Narrative Identity Flashcards
what are the 3 trait approaches to personality
eysenck’s PEN model
gray’s RST model
costa & mccrae’s FFM
what is mcadams’ narrative personality
a personality that captures how an individual defines themself through the construction of a coherent and purposeful life story
how does mcadams critique trait theories
traits aren’t grounded in a cultural or sociohistorical context
what 3 assumptions are mcadams’ theory based on
selfhood is not given, it’s made
the self develops over time
people seek temporal coherence in their self
what is mcadams’ integrative theory of personality
level 1 - traits
level 2 - personal concerns
level 3 - narrative identity
what is level 1 of mcadams’ theory of personality
traits
based on a five factor model OCEAN
decontextualised and fairly stable across lifespan
what is level 2 of mcadams’ theory of personality
personal concerns
motives, values, goals
involves focus on motivation and is contextualised within a specific time or place
what is level 3 of mcadams’ theory of personality
narrative identity
the life story constructed from autobiographical memory
why are personal concerns not the whole picture
they do not present a unified identity of the person across time and places
do not give us a sense of what life experiences mean to the person
what is a life story interview LSI
a method used to collect data on narrative identity
qualitative interview (2-3 hours)
person divides their life into chapters
what are the 5 common codes developed from LSIs
agency (control over events)
communion (relationships)
redemption (resolution for challenging events)
contamination (things we expect to go well going wrong)
meaning making (connecting events to ourselves)
how do we measure narrative identity
to capture individual differences in narrative style, researchers will average a REDEMPTION across all life scenes
why does dunlop not like the measuring of narrative identity
it is a de-contextualised approach across different life domains
what is the contextualized approach to narrative identity
averages constructs across specific life domains (e.g., love or work)
this approach only collects narratives from relevant life domains
what is mclean et al’s structure of narrative identity
cyclical
<-autobiographical reasoning ->
<-affective & motivational ->
<-structure ->
can go in any direction
why is narrative identity important
not just random stories
for it to be a level of personality, it must predict important life outcomes
researchers often focus on health and well-being outcomes
narrative identity leads to purpose & meaning, leads to wellbeing
what did mcadams et al find regarding redemption in narrative identity
showed increased psychological wellbeing
what did alder et al find regarding their narrative identity and mental health in study 1
it isn’t able to predict physical health
robustly predicted in mental health
what did alder et al find in study 2
poorer trajectories of physical (not mental) health over 2 years in illness group compared to control group
what did dunlop and tracy find regarding narrative identity and behaviour
redemption significantly predicted sobriety
the health of ppts in the redemption group was significantly improved
what did adler find regarding agency in narrative identity
agency increased over 12 weeks of psychotherapy
no evidence of changes in narrative coherence
trait neuroticism decreased over sessions
what 3 things did adler et al find regarding incremental validity in narrative identity
strong evidence that affective constructs predicts wellbeing
strong evidence that autobiographical reasoning predicted wellbeing
little data assessing the relationship between structural constructs and wellbeing
