The good, the bad and the memory: An overview

Despite the time lapse since our presentation we hope you may have spent some time contemplating the role of memories in the construction of places and we hope this comes as a reminder to trigger such thought!

The aims central to our discussion are as follows:

• To discuss whether memories make place or place makes memories
• To assess the difference between good and bad memories and their association with place
  

If you missed our lecture the other week we got all of the theoretical background out of the way and defined place and memory before exploring the above aims within a Jeremy Kyle style chat show. This highlighted how personal interpretation of such ideas results in a variety of perspectives and answers. From such analysis/discussion we discovered the following:

1. That stereotypical ideas of good and bad memories exist. Differences were found here in the application of such memories with good memories being commonly associated with places (e.g. the beach, the home, a night out) while bad memories tend to focus more on an action or experience (Being attacked, a crash, being ill).

'Another Place' by Antony Gormley. Artwork on a Merseyside beach - not only a common idea of a 'happy place' but also making connections between man and the landscape.

2. Significant gender patterns were also discovered within the literature and our own research. Here females commonly thought that the memories created the place with literature suggesting this to be due to their more emotional state. Conversely, males believed that the place was more significant in creating a memory, with a day watching football at a stadium being one of the common examples used.

3. The concluding point here however was that the emphasis of memory in constructing a place differs greatly depending on the individual, their background and the experiences they have had.

We hope our contribution was thought provoking and we have included a few references for those who wish to explore these ideas further.

Kim, Sam, Sarah R, Sarah H and Matt.

•Adams, S., Kueblie, J., Bayle, P. A. and Fivush, R. (1995) ‘Gender differences in Parent-child conversations about past emotions: A longitudinal Investigation’, Sex roles, 33, 309-323.

•Bluck, S. (2003) ‘Autobiographical memory: Exploring its functions in everyday life’, Memory, 11, 113-123.

•Knez, I. (2006) ‘Autobiographical memories for places’, Memory, 14, 359-377.

•Said, E.W. (2000) Intention, Memory and Place. Critical Inquiry 26(2) pp. 175-192.

•Twigger-Ross, C. L. and Uzzel, D. L. (1996) ‘Place and identity processes’, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 16, 205-220.