Student Scholarship
Document Type
Research Paper
Abstract
This study explores the relationship between early childhood recollections and an individual's value system, drawing primarily from the Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler. The research was conducted to determine if early memories could serve as projective devices to reveal a person's life style and values, defined by Adler as an individual's unique way of striving for goals. The author establishes a theoretical framework by comparing Adler’s belief that memories are active productions reflecting a person's current outlook with Sigmund Freud’s theory of screen memories, which suggests that early recollections often serve to conceal more significant infantile repressions. Ultimately, the author rejects Freud’s emphasis on amnesia in favor of Adler’s view that memories cannot run counter to a person's values.
The methodology involved thirty subjects categorized by age and sex, including high school students, college students, and adults. Participants completed a two-part assessment: an account of their earliest memories and the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values, which categorizes interests into theoretical, economic, aesthetic, social, political, and religious types. The analysis focused on various elements of the recollections, such as setting, characters, and emotional tone, to see if specific value profiles correlated with certain types of memories.
The results did not fully support the initial hypothesis, as most elements of early recollections remained constant across different value types. The author noted the emergence of a stereotyped ideal childhood among participants, possibly due to cultural conditioning in American society. However, significant findings appeared in the study of forgotten events. These blocked memories often involved incidents that either lacked significance or were in direct opposition to the subject’s established values. The study concludes that while early recollections may not clearly project specific values in a normal population, forgotten events provide a unique window into the underlying characteristics of an individual's personality.
Research Highlights
The Problem: Researcher Nancy Eskridge examines whether early childhood recollections can serve as projective tools to reveal an individual's conscious or unconscious value preferences in "normal" populations.
The Method: The study administered an original "Early Recollections" questionnaire alongside the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey "Study of Values" scale to 30 subjects categorized into three age-sex groups: high school students (15–18), college students (18–22), and adults (29 to "past the middle").
Quantitative Finding: The overall average age for the earliest childhood recollection was 3 years, contradicting Freud's estimate of 4 years; the "Study of Values" average score is 40; the subject group size was limited to 30 individuals.
Qualitative Finding: Results largely discounted the hypothesis that early memories project specific values, as variables remained constant across all six value types; an "ideal childhood" stereotype emerged where home is the dominant setting for earliest memories while school dominates general childhood recollections; forgotten events supported Adler’s theory, showing blocked memories were either insignificant or in direct opposition to established values.
Publication Date
5-1972
Recommended Citation
Eskridge, Nancy, "A Study of Early Childhood Recollections as Reflective or Projective of Values in Society" (1972). Student Scholarship. 174.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/student-research-papers/174
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