A robust empirical literature suggests that individual differences in the thematic and structural aspects of life narratives are associated with and predictive of psychological well-being. However, one limitation of the current field is the multitude of ways of capturing these narrative features, with little attention to overarching dimensions or latent factors of narrative that are responsible for these associations with well-being. In the present study we uncovered a reliable structure that accommodates commonly studied features of life narratives in a large-scale, multi-University collaborative effort. Across three large samples of emerging and mid-life adults responding to various narrative prompts (N = 855 participants, N = 2565 narratives), we found support for three factors of life narratives: motivational and affective themes, autobiographical reasoning, and structural aspects. We also identified a "functional" model of these three factors that reveals a reduced set of narrative features that adequately captures each factor. Additionally, motivational and affective themes was the factor most reliably related to well-being. Finally, associations with personality traits were variable by narrative prompt. Overall, the present findings provide a comprehensive and robust model for understanding the empirical structure of narrative identity as it relates to well-being, which offers meaningful theoretical contributions to the literature, and facilitates practical decision making for researchers endeavoring to capture and quantify life narratives.

Agency and communion are fundamental human motives, often conceptualized as being in tension. This study examines the notion that moral exemplars overcome this tension and adaptively integrate these 2 motives within their personality. Participants were 25 moral exemplars-recipients of a national award for extraordinary volunteerism-and 25 demographically matched comparison participants. Each participant responded to a life review interview and provided a list of personal strivings, which were coded for themes of agency and communion; interviews were also coded for the relationship between agency and communion. Results consistently indicated that exemplars not only had both more agency and communion than did comparison participants but were also more likely to integrate these themes within their personality. Consistent with our claim that enlightened self-interest is driving this phenomenon, this effect was evident only when agency and communion were conceptualized in terms of promoting interests (of the self and others, respectively) and not in terms of psychological distance (from others) and only when the interaction was observed with a person approach and not with the traditional variable approach. After providing a conceptual replication of these results using different measures elicited in different contexts and relying on different coding procedures, we addressed and dismissed various alternative explanations, including chance co-occurrence and generalized complexity. These results provide the first reliable evidence of the integration of motives of agency and communion in moral personality.

This article provides a primer for researchers seeking an introduction to quantitative narrative research methods. It represents a consensus document of most common practices used by the coauthors. Key elements of conducting narrative research (e.g., asking narrative questions, designing narrative prompts, collecting narratives, coding narratives) are discussed along with limitations to this approach and future directions.

The present research examined whether the production of a narrative containing self-redemption (wherein the narrator describes a positive personality change following a negative experience) predicts positive behavioral change. In Study 1, we compared the narratives of alcoholics who had maintained their sobriety for over 4 years with those of alcoholics who had been sober 6 months or less. When describing their last drink, the former were significantly more likely to produce a narrative containing self-redemption than the latter. In Study 2, we examined the relation between the profession of self-redemption and behavioral change using a longitudinal design, by following the newly sober alcoholics from Study 1 over time. Although indistinguishable at initial assessment, newly sober alcoholics whose narratives included self-redemption were substantially more likely to maintain sobriety in the following months, compared to newly sober alcoholics who produced nonredemptive narratives; 83% of the redemptive group maintained sobriety between assessments, compared to 44% of nonredemptive participants. Redemptive participants in Study 2 also demonstrated improved health relative to the nonredemptive group. In both studies, the effects of self-redemption on sobriety and health held after controlling for relevant personality traits, alcohol dependence, recovery program involvement, initial physical and mental health, and additional narrative themes. Collectively, these results suggest that the production of a self-redemptive narrative may stimulate prolonged behavioral change and thus indicate a potentially modifiable psychological process that exhibits a major influence on recovery from addiction.

Personality psychologists have become increasingly interested in how personality varies across social roles. Within this 'contextualized' approach, researchers almost invariably focus on assessing personality traits. Although these characteristics are no doubt important components of personality, there are many aspects of the person that are not adequately represented by traits. This article fleshes out the nature of these additional personality characteristics relevant to contextualized personality. I argue that, just as the study of personality in its generalized form has benefitted from recognition of three conceptual levels (viz. traits, goals and life narratives), so too would contextualized approaches to personality. Evidence of the predictive ability of context-specific goals and narratives is provided, as is discussion of the functional relations among variables at personality's three conceptual levels, and the interplay between contextualized and generalized self-representations. During this discussion, I argue for adoption of a relational meta-theory in the study of personality. Considerable gains can be made in understanding personhood by uniting appreciation of context with a multilevel conception of personality. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology Key words: contextualized personality; social roles; personality traits; personal goals; life narratives; relationalism This article is meant to say something novel about two rather seasoned and largely accepted ideas regarding the nature of personality. The first of these ideas is that personality is manifest in different ways within each of the contexts and social roles in which we participate (Donahue, Robins, Roberts, & John, 1993). The second of these ideas, popularized by McAdams (1995McAdams ( , 2013, is that personality, in its generalized 1 form, is best represented by three distinct conceptual 'levels' (viz. traits, goals and life narratives). The 'something novel' here is an attempt to marry these two ideas that, more often than not, have passed each other within the realm of personality psychology like ships in the night.Researchers interested in assessing personality in its contextualized and role-bound form have almost invariably equated 'personality' and 'personality traits'-that is, when assessing the manner in which individuals construe their personality within specific contexts, these researchers have usually assessed only traits. This is not to suggest that other personality characteristics have been entirely ignored. McConnell (2011), for example, posited that contextualized personality may contain other aspects and characteristics in addition to traits. These 'other things' (p. 6), however, are only rarely specified and even less frequently described in any manner of detail. This, I believe, is a problem, as consideration of additional personality characteristics holds potential to offer insights into the natures of a broader array of psychological constructs, while also contributing to a more compl...

A robust empirical literature suggests that individual differences in the thematic and structural aspects of life narratives are associated with and predictive of psychological well-being. However, one limitation of the current field is the multitude of ways of capturing these narrative features, with little attention to overarching dimensions or latent factors of narrative that are responsible for these associations with well-being. In the present study we uncovered a reliable structure that accommodates commonly studied features of life narratives in a large-scale, multi-University collaborative effort. Across three large samples of emerging and mid-life adults responding to various narrative prompts (N = 855 participants, N = 2565 narratives), we found support for three factors of life narratives: motivational and affective themes, autobiographical reasoning, and structural aspects. We also identified a “functional” model of these three factors that reveals a reduced set of narrative features that adequately captures each factor. Additionally, motivational and affective themes was the factor most reliably related to well-being. Finally, associations with personality traits were variable by narrative prompt. Overall, the present findings provide a comprehensive and robust model for understanding the empirical structure of narrative identity as it relates to well-being, which offers meaningful theoretical contributions to the literature, and facilitates practical decision making for researchers endeavoring to capture and quantify life narratives.

Recent research suggests that individuals play an active role in their own personality development. Here, we investigated lay conceptions of this volitional personality change process. In Study 1, participants (N = 602) provided open-ended descriptions of their desired personality changes as well as the strategies they were using to achieve these changes. In Study 2, participants (N = 578) completed these same measures and provided narrative descriptions of the emergence of their desires for (and previous) personality changes. Desired changes were quantified in a manner consistent with the Five-Factor Model (though desires pertinent to Openness to Experience were rare), whereas reported strategies were distinguished on the basis of cognitive and behavioral content. Desires to increase in Extraversion corresponded negatively with the use of cognitive strategies and positively with the use of behavioral strategies, whereas desires to increase in Agreeableness exhibited the opposite pattern. Finally, desires for change were typically construed as stimulated by specific events, whereas previous personality changes were attributed to shifts in social roles. Laypersons hold a diverse range of desired changes and strategies. In addition, different categories of events are recognized as catalysts of desires for (and previous) changes.

The results provide support for the efficacy of group-based physical activity programs informed by SCT. Furthermore, the results suggest that community group-based exercise programs should attempt to engage in age-targeting but not necessarily gender-targeting among older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record