Generational Effects: Past, Present, and Future

是什么定义了“一代人”的集体身份？人们普遍认为，但很少有系统的研究表明，近代历史上的形成性事件（如30年代的大萧条、越南战争或工作场所的计算机化）是如何在当时活着的几代人之间以不同的方式经历的。这个项目将复制和扩展过去的工作，关注个人集体记忆的代际影响。推动这项研究的一般问题是，不同的代际群体是否有受公共事件影响的独特记忆，如果是这样，在他们的一生中，什么时候事件会给他们留下最深刻的印象或任何难忘的印象？首席调查员最近发表的工作在某一时间点上确定了发生在青春期和成年早期的政治事件的不成比例的影响，而不是发生在更早或更晚的年份。这里提出的工作将复制这一结果，并进一步探讨这一结论成立的事件范围（政治，但也包括科学和技术发展）、对这一效应的解释以及对当前态度和行动的后果。//

What defines the collective identity of a 'generation'? Commonly perceived but rarely studied systematically is the way in which formative events of the recent historic past (like the Thirty's depression, the Vietnam war or the computerization of the workplace) are differently experienced by various generations then alive. This project will replicate and extend past work concerned with generational effects on the collective memories of individuals.The general question driving this work is whether different generational groups have distinctive memories that are shaped by public eventsand if so, when in the course of their lives do events make their strongest impression or any memorable impression at all? Recently published work by the Principal Investigator has established, atone point in time, the disproportionate influence of political events occurring during the adolescence and early adult years, rather than in earlier or later years. The work proposed here would replicate the result and probe further into the range of events (political, but also scientific and technological developments) for which it is true,the explanations of this effect and the consequences for currentattitudes and actions. //