Susan Bluck
Biographic Data
| ID | 1662011 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Susan Bluck |
| GIVEN NAMES | Susan |
| FAMILY NAME | Bluck |
| SIGNATURE | BLUCK S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Florida |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0499-6426 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 204 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 29 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1988 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Digital Life Story Books: Intervention to maintain sense of self in older adults with memory difficulties
The sharp increase in dementia and age-related memory impairments worldwide has made reminiscence-based interventions attractive. Past research is mixed with little focus on self-functioning. The aims of this study were (i) to develop and assess the implementation of a reminiscence-based intervention, Digital Life Story Books, grounded in evidence-based principles of autobiographical memory, and (ii) to evaluate its effectiveness in improving sen…
Reflecting on death: Priorities for living well
The positive death movement has popularized considering one's mortality. Stemming from this, Before I Die Walls erected globally prompt individual reflection on life goals, considering life's finitude. The aims of the study: (i) examined relative extent of three categories of responses to a Before I Die task, moderated by age, and (ii) tested whether purpose in life is associated with categories of Before I Die responses, moderated by age. Young,…
Using Study Abroad Memories in Everyday Life: Insights from the Functional Approach to Autobiographical Memory
Older adults recall memories of life challenges: The role of sense of purpose in the life story
Even the good life has an ending: Virtue in the face of finitude
More Vulnerable? The Life Story Approach Highlights Older People’s Potential for Strength During the Pandemic
OBJECTIVES: Older adults have repeatedly been referred to as more physically vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic, however, is not only about becoming physically ill. It has many psychosocial aspects: people are exposed to myriad life challenges. The life story approach does not ignore physical status but also emphasizes psychosocial strengths. It highlights that older people are likely to have developed resilience through experi…
Young adults’ perspectives on advance care planning: Evaluating the Death over Dinner initiative
We investigated how death attitudes and experience relate to perspectives on advance care planning (ACP) in young adulthood, and whether attending a Death over Dinner event affects perspectives on ACP. Participants ( N = 109) were assigned to a Death over Dinner or waitlist control condition, completing pretest and post-test measures. Higher Death Rejection and having more Experience with Death predicted Reservations about ACP. Participation in a…
Loss in the Life Story: Remembering Death and Illness Across Adulthood
The experience of loss has not often been studied in the life story literature. Life disruption when loss of a loved one occurs may make loss events distinct, even from other challenges, when recalled. Optimally, individuals incorporate such events into their life story in a way that allows them to reflect positively on their life overall. We suggest that telling narratives that represent loss as leading to personal growth or as highlighting one’…
More on the More Life Experience Model: What We Have Learned (So Far)
We have all had difficult times and challenges in our lives, and most of us feel that we learned something from those experiences. At the same time, few people actually become wise in the course of their lives - while most of us become (or remain) well-adapted and happy, generally satisfied, or even bitter or depressed. Why is it that some people, but not others, grow wise over time by learning from life's challenges (Linley & Joseph, 2004)? In t…
In memory: Predicting preferences for memorializing lost loved ones
People's preferences for memorializing loved ones vary and may depend on their personal attitudes and experiences with death. Participants (N = 145) completed the memorializing preferences checklist and measures of personal attitudes and life experiences with death. Factor analysis identified four memorializing preferences. Greater death resistance and less closeness to the deceased predicted preference for memorializing through confronting loss.…
The Difference between Right and Wrong: Accuracy of Older and Younger Adults’ Story Recall
Sharing stories is an important social activity in everyday life. This study used fine-grained content analysis to investigate the accuracy of recall of two central story elements: the gist and detail of socially-relevant stories. Younger (M age = 28.06) and older (M age = 75.03) American men and women (N = 63) recalled fictional stories that were coded for (i) accuracy of overall gist and specific gist categories and (ii) accuracy of overall det…
Young Women in Today’s Taiwan: Relation of Identity Status and Redemptive Narration to Psychological Well-Being
Time since birth and time left to live: Opposing forces in constructing psychological wellbeing
Ageing, by definition, involves moving across lived time. Grounded in developmental psychology, particularly lifespan developmental theory, this study examines two time-related factors that may affect psychological wellbeing in adulthood. Particularly, chronological age and perceived time left to live ( i.e. future time perspective) are predicted to act as opposing forces in the construction of psychological wellbeing. Young (N = 285, 19–29 years…
Laypeople's Conceptions of Wisdom and Its Development: Cognitive and Integrative Views
Laypeople's views of wisdom are not unitary, and the way in which wisdom is viewed is related to how it is seen as developing in a person's life. These empirical differences in implicit theories of wisdom map onto theoretical differences in the views of wisdom researchers
That Was a Good Story! Preliminary Construction of the Perceived Story Quality Index
The objective of this research was to develop a preliminary Perceived Story Quality Index to assess laypersons' views of story quality. Research to date has not employed a standard measure of perceived quality, nor reported whether different lay-raters judge stories similarly. The study involved systematically generating core dimensions of perceived story quality and addressing whether (a) lay-raters of different ages and genders evaluate story q…
Meaning-Making in Memories: A Comparison of Memories of Death-Related and Low Point Life Experiences
Because of their extensive experience with death and dying, hospice volunteers may be more successful at engaging in meaning-making regarding their death-related experiences than their low point life experiences (e.g., job loss). Consequently, their memories of death-related experiences will manifest more meaning-making strategies (e.g., bendfit-finding) than their low point memories. Fifty-two hospice volunteers wrote memory narratives of death-…
Life Experience with Death: Relation to Death Attitudes and to the Use of Death-Related Memories
The study examines the relation of death experience to death attitudes and to autobiographical memory use. Participants (N = 52) completed standard death attitude measures and wrote narratives about a death-related autobiographical memory and (for comparison) a memory of a low point. Self-ratings of the memory narratives were used to assess their functional use. Results show that higher levels of experience with death were related to lower levels…
I'll keep you in mind: The intimacy function of autobiographical memory
An experimental study examined whether autobiographical memory serves the function of maintaining intimacy in romantic relationships. Young and older adults ( N = 129) recalled either autobiographical relationship events or fictional relationship vignettes. Intimacy (warmth, closeness) was measured before and after remembering. Warmth was enhanced after recalling autobiographical events irrespective of individuals' age and gender; women also expe…
A Tale of Three Functions: The Self–Reported Uses of Autobiographical Memory
Theories hold that autobiographical memory serves several broad functions (directive, self, and social). In the current study, items were derived from the theoretical literature to create the Thinking About Life Experiences (TALE) questionnaire to empirically assess these three functions. Participants (N = 167) completed the TALE. To examine convergent validity, they also rated their overall tendency to think about and to talk about the past and …
Making Things Better and Learning a Lesson: Experiencing Wisdom Across the Lifespan
Autobiographical memory narratives concerning times in which individuals said, thought, or did something wise were collected from adolescents and young and old adults. This “wisdom of experience” procedure is shown to be a valid means of studying experienced wisdom in everyday lives across the life span. Results show that all age groups use experienced wisdom to transform negative to positive life situations and are equally likely to link these e…
Why are you telling me that? A conceptual model of the social function of autobiographical memory
In an effort to stimulate and guide empirical work within a functional framework, this paper provides a conceptual model of the social functions of autobiographical memory (AM) across the lifespan. The model delineates the processes and variables involved when AMs are shared to serve social functions. Components of the model include: lifespan contextual influences, the qualitative characteristics of memory (emotionality and level of detail recall…
Autobiographical memory: Exploring its functions in everyday life
This special issue of Memory spotlights research that uses a functional approach to investigate autobiographical memory (AM) in everyday life. This approach relies on studying cognition, in this case AM, taking into account the psychological, social, or cultural-historic context in which it occurs. Areas of interest include understanding to what ends AM is used by individuals and in social relationships, how it is related to other cognitive abili…
The Life Story Schema
Getting a life: The emergence of the life story in adolescence
In the life story, autobiographical remembering and self-understanding are combined to create a coherent account of one's past. A gap is demonstrated between developmental research on the story-organization of autobiographical remembering of events in childhood and of life narratives in adulthood. This gap is bridged by substantiating D.P. McAdams's (1985) claim that the life story develops in adolescence. Two manifestations of the life story, li…
Reminiscence as autobiographical memory: A catalyst for reminiscence theory development
Research on the psychological outcomes of reminiscence techniques has led to equivocal findings. The goal of this paper is to advance current theory guiding research on reminiscence by examining the implications of viewing reminiscence as a type of autobiographical memory. Butler's classic paper on reminiscence as ‘life review’ (1963) is examined, and revisions to this approach are proposed based on research and theory concerning autobiographical…
Getting a life: The emergence of the life story in adolescence
In the life story, autobiographical remembering and self-understanding are combined to create a coherent account of one's past. A gap is demonstrated between developmental research on the story-organization of autobiographical remembering of events in childhood and of life narratives in adulthood. This gap is bridged by substantiating D.P. McAdams's (1985) claim that the life story develops in adolescence. Two manifestations of the life story, li…
Changes in Integrative Complexity Prior to Surprise Attacks
Previous archival analyses of governmental communications show a decrease in integrative complexity prior to the outbreak of war between nations. No such decrease is found when a conflict is resolved through peaceful negotiation. Integrative complexity is a structural measure, based on the source's recognition of alternative perspectives and several dimensions (differentiation), and the combination of these perspectives and dimensions in synthesi…
Changes in integrative complexity accompanying significant life events: Historical evidence
Integrative complexity is a state cognitive style variable characterized by differentiation (the recognition of different dimensions within, or perspectives on, a given stimulus) and integration (the recognition of trade-offs, syntheses, and higher order concepts relating the differentiated units). In the current study, a positive (e.g., professional achievement or marriage) and a negative (e.g., loss of employment or death of close relative) sig…
Reminiscence as autobiographical memory: A catalyst for reminiscence theory development
Research on the psychological outcomes of reminiscence techniques has led to equivocal findings. The goal of this paper is to advance current theory guiding research on reminiscence by examining the implications of viewing reminiscence as a type of autobiographical memory. Butler's classic paper on reminiscence as ‘life review’ (1963) is examined, and revisions to this approach are proposed based on research and theory concerning autobiographical…
Laypeople's Conceptions of Wisdom and Its Development: Cognitive and Integrative Views
Laypeople's views of wisdom are not unitary, and the way in which wisdom is viewed is related to how it is seen as developing in a person's life. These empirical differences in implicit theories of wisdom map onto theoretical differences in the views of wisdom researchers
In memory: Predicting preferences for memorializing lost loved ones
People's preferences for memorializing loved ones vary and may depend on their personal attitudes and experiences with death. Participants (N = 145) completed the memorializing preferences checklist and measures of personal attitudes and life experiences with death. Factor analysis identified four memorializing preferences. Greater death resistance and less closeness to the deceased predicted preference for memorializing through confronting loss.…
Life Experience with Death: Relation to Death Attitudes and to the Use of Death-Related Memories
The study examines the relation of death experience to death attitudes and to autobiographical memory use. Participants (N = 52) completed standard death attitude measures and wrote narratives about a death-related autobiographical memory and (for comparison) a memory of a low point. Self-ratings of the memory narratives were used to assess their functional use. Results show that higher levels of experience with death were related to lower levels…
Young adults’ perspectives on advance care planning: Evaluating the Death over Dinner initiative
We investigated how death attitudes and experience relate to perspectives on advance care planning (ACP) in young adulthood, and whether attending a Death over Dinner event affects perspectives on ACP. Participants ( N = 109) were assigned to a Death over Dinner or waitlist control condition, completing pretest and post-test measures. Higher Death Rejection and having more Experience with Death predicted Reservations about ACP. Participation in a…
Young Women in Today’s Taiwan: Relation of Identity Status and Redemptive Narration to Psychological Well-Being
Time since birth and time left to live: Opposing forces in constructing psychological wellbeing
Ageing, by definition, involves moving across lived time. Grounded in developmental psychology, particularly lifespan developmental theory, this study examines two time-related factors that may affect psychological wellbeing in adulthood. Particularly, chronological age and perceived time left to live ( i.e. future time perspective) are predicted to act as opposing forces in the construction of psychological wellbeing. Young (N = 285, 19–29 years…
Meaning-Making in Memories: A Comparison of Memories of Death-Related and Low Point Life Experiences
Because of their extensive experience with death and dying, hospice volunteers may be more successful at engaging in meaning-making regarding their death-related experiences than their low point life experiences (e.g., job loss). Consequently, their memories of death-related experiences will manifest more meaning-making strategies (e.g., bendfit-finding) than their low point memories. Fifty-two hospice volunteers wrote memory narratives of death-…
Reflecting on death: Priorities for living well
The positive death movement has popularized considering one's mortality. Stemming from this, Before I Die Walls erected globally prompt individual reflection on life goals, considering life's finitude. The aims of the study: (i) examined relative extent of three categories of responses to a Before I Die task, moderated by age, and (ii) tested whether purpose in life is associated with categories of Before I Die responses, moderated by age. Young,…
That Was a Good Story! Preliminary Construction of the Perceived Story Quality Index
The objective of this research was to develop a preliminary Perceived Story Quality Index to assess laypersons' views of story quality. Research to date has not employed a standard measure of perceived quality, nor reported whether different lay-raters judge stories similarly. The study involved systematically generating core dimensions of perceived story quality and addressing whether (a) lay-raters of different ages and genders evaluate story q…
Changes in Integrative Complexity Prior to Surprise Attacks
Previous archival analyses of governmental communications show a decrease in integrative complexity prior to the outbreak of war between nations. No such decrease is found when a conflict is resolved through peaceful negotiation. Integrative complexity is a structural measure, based on the source's recognition of alternative perspectives and several dimensions (differentiation), and the combination of these perspectives and dimensions in synthesi…
Changes in integrative complexity accompanying significant life events: Historical evidence
Integrative complexity is a state cognitive style variable characterized by differentiation (the recognition of different dimensions within, or perspectives on, a given stimulus) and integration (the recognition of trade-offs, syntheses, and higher order concepts relating the differentiated units). In the current study, a positive (e.g., professional achievement or marriage) and a negative (e.g., loss of employment or death of close relative) sig…
Cognitive concomitants of life events--finding a balance between generalizability and contextualization: Reply to Pennell (1996)
Cognitive concomitants of life events—finding a balance between generalizability and contextualization: Reply to Pennell (1996)
Reminiscence as autobiographical memory: A catalyst for reminiscence theory development
Research on the psychological outcomes of reminiscence techniques has led to equivocal findings. The goal of this paper is to advance current theory guiding research on reminiscence by examining the implications of viewing reminiscence as a type of autobiographical memory. Butler's classic paper on reminiscence as ‘life review’ (1963) is examined, and revisions to this approach are proposed based on research and theory concerning autobiographical…
The Life Story Schema
Getting a life: The emergence of the life story in adolescence
In the life story, autobiographical remembering and self-understanding are combined to create a coherent account of one's past. A gap is demonstrated between developmental research on the story-organization of autobiographical remembering of events in childhood and of life narratives in adulthood. This gap is bridged by substantiating D.P. McAdams's (1985) claim that the life story develops in adolescence. Two manifestations of the life story, li…
Why are you telling me that? A conceptual model of the social function of autobiographical memory
In an effort to stimulate and guide empirical work within a functional framework, this paper provides a conceptual model of the social functions of autobiographical memory (AM) across the lifespan. The model delineates the processes and variables involved when AMs are shared to serve social functions. Components of the model include: lifespan contextual influences, the qualitative characteristics of memory (emotionality and level of detail recall…
Autobiographical memory: Exploring its functions in everyday life
This special issue of Memory spotlights research that uses a functional approach to investigate autobiographical memory (AM) in everyday life. This approach relies on studying cognition, in this case AM, taking into account the psychological, social, or cultural-historic context in which it occurs. Areas of interest include understanding to what ends AM is used by individuals and in social relationships, how it is related to other cognitive abili…
Making Things Better and Learning a Lesson: Experiencing Wisdom Across the Lifespan
Autobiographical memory narratives concerning times in which individuals said, thought, or did something wise were collected from adolescents and young and old adults. This “wisdom of experience” procedure is shown to be a valid means of studying experienced wisdom in everyday lives across the life span. Results show that all age groups use experienced wisdom to transform negative to positive life situations and are equally likely to link these e…
A Tale of Three Functions: The Self–Reported Uses of Autobiographical Memory
Theories hold that autobiographical memory serves several broad functions (directive, self, and social). In the current study, items were derived from the theoretical literature to create the Thinking About Life Experiences (TALE) questionnaire to empirically assess these three functions. Participants (N = 167) completed the TALE. To examine convergent validity, they also rated their overall tendency to think about and to talk about the past and …
I'll keep you in mind: The intimacy function of autobiographical memory
An experimental study examined whether autobiographical memory serves the function of maintaining intimacy in romantic relationships. Young and older adults ( N = 129) recalled either autobiographical relationship events or fictional relationship vignettes. Intimacy (warmth, closeness) was measured before and after remembering. Warmth was enhanced after recalling autobiographical events irrespective of individuals' age and gender; women also expe…
Life Experience with Death: Relation to Death Attitudes and to the Use of Death-Related Memories
The study examines the relation of death experience to death attitudes and to autobiographical memory use. Participants (N = 52) completed standard death attitude measures and wrote narratives about a death-related autobiographical memory and (for comparison) a memory of a low point. Self-ratings of the memory narratives were used to assess their functional use. Results show that higher levels of experience with death were related to lower levels…
Meaning-Making in Memories: A Comparison of Memories of Death-Related and Low Point Life Experiences
Because of their extensive experience with death and dying, hospice volunteers may be more successful at engaging in meaning-making regarding their death-related experiences than their low point life experiences (e.g., job loss). Consequently, their memories of death-related experiences will manifest more meaning-making strategies (e.g., bendfit-finding) than their low point memories. Fifty-two hospice volunteers wrote memory narratives of death-…
Laypeople's Conceptions of Wisdom and Its Development: Cognitive and Integrative Views
Laypeople's views of wisdom are not unitary, and the way in which wisdom is viewed is related to how it is seen as developing in a person's life. These empirical differences in implicit theories of wisdom map onto theoretical differences in the views of wisdom researchers
That Was a Good Story! Preliminary Construction of the Perceived Story Quality Index
The objective of this research was to develop a preliminary Perceived Story Quality Index to assess laypersons' views of story quality. Research to date has not employed a standard measure of perceived quality, nor reported whether different lay-raters judge stories similarly. The study involved systematically generating core dimensions of perceived story quality and addressing whether (a) lay-raters of different ages and genders evaluate story q…
Time since birth and time left to live: Opposing forces in constructing psychological wellbeing
Ageing, by definition, involves moving across lived time. Grounded in developmental psychology, particularly lifespan developmental theory, this study examines two time-related factors that may affect psychological wellbeing in adulthood. Particularly, chronological age and perceived time left to live ( i.e. future time perspective) are predicted to act as opposing forces in the construction of psychological wellbeing. Young (N = 285, 19–29 years…
The Difference between Right and Wrong: Accuracy of Older and Younger Adults’ Story Recall
Sharing stories is an important social activity in everyday life. This study used fine-grained content analysis to investigate the accuracy of recall of two central story elements: the gist and detail of socially-relevant stories. Younger (M age = 28.06) and older (M age = 75.03) American men and women (N = 63) recalled fictional stories that were coded for (i) accuracy of overall gist and specific gist categories and (ii) accuracy of overall det…
Young Women in Today’s Taiwan: Relation of Identity Status and Redemptive Narration to Psychological Well-Being
More on the More Life Experience Model: What We Have Learned (So Far)
We have all had difficult times and challenges in our lives, and most of us feel that we learned something from those experiences. At the same time, few people actually become wise in the course of their lives - while most of us become (or remain) well-adapted and happy, generally satisfied, or even bitter or depressed. Why is it that some people, but not others, grow wise over time by learning from life's challenges (Linley & Joseph, 2004)? In t…
In memory: Predicting preferences for memorializing lost loved ones
People's preferences for memorializing loved ones vary and may depend on their personal attitudes and experiences with death. Participants (N = 145) completed the memorializing preferences checklist and measures of personal attitudes and life experiences with death. Factor analysis identified four memorializing preferences. Greater death resistance and less closeness to the deceased predicted preference for memorializing through confronting loss.…
Loss in the Life Story: Remembering Death and Illness Across Adulthood
The experience of loss has not often been studied in the life story literature. Life disruption when loss of a loved one occurs may make loss events distinct, even from other challenges, when recalled. Optimally, individuals incorporate such events into their life story in a way that allows them to reflect positively on their life overall. We suggest that telling narratives that represent loss as leading to personal growth or as highlighting one’…
Young adults’ perspectives on advance care planning: Evaluating the Death over Dinner initiative
We investigated how death attitudes and experience relate to perspectives on advance care planning (ACP) in young adulthood, and whether attending a Death over Dinner event affects perspectives on ACP. Participants ( N = 109) were assigned to a Death over Dinner or waitlist control condition, completing pretest and post-test measures. Higher Death Rejection and having more Experience with Death predicted Reservations about ACP. Participation in a…
More Vulnerable? The Life Story Approach Highlights Older People’s Potential for Strength During the Pandemic
OBJECTIVES: Older adults have repeatedly been referred to as more physically vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic, however, is not only about becoming physically ill. It has many psychosocial aspects: people are exposed to myriad life challenges. The life story approach does not ignore physical status but also emphasizes psychosocial strengths. It highlights that older people are likely to have developed resilience through experi…
Even the good life has an ending: Virtue in the face of finitude
Psychology (29 works) · Identity, Memory, and Therapy (20 works) · Developmental psychology (19 works) · Cognitive psychology (18 works) · Social Psychology (18 works) · Aging and Gerontology Research (12 works) · Recall (12 works) · Autobiographical memory (11 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Cognition (9 works)