People say they are unique but don’t seem to believe it,

study finds. “Your mother always told you you’re special,” said Joachim Krueger,

associate professor of psychology and human development, and the

study’s lead researcher, “but subconsciously you do not believe it.”

Of course, conception of self and balace of uniqueness and uniformity will vary culturally. Cornell cross-cultural psychology researcher Dr Qi Wang at Cornell, for example,

focus(es) on the

development of autobiographical memory. Has conducted

comparative studies with participants from American and

Asian cultures on adults’ childhood recollections, children’s

autobiographical reports, and parent-child conversations

about the shared past. These studies have illustrated how

constructions of the self differ across cultures as a function

of the social orientations, cultural values, and narrative

environments in which children are raised. In turn, such

differences in self-construction have powerful effects on the

contents and long-term accessibility of autobiographical

memories. In extending this line of inquiry, current studies

examine the impact of self-concept, gender-role, emotional

situation knowledge, and family narrative practices on

autobiographical remembering, addressing both

cross-cultural differences and within-cultural variations.