Wang, Autobiographical Self

In a book talk presented at Cornell University's Mann Library in September 2013, professor of human development Dr. Qi Wang examines the developmental, social, cultural, and historical origins of the autobiographical self—the self that is made of memories of our past. By analyzing everyday family storytelling, autobiographical writings in Western and Chinese literature, memory data from controlled experiments in the laboratory, and personal narratives on blogs and Facebook, Wang illustrates that our memories and sense of ourselves are conditioned by time and culture. She examines some of the most controversial issues in current psychological research of memory and analyzes the influences of the larger social, political, and economic forces on the autobiographical self. For more Chats in the Stacks videos from Mann Library, visit http://mannlib.cornell.edu/podcasts