Does Sharing Memories Make Us Feel Closer? The Roles of Memory Type and Culture

Abstract

The present research examined the effects of sharing different types of memories on perceived relationship closeness and how that is related to psychological well-being in a cross-cultural context. In two studies, European American and Asian participants (total N = 714) reported their feelings of closeness to a conversation partner in hypothetical situations that involved five types of information sharing: specific and general autobiographical memories, specific and general vicarious memories, and non-person information. Sharing memories led to greater feelings of closeness than sharing non-person information in both groups. Asians felt closer to the conversation partner than European Americans across all types of information sharing. Sharing autobiographical and specific memories led to greater closeness than sharing vicarious and general memories in both groups, although sharing specific autobiographical memories appeared most effective for relationship closeness for European Americans. Perceived relationship closeness following conversational exchanges was positively associated with psychological well-being across cultures.

The sharing of autobiographical memories elicits social support.

“…Participants in our study were young adults but it is possible that age may influence support giving, based on the different ways that young and old people report and use their memories (Alea & Bluck, 2003) and differences between age groups in their prosocial behaviors (Mayr & Freund, 2020). In addition, our study was confined to Dutch-speaking European participants and there is emerging evidence that the effects observed here may differ as a function of culture (Guan & Wang, 2022). Future research should explore to what extent men and women, young and old, and European and Asian participants differ in some of the effects observed here.…”

The sharing of autobiographical memories elicits social support

“…Participants in our study were young adults but it is possible that age may influence support giving, based on the different ways that young and old people report and use their memories (Alea & Bluck, 2003) and differences between age groups in their prosocial behaviours (Mayr & Freund, 2020). In addition, our study was confined to Dutchspeaking European participants and there is emerging evidence that the effects observed here may differ as a function of culture (Guan & Wang, 2022). Future research should explore to what extent men and women, young and old, and European and Asian participants differ in some of the effects observed here.…”

Social‐distancing memories and well‐being in the cultural context

“…The independence subscale had an internal reliability of Cronbach's α = .83 in the current sample ( α European = .81, α African = .85, α Asian = .85, α Latinux = .83), and the interdependence subscale had an internal reliability of Cronbach's α = .86 ( α European = .85, α African = .85, α Asian = .88, α Latinux = .90). Following previous studies (Guan & Wang, 2022; Holland et al, 2004), a relative independence score was computed for each participant by subtracting the standardized interdependence score from the standardized independence score.…”

“…Furthermore, research has shown that in line with the Asian cultural emphasis on interdependence and social harmony (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Wang, 2013), Asians are more sensitive to social cues and focus more on consensus building than European Americans during social interactions, online or in person (Setlock et al, 2004; Wang et al, 2009). Accordingly, Asian individuals tend to experience greater feelings of closeness than European Americans following social exchanges, including talking about trivial mundane things like the weather (Guan & Wang, 2022). Thus, compared with Westerners, Asians may experience social distancing as less challenging and have access to more positive memories related to it.…”