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THESIS - 2015
THE INTERWEAVING OF EXPERIENCES, MEMORIES AND FANTASIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVE IN CHILDREN
Ana Maria Galrão Rios
Advisor: Ceres Alves de Araújo
Key words: autobiographical narrative, autobiographical memory, fantasy, development, Analytical Psychology.
Abstract: The aim of this work is to study the development of autobiographical narrative in children, using the Jungian Psychology as theoretical reference. From the moment the children proved able to tell their story, at two and a half years old. Children’s autobiographic narratives were studied considering their development due to age, gender and environmental influence, understood here as the education level of the mothers. The autobiographical narratives of children were considered from the point of view of its volume, content, presence of emotions, intentions, autonomy, presence of others and interactivity of scenarios, social inclusion and determinants of identity. Fantasy inclusion in autobiographical narrative was also studied. Participants were 410 children from two to six and a half years old, interviewed in their schools in São Paulo. The instrument used for data collection was a semi-open interview. The children answered five questions about events experienced in the past, recent events and imaginary ones, and were also invited to talk about themselves. The research was characterized as combined quantitative and qualitative methods, which sets up a mixed method. The strategy used for data collection was Concurrent Triangulation design, which allows quantification of the qualitative data. Statistical analysis of the results indicated that the autobiographical narrative develops with age in volume and complexity, suffering influence of gender and culture. Autobiographical narrative includes both experienced or fantasized elements, edited on the individual webs of explicit and implicit memories, within a specific cultural pattern that guides the inclusion, exclusion or emphasis of elements in the narrative. The children were able to tell stories about themselves from age two and a half years on.
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