Name: DaEun Kim

School of Psychology- Ph.D Dissertation Defense Meeting

Date: Friday June 26, 2026

Time: 10:00 – 12:00

Location: Virtual

Zoom Link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/96632680979

Advisor:

Dr. Hsiao-Wen Liao, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

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

Abstract: 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, the current research examined the role of self in autobiographical past and future thinking, specifically whether having a clear and stable sense of self correlates with greater intraindividual similarities of past and future thinking. Study 1 revealed that self-concept clarity was significantly associated with phenomenological similarities and marginally associated with motivational similarities, which paved ways for an experiment in Study 2. Study 2 experimentally manipulated self-concept clarity and tested its impact on the parallel of autobiographical past and future events among younger and older adults. The experimental effect on intraindividual similarities of past and future thinking was not found. Instead, self-concept clarity assessed at baseline appeared to predict greater phenomenological and reasoning in mental time travel, regardless of age. Self-concept clarity also predicted greater achievement and relationship motivations in younger adults’ autobiographical events. These findings suggest that individual differences in the experience of and reflection on mental time travel may be grounded in individual differences in self-representations.