10: Life Scripts, Life Stories

10: Life Scripts, Life Stories

1. The Meaning of Stories

   • The Narrating Mind
     • Paradigmatic vs Narrative mode
       • MEANING
       • FACTS
   • Healing and Integration
     • Integrates life into whole - can be carthetic
     • Telling full story can have mental health benefits
       • Cognitive Reorganization
     • Inhibiting emotions and feelings can take mental toll

2. Narrative Identity

   • Development of Life Story
     • Starts in Adolescence
       • fantastical personal fables - idiots thinks they're unique
     • People use Life Story Schema to organize life into a story
       • Takes four mental skills
         • Temporal Biographical Causal Thematic
           • Parents scaffold Kids
   • Culture and Narrative
     • Story depends on gender, class, etc.
     • dramatic vs reflective
     • Stories = between fact and fiction
       • Meaning more important than fact
   • Story Themes and Episodes
     • Typically obtained through Interview
       • Analyse content to find various Themes
         • Agency and Communion very common
           • Self-mastery Status/victory Achievement/responsibility Empowerment
           • Love/friendship Dialogue Caring/help Unity/togetherness
           • Related to Motivation
             • E.g. Power & Achievement, Intimacy
         • Narrative Complexity important
           • Related to Openness + Ego development
         • 4 types of events frequently recalled
           • Originating Turning-points Anchoring Analogous
         • Self-Defining Memories
     • Growth + insight related to well-being
     • Therapy can be Self-Defining
       • Reinforce Agency
     • Good audience related to well-being
       • Support, empathy, warmth, trust
   • Types of Stories
     • Hero's Journey - inspired by Jung
     • Parenting stories
     • Work Stories
     • Redemptive self - bad --> good
       • 5 themes:
         • Early Advantage
           • Suffering of Others
             • Moral Steadfastness
               • Redemption Sequences
                 • Prosocial Future
       • Bad stuff happens, but often turns good
       • Pos association with Life Satisfaction
       • Often IDed in highly Generative US adults
     • Contamination Sequence - Good --> bad
       • Neg association with Life Satisfaction
       • May or may not reflect objective reality
         • Hvordan man har det vs hvordan man tar det
         • Subjective understanding and apperception of event important
           • Individual Differences!!
   • What is a good story?
     • Star Wars is pretty fucking bomb
   • Erikson, development of Identity