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Article Excerpt
Abstract
The effect of early emotional memories have been one of the most researched topics in modern scientific psychology. On the other hand, rigorous qualitative studies have been relatively rare, investigating the lived consequences of early emotional memories. The purpose of this paper is to report on some human scientific research results on the phenomenon, the lived persistent psychological meaning of early emotional memories. The study utilized Giorgi's descriptive phenomenological psychological method. A general psychological structure was discovered indicating constituents such as, the vividness of early emotional memories; emotional needs and coping strategies; everyday and life choices; as well as personal values attached to the meaning of an object that was present during the early emotional situation (a value experienced as contributing to the initial formation of an emotional life). The results might have implications for human service professionals in that they can contribute to a human scientific foundation in terms of understanding the persistent psychological meaning of early emotional memories as well as opening up for new venues of research on phenomena related to human memory, personality, and life-span developmental psychology.
Keywords
emotional memory, phenomenology, qualitative research
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Throughout the history of modern psychology, researchers and clinicians alike have shown an vast interest in the psychopathological effects of early emotional memories (e.g., Freud, 1899/1989; Terr, 1994); and/or the empirical facts remembered vis-a-vis an emotional situation (e.g., Cahill & McGaugh, 1995, 1998; Ceitlin, Santos, Parisotto, Zanatta & Chaves, 1995; Liwang & Stein, 1995; Pezdek & Banks, 1996). Attempts have also been made trying to locate the anatomy and the physiology associated with emotional memories (e.g., Adolphs, Cahill, Schul & Babinsky, 1997; Davis, Campeau, Kim & Falls, 1995; Farb, Aoki, Milner, Kaneko & LeDoux, 1992; LeDoux, 1993; Weiskrantz, 1956). In fact, the psychological literature is so extensive on phenomena such as memory, emotion, as well as emotional and traumatic memories, it would take an extensive work in itself to make an in-depth study of a mere fraction of one of these subject matters. Most attempts that have been made in terms of understanding and/or explaining such phenomena have been through philosophical reflection, clinical case studies, or experimental research. Hence there is also a need to conduct more systematic and rigorous human scientific research seeking the discovery of the psychological meaning of phenomena related to early emotional memories.
The purpose of the following paper is twofold: 1) to present some recent descriptive phenomenological psychological findings on the lived persistent meaning of early emotional memories and 2) to engage in a critical dialogue with some of the literature of the past that presented itself as being relevant to the research findings.
Method
The study was guided by the main research question: What is the lived persistent psychological meaning of an early emotional memory? In order to seek the psychological meaning, a qualitative human scientific method seemed appropriate (due to the fact that such a method is originally designed in a way so that the researcher will arrive at human meanings). Giorgi's (1985, 1997) descriptive phenomenological psychological method was chosen in order to discover the psychological meanings constituting the essential psychological structure of the phenomenon.
In compliance with the data gathering strategies of the descriptive phenomenological psychological method (Giorgi, 1985, 1997), three participants were asked to describe a situation in which they remembered an early emotional event and they were then asked to describe what kind of impact this early memory had had on their lives. Hence the phenomenon: The lived persistent meaning emerging from an early emotional memory. Consistent with qualitative methods seeking the discovery of the meaning of a phenomenon, only participants who had experienced the phenomenon were allowed to be part of the study. An interview ranged from 1-2 hours each in length and provided sufficient depth on a human level, indicating that a discovery of a general psychological structure of the phenomenon was plausible.
The researcher used the phenomenological reduction through all steps of the data analysis, which is a prerequisite to claim that one has made an attemp to approach the data descriptively. The data were analysed using the four steps of the descriptive phenomenological psychological method as developed by Giorgi (1985, 1997). These are: 1) First, each transcript of raw data was read over a few times in order to get a sense of the whole experience and situation 2) Second, the raw data was then divided inte smaller so-called meaning units (which is first and foremost a practical step in order for the researcher to handle huge amount of data into workable smaller units) 3) Third, the psychological meaning of each unit was described with a focus on the research phenomenon 4) Fourth, a general psychological structure was discovered. (1)
Results
The results will be organized into the following four main sections: 1) Summaries of portions of the raw data 2) General psychological structure 3) Constituents and their empirical variations 4) Relationship among the constituents.
Summaries of the Raw Data
Some of the raw data is presented in order to provide some clarity to the relationship between the raw data and the results. Due to the fact that the raw data were 1-2 hours each in length, only portions of it will be cited. A summary of Participant 1 (P1) and Participant 2 (P2) results follow, mainly because, from a pedagogical perspective, these provide a good example of variations within each of the constituents. Such a summary may also provide the reader with a better feel for the richness of the data and will hopefully contribute to a qualitative presence to portions of the data. These summaries will also have an organization consistent with the research questions.
Summary: Participant 1 (P1) Memory 1: P1 describes a situation 8 years ago when she visits her great grandmother's house. She states that she really likes her great grandmother. She remembers not wanting to go because it was dismal outside and she anticipates the house having a displeasing odor. Her uncle lives with the great grandmother. He sleeps in the great grandmother's living room and she describes him as having had a rough life, having been a war veteran. When she walked up the stairs and in through the door, she is present, to her, a displeasing smell that she describes as mold and old, as well as a displeasing perception of a army green carpet. Furthermore she describes the great grandmother's house as dark and dismal, similar to a small cave. She stated that it was "like some kind of just a void of any life and not comfortable at all." She describes herself just sitting there trying to have a nice visit. Memory 2: In this situation, P1 remembers an early childhood situation in which her father had been in a bicycle accident and suffered injuries to his head. The accident took place when out on a bicycle ride on a sunny day with her younger brother and her father and his girlfriend. The love between the father and his girlfriend was not "out in the open," although P1 claims that she intuitively knew about it. After the accident, they all went to the father's girlfriend's house so that she could care for the father's injury. P1 describes the experience walking into the house as similar to walking into the great grandmother's house, in that the steps leading up to the house were similar. She describes the situation as strange and that she was having an alienated type of the experience, in which she did not feel as if she was real. The father's girlfriend's house felt unfamiliar and thus strange. While the father's girlfriend was tending to the father's injury, P1 and her younger brother just sat there waiting. She describes this experience as being similar to the experience she had at her great grandmother's house, just sitting there and not knowing what to do with herself. She also experienced the father's girlfriend's house as similar to that of a cold, dark bunker with a displeasing smell and colors. P1 felt scared, shocked, abandoned, unsure, alone and her younger brother was behaving recklessly, making her very uncomfortable. P1 had to constantly try to control the younger brother. She also felt sad because another person than her immediate family was tending to her father. In addition, she felt frustrated because she was not being tended to. She wanted to leave, did not feel at home, or loved, or welcomed, and experienced the whole thing as "icky." After a while, the father's girlfriend acknowledged the children and gave them both something to do. The stay at the house was experienced by P1 as "being a very long one" and also "being anti- fun." P1 claims that the worst part of the experience was not to have a choice to be in this uncomfortable place and situation. She experienced the same "not having a choice" situation at her great grandmother's house due to that her place was far away and she could not leave right away when she really wanted to. P1 also states that she would leave situations in which she experienced the situation as uncomfortable and also as an adult moved to another city in order to not have to visit certain relatives and thus encounter these types of situations. Lived consequence: P1 then describes how this childhood memory has had an effect on her life. It has affected her in that she has a very limited tolerance for staying in a place she does not want to be. She describes this very limited tolerance to a childish type of fight or flight instinct that she has to respond to. In certain places she experience this empty, alone, frightening, and uncomfortable feelings, and she does not tolerate this but leaves the place. She gives an example of being on a date about two months ago and gone to a place in which she felt uncomfortable. She states that she was not frightened by the person she was on a date with but by the situation. At some point during the dinner she said, "You know what, I have to go" and that she just left the dinner. She describes her behavior as primitive and similar to that of an immature child who just can't take it any more. P1 describes other situations in which she experiences the lived consequences of the early emotional memory. For example, she describes being at the library, a place that she thinks is the only place in which she can study without being disrupted by temptations present at home (e.g., television, etc.). Although she must study in order to meet a deadline for an assignment, she leaves the library because she is uncomfortable; that is, she experiences the library as cold and sterile as well as being tired and hungry. She also describes the similarity in her reaction to being cold and hungry. She also states that cold weather is intolerable and that both being hungry and cold triggers her reaction. For her, being hungry or cold is the same thing. She states that it is the whole point in her life. She theorizes that she might fall into the category of being a hedonist. She states that she "... literally just have to get up and anything is possible and get out." She spontaneously states that the first time she experiences having had this experience was at her father's girlfriend's house. She also recognizes that other people perceive her as rude because of her behavior. She looks at it as both a habit and a personality trait. She also recognizes that her father has a similar behavior. She also states that she does not know how to and does not want to go further in depth with her description of being alone and frightened, but might do so sometime in the future. P1 goes on to state that there are numerous daily occasions in which the lived consequence of her early memory is being repeated. For example, she states that just being in the university classroom is a horrible experience and that she experiences the classroom as sterile and lifeless. Even though she finds her professor's lectures exciting, she is bored while in the classroom. She finds it hard to leave for the lectures because she is uncomfortable in the classroom and all she wants to do while there is just to leave. She also states that she always gets tired in the afternoon and that this becomes a problem in relation to her just wanting to leave the lecture or not to show up for it in the first place. She states that the afternoon class is an obstacle to her because she is tired and that she finds this particular professor to be monotone. She experiences this situation as empty and that there is nothing in there for her to grasp at or anything. She states that this situation really pains her and that it is horrible. Summary: Participant 2 (P2) Memory 1: P2 describes a situation in which he remembers an early emotional situation. He is out walking and suddenly aware of the flight pattern and an...
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