Flood, Grace and Pierce, Thomas W. ANTICIPATING FUTURE EVENTS: DESCRIBING THE FUTURE IN RELATION TO REMINISCENCE THEORY. 2016. Radford University, Thesis. Radford University Scholars' Repository.
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Abstract
The “reminiscence bump” is a frequently reported effect in autobiographical memory in which older adults recall significantly more events from their teens, twenties, and early thirties than from any other period of life. This study examined the degree to which this same “bump effect” is observed in college-age students as they anticipate life events from their current age until their expected age of death. Sixty-five younger adults (17-20 years, M = 18.88, SD = 1.63) drew life-lines depicting the “ups and downs” in the anticipated course of their life in terms of positive and negative events. Participants indicated the location of each anticipated event and provided their age at the time of the event. The distance above or below the line provide a measure of the degree to which each event was perceived as positive or negative. A total of 651 life events were recorded. In addition, the current study investigated other variables thought to be related to the way individuals anticipate future life events. The differences and relationships seen in anticipated future life events with regards to their past, generative concern, personality, locus of control, and balanced time perspective were investigated. Consistent with the presence of a reminiscence bump in older adults as they recall events in their past, younger adults in this study displayed a strong “anticipation bump” in which events from the late teens, twenties, and early thirties were identified as encompassing a larger percentage of future life events than from middle age or later life. Fifty-seven percent of all anticipated events fell in this young adult period, compared with 16.9% falling in the 40s and 50s and 26.1% of events falling above the age of 60.
| Item Type: | Thesis |
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| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology |
| Divisions: | Radford University > College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences > Department of Psychology |
| Date Deposited: | 04 Aug 2016 12:43 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Apr 2023 14:24 |
| URI: | http://wagner.radford.edu/id/eprint/257 |
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