Sharing autobiographical memories: effects of arousal and memory

How far of our individuality there is in the personal autobiographical memory and in the process of identity development? This research aimed at investigating whether our memories and the narrations we tell about us are really ours, or are inherently created by all and in all social relations of belonging. In the current study we analyzed midwives and expectant mothers video-recorded clinical encounters showing the processes through which (a) participants differentiate the sense of self and the collective meaning by using specific linguistic markers; (b) autobiographical memories convey the self-other relationships, that are crucial in the self re-elaboration and reveal how far the other is a part of the self. This paper has sought to propose an analysis of identity-in-interaction based on the Vygotskij and Bakhtin theories, emphasizing the dialogical, interactional and social nature of the self