Independent or interdependent self-construal and visual perspective in memory

Two visual perspectives from which memories can be retrieved have been described in
the literature (Nigro & Neisser, 1983). Memories from the first person perspective are
experienced as if seeing the events again through one’s own eyes whereas third person
perspective (or observer perspective) is the one of an external observer watching the
scene. Cultural differences in the use of those memory points of view have been
evidenced, but what they depend on exactly is still uncertain. One way to characterize
culture is through their levels of independent and interdependent self-construals, that is
how much people from a given culture define themselves as independent from or
dependent on others. The present experiment aimed at examining the impact of
independent and interdependent self-construals on memory perspective.
In order to do so, the impact of a self-construal priming task on the vantage point used
to retrieve a memory was investigated. Participants were either assigned to an
independent self-construal priming condition, to an interdependent self-construal
priming condition or to a control condition. The visual perspective from which they
retrieved a memory for their first day at university was then measured using a Likert
scale. Finally, an analytic and holistic letter perception task was used in order to
objectivize the priming task’s efficiency.
Results showed that participants who underwent an independent self-construal priming
tended to retrieve their memory from a more external perspective than participants from
the interdependent self-construal priming group. Priming also significantly influenced
performance at the letter perception task.
These results are consistent with those obtained by Cohen and Gunz (2002). In the
present study, the results suggest that participants primed with independence retrieved
memories in which they “see” themselves, therefore using a more external point of view
at recall. The opposite would have occurred for the participants primed with
interdependence, who supposedly retrieved memories in which they see others, thus
leading to a more personal perspective in memory.
Cohen, D., & Gunz, A. (2002). As seen by the other…: Perspectives on the self in the memories
and emotional perceptions of easterners and westerners. Psychological Science, 13, 55-59.
Nigro, G., & Neisser, U. (1983). Point of view in personal memories. Cognitive Psychology, 15,
467-482.