Collective Memory, Knowledge and Attitudes

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

SES- 0853381 Howard Schuman University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Collective memory--defined here as shared memories and knowledge about the past--lies at the intersection of personal and national history. For this research, a national survey will replicate in 2009 open-ended questions asked in 1985 and 2000-2001 in order to identify events and changes from the past 75 years that Americans recall as especially important. In addition, support for the research will allow the investigators to draw also on a different and unusually large data set (2,750 cases in 2000-2001) to develop further an interpretive analysis of respondents? reasons for naming particular events as important, pursuing the hypothesis that even when different cohorts share memories of what is ostensibly the same event, answers to an inquiry into the meaning of the event can reveal quite different perspectives and interpretations. Both approaches build on earlier work, which demonstrated the significance of the adolescent and early adult ?critical years? for creating lasting memories of national and world events. The critical years hypothesis is particularly important to test with regard to the 9/11/01 attack: unlike past cohort effects discovered after the fact, data in 2001 led to a clear prediction of a specific curvilinear effect for the traumatic 9/11 attack, which should be visible in 2009. Two new additions will consider "implicit memories" (e.g., price levels referenced on the basis of each cohort's early experience) and the complexity of misremembering (e.g., inversion of past associations, as with Joe McCarthy recalled as a "Communist Senator"). The prior research also pointed to similarities and differences between spontaneously generated memories of events deemed important by respondents and memories in the form of knowledge elicited by asking respondents for accounts of terms related to specific events. The new research will connect these two types of evidence, previously studied only in separate contexts. Associated attitudes will be investigated as well, with the possibility of plausible conclusions about causal direction between collective memories and attitudes. The investigators plan also to conduct a meta-analysis of other empirical studies of collective memory, identifying major currents, methods, and conclusions, and relating them to survey-based research on shared memories across samples of individuals. By documenting and reflecting on the diversity of approaches, the investigators seek not to demonstrate that one source of evidence is better than another, but to contribute to the goal of using different sources in order to reach conclusions that none might support alone. In addition, use of cross-national replications, already carried out, will add to this attempt to link different levels of analysis. Broader Impact The new data will further understanding of the social, cultural, and psychological mechanisms that produce and sustain both collective memory (e.g., of the 9/11/01 attack) and collective forgetting (e.g., of the once familiar ?Cold War?). The research will be not only develop past research using sample surveys, but also show that different approaches to studying collective memory can be seen as complementary rather than competing. The results are intended for publication in social science journals that have some cross-disciplinary reach, and it is hoped in a broadly accessible book as well. In addition, the original data will be archived in a form and location widely available to others for further analysis, as well as for use in research-related teaching.