People not only have vivid memories of their own personal experiences, but also vicarious memories of events that happened to other people. To compare the phenomenological and functional qualities of personal and vicarious memories, college students described a specific past event that they had recounted to a parent or friend, and also an event that a friend or parent had recounted to them. Although ratings of memory vividness, emotional intensity, visualization, and physical reactions were higher for personal than for vicarious memories, the overall pattern of ratings was similar. Participants' ratings also indicated that vicarious memories serve many of the same life functions as personal memories, although at lower levels of intensity. The findings suggest that current conceptions of autobiographical memory, which focus on past events that happened directly to the self, should be expanded to include detailed mental representations of specific past events that happened to other people.

Older adults' memories of events that occurred in adolescence and early adulthood are over-represented compared to other lifetime periods. Prior research on this reminiscence bump has focused on qualities of individual memories. The present study used a novel interview method to examine the potential role played by mental representations of extended lifetime periods. Older adults provided oral life stories, and they divided their transcribed narratives into "chapters". Participants' ages at chapter beginnings and endings showed pronounced reminiscence bumps. The results are consistent with the idea that personal episodes occurring near the boundaries of extended lifetime periods receive preferential processing that enhances long-term memory.

Two studies investigated the effects of recalling either life story chapters or specific memories on measures of self-continuity and self-esteem. Participants were assigned to recall important chapters, important specific memories, or impersonal facts, and they provided ratings of emotional tone. Participants also completed trait and state measures of self-continuity, selfesteem, and mood. Although effects of recall condition on state and trait measures were not statistically significant, within-group analyses identified strong and consistent relationships between the positivity of life story chapters and both trait and state self-continuity and selfesteem. In contrast, the positivity of specific memories was related only to state self-esteem.Qualities of life story chapters appear to be more central to enduring conceptions of the self than qualities of specific life story memories.Notice: This is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Applied Cognitive Psychology. A definitive version was subsequently published in Applied Cognitive Psychology, 31, 478-487. DOI: 10.1002/acp.3343 3 Life Story Chapters, Specific Memories, and Conceptions of the Self Autobiographical memory encompasses both specific and general recollections that involve the self (Conway, Singer, & Tagini, 2004;Fivush & Haden, 2003;Prebble, Addis, & Tippett, 2013). Accordingly, when people tell their life story, they may reflect and elaborate on selected extended autobiographical periods (also termed life story chapters or simply chapters) and specific memories nested within those periods (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000;Thomsen, 2009). For example, an older adult's account of the early years of her marriage could describe general themes that characterize that chapter of her life (e.g., "We loved each other very much and that got us through the rough patches"), or her story could highlight particularly salient episodes (e.g., "My husband was devastated when he lost his first job, but we spent a wonderful day at the lake and he was energized to try again"). The present studies addressed three central questions concerning relationships between these two distinct types of recollection and aspects of the self. When adults are instructed to recall either chapters or specific memories in their life stories, does type of recall affect their self-continuity (i.e., the sense that one is the same person over time) and self-esteem? For people who are instructed to remember chapters, is the emotional tone of their chapters related to their state and trait self-continuity and self-esteem?Are similar relationships between emotional tone, self-continuity, and self-esteem evident when people recall specific memories rather than chapters?From an applied perspective, identifying potential connections between qualities of life story chapters and aspects of the self should be of interest to clinicians: "Clinical psychologists work on a daily basis with memories, repetitive scripts, and life stories of their clients…The recent con...

We review research on life story chapters, defined as important extended time periods in individuals' lives with identifiable beginnings and endings (e.g., "my marriage"). Studies show that individuals form chapters for the personal past and future, and for other people's past and future lives (vicarious chapters). Research also indicates that emotional qualities of both past and future chapters are related to well-being, and that mentally constructing fewer and temporally less extended future chapters could underlie the sense of limited remaining time experienced by older adults. Qualities of vicarious life story chapters are related to characteristics of chapters in the individual's own life, suggesting potentially important interactions between how individuals represent their own lives and how they represent close others' lives. Life story chapters are more than an important part of autobiographical memory; they are centrally involved in time perspective, well-being, and social cognition.

Objective: The purpose of the present three studies was to examine experimentally whether writing about life story chapters would increase self-esteem, self-concept clarity, and meaning.Method: In study 1, 179 participants rated state self-esteem and self-concept clarity before and after they described either four important life story chapters or four famous Americans. In study 2, 141 new participants completed a similar procedure to study 1 and then returned two days later to complete the procedure a second time. In study 3, 101 community dwelling adults completed a similar procedure to study 1, but responded to full scales measuring self-concept clarity, self-esteem, and mood. Results: In all studies, writing about four important life story chapters increased ratings of self-esteem, whereas writing about four famous Americans did not. Conclusion:The studies show that writing about chapters in life stories can increase self-esteem and suggest that constructing positive self-worth may be an important function of life stories.