Beliefs About Transitional Events: The Effect of Experience and Life-Script Consistency

Abstract

The present study examined the beliefs about two types of important life transitions: transitions that are consistent with the cultural life script (e.g., getting married) and transitions that diverge from it (e.g., relocating). Data were collected from two conditions: individuals in the experienced condition only responded to transitions they had experienced; individuals in the hypothetical condition provided ratings only for transitions they had not experienced. Participants rated the likelihood and typical age of occurrence, importance, transitional impact, and valence for an individualized set of condition-appropriate events. We found that script-consistent events were considered more normative and positive than script-divergent events. The two types of events, however, differed little in terms of importance or transitional impact. We conclude by arguing that although script-consistent and script-divergent transitions have much in common from a mnemonic perspective, the distinction is still warranted in the context of lifetime planning and evaluation.

Keywords: autobiographical belief; autobiographical memory; cultural life script; life transition; transition theory.

Figure 1

The prevalence of personally experienced script-consistent events (A) and script-divergent events (B) in the younger and older participants.

Figure 2

Mean likelihood-of-occurrence of script-consistent and script-divergent events in an average Canadian's life produced by participants in the experienced and hypothetical conditions. Error bars indicate ± 1 standard error of mean. The event, “begin grade school,” is omitted in this graph because it only has estimates from the experienced condition (M = 95.04, SE = 2.09).

Figure 3

Mean (A) and SD (B) of the estimated age of an average canadian at the occurrence of the events produced by participants in the experienced and hypothetical conditions. Error bars indicate ± 1 standard error of mean. The event, “begin grade school,” is omitted in both graphs because it only has estimates from the experienced condition (M = 5.68, SD = 1.39, SE = 0.13).

Figure 4

Mean ratings of the valence of script-consistent events and script-divergent events in the experienced condition (participants' real life) and the hypothetical condition (an average Canadian's life). Error bars indicate ± 1 standard error of mean. The event, “begin grade school,” is omitted in this graph because it only has estimates from the experienced condition (M = 2.10, SE = 0.15).

Figure 5

Mean ratings of the importance (A), material impact (B) and psychological impact (C) of script-consistent events and script-divergent events in the experienced condition (participants' real life) and the hypothetical condition (average Canadian's life). Error bars indicate ± 1 standard error of mean. The event, “begin grade school,” is omitted in the graphs because it only has estimates from the experienced condition (mean importance = 3.48, SE = 0.10; mean material TIS score = 2.66, SE = 0.07; mean psychological TIS score = 3.30, SE = 0.07).