Denise Beike
I am a social and cognitive psychologist interested in the cognitive processes used in remembering and adapting to life events. My primary area of interest is autobiographical memory, or memory for life experiences.
In collaboration with my students, I have found that when remembrance of a life event is accompanied by a subjective sense of closure, health and well-being benefits follow. Memories lack closure when they are recollected with a great deal of emotion. The emotion causes the memory to evoke goal-related behavior. Thus, gaining closure can lead to a sense of completion about a life experience and even forgiveness of another person. Because closure is a property of the memory, it can be achieved by creative rehearsal strategies. Focusing on aspects of the memory that are objective rather than emotional, and aspects that are understood rather than poorly understood, both result in increased closure.
My secondary research interests include the self, specifically temporal aspects of self-concept representation; emotion, specifically expectations about and memories for emotional experiences; goals and implementation intentions; and counterfactual thinking.
Primary Interests:
- Emotion, Mood, Affect
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Life Satisfaction, Well-Being
- Motivation, Goal Setting
- Self and Identity
- Social Cognition
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Video Gallery
"Driven to Doctorate" Interview
Books:
Journal Articles:
- Beike, D. R., & Landoll, S. L. (2000). Striving for a consistent life story: Cognitive reactions to autobiographical memories. Social Cognition, 18, 292-318.
- Beike, D. R., & Wirth-Beaumont, E. T. (2005). Psychological closure as a memory phenomenon. Memory, 13, 574-593.
- Beike, D. R., Adams, L. P., & Wirth-Beaumont, E. T. (2007). Incomplete inhibition of emotion in specific autobiographical memories. Memory, 15(4), 375-389.
- Goldinger, S. D., Kleider, H., Azuma, T., & Beike, D. R. (2003). “Blaming the victim” under memory load. Psychological Science, 14, 81-85.
Other Publications:
- Beike, D. R., & Niedenthal, P. M. (1998). Processes of temporal self-comparison in self-evaluation and life satisfaction. In P. T. P. Wong & P. S. Fry (Eds.), The human quest for meaning: A handbook of psychological research and clinical applications (pp. 71-89). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Beike, D. R., Kleinknecht, E. K., & Wirth-Beaumont, E. T. (2004). How emotional and non-emotional memories define the self. In D. R. Beike, J. M. Lampinen, & D. A. Behrend (Eds.), The self and memory (pp. 141-159). New York: Psychology Press.
Denise Beike
Department of Psychology
216 Memorial Hall
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701
United States of America
- Phone: (479) 575-5817
- Fax: (479) 575-3219