Lecture 20 Flashcards
Narrative identity
The internalized and evolving story of the self that the person consciously and unconsciously contructs to bind together the many different aspects of the self
Relations to big 5 traits
High in:
C stories contain joy in work accomplishment
A joy in social accomplishment
N Negative emotions and contamination plots
O stories are especially complex; multiple plots, higher level of coherence
Relation to level 2
The stories strongly relate to level 2
Big 3 motives come through in the troy
Psychosocial stage determines the focus of the story
Attachment manifests in whether the story is optimistic or not
Autonomy is displayed by whether you are an actor or an agent in your story and how much control you give your charecter.
The life story method
Get people to talk about their lives, broken down into chapters
Choose eight key episodes High point Low point Turning point Earliest memory Important childhood episode Important adolescent episode Important adult episode One other important episode
Life challenge - describe the biggest choices you face
Main characters - Describe character who is the most positive and negative
Future plot - projects what will happen next
Personal ideology - questions of fundamental values
Life theme - Identify a single life theme
CHAPTER 8
Anecdote: profs mom’s 3 stories
Born in Austria, now Romania Had to move to Germany Went to an Audstrian prison of war camp Eventually settled in Austria Went to hitler yoth camp Ran away made it home
Dad fought in WW2, captured by british and well looked after
Ran a store for the british in Austria
She met him at a dance when looking down at the dancers
He went upstairs
She bewitched him
Went to USA at 18
Worked as a maid that dad sorted for her
Said she would quit, he dumped her
Got a job at a knitting mill for 4x the pay
He turned up with flowers and they got married
Moms story scores very high for agency and low in communion
Is kind of like a historical melodrama
She went out on her own and neglected her widowed mother. Felt guilty for that.
Kind of a typical immigrant story
Coding a life story for themes
Evaluate it in literary terms
Agency
Individuals autonomy, achievement, mastery and ability to influence the course of their own life
Communion
Interpersonal connectedness
Redemption
Bad things become good
Contamination
Good things become bad
Coherence
2 aspects:
Causal - linking life to ones developing sense of self
Thematic - evaluative or reflective connections between episodes in the story
Complexity
Meaning making
Quality of stories
Increases as a developmental process
Should have:
Coherence Openness Credibility - should be believable Differentiation - Should be like a rich tv show where characters develop, just like you Reconciliation - do conflicts resolve?
Life stories and psychotherapy
McAdams point of view is that psychotherapy provides an opportunity to refine and strengthen your life story narrative
A collaborative revision of a life narrative that is no longer serving the person well
Psychotherapy process research
Common factors in therapy:
1 - Therapeutic alliance
2 - Autonomous motivation
3 - Narrative disclosure
Disclosure is 50% regardless of the type of therapy though some put more emphasis on this
(3) is relevant here
It is a collaborative process which helps you find your voice and helps you tell your story
Psychotherapy process research (study)
50 out patients
Mean age 36
70% female
50% problems in life, 50% mental illness
Cog behave, integrative, psychodynamic
12 sessions
Complete life narrative before the start
Baseline measures of mental health issues and big 5
Two paragraphs after each session (narrative)
End of study, assessment of mental health issues, ego development and big 5 traits
Ego development
ask 18 X is… questions (ie change is…)
Taps into he we ego development: how we develop as full humans
Can code for levels of complexity of self organization
Psychotherapy process research (study) - results
Agency themes increase across assessment points
Agency themes are significantly associated with improved mental health (not really communion)
Changes in agency themes occur temporarily prior to changes in mental health
Results hold when controlling for big 5
N is reduced with time
Coherence is sig related to ego development
Other ways to change life narrative
new experiences
profs mom met an electrician when she was 52 and experienced many things, got better
You can evaluate a life story
In literal terms using the structure described
Life stories
contribute to well being
