Traits and stories: Links between dispositional and narrative features of personality

Dan P. McAdams, Nana Akua Anyidoho, Chelsea Brown, Yi Ting Huang, Bonnie Kaplan, Mary Anne Machado

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

194 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Dispositional traits and life narratives represent two different levels of personality that have not previously been empirically linked. The current study tested five hypotheses connecting Big-Five traits to life-narrative indices of emotional tone, theme, and structure. Students (Study 1) and adults (Study 2) completed a self-report measure of the Big-Five traits and provided extended written accounts of either ten (students) or eight (adults) key life-narrative scenes, including life high points, low points, and turning points. Content analysis of the narrative data revealed that for both samples Neuroticism was positively associated with an emotionally negative life-narrative tone, Agreeableness was correlated with narrative themes of communion (e.g., friendship, caring for others), and Openness was strongly associated with the structural complexity of life narrative accounts. Contrary to prediction, however, Conscientiousness was not consistently associated with themes of agency (e.g., achievement, self-mastery) and Extraversion was unrelated to positive narrative tone. The results are discussed in the context of contemporary research and theorizing on the narrative study of lives and the relation of narrative research in personality to more conventional, trait-based approaches.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)761-784
Number of pages24
JournalJournal of Personality
Volume72
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2004
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Traits and stories: Links between dispositional and narrative features of personality'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this