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I am a
social and cognitive psychologist interested in the cognitive processes
used in remembering and adapting to life events. My primary area of
interest is autobiographical memory, or memory for life experiences. In
collaboration with my students, I have found that when remembrance of a
life event is accompanied by a subjective sense of closure, health and
well-being benefits follow. Memories lack closure when they are
recollected with a great deal of emotion. The emotion causes the memory
to evoke goal-related behavior. Thus, gaining closure can lead to a sense
of completion about a life experience and even forgiveness of another
person. Because closure is a property of the memory, it can be achieved
by creative rehearsal strategies. Focusing on aspects of the memory that
are objective rather than emotional, and aspects that are understood
rather than poorly understood, both result in increased closure.
My
secondary research interests include the self, specifically temporal
aspects of self-concept representation; emotion, specifically
expectations about and memories for emotional experiences; and
counterfactual thinking, which means thinking of how things could have
turned out differently.
Representative
Publications:
Beike, D. R., Kleinknecht*, E.
K., & Wirth-Beaumont*, E. T. (2004). How emotional and non-emotional
memories define the self. In D. R. Beike, J. M. Lampinen, & D. A.
Behrend (Eds.), The self and memory (pp. 141-159). New York:
Psychology Press.
Beike, D. R., Lampinen, J. M.,
& Behrend, D. A. (2004). The self and memory. New York:
Psychology Press.
Beike, D. R., & Landoll*, S.
L. (2000). Striving for a consistent life story: Cognitive reactions to
autobiographical memories. Social Cognition, 18, 292-318.
Beike, D. R., &
Wirth-Beaumont*, E. T. (2005). Psychological closure as a memory
phenomenon. Memory, 13, 574-593.
Fishburne*,
J.W., Beike, D. R., & Faris*, A. (in press). Who believes the norm? A
comparison of injunctive versus descriptive norm-based messages among
various college drinkers. Journal of American College Health.
Goldinger, S. D., Kleider, H.,
Azuma, T., & Beike, D. R. (2003). “Blaming the victim” under memory
load. Psychological Science, 14, 81-85.
Kleinknecht*,
E. K., & Beike, D. R. (2004). How knowing and doing inform an
autobiography: Relations among preschoolers’ theory of mind, narrative,
and event memory skills. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18, 745-764.
* = Student co-author
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