29/11/2025
‘Q’ was one of the trickiest letters in this A–Z series. There simply aren’t many psychologists whose names begin with Q.
But during my Master’s, I’d come across fascinating work in cross-cultural psychology, and it stayed with me. So today’s post is about someone whose research has reshaped how we understand memory and identity: Qi Wang.
Her work shows that the stories we tell about ourselves (our autobiographical memories) aren’t just shaped by time or personal experience. They are shaped by the cultural worlds we grow up in.
You may remember moments of individuality and confidence, while someone else recalls connection, responsibility, or humility.
While both memories are real and true, they come from different cultural storytelling traditions. Qi Wang only discovered that memory isn’t universal, but cultural.
We don’t just remember. We remember in the way we were taught to matter.
