Preamble Narratives and Social Memory - Universidade do Minho

Cabecinhas, R. & Abadia, L. (eds.) (2013)Narratives and social memory: theoretical and methodological approachesBraga: University of MinhoISBN: 978-989-8600-04-2pp. 25 -45The Lay Historian: How OrdinaryPeople Think about HistoryOlivier KleinUniversité Libre de Bruxelles, Belgiumoklein@ulb.ac.beAbstractSocial psychology has mainly studied collective memory as a collectively shared contenti.e., as a social representation. By contrast, cognitive psychology appraises memory withlittle interest in its content and at a generally individual level. In this chapter, I suggesta middle ground between these two approaches by presenting a new metaphor of howordinary folks think about history: the “lay historian”. I consider how historians’ approachesto the past may find parallels in ordinary people’s construction of historical representations.In order to do so, I borrow from Paul Ricoeur’s (2000) distinction between three stepsinvolved in historical research: documentary, explanatory and representational. I show thatthese steps can find parallels in cognitive analyses of memory: The first process can beapproached in terms of source memory; the second in terms of causal attribution and thethird in terms of social psychological models of communication. A special focus is placedon the interaction between these processes as they occur both in historical research andin the elaboration of historical memory. These parallels also highlight novel paths tofuture research. In turn, this metaphor may be used as a heuristic tool for comparinghistorians’ and ordinary people’s appraisals of the past.KeywordsHistory; Collective Memory; Social Cognition; Hindsight Bias; Explanation; Narration«We capture from the past only what, in it, has been necessary and sufficient toproduce what, today, is reality» (Raymond Aron, 1969) 1When we reflect on history – and when I say “we”, I refer to those of us who do not holda degree in history – we do not just passively retrieve representations of the past that arestored in memory. Rather, we craft new ones, building on the store of knowledge accumulatedduring our existence. Thus, the historian does not hold a monopoly on thinking aboutthe past. Her knowledge is actually germane to psychology if, like Marc Bloch (1947/1993),we view history as the «science of men of the past».This is particularly blatant for a parent. Once, my then 6-year old daughter askedme “why did Hitler become mean?” Responding to this question demanded to recollectdisparate bits of knowledge about the Führer’s existence. I could select different types1 Cited by Leduc (2010, p. 712), my translation.