Memory

ISSN: 0965-8211 (Print) 1464-0686 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/pmem20

Episodic memories as building blocks of identity
processing styles and life domains satisfaction:
Examining need satisfaction and need forcognitive closure in memories
Nabil Bouizegarene & Frederick L. Philippe
To cite this article: Nabil Bouizegarene & Frederick L. Philippe (2016) Episodic memories
as building blocks of identity processing styles and life domains satisfaction: Examining
need satisfaction and need for cognitive closure in memories, Memory, 24:5, 616-628, DOI:
10.1080/09658211.2015.1034138
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2015.1034138

Published online: 08 May 2015.

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Memory, 2016
Vol. 24, No. 5, 616–628, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2015.1034138

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Episodic memories as building blocks of identity
processing styles and life domains satisfaction:
Examining need satisfaction and need for cognitive
closure in memories
Nabil Bouizegarene and Frederick L. Philippe
Department of Psychology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada(Received 10 October 2014; accepted 20 March 2015)

The interconnection between identity and memory is widely accepted, but the processes underlying thisassociation remain unclear. The present study examined how specific experiential components of selfdefining memories relate to identity processing styles. We also investigated whether those relationships
occurred in a domain-specific manner. Participants (n = 583) completed the Identity Style Inventory-3,
which we adapted to measure identity in the school and friend domains, as well as scales assessing theirfriend and school satisfaction. They then described a memory related to each of these domains and rated
the level of need satisfaction and need for cognitive closure characterising each memory. Results fromstructural equation modeling revealed that need satisfaction in the school-related memory was positively
associated with an informational identity style at school and with satisfaction at school, whereas needsatisfaction in the friend-related memory was positively associated with an informational identity style inboth the school and friend domain, and with satisfaction with friends. In addition, need for cognitive
closure in both the friend- and school-related memory was associated with normative friend and school
identity processing styles. These findings reveal that specific experiential components of self-defining
memories are associated with certain identity processing styles. Furthermore, this relationship appears to
be mostly domain-specific.

Keywords: Identity styles; Self-defining memories; Experiential component; Domain-specificity.

The idea that people use their own experiences todefine their identity is unlikely to spawn controversy.
Many researchers claim that identity and memory
are profoundly interconnected (Conway & PleydellPearce, 2000; Habermas & Bluck, 2000; Klein &Nichols, 2012; McAdams, 1985; Singer & Salovey,1993). Nevertheless, the processes through whichthese connections develop and organise themselves
are still unclear. Recently, some researchers havestarted to investigate identity statuses or identity
processing styles (McLean & Pasupathi, 2012;

McLean, Syed, Yoder, & Greenhoot, 2014), which
can further increase our understanding of the relationship between memories and identity development. However, several questions remain. Whattypes of memory are associated with identity processing styles? What components of memories relate to
identity styles? Is the relation between identity styles
and memory context-specific? Are episodic memories solely associated to identity and identity processing styles or does this relation extend to general life
outcomes? The purpose of the present research was

Address correspondence to: Nabil Bouizegarene, Department of Psychology, University of Quebec at Montreal, PO Box 8888,
Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada. E-mail: nabil.bouizegarene@gmail.com© 2015 Taylor & Francis

MEMORY CHARACTERISTICS AND IDENTITY PROCESSING STYLES

to address these issues in the hope of shedding
more light on the associations between specificexperiential components of memories and certain
identity processing styles within specific life domains.

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Life story
A notable approach that investigated the relationship between how one remembers past events andidentity is the approach of narrative identity,pioneered by Dan P. McAdams (1985). A central
tenant of this perspective is that identity is formed
through summarising past experiences in a narrative form, hence creating a personal life story.
Research has shown that themes emerging fromlife story narratives were correlated with theirauthor’s personality and general functioning(McAdams, 2008; McLean, Pasupathi, & Pals,
2007). For instance, themes related to agency(i.e., power, autonomy, achievement) and communion (i.e., intimacy, belongingness) in life story
narratives were found to relate to personality
traits, motives and psychological well-being(McAdams, 1982; McAdams, Hoffman, Day, &Mansfield, 1996; Woike, Gershkovich, Piorkowski,& Polo, 1999).
Research has also shown that a coherent life
story is positively associated with subjective wellbeing and adaptive psychological traits and motives(Baddeley & Singer, 2007; Baerger & McAdams,
1999; McAdams, 2008; McLean et al., 2007). To
account for the process through which a coherent
life story is continually formed, revised and used,
Habermas and Bluck (2000) introduced the concept
of autobiographical reasoning. They defined it as aprocess of self-reflective thinking that involves
forming links between events of one’s life in an
attempt to relate one’s personal past and present,
and to understand them in a coherent way. Theysuggested that establishing thematic similarity
between past events is one of the essential processes
leading to life story’s coherence. For instance,
different life narratives regrouped into thematic
categories such as “life is a struggle” (Ruth, Birren,& Polkinghorne, 1996) or themes of intimacy andpower (Mansfield & McAdams, 1996) are brought
together in a coherent whole by their thematic
similarity, and these themes provide a basis for amore meaningful and consistent identity. Overall,research on the life story has revealed that emerging themes in memories of past events (or life
narratives) help to build a sense of narrative
identity.

617

Self-defining memories
It is obvious that not all memories of past eventsare equally important to one’s identity. For
instance, a memory of eating cereals yields little
self-relevant information compared to a memoryof a major life transition such as getting marriedor moving to another country. Singer and Salovey(1993) called this latter type of memories ofmeaningful and important life events self-defining
memories. They defined them as specific types of
autobiographical memories that are vivid, emotionally intense, repetitively recalled, highly
accessible, linked to a network of similar memories and connected to unresolved conflicts orenduring concerns. Singer and Salovey suggested
that networks of self-defining memories provide amajor part of the active content of the self. They
postulated that self-defining memories provide
the pool of knowledge about oneself from which
self-images emerge (Singer & Salovey, 1993), andtherefore expected a relation between personal
characteristics and the content and structure ofself-defining memories. Accordingly, Blagov andSinger (2004) showed that individuals’ self-defining memories that contained reflective themes
had higher levels of self-restraint and lower levelsof repressive defensiveness as measured by the
Weinberger Adjustment Inventory (Weinberger,
1997). Moffitt, Singer, Nelligan, Carlson, andVyse (1994) also found that individuals withhigher depression scores recalled significantly
less specific self-defining memories when asked
to recall a positive memory than participants withlower depression scores. Since depressed individuals are known to hold negative self-images, thefact that they tend to have less specific positive
than negative self-defining memories supports thecontention that self-defining memories are linked
to self-images (Singer & Salovey, 1993).
Conway, Singer, and Tagini (2004) proposedthat self-defining memories play a crucial role indefining and maintaining important long-termgoals relevant to the self. They argued that selfdefining memories are centrally involved in amutual interplay between episodic memories andlong-term self (Conway et al., 2004) and postulatethat self-defining memories operate under thebidirectional influences between memory andthe self. For instance, their model suggests thatwhen the self undergoes a major transition, due toa change in an important goal or life context, newself-defining memories are elected from existing

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BOUIZEGARENE AND PHILIPPE

autobiographical memories to better fit with the
new self. In sum, the self and identity appear to be
intimately related to self-defining memories andsuch memories seem to be critically involved in theprocess through which self-relevant information is
integrated to the self and identity. Therefore, selfdefining memories should be implicated in identity
processing styles, the social-cognitive strategies
people use to integrate self-relevant information
to form identity.

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Identity processing styles
Research reviewed above sought identity markers
in individual reminiscences and narratives of life
events (e.g., Blagov & Singer, 2004; King &Noelle, 2005; McAdams, 2001; McLean & Breen,2009). Another major line of research on identity
has spawned from Marcia’s measure of four
identity statuses (Marcia, 1966). Berzonsky(1988) suggested that these statuses reflected
three underlying processing styles—informational, normative and diffuse identity processing
styles—and that these refer to relatively stabledifferences in the social-cognitive strategies that
individuals use to cope with identity conflict andto integrate self-relevant information. As such,
identity processing styles do not address thecontent of identity, but the way self-relevant
information is integrated into identity.
Individuals with a preference for an informational identity processing style intentionally seekout self-relevant information (Berzonsky, 2011).
They commit to long-term goals in accordancewith a genuine self-exploration process. They arecapable of modifying their self-images in the faceof new information revealing its dissonance or
bad fit with the person. In contrast, individuals
with a preference for a normative identity processing style approach self-relevant information withrigidity and close-mindedness (Berzonsky, 2011).
They have a strong tendency to base their selfview on existing norms and to internalise goals
and standards that their groups and/or significant
others hold as the “right” ones. In addition, they
prefer to protect existing self-views over reviewing them, even in the light of disconfirming
information. Finally, individuals with a preference
for diffuse identity style make little use of selfreflection and avoid dealing with identity conflictand commitment issues (Berzonsky, 2011). Whenpressured to do so, they base their important life
decisions primarily on situational demands andcircumstances (Berzonsky & Ferrari, 2009).
These individuals lack the identity clarity andstability that are characteristics of normative andinformational processing styles.
So far, research examining the relation between
identity and memory has sought specific themes inlife story narratives (e.g., McAdams, 2001) and in
self-defining memories (e.g., Singer & Salovey,1993), considering those thematic memory components as being a marker of identity. We believethat assessing the association between self-defining
memories and identity processing styles could
extend research on identity and memory. Rather
than looking for themes reflecting identity inmemories, investigating how specific memory
components are linked to specific identity processing styles, measured as separate constructs,
should highlight a different perspective onto therelation between memory and identity. In accordance with Conway et al. (2004) proposition that
self-defining memories continually interact withlong-term identity, we expected that self-defining
memories would be associated with certain processing styles of self-relevant information.
Identity processing styles and the experiential
components of episodic memories. One important question that remains is to understand what is
it exactly in memories that is associated to specificidentity processing styles. Episodic memories
preserve experience-near sensory-perceptual
traces of significant events that represent what
the person experienced at that moment (Conway,
2008; Wheeler, Stuss, & Tulving, 1997), whichhave been called the experiential components of
episodic memories. Philippe and his colleagues (Philippe, Koestner, Beaulieu-Pelletier, &Lecours, 2011; Philippe, Koestner, BeaulieuPelletier, Lecours, & Lekes, 2012) provided evidence that, in line with self-determination theory(Deci & Ryan, 2000), remembered level ofsatisfaction of three important psychologicalneeds (autonomy, competence and relatedness)
is a basic experiential component of episodic
memories, one that is distinct from several othermemory characteristics (e.g., valence, explicit andimplicit motives, intrinsic and integrative memories). Need satisfaction in important episodic
memories have been shown to impact emotion,
well-being and relational behaviour (Philippe
et al., 2011, 2012; Philippe, Koestner, & Lekes,
2013) by promoting openness, that is, an accurate
and undistorted perception of experience and awillingness to assimilate novel experiences into

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MEMORY CHARACTERISTICS AND IDENTITY PROCESSING STYLES

the self (Hodgins & Knee, 2002; Philippe et al.,2012). For instance, Philippe et al. (2012) showedthat unconsciously priming need satisfying selfdefining memories led to an immediate increase insituational well-being and to enduring increases inwell-being over one year. Similarly, need satisfaction in couple-related memories were found to
predict increases in relationship quality one year
later, and to negatively predict relationship dissolution, even after controlling for prior relationship quality and attitudes towards the partner(Philippe et al., 2013).
Experiential components of self-defining memories could be associated with identity processing
styles. An informational identity processing style
involves intentionally seeking out novel information to deal with identity issues and an openness
to re-evaluate aspects of one’s self-constructions(Berzonsky, 2003). Need satisfaction typically facilitates lower level of defensiveness and a greater
openness to novel information (e.g., Hodgins &Knee, 2002; Hodgins, Yacko, & Gottlieb, 2006).
Corroborating this position, Soenens, Berzonsky,
Vansteenkiste, Beyers, and Goossens (2005) foundthat autonomous causality orientation, a variable that typically facilitates need satisfaction, waspositively related to an informational identity
processing style, but unrelated to a normative
processing style (also see Soenens, Berzonsky,
Dunkel, Papini, & Vansteenkiste, 2011). On thebasis of this theoretical and empirical support, wehypothesised that need satisfaction in self-defining
memories would be associated with informational
identity processing style but not with normative
processing style. Indeed, self-defining memories
that are characterised by need satisfaction should
be related to that openness to new information andre-evaluation characterising an informational processing style.
Normative identity processing style characterises people’s tendency to internalise the values
and beliefs of others, with little volition, in order tominimise or avoid self-reflection. These individuals
prefer to remain closed to novel information that
may threaten their internalised self-constructions(Berzonsky, 2003). Thus, self-defining memories
characterised by the need for order, closure,clarity, predictability and simple decision-making(corresponding to need for cognitive closure,
Webster & Kruglanski, 1997), may be associatedwith this closure to novel information andincreased reliance on norms characterising anormative processing style. To our knowledge,619

need for cognitive closure has never been studied
as an experiential component of memory.
The reverse relationship—identity processing
styles influencing memories—is also plausible,
because of the bidirectional nature of memories
and identity (Tessler & Nelson, 1994) and potentially of identity processing styles. For example,
memories are sometimes reconstructed in order
to better correspond to one’s current identity(Conway et al., 2004; Pillemer, 2001) and what isrecalled often reflects the person’s identity developmental stages (Mclean & Breen, 2009; Wilt,
Cox, & McAdams, 2010) or self-schemas (Barclay& Subramaniam, 1987; Markus, 1977). As such,the purpose of the present study is not to posit a
specific direction to this relationship but toexamine the associations between specific experiential components of memories and certain identity processing styles.
Domain-related identity processing styles. Much
research suggests that both identity and selfdefining memories would be better understood as
divided in separate domains (Conway & PleydellPearce, 2000; Higgins, 1987; Markus & Nurius,
1986; McConnell, 2010; Roberts & Donahue,1994). For instance, McConnell’s multiple selfaspects framework stresses the multiplicity andcontext-dependency of the self and argues againstconceiving the self as a global and unitary entity(McConnell, 2010). Research by McLean et al.
(2014) also showed that the integration of various
identity domains via meaning-making matters forpsychosocial development, pointing to the importance of assessing multiple identity domains. Hence,
if we understand identity as circumscribed todomains, we should expect the relation between
self-defining memories and identity to be mostly
domain-specific (e.g., university, work, friendship,etc.) and therefore that people could use specificidentity processing styles in certain domains andnot in others. To investigate that possibility, in thepresent study, we assessed the relationshipbetween experiential components (need satisfaction
and need for cognitive closure) of domain-specificself-defining memories and identity processing
styles in specific domains.

THE PRESENT STUDY
The present study examined the association
between the experiential components of needsatisfaction and need for cognitive closure inDownloaded by [Université du Québec à Montréal] at 09:36 28 March 2016

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BOUIZEGARENE AND PHILIPPE

self-defining memories of specific domains anddomain-related identity processing styles. We
hypothesised that self-defining memories characterised by the experience of need satisfaction
would be associated with informational identity
processing styles and that self-defining memories
characterised by the experience of a need forcognitive closure would be associated with normative identity processing styles. In addition, we
expected these relationships to be specific to thedomain assessed. To test these hypotheses, we
asked participants to retrieve two self-defining
memories, one related to the domain of school
and the other related to the domain of friendship,
and we measured identity processing styles specificto each of these domains. In addition, we also
assessed satisfaction outcomes in the school
and friend domains. Based on past research(Berzonsky, 1989, 2011), we expected that informational identity processing styles in one domain
would be positively associated with satisfaction inthat domain, whereas normative identity stylewould be either unrelated to or negatively associated with its respective domain satisfaction.
We also wanted to investigate if the associations
between self-defining memories and outcomes
would be restricted to identity processing styles(full mediations) or if they would also be associatedwith outcomes over and above identity (partial
mediations). Episodic memories have been shownto contribute to important life outcomes, over andabove traits, identity variables and attitudes (e.g.,
Kuwabara & Pillemer, 2010; Milyavskaya, Philippe,& Koestner, 2013; Philippe et al., 2013). As such,memories’ role does not appear to be restrained tobuilding identity, but to also directly affect several
important life outcomes through its directive function (Pillemer, 2003). Consequently, we hypothesised that self-defining memories would be
associated with domain-related identity processing
styles as well as with domain-related satisfaction
and that this latter relationship would hold evenafter controlling for identity processing styles. Inline with the domain-dependent hypothesis, eachmemory was also expected to be related to outcomes in its respective domain only.

METHOD
Participants and procedure
A total of 581 undergraduate/graduate students(443 females, 138 males) from a Canadianuniversity took part in this study. Participants’mean age was 27.68 years (SD = 7.84 years). They
were contacted through their university email andinformed that we were conducting an online study
on identity and memory. As an incentive, participants were entered into a draw for one of threeprizes of $125.

Measures
Identity processing styles. A french version(Zimmermann, Mahaim, Mantzouranis, Genoud,& Crocetti, 2012) of the Identity Style Inventory-3(ISI-3; Berzonsky, 1992) was used to assess participants’ identity processing styles. The ISI-3 is a
widely used 40-item scale measuring information,
normative, commitment and diffuse identity orientations. In this study, only the information andnormative orientations were assessed, since ourhypotheses only tapped these two orientations.
We adapted items of the original ISI-3 to tap
friend and school identity processing styles. For
instance, original items of the ISI-3 such as “I’ve
spent a great deal of time thinking seriously about
what I should do with my life” (informational
item) or “Once I know the correct way to handle
a problem, I prefer to stick with it” (normativeitem) were modified to “I’ve spent a great deal oftime thinking seriously about with whom I should
spend time with in life” and “Once I know thecorrect way to handle a problem related to myfriends, I prefer to stick with it”to assess friend
identity processing styles. The same items werealso slightly modified to assess school identity
processing styles: “I’ve spent a great deal of time
thinking seriously about what domain I should
specialized myself in at school” and “Once I know
the correct way to handle a problem related toschool, I prefer to stick with it”. Only five items of
the informational and normative orientations
were adaptable to friend and school dimensions
without changing their original meaning. This
adaptation of the original ISI-3 to a domainspecific version is unique, since no research has
yet sought to empirically examine domain-specificidentity processing styles. Participants were asked
to rate all items on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = do
not agree at all; 5 = totally agree).
We conducted an exploratory factor analysis totest the factorial structure of our new domainspecific version of the ISI-3. This analysis yielded
four factors that corresponded to the normativeand informational dimensions of the friend andDownloaded by [Université du Québec à Montréal] at 09:36 28 March 2016

MEMORY CHARACTERISTICS AND IDENTITY PROCESSING STYLES

school domains. Most loadings were satisfying(above .39); except for one normative item whose
loading was .30. However, one of the five items of
the original normative dimension did not load on
its respective friend or school normative dimension and was therefore excluded. To ensure thateach identity style had the same number of items,
only four items (randomly selected) of bothinformational domains were kept. Cronbach’s
alphas were .56 for the friend and .52 for theschool normative dimensions and .61 for both thefriend and school informational dimensions.
These coefficients are lower than those of theoriginal informational (α = .70) and normative(α = .64) dimensions (Berzonsky, 1992), which is
expected given that our adapted subscales arecomposed of fewer items than the original ones
and that the alpha coefficient formula is strongly
affected by the number of items of a scale(Cronbach, 1951).
Friend and school satisfaction. We adapted
the items of the Satisfaction with Life Scale(Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) totap satisfaction in the friend (α = .90) and school(α = .88) domains. Sample items for satisfaction in
the friend domain are “In most ways my friendships are close to my ideal” and “I am satisfied
with my friends”. Sample items for satisfaction in
the school domain are “In most ways, my academic life is close to my ideals” and “I amsatisfied with my academic life”. All items wereaveraged in an index measuring satisfaction in thefriend domain (a = .90) and the school domain(a = .88).
Episodic memory. Participants described one
memory related to the friend domain and anothermemory related to the school domain. Instructions were derived from past research on selfdefining memories (Singer & Salovey, 1993; Sutin& Robins, 2005). The questionnaire asked theparticipants to describe:a personal memory of a specific event or momentthat you experienced with one or more of yourcurrent friends [or at school] which was significant (important) for you. Choose a memory that is
at least three months old and that often comes toyour mind. This memory can be positive, nega‐tive, or both.

The order of the friend and school memory
description was counterbalanced.

621

Ratings of memory characteristics. After des‐cribing their memory, participants were asked torate a number of items. A first set of three items
used in past research (Philippe et al., 2011, 2012)asked the participants to rate the degree of needsatisfaction they experienced at the moment theevent of their memory occurred. Participants madetheir ratings on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from−3 (strongly disagree) to + 3 (strongly agree), with
0 representing Do not agree nor disagree or not
applicable— this latter option indicating that there
was both need satisfaction and need thwarting in
the event or that need satisfaction was not present
in the event. One item assessed each of the threepsychological needs postulated by self-determination theory (i.e., autonomy, competence and relatedness). The item for autonomy is “I felt free to do
things and to think how I wanted”, for competence:“I felt confident of myself” and for relatedness:“I felt connected to one or more people”. All items
were averaged in an index measuring need satisfaction in the friend memory (a = .79) and theschool memory (a = .75).
A second set of five items asked participants torate the degree to which they experienced the needfor cognitive closure (Webster & Kruglanski, 1997)
at the moment the event of their memory occurred.
One item was created for each dimension of theneed for cognitive closure scale, that is, preference
for order (“I would have preferred the situation
to be more ordered”), preference for predictability,(“I would have preferred the situation to be moreeasily foreseeable”), decisiveness (“I would havepreferred to make the decisions I made in thatsituation more easily”), discomfort with ambiguity(“I would have preferred the situation to beclearer”) and closed-mindedness (“I would havepreferred getting the opinion of someone else toact in that situation”). These items’ wording closely
match the definitions of each dimension of the needfor closure scale (see Webster & Kruglanski, 1997).
All items were averaged in an index measuringneed for cognitive closure in the friend memory(a = .89) and the school memory (a = .91).

RESULTS
Table 1 presents the means, standard deviations
and correlational results of all study variables.
Friend informational identity style was positively
associated with friend satisfaction but not withschool satisfaction. School informational identity style was positively associated with school

622

BOUIZEGARENE AND PHILIPPE

TABLE 1Means, standard deviations, and correlations among identity processing styles, domain satisfaction, and memory characteristics
Variables

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(1) Friend IF identity(2) School IF identity(3) Friend NR identity(4) School NR identity(5) Friend satisfaction(6) School satisfaction(7) Friend-memory NS(8) School-memory NS(9) Friend-memory NFC(10) School-memory NFC

M

SD

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

3.51
3.79
2.83
2.99
3.87
4.78
1.12
0.94
−0.21
−0.28

0.70
0.68
0.73
0.75
0.67
1.28
1.53
1.53
1.68
1.65

−
.50**
.06
.02
.29**
.08
.10*
.07
−.04
.05

−
−.02
.05
.19**
.28**
.13**
.20**
−.08
−.08

−
.63**
.02
−.02
−.01
.05
.13**
.18**

−
−.01
.06
−.01
−.04
.12**
.14**

−
.27**
.25**
.13**
−.20**
−.10*

−
.20**
.30**
−.18**−.19**−.12**−.66**−.05−.09*−.64**−.26**

n = 581.
NR, normative; IF, informational; NS, need satisfaction; NFC, need for closure.
*p < .05; **p < .01.

satisfaction and weakly positively associated withfriend satisfaction. Both friend and school normative identity processing styles were unrelated toschool and friend satisfaction. These results replicate past research on identity processing styles,
showing that an informational style contributes topositive outcomes (Berzonsky, 1992). Also replicating past research (Milyavskaya et al., 2013;
Philippe et al., 2013), need satisfaction in memories for different domains (herein friend andschool) were only weakly positively correlatedwith each other. Need for cognitive closure inboth memories were also weakly positively correlated. These results support the assumption thatthe characteristics of distinct memories do notlargely reflect personal attributes such as traits.
Rather, each memory is unique and is associatedindependently one from another to domain identity processing styles and outcomes.
Need satisfaction in the friend memory was
positively associated with friend and school
informational identity as well as with friend andschool satisfaction. Need satisfaction in theschool-related memory was positively associatedwith school informational identity as well as withfriend and school satisfaction. Need for cognitive
closure in the friend- and school-related memory
was positively associated with friend and school
normative identity processing styles and negatively associated with friend and school satisfaction. Need satisfaction in the friend memory was
negatively associated with need for cognitive
closure in the friend memory, and need satisfaction in the friend memory was negatively

associated with need for cognitive closure in thefriend memory.
We conducted structural equation modeling(SEM) in order to test our model while controlling for all associations among the variables. Ourmodel was composed of four exogenous latentvariables (need for cognitive closure in the friend
and school memories, and need satisfaction in thefriend and school memories) and six endogenous
latent variables (school and friend informationaland normative identity processing styles andschool and friend satisfaction). Covariances werealso freely estimated between the two normative
identity processing styles, the two informational
identity processing styles, and between the twodomains satisfaction. The correlations between
the measurement errors of the same items of eachprocessing style in the other domain were also
estimated. Memory characteristics were modelled
to predict identity processing styles, which in turnwere modelled to predict domain satisfaction. In
addition, memory characteristics were also modelled to directly predict domains satisfaction(partial mediations). Figure 1 shows the final
model. Fit indices for this model were satisfactory, χ2(770, N = 581) = 1376.251, p < .01,
standardised root mean square residual = .047,
root mean square error of approximation = .037[.034; .040], comparative fit index = .94 andTucker–Lewis index = .94.
Need satisfaction in the school and in thefriend memories were both positively associatedwith school and friend informational identity
processing styles, respectively, but not with normative identity processing styles. Need satisfactionMEMORY CHARACTERISTICS AND IDENTITY PROCESSING STYLES

NR3

S1

IF2

.13*

FriendNS
Memory

.1 6

.54

.54
IF1

.21**

IF4

IF3

IF2

.48

2
.3

6
.7

.81

NR2

NR3

NR1

.70

SchoolNR
Identity.20***. 44

School
NFC
Memory

.6
3

.66
.80

.88

NFC5

SchoolSatisfaction

.91

.74

NFC4

*

.22**

.85
NFC3

.29

.88

SchoolNS
MemoryFriendSatisfaction

.35*
*

.48

NFC2

SchoolIF
Identity***.22

Relatedness
NFC1

**

.68

Competence

.85
.78
.39

.32***.17*

Relatedness

Autonomy

FriendIF
Identity

.63

.85
.49

IF4

4
.5

.15**

.80

S5

4
.8

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.59

AutonomyCompetence

.50

IF1

NFC5

S4

IF3

. 48

NFC4

.5
8

.87

FriendNR
Identity.11†

Friend
NFC
Memory

.80

.78

.86

.86
NFC3

S3

.90

5

.5
6

. 42

.3

2
.8

NFC2

S2

NR4

. 68

NR1

.75
.70

NR2

NFC1

623

S1

NR4

S5

S2

S3

S4

Figure 1. Structural equation model of the associations among need satisfaction and need for cognitive closure in both friend andschool memories, friend and school identity processing styles, and friend and school satisfaction. Covariance among the latentvariables and non-signiﬁcant associations were not shown for the sake of clarity, but were all included in the model.
S, Satisfaction; NR, normative; IF, informational; NS, need satisfaction; NFC, need for cognitive closure.
†p < .10; *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

in the school memory was only associated withinformational school identity processing style,whereas need satisfaction in the friend memory
was associated with both informational identity
processing styles. Conversely, need for cognitive
closure in the friend and school memories werepositively associated with both school and friend(p = .059) normative identity processing style but
not with any of the informational identity processing styles. These results suggest that different
characteristics of a same memory (need satisfaction and need for closure) are linked to different
identity processing styles, either an informational
or a normative one. Moreover, need satisfaction

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BOUIZEGARENE AND PHILIPPE

in memories appear to be more domain-specificthan need for closure.
The other part of the sequential model sought
to examine the contribution of identity processing
styles to friend and school satisfaction. It also
investigated whether memories would be strictly
associated to identity processing styles or if theywould also directly be linked to friend and school
satisfaction, over and above identity processing
styles. As can be seen in Figure 1, informational
friend identity was positively associated withfriend satisfaction only, whereas informational
school identity was positively associated withschool satisfaction only. Normative identity styles
did not predict either types of satisfaction. Of
importance, need satisfaction in the friend memory was positively associated with friend satisfaction only, whereas need satisfaction in the school
memory was positively associated with school
satisfaction only. These results were obtained
while controlling for the associations among all
memory characteristics and identity processing
styles and school and friend satisfaction. In
other words, need satisfaction in memories wereuniquely associated with satisfaction in thedomain in which the event of the memory
occurred, over and above domain-related identity
processing styles and other memory characteristics. These results not only highlight the role ofthe episodic level of experience in identity processing styles but also in important life outcomes.

DISCUSSION
The present study sought to examine the associations between memory and identity processing
styles in specific domains. Our main results support the existence of this association: the experiential components of need satisfaction and needfor cognitive closure in self-defining memories
were significantly associated with specific identity
processing styles. Indeed, need satisfaction in selfdefining memories were positively associated withinformational identity processing styles, whereas
need for cognitive closure in the same memories
were positively associated with normative identity
processing styles. These results support the ideathat specific experiential components of memories
are related to certain styles of identity processing.
Furthermore, these results supported our assumption that need satisfaction in key self-defining
memories would promote an openness towards self-relevant information, leading to an

informational identity processing style, whereas
need for cognitive closure would promote avoidance of self-relevant information and lead to anormative identity processing style. These findings
are of importance for both research on identity
processing styles and self-defining memories.
This study suggests that a single memory canencompass multiple experiential components, andthat each one is independently associated to
distinct outcomes. This implies that the various
experiential components of a single episodic
memory can each be related with different
aspects of personality, such as identity processing
styles, which further affirms the relevance ofassessing experiential components of memories.
The fact that a single memory was associated to
distinct identity processing styles may appear surprising given the relative orthogonality existing
between informational and normative processing
styles (e.g., Berzonsky, 1989, 2004; Berzonsky
et al., 2013). Orthogonality, however, does not
imply a mutually exclusive relationship, which
would be represented by an at least moderate
negative association between the two styles. The
relative null relationship existing between
informational and normative identity styles in asame domain rather implies that, grossly, somepeople use high level of one style and low level ofthe other, but also that some other people usehigh or low levels of both styles. A memory thatwould include both need satisfaction and need forcognitive closure would be related to high scoresof both informational and normative processing
styles, and thus contribute to explain a part of theorthogonality existing between these styles.
The fact that need for cognitive closure in eachmemory was associated with normative identity
styles in both domains may imply that they
actually reflect an underlying personality trait.
We believe our data rule out this alternative
explanation. The SEM presented controls forthe shared variances among all memory components and among all domain identity processing
styles. Therefore, whether domain-specific relationships are shown or not, if the memory
components, such as need for cognitive closure,of two distinct memories are independently
related to another variable, this means that eachrelates independently of each other to that othervariable. If memories were only a proxy variablereflecting the influence of a trait, when memories would be pitted against each other theywould cancel each other out or only one of thesememories would emerge as significant. OurDownloaded by [Université du Québec à Montréal] at 09:36 28 March 2016

MEMORY CHARACTERISTICS AND IDENTITY PROCESSING STYLES

results clearly demonstrate that need for closurein each memory is uniquely associated withnormative identity styles, albeit not in a domainspecific manner.
We replicated past findings that need satisfaction
is associated with openness and flexibility (Deci &Ryan, 2000), herein characterising informational
identity style (Berzonsky, 2011) and that need forcognitive closure is associated with rigidity andclose-mindedness (Webster & Kruglanski, 1997)
herein characterising normative identity style(Berzonsky, 2011). The present study extends theseresults by showing that these effects are also foundwhen need satisfaction and need for cognitive
closure are assessed at the episodic level. Finally,
the positive associations between informational
style and domain satisfaction extend research on
identity processing styles and show that, at least in
early adulthood, informational processing style is abetter predictor of satisfaction than normative
processing style.

Domain-specificity
Our hypothesis of domain-specificity received
mixed support. First, need for cognitive closure ineach of the two memories was associated with both
domains identity processing styles. However, needsatisfaction in memories displayed domain-specificity in four associations out of five: need satisfaction in the school-related memory was uniquely
associated with school satisfaction and school
informational identity processing style. In thefriend-related memory, need satisfaction was not
only associated with friend informational identity
processing style and friendship satisfaction but alsowith school informational identity processing style.
We controlled for the associations among all
memory characteristics and identity processing
styles in order to ensure that these associations
were specific to the unique memory assessed, andnot due to memory characteristics and identity
processing styles from other domains.
Our test of domain-specificity was stringent
since school and friendship are two domains thatoverlap a great deal; friends are often met in thecontext of school, especially among a sample ofyoung adults such as ours. The fact that needsatisfaction remained mostly domain-specific(four out of five associations), even with overlapping domains, makes this finding robust. Contrastingly, the fact that need for cognitive closure
did not display domain-specificity may imply that625

need for cognitive closure is unrelated to contextspecific identity structures. These findings have
implications with regard to the life story paradigm. Indeed, whereas narrative identity is often
measured using a compound of multiple memories in narrative research, the present study suggests that some types of experiential components
in different memories are associated with specificcontext-dependent aspects of identity processing
styles. Therefore, averaging themes together
across distinct memories might overlook an
important aspect of identity processes.
We have found that informational identity
processing style was associated with memory
components and satisfaction outcomes in adomain-specific manner. This result is of importance for identity research since it provides indirect
evidence in favour of the multiplicity and contextdependency view of identity (Conway & PleydellPearce, 2000; Higgins, 1987; Markus & Nurius,
1986; McConnell, 2010; Roberts & Donahue,1994), but here in terms of domain-specific identity
processing styles. As such, identity processing
styles do not seem to reflect a global and unitary
process at least as long as informational identity
processing styles is concerned. Rather, they seemto be fairly differentially associated with specificmemory components in domain-specific memories
and to show relationships with specific domain
satisfaction (school or friend). Conversely, normative identity processing style could reflect a moreglobal and unitary process, as it was not associatedwith memory components in a domain-specificmanner and both domains normative identity
styles were highly correlated with each other (r =.88). These results suggest that the same sociocognitive strategies characterising normative identity processing style would be applied acrosscontexts. Conversely, the strategies underlying an
informational identity processing style would differ
from one context to another (e.g., something canbe true in one context, but not in another). Further
research is needed to substantiate these claims.

Heterarchical model
We now wish to draw attention to an epistemological implication of our results: Our study provides
support for an heterarchical model of episodic
memories and identity processing styles, as
opposed to an hierarchical model. An hierarchicalmodel would imply that mental representations
are organised from the most basic and simple unitsDownloaded by [Université du Québec à Montréal] at 09:36 28 March 2016

626

BOUIZEGARENE AND PHILIPPE(e.g., self-defining memories) at the bottom end of
the hierarchy to the most global and abstract
units (e.g., identity styles, life outcomes) at the
top of the hierarchy (Cohen, 2000; Milyavskaya
et al., 2013). Such a model entails that lowerlevel representations are fully subsumed underhigher-level representations (e.g., Markus, 1977;
Vallerand, 1997). Conversely, in heterarchicalmodels, each level remains partly independent
one from another, and each is only partiallysubsumed under each other. As such, each level
can uniquely contribute to build all upper levels,
not just the one immediately superior to it. Our
results underscore the role of the episodic level ofexperience in structuring identity processing styles
and life outcomes (i.e., domain satisfaction), over
and above their association to identity processing
styles. As such, our study adds support to an
heterarchical model of the role of episodic memories in personality. Indeed, need satisfaction inmemories was associated with informational identity processing styles as well as with satisfaction,over and above the positive association between
informational identity processing style and satisfaction. These results echo those of Milyavskaya
and colleagues (2013) who provided evidence foran heterarchical organisation of need satisfaction
at the episodic, domain and general level and its
impact on well-being.

Limitations
Some of our study limitations ought to be underscored. Our cross-sectional data are inconclusivewith regard to the directionality (or bidirectionality) of the relation between memory characteristics and identity processing styles. Experimental
and longitudinal studies should be conducted toassess whether self-defining memories have a
direct effect on identity processing styles or toinvestigate the extent of each reciprocal effect.
Also, the use of self-report methodologies toassess identity processing styles, satisfaction,need satisfaction and need for cognitive closure
in memories might have increased the associations among the variables, due to shared method
variance. Finally, our sample has low ecologicalvalidity in that it is mostly composed of undergraduate and graduate students, and includes
mostly females. Future research should be conducted using a sample more representative of thegeneral population. In addition, different results
could be expected with middle-aged and older
adults. Perhaps that self-defining memories havea weaker relationship with identity processing
styles (which are more stable) passed 30 or 35
years old.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by theauthors.

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