in terms of variations in individuals' implicit theories of wisdom as applied to their own lives.

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Storytelling is a ubiquitous human activity that occurs across the lifespan as part of everyday life. Studies from three disparate literatures suggest that older adults (as compared to younger adults) are (a) less likely to recall story details, (b) more likely to go off-target when sharing stories, and, in contrast, (c) more likely to receive higher global story quality ratings. No previous research has investigated these three related constructs in a single study. In addition, previous work has not examined the type of story most commonly told in everyday life: episodic autobiographical memories. Thus, to investigate story characteristics using ecologically valid materials, the current study examined autobiographical memory stories and fictional stories (as a comparison) recalled by younger and older adults. These were content-coded for level of detail and off-target responding, and also evaluated for global quality by layperson raters. Results show age and also gender differences in level of detail, amount of off-target responding, and global story quality across story types. Additional analyses show that level of detail, and personal significance of the memory (not person characteristics such as age and gender), are the best predictors of global story quality in autobiographical memory stories.

SummaryTwo studies (N = 80; N = 91) investigated whether sharing an autobiographical memory increases empathy for a person experiencing chronic pain. Across studies, empathy was assessed after reading a pain‐related narrative of either a 25‐ or 85‐year‐old target and again after assignment to one of two recall conditions. Conditions involved recalling a pain‐related autobiographical memory (Studies 1 and 2), or as comparisons, recalling the target's pain narrative (Study 1) or recalling a character in pain from a movie (Study 2). Looking across both studies, empathy levels appear to increase after sharing an autobiographical memory but not in the comparison conditions. Increases in empathy were related to trait‐level agreeableness. When target‐age differences emerged (Study 2), participants felt greater empathy for the older person. Findings are discussed in terms of the function of autobiographical memory in eliciting pro‐social emotions such as empathy and implications for training empathic responding. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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