In 2 studies, the authors examined autobiographical memories for the presence of 2 growth orientations that were expected to correspond differentially to maturity and well-being, which are considered to be key facets of "the good life" by L. A. King (2001). Mature participants emphasized integrative memories (conceptual integration and learning), whereas happy participants emphasized intrinsic memories (humanistic concerns). Both kinds of growth memories correlated more strongly with eudaimonic than with hedonic measures of well-being. Growth memories were largely independent of Big Five traits in relation to maturity and well-being. Finally, older participants were more likely than younger participants to have greater maturity (marginally) and well-being, but this was in part explained by older participants' greater tendency to have growth memories. The discussion considers the role of growth memories in the intentional cultivation of the good life.In the age-old debate over what constitutes a good life, two qualities have stood the test of time. The first is happiness. The second is meaning. Aristotle held that a particular variety of happiness was the greatest good, a happiness dealing not merely with pleasure but with the combination of pleasure and virtue. He claimed that such happiness was not easily attained, because it required considerable doses of both leisure and luck, not to mention the emotional and cognitive capacities required to balance pleasure and virtue. Although the idea that happiness and virtue go hand in hand has continued to the present day, empirical research has consistently shown that virtue-related phenomena (e.g., moral reasoning, maturity, and meaning making) hold little relationship to happiness and well-being (Flanagan, 1991).

If a person's internalized and evolving life story (narrative identity) is to be considered an integral feature of personality itself, then aspects of that story should manifest some continuity over time while also providing evidence regarding important personality change. Accordingly, college freshmen and seniors provided detailed written accounts of 10 key scenes in their life stories, and they repeated the same procedure 3 months and then 3 years later. The accounts were content analyzed for reliable narrative indices employed in previous studies of life stories: emotional tone, motivational themes (agency, communion, personal growth), and narrative complexity. The results showed substantial continuity over time for narrative complexity and positive (vs. negative) emotional tone and moderate but still significant continuity for themes of agency and growth. In addition, emerging adults (1) constructed more emotionally positive stories and showed (2) greater levels of emotional nuance and self-differentiation and (3) greater understanding of their own personal development in the 4th year of the study compared to the 1st year. The study is the first to demonstrate both temporal continuity and developmentalThe authors would like to thank Michelle Green, Emily Kissel, Gina Logan, Ruth McAdams, and Allen Swanson for their assistance in data collection, coding, and analysis. The authors would also like to thank Jonathan Adler, Emily Durbin, and three anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. The research described herein was supported by a grant to the first author to establish the Foley Center for the Study of Lives at Northwestern University. Address correspondence to: Dan P. McAdams, Foley Center for the Study of Lives, Northwestern University, 2120 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208. E-mail: dmca@ northwestern.edu. Narrative approaches to personality suggest that people create meaning and purpose in their lives through the construction of life stories (Hermans, 1996;McAdams, 1985McAdams, , 1999Singer, 2004;Thorne, 2000;Tomkins, 1987). People explain who they are, how they came to be, and where they believe their lives may be going by formulating, telling, and revising stories about the personal past and the imagined future (Bruner, 1990). A person's life story is an internalized and evolving narrative of the self that selectively reconstructs the past and anticipates the future in such a way as to provide a life with an overall sense of coherence and purpose. Like dispositional traits, it has been argued, individual differences in the structure and content of life stories represent significant and measurable aspects of personality itself (Hooker & McAdams, 2003;McAdams, 1995). In that traits sketch out broad consistencies in behavior and experience, trait assessments ultimately yield a dispositional profile of psychological individuality (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 1994). By contrast, life stories speak to how a person integrates his or her life in time and social context...

Two studies of adults examined personal narratives of life-changing decisions in relation to personality and well-being. Participants whose decision narratives emphasized a crystallization of desire (i.e., approaching a desired future) rather than a crystallization of discontent (i.e., escaping an undesired past; Baumeister, 1991, 1994) reported higher well-being, fewer avoidance strivings, lower Neuroticism (in Study 1 only), and better decision outcomes (in Study 2). However, neither strivings, traits, nor outcomes accounted for the relationship between crystallization of desire and well-being. The discussion considers the roles of life-changing decisions and personal narratives in research on personality, well-being, and positive personal development.

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