McAdam's Three-Level Theory of Personality

Question 1

McAdam’s critique of trait theories

Answer 1

Big Five may not be comprehensive enough - makes the whole of personality to be synonymous with traits - McAdams 1996
Traits do not explain individuality
Traits are not grounded in cultural or sociohistorical context - personality shaped by environment
Trait theories not enough - decontextualised descriptions of a person
What about goals, motivations, contextual behaviour?

Question 2

Historical background of McAdam’s theory

Answer 2

Not born with preprogrammed identities, constantly developing and changing - selfhood is made
People seek temporal coherence in their self
Self develops over time

Question 3

William James (1892) - Duplex Self

Answer 3

I and Me
I - process of building identity out of our experiences
Me - outcomes or products of the I-ing process - conclusions about self from reflections on experiences
Development of the Me can change over time

Question 4

McAdams’ Integrative Theory of Personality

Answer 4

Trait level theory of personality
Social approach to personality
Individual differences in life narratives

Question 5

What are the levels in McAdams theory?

Answer 5

Level 1 - Traits e.g. FFM
Level 2 - Personal concerns = motivations and values
Level 3 - Life Stories = coherent narrative of our lives, connection between past, present and future

Question 6

Level 1: Traits

Answer 6

FFM - OCEAN
Dispositional signatures of personality
Decontextualised - stable
Traits do not reveal information on conditional patterns of personality
Act differently in different situations

Question 7

Level 2: Personal Concerns

Answer 7

Motives, values, goals, beliefs, skills, coping styles….
Broadest level of personality
Contextualised within time, place and role
Reflects what a person wants/doesn’t want
Evidence drawn from other areas in psychology

Question 8

What is Erikson’s model (1968)?

Answer 8

A developmental model - motivations change as we develop

Question 9

Why are personal concerns not the whole picture?

Answer 9

Do not present a unified identity sense of the person across time, place, and role
Do not provide a sense of what the life experiences mean to a person
Specific at certain times of life

Question 10

Level 3: Life Stories

Answer 10

Who you were, who you are now and who you will be
Formtion of narrative identity
Based on facts and experiences - psychosocial constructs

Question 11

What is a narrative identity?

Answer 11

Occurs in late adolescence/young adulthood - before this time presented by facts not constructed as a narrative
Integrates experiences into coherent and meaningful identity
‘Internalised and evolving narrative of the self that incorporates the reconstructed past, perceived present, and anticipated future.’ (McAdams, 1996)

Question 12

What is the life story interview?

Answer 12

Method used to collect data on narrative identity

Question 13

What is the structure of the life story interview?

Answer 13

Positions participant as storyteller
In-depth, 2-3 hours - rich, qualitative data
Divides life story into distinct chapters
Describes key scenes, characters and plots

Question 14

Which dimensions do researchers code for in life stories?

Answer 14

Agency - how in control, ablitiy to handle challenges
Communion - loving relationships, connections
Personal growth - positive change from experience
Meaning making - understanding why something happened (can be positive or negative)

Question 15

What do McAdams & McLean (2013) say about narrative identity?

Answer 15

Life story that is constructed from autobiographical memory
An evolving, integrative account which provides temporal coherence and meaning
Answer to ‘Who Am I?’ question

Question 16

According to McAdams & McLean (2013), what are developmental facilitated by?

Answer 16

Parent-child conversations
Social interactions
Meaning-making is critical
Occurs in adolescence due to age-related increases in meaning-making skills

Question 17

What is the importance of narrative identity?

Answer 17

Life stories have a predictive value

Question 18

What is redemption in narrative identity?

Answer 18

When the person describes how a negative event led to a positive outcome - McAdams 2013

Question 19

How is qualitative data encoded?

Answer 19

Given scores - rated on different variables - whether or not present and to what extent

Question 20

What needs to be considered when coding data?

Answer 20

Coding can be subjective - more than one person coding - need inter-rate reliability
Coders need to interpret stories in same way

Question 21

What is a contamination story?

Answer 21

Negative change with no redemption

Question 22

What is the relation between redemption and well-being?

Answer 22

More enhanced well-being than those who don’t use redemption

Question 23

Redemption in the US - McAdams 2013

Answer 23

Master narrative - American dream
Ingrained in the culture and internalised by people to a certain extent
Redemption is a socially desirable script for US

Question 24

McAdams et al. 2001

Answer 24

74 mid-life adults completed life story interview and 125 UG students completed written version
Redemption and contamination sequences coded + self-report questionnaires on well-being
Redemption - positive correlation with life satisfaction and negative with depression
Vice versa for contamination stories
Correlations don’t control for other factors and can’t imply causation

Question 25

Alder et al. 2015 - Study 1

Answer 25

89 late/mid-life adults recruited from longitudinal study that included life story interview
Mental and physical health assessed 5 times
4 life scenes selected: high point, low point, greatest health challenge and turning point
Each scene coded for agency, communion, redemption and contamination
Do individual differences in narrative identity predict change in mental and physical health over 4 years
Averaging across the 4 life scenes:
Agency - positive trajectory with mentla helth
Communion no significance
Redemption - positive trajectory with mental health
Contamination - negative trajectory with mental health
Narrative identity is important particularly during difficult experiences

Question 26

Alder et al. 2015 - Study 2

Answer 26

54 participants from existing longitudinal study: 27 had major illness diagnosis between baseline and T2, 27 matched with no diagnosis
Abbreviated life story interview
Illness group:
Agency = postive MH
Communion = positive MH
Redemption = positive MH
Contamination = negative MH
Control group:
No significant changes in MH or PH

Question 27

Dunlop & Tracy 2013

Answer 27

44 participants - recovering alcoholics
T1 - narrative on last drink + questionnaires on health, personality, months of sobriety
T2 - 4 months later, repeat questionnaire
Redemption narrative significantly predicted sobriety
Health of redemption group significantly improved from T1 to T2
Findings hold when controlling for personality, mental health, AA involvement and narrative features

Question 28

McLean, Pasupathi, Greenhoot & Fivush 2016

Answer 28

Are there differences within a person across their narration of similar types of events
2 studies: Participants provide narratives on either low point, self-defining memory, high point, trauma or transgression
Narrtives coded for coherence, autobiographical reasoning, emotional expression and resolution
Most within person variability from resolution, lower for coherence and meaning-making
Relationships to well-being depended on type and context of the narrative:
- Greater variability in contextual coherence of self-defining memories was related to lower well-being.
- Greater variability in resolution in low points was not related to well-being.

Question 29

Issues with McAdams Theory

Answer 29

Unique stories - difficult to generalise
Small effects (but meaningful)
Narratives usually ssessed at only one time point
Evidence to show narrative identity predicts mental health but less evidence predicted behaviour