Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Meeting

Time: Thursday February 26th, 2026 2:30PM

Location: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/96320587686

Advisor: Hsiao-Wen Liao (Georgia Tech)

Dissertation Committee Members:

Dr. Paul Verhaeghen - (Georgia Tech)

Dr. Dingjing Shi - (Georgia Tech)

Dr. Tammy Tran - (Georgia Tech)

Dr. Sarah Barber - (Georgia State University)

Title: Self-Representation Stability and Intraindividual Similarities of Autobiographical Past and Future Thinking

Autobiographical memory research has extended its focus to include episodic future thinking, finding that the way people imagine mirrors the way they remember. However, most research primarily focuses on between-individual similarities in how past and future events are experienced (phenomenology). There has been less attention to within-individual similarity between past and future thinking, as well as to other aspects that may demonstrate a parallel. Drawing on the Self-Memory System model and narrative identity research, this research proposes that stable self-representations organize both memory and imagination, guiding similar profiles of phenomenology, autobiographical reasoning, and motivational themes across past and future events. This proposal has two aims: a) systematically operationalize the parallel as intraindividual similarity of past and future thinking, and b) test whether having stable self-representations (i.e., self-concept clarity) is related to the parallel. Using Q-correlations, Study 1 examined correlational associations between self-stability and intraindividual similarity. Self-concept clarity was positively associated with phenomenological and motivational similarities. The proposed Study 2 addresses these limitations and tests whether developmental differences in self-stability moderate the causal effect. by experimentally manipulating self-concept clarity using a 2 (clarity: high vs. low) x 2 (age group: younger vs. older) design. Study 2 tests whether self-concept clarity causally influences intraindividual similarities and whether age moderates this effect. Together, the proposed research will extend the literature with novel methodology and provide a better understanding of the pivotal role of self in guiding how autobiographical past and future thinking are experienced and connected.