Looking Back at Memories

Just as a prelude to what I am about to discuss, it may be a little hard to understand at first, but stay with me.

Ever notice that when you recall a memory, you aren't looking at other people from your own perspective, but from an outsiders view? In other words you are reflecting at the scene as though you are looking at a fish in a fishbowl. You see the situation from a third person perspective as opposed to first person.

While it is possible to think about memories from a first and third person perspective, the idea that we are sometimes the "outsider" of our own memories intrigued me. What does this say about human nature? Does this outsider view reflect how I have changed as a person?

In a study done by Cornell University, faculty had subjects reflect on their present selves and their high school selves. They had the subjects rate themselves on their social skills before and after high school, invoking a third person perspective. The study concluded that the "third-person recall produces judgments of greater self-change when people are inclined to look for evidence of change, but lesser self-change when they are inclined to look for evidence of continuity." This third person perspective seems to be a way of reflecting on the past as someone different, someone who you weren't before.

This isn't to say that we are changed people because of the way we view a memory. But it may reveal something about how we feel about the people or the place in the memory. This weekend I caught myself recalling my trip to Israel in the third person. While I have no bad memories from the trip, I am not as close as I used to be with the people that were there with me, so this space between us may be creating a third person perspective. So next time you catch yourself recalling a memory from an outside perspective, take a step back and ask yourself why.