Narrating the Self in Autobiographical Memories: The Role of Educational Level and Gender

Abstract

Despite the theoretical proposals that have highlighted the role of formal schooling (together with other demographic factors) in promoting a model of the self that emphasises autonomy, only a small number of studies have addressed this issue. The evidence at our disposal on this matter is limited and is not definitive. Our study analyses two dimensions of the autobiographical narratives of Mexican women and men with different educational backgrounds: how the self was represented and their narrative organisation (the narrated self vs. the narrating self). As hypothesised, the memories of the participants with more schooling were more self-orientated, showed a lower proportion of actions predicates, a higher proportion of mental state predicates, and metacognitive expressions than the narratives of the participants with less education. Gender differences were not conclusive. In general, results supported the role of formal schooling in promoting a model of the self characterised by autonomy and metacognitive reflection.