Autobiographical Memory: Where Self, Wellbeing and Culture Congregate

Abstract

Autobiographical remembrance, ‘memories of past personal experience’, is vital for social, emotional and directive dimensions of the cognition and behaviour of an individual. This form of memory, unique to humans, is a key constituent of the concept of self, strategies for coping up with stress and thus vital to understand the wellbeing. Studies are available to suggest that the structural and functional properties of the autobiographical memory of a person are sensitive to the culture to which the individual is adapted. This chapter reviews the interrelations between the self, autobiographical memory and culture, and its implications for the wellbeing of individuals.