Narrative Identity

Question 1

Trait approaches to personality

Answer 1

Eysenck’s PEN model, Gray’s RST model, Costa and Mcrae’s (1992) Five factor model

Question 2

Narrative identity is the third and broadest level of personality outlined by

Answer 2

McAdams (1996)

Question 3

Narrative identity

Answer 3

Level of personality that captures how an individual defines themselves through the social construction of a coherent and purposeful life story

Question 4

McAdam’s Critique of Trait Theories

Answer 4

That traits are not how adults explain their individuality, nor are they grounded in cultural, sociological, or historical context

Question 5

McAdam’s theory is based on these assumptions

Answer 5

Selfhood is not given, but made, the self develops over time, and that people seek temporal coherence in their self

Question 6

McAdams Integrative Theory of Personality draws on evidence from

Answer 6

Trait theories and social-cognitive theories in personality

Question 7

McAdam’s Integrative Theory of Personality

Answer 7

Level 1 (Actor)- Traits
Level 2 (Agent)- Personal concerns or characteristic adaptations
Level 3 (Author)- Narrative identity

Question 8

Level 1: Traits

Answer 8

• OCEAN model
• dispositional signatures of personality
  -stable across lifespan and situations

Question 9

Level 2: Personal Concerns

Answer 9

Individual differences that are contextualized within a specific time or place or role that draw upon many areas of psychology, such as motives, values, goals, etc.

Question 10

Theory of basic values categories (Schwartz 2012); evidence is drawn from for level 2

Answer 10

Openness to change, self enhancement, conservation, self transcendence

Question 11

Openness to change traits (Schwartz 2012)

Answer 11

Stimulation, self direction

Question 12

self enhancement traits (Schwartz 2012)

Answer 12

Achievement, power

Question 13

Conservation traits (Schwartz 2012)

Answer 13

Security, conformity, tradition

Question 14

Self transcendence traits (Schwartz 2012)

Answer 14

Universalism, benevolence

Question 15

___ and ___ fall along the horizontal line thag categorizes the theory of basic values (Schwartz 2012)

Answer 15

Hedonism and benevolence

Question 16

Personal concerns do not make up the whole picture because

Answer 16

They don’t present a unified identity of the person across time, place, and role. They also don’t provide us with a sense of what the life experiences mean to the person

Question 17

Level 3: Narrative identity (McAdams and McLean 2013)

Answer 17

An evolving and integrative account of one’s life story that is constructed from autobiographical memory that provides temporal coherence and meaning that is the answer to “who am I?”

Question 18

McAdam’s (1996) proposed distinct levels of personality that are entirely _____

Answer 18

Independent

Question 19

Developmental trajectory of personality

Answer 19

People are born with traits, which shape their goals, environments, and their life stories

Question 20

McAdam’s theory of personality had little ____

Answer 20

Empirical work examining interrelationships between three levels of personality

Question 21

Buhler et al (2021) measured

Answer 21

agency and communion of level 2 life goals and level 3 narratives and personality traits across 2 years

Question 22

Buhler et al (2021) used

Answer 22

2-wave longitudinal design to measure traits and goals at wave 1 and wave 2 and a life story interview to assess narrative identity- one in between study waves

Question 23

Buhler et al (2021) findings were consistent

Answer 23

With interrelationships between levels but interrelationships we’re bidirectional

Question 24

Buhler et al (2021) results showed consistent findings

Answer 24

With trait agreeableness

Question 25

Higher trait agreeableness at W1 associated with

Answer 25

Lower endorsement of agency goals at W2

Question 26

Higher trait agreeableness at W1 associated with

Answer 26

Greater endorsement of communion narratives

Question 27

Goals at W1 were not

Answer 27

Associated with narratives

Question 28

Greater endorsement of communion goals at W1 was associated

Answer 28

With trait agreeableness at W2

Question 29

Greater expression of communion themes in life narratives

Answer 29

Associated with lower endorsement of agency goals and higher trait agreeableness at W2

Question 30

Life story interview (LSI)

Answer 30

Method used to collect data on narrative identity, it positions the participant as a storyteller

Question 31

Process of LSI

Answer 31

- in depth qualitative interview 2-3 hrs - person divides their life story into distinct chapters - person describes key scenes, characters and plots, and significance of the events in each chapter

Question 32

The life story interview is a ___ method

Answer 32

Labor intensive

Question 33

Researchers sometimes collect _____ _______ of key life scenes using similar instructions to the interviews

Answer 33

Written narratives

Question 34

Narratives don’t assess the truth of events, rather

Answer 34

It’s the individual differences in the interpretation of events that’s important

Question 35

There is often not a constraint in the retrospective time frame for narrative recall, but

Answer 35

Rather a focus on subjectively meaningful scenes

Question 36

To capture individual differences in narrative style,

Answer 36

Researchers will average a construct across all life scenes

Question 37

This construct is viewed as a relatively de contextualized approach

Answer 37

Averaging across different life domains (Dunlop, 2015)

Question 38

Researchers can code for common dimensions and examine how narrative dimensions relate to

Answer 38

Variables of interest

Question 39

Variables of interest in examining life story interviews

Answer 39

- agency - communion - redemption - contamination - mean making

Question 40

Narrative identity researchers code qualitative data for

Answer 40

Statistical analyses

Question 41

Agreement and consistency in the interpretation includes

Answer 41

- defined coding schemes - training with example narratives - multiple coders, often blind to study hypotheses - inter rater reliability stats to examine the consistency and agreement across coders

Question 42

Structure of narrative identity (McLean et al 2020)

Answer 42

Autobiographical reasoning, structure, and affective and motivational

Question 43

A contextualized approach

Answer 43

Involves averaging constructs across specific life domains (e.g. love or work)

Question 44

The processes involved in identity formation

Answer 44

May vary in different life domains (Dunlop, 2015)

Question 45

This approach only collects narratives from relevant life domains for

Answer 45

The context under study (e.g. academic and romantic narratives for college adjustment; Lilgendahl & McLean 2020)

Question 46

Narrative identity is not just a bunch of _____ _____

Answer 46

Random stories

Question 47

For narrative identity to be a level of personality

Answer 47

Then it should predict important life outcomes

Question 48

Researchers of narrative identity have often focused on

Answer 48

Health and well-being outcomes