Narrative identity hinges on the construction of a coherent life story. While the cognitive and neural bases of past-oriented narratives are well documented, much less is known about their future-oriented counterparts. This study investigates whether autobiographical reasoning-defined as reflecting on the personal meaning of events-operates similarly or differently depending on temporal orientation. In Study 1, we assessed the narrative content and functions of autobiographical reasoning. For both past and future events, autobiographical reasoning involved linking represented events to other personal experiences and characteristics. However, past-oriented reasoning relied more on personal characteristics, whereas future-oriented reasoning included more references to personal goals. In Study 2, participants evoked the concrete content of past and future self-defining experiences, or engaged in autobiographical reasoning for the same events, during fMRI scanning. Autobiographical reasoning showed a consistent neural signature across temporal orientations, involving the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, and lateral temporal cortex. These findings highlight both shared and distinct aspects of autobiographical reasoning across the past and future. Overall, autobiographical reasoning appears to draw primarily on semantic processing and conceptual self-knowledge, enabling individuals to derive meaning and value from personal events by linking them to other experiences, goals, and traits.

Autobiographical reasoning following the November 2015 Paris attacks: To the roots of meaning-making.

This paper examines how young adults integrate generative artificial intelligence chatbots into everyday life and the implications of these engagements for the constitution of selfhood. Whilst existing research on AI-mediated subjectivity has predominantly employed identity frameworks centered on social positioning and role enactment, this study foregrounds selfhood—understood as the organization of subjective experience through narrative coherence, interpretive authority, and practices of self-governance. Drawing upon Paul Ricœur’s theory of narrative self and Michel Foucault’s concept of technologies of the self, the analysis proceeds through in-depth qualitative interviews with sixteen young adults in Norway to investigate how algorithmic systems participate in autobiographical reasoning and self-formative practices. The findings reveal four dialectical tensions structuring participants’ engagements with ChatGPT: between instrumental efficiency and existential unease; between algorithmic scaffolding and relational displacement; between narrative depth and epistemic superficiality; and between agency and deliberative outsourcing. The analysis demonstrates that AI-mediated practices extend beyond instrumental utility to reconfigure fundamental dimensions of subjectivity, raising questions about interpretive authority, narrative authorship, and the conditions under which selfhood is negotiated in algorithmic environments. These findings contribute to debates on digital subjectivity, algorithmic governance, and the societal implications of AI systems that increasingly function as interlocutors in meaning-making processes.

Endogamy requirement, together with differences in life styles between nonreligious Han group and Hui-Muslims, cause Han-Hui intermarriage unwelcomed both in Han and Hui families in China. Changes brought by marriage make these Han women feel an identity crisis of being bi-marginalized by both Han and Hui families. Narratives of 32 Han-married-Hui women are analyzed with the help of autobiographical reasoning, examining how they relate the past to the present in their life stories to bridge personal change and render personal identity continuous. It is found that they rely on something stable, like personal character, personal capability, or certain resources (kids, husbands, domestic service), to diminish the change brought by the marriage and obtain self-continuity. During this process, four new, hybrid identities are developed: Hui-Muslim identity, Han-Muslim identity, Han-Half-Muslim identity, and Han-Non-Muslim identity. Self-identification approves the application of the mechanisms, while applying the mechanisms confirms the new identities. The dynamic interplay between the two help the women resist societal and family marginalization, and maintain ‘coherent self’ as well as align with Chinese family culture.

Autobiographical reasoning in patients with alcohol use disorder: A life story perspective.

According to narrative identity theory, the meaning and importance given to childhood events within one's life story (i.e., autobiographical reasoning [AR]) may help explain why only some individuals who experience childhood maltreatment (CM) develop borderline personality (BP) pathology. We test this hypothesis by examining whether AR about childhood emotional experiences, particularly perceived event centrality and meaning-making, moderate relations between CM and BP symptoms, BP traits, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a diverse sample of 216 young women with a previous mental health diagnosis. Participants wrote recollections of negative emotional childhood events, rated the centrality of each recollection, and described the meaning of these events in their life story. Lower event centrality and positive meaning-making predicted less BP but not PTSD symptoms, with event centrality buffering the impact of CM. Findings highlight the potential utility of narrative identity theory, particularly AR, in understanding and treating BPD in the context of childhood maltreatment.

Research suggests autobiographical memory plays an important role in shaping identity and directing future behavior. This mixed-methods exploratory study examined the narrative qualities of autobiographical memories related to students’ interest in careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields and their associations with scores on measures of science identity, imposter phenomenon, and academic achievement (i.e., grades in STEM courses and number of STEM courses taken) among 105 participants of a U.S. National Science Foundation-funded academic support program for low-income STEM students. The inductive categorization of participants’ narratives revealed ten distinct thematic domains: family and peer influences, transformative STEM experiences, career shifts, personal growth, overcoming adversity, role models, early interest, supportive mentorship, diversity and representation, and recognition of aptitude. These narratives were further examined for vocational needs and values based on the Theory of Work Adjustment. Intrinsic motivation, achievement, and status were the most prevalent vocational values identified, followed by altruism, autonomy, comfort, and safety. Finally, we applied the Narrative Identity Framework to assess each narrative in terms of motivational and affective themes (i.e., agency, communion, affective tone), autobiographical reasoning (i.e., meaning-making), and structural aspects (i.e., specificity, context, chronology). Higher narrative specificity was prospectively associated with a greater number of STEM courses completed. Science identity was positively associated with narrative context, theme, and meaning-making. The current study underscores the potential relevance of personal storytelling to academic adjustment and lays the groundwork for future research to elucidate the mechanisms linking personal narratives to STEM engagement, persistence, and achievement.

ABSTRACT This study examined autobiographical reasoning and three aspects of global coherence (i.e. temporal, causal-motivational, thematic) of life narratives in individuals with dissociative identity disorder (DID) assessed in both adult and child identity states (n = 13), a psychotic disorder (n = 18), general population adults (n = 49) and children (n = 26), and adults simulating being a child (n = 23). DID participants did not significantly differ between identity states in narrative coherence or autobiographical reasoning if additional predictors were included, although differences in causal-motivational coherence were found if total number of memories in the life-narrative was low. Both DID and psychosis groups displayed less temporal and causal-motivational coherence than non-psychiatric adults, with DID adults also showing less thematic coherence. Individuals with DID in child states demonstrated less temporal coherence than non-clinical child-simulators. Individuals with DID may have reduced coherence of narrative identity that does not differ between identities.

Abstract BackgroundDespite the well‐established positive effects of storytelling, narrative modes of thinking have neither been systematically assessed nor widely implemented in engineering education.PurposeRecently, the idea of story‐driven learning (SDL) as pedagogy has been applied in an engineering department at a public university. Our research question was: “How are students, as a result of story‐driven learning, changing in regard to both their self‐reported (1) entrepreneurial mindset, self‐concept clarity, and sense of narrative identity and (2) the ways in which they tell the stories of their lives?”DesignWe collected data from 60 students and compared the results from (1) students currently enrolled in “The Art of Telling Your Story” course and (2) students who had never taken the course. At the beginning and end of the semester, students completed self‐report measures (i.e., self‐concept clarity, awareness of narrative identity, entrepreneurial mindset) and two narrative prompts. The stories were then coded for six narrative themes: entrepreneurial mindset, redemption, contamination, agency, self‐concept clarity, autobiographical reasoning.ResultsStudents in the class experienced an increase in agency and entrepreneurial mindset. Moreover, when directly compared with students not in the course, students in the course experienced an increase in autobiographical reasoning, awareness of narrative identity, and maintained their increase in entrepreneurial mindset.ConclusionsThese results showcase the potency of storytelling interventions, as well as highlighting—for the first time—their potential for influencing the development of entrepreneurially minded engineers.

The study aimed to explore the processes of positive psychological changes and the underlying factors following an extremely stressful life event – spinal cord trauma – in the life stories of 15 socially active individuals who use the wheelchair. The data were collected using life story interviews. The qualitative part of the study involved thematic and structural analysis of narratives, while for the quantitative analysis, each interview transcript was recoded and processed for target variables such as autobiographical reasoning, narrative structure and consistency, and psychological well-being. The analysis of the results revealed that the more consistently and rich in autobiographical reflection individuals narrate their life stories, the more psychological well-being indicators emerge in their accounts. Additionally, during the process of post-traumatic rehabilitation/resocialization and re-adaptation, they have to reconstruct their own identity, reassess their self-image, body – image, values, and relationships with others, as well as their broader environment and perceive it from a different perspective. The personal narratives of study participants were saturated with the themes of discontinued lives, disturbed body image and attitudes towards wheelchair use, self-reconstruction and adaptation, motivators and resources, finding a place in life, and returning as full members of society.

Narrative identity is defined as a personal life story that integrates an understanding of the past and an envisioned future to provide life with a sense of meaning, unity and purpose. The key process through the construction of narrative identity is autobiographical reasoning, which can be understood from the perspective of three indicators: exploratory narrative processing, meaning-making, and self-event connections. The relationship between narrative identity and personality disorders has been examined extensively over the last decade. According to the latest literature, autobiographical reasoning could be a crucial narrative indicator of the severity of personality dysfunction. However, there was no research to verify this hypothesis. The main goal of the presented research was to examine relationships between autobiographical reasoning and the severity of personality dysfunction. The analysis includes data collected from 11 volunteers using a questionnaire (Self and Interpersonal Functioning Scale [SIFS]) and Life Story Interview (Critical Events). Each statement was treated separately (N = 88) in order to enable statistical analysis. The preliminary results show that the indicators of autobiographical reasoning are negatively correlated with some of the aspects of the severity of personality dysfunction. The results support the reasonability of the approach followed in this research, and contribute to academic discussion about relationships between narrative identity and personality disorders.

In narrative identity research, variables are typically captured through detailed content-coding of personal narratives. Yet, alternative methods have been suggested, notably self-report scales, because they capture a participant’s own interpretation of their personal narratives, and because they are efficient to administer as a supplement to more labor-intensive coding methods. This study developed and validated the Narrative Identity Self-Evaluation (NISE) questionnaire. In Study 1, the questionnaire was developed through exploratory factor analysis (n = 425) and its criterion validity examined. In Study 2, the NISE factor structure and criterion relationships were confirmed (n = 304). In Study 3 (based on the same sample as Study 1), content-coding of 11 narrative identity characteristics in open-ended personal story accounts was conducted, and NISE scores were compared to corresponding content-coded variables. The 20-item NISE has three factors replicating common dimensions in narrative identity (autobiographical reasoning, desire for structure, positive motivational/affective themes) and a novel fourth factor capturing disturbances of narrative identity. The NISE correlated in theoretically-coherent ways with content coded narrative identity variables, self-report traits, and measures relevant for narrative identity, self-concept, well-being, and psychopathology. We discuss the scale’s advantages in complementing content-coding of narrative accounts to assess variation in narrative identity within both clinical and non-clinical populations.

“I want to be the line leader!” Cognitive and social processes in early leader development

Identity research focuses on multiple processes capturing how adolescents form and maintain a sense of self. However, identity content (the “what” of identity) might impact associations between identity and the association with well-being. We examined this potential role of content (i.e., valence and life domain) in two studies, focusing on autobiographical reasoning in written narratives (i.e., self-event connections), educational identity commitment and exploration processes, and measures of general and domain-specific functioning. Study 1 ( N = 180, Mage = 14.7) and Study 2 ( N = 160, Mage = 13.1) provided little evidence for the hypothesized role of identity content, but moderation analyses in Study 1 showed that self-event connections were more strongly related to life satisfaction in narratives about relational events than other events. These findings suggest a more fine-grained approach is needed to capture the role of identity content.

Disturbances of the narrative self and personal identity accompany the onset of psychotic disorders in late adolescence and early adulthood (a formative developmental stage for self-concept and personal narratives). However, these issues have primarily been studied retrospectively after illness onset, limiting any inferences about their developmental course. Youth at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) (n = 49) and matched healthy comparison youth (n = 52) completed a life story interview (including self-defining memory, turning point, life challenge, and psychotic-like experience) and questionnaires assessing self-esteem, self-beliefs, self-concept clarity, and ruminative/reflective self-focus. Trained raters coded interviews for narrative identity themes of emotional tone, agency, temporal coherence, context coherence, self-event connections, and meaning-making (intraclass correlations >0.75). Statistical analyses tested group differences and relationships between self-concept, narrative identity, symptoms, and functioning. CHR participants reported more negative self-esteem and self-beliefs, poorer self-concept clarity, and more ruminative self-focus, all of which related to negative symptoms. CHR participants narrated their life stories with themes of negative emotion and passivity (ie, lack of personal agency), which related to positive and negative symptoms. Reflective self-focus and autobiographical reasoning were unaffected and correlated. Autobiographical reasoning was uniquely associated with preserved role functioning. This group of youth at CHR exhibited some, but not all, changes to self-concept and narrative identity seen in psychotic disorders. A core theme of negativity, uncertainty, and passivity ran through their semantic and narrative self-representations. Preserved self-reflection and autobiographical reasoning suggest sources of resilience and potential footholds for cognitive-behavioral and metacognitive interventions.

ABSTRACT Autobiographical reasoning is a process by which an individual creates a coherent life account. The degree of coherence in autobiographical reasoning has been related to psychological health correlates such as depression and self-esteem in previous studies, but with inconsistent findings. Similarly, the basic psychological processes required to achieve coherence have been previously studied with regard to intelligence, but infrequently, and also with mixed findings. In the present study, we first developed and evaluated a German version of the Awareness of Narrative Identity Questionnaire (ANIQ) as an established measure of self-reported coherence. Second, we tested for cognitive dependencies on intelligence and memory indices. Third, we analysed its associations with psychological health correlates. We assessed a sample of 272 participants and thereof 189 participants again two-weeks later. Results supported the assumptions of the German ANIQ’s psychometric qualities (factor structure, test-retest reliability, invariance) and validity (with regard to self-consciousness, self-concept clarity, and written accounts of personal turning points). We found coherence to be independent of intelligence and verbal memory, but partially dependent on figural memory. Coherence was related to depression, positivity, self-esteem, and self-esteem stability, but not to anxiety, substantiating its salutogenic effects.

Psychologists and philosophers agree that personal narratives are a central component of one’s identity. The concept of narrative self has been proposed to capture this aspect of selfhood. In recent times, it has been a matter of debate how the narrative self relates to the embodied and experiential dimension of the self. In this debate, the role attributed to inner speech is that of constructing and maintaining personal narratives. Indeed, evidence suggests that inner speech episodes are involved in self-reflection and autobiographical reasoning. That is, previous works have focused mostly, if not solely, on the role of inner speech for narrative self-understanding. However, inner speech is also involved in enacting personal narratives. In such cases, the content of the inner speech episodes is not in the service of the construction of narratives, rather it implies the identification with the character of the personal narratives. I introduce two instances of the use of inner speech for narrative self-enactment: positive self-talk and stereotype threat. I conclude by considering the implications of the examples introduced for the debate regarding the relation between the narrative and the embodied dimensions of selfhood.

The aim of this descriptive study was to investigate the Self-Defining Memories (SDMs) in a large sample of 181 older adults (65-90 years; mean age = 73.0 years) and to target the relationships between their different dimensions. The sampling method was nonprobabilistic, based on voluntary participation. Participants were asked to recall three SDMs. They also completed the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and a Self-esteem Scale. Almost half of the SDMs were specific and more than a quarter were integrated. Specificity, tension, redemption, contamination sequences, and affective response varied regarding thematic content. Specificity was positively correlated to tension whereas autobiographical reasoning was positively correlated to redemption and negatively linked to emotional response and depression. This research highlighted that identity is constituted by the main types of events that make up a life: interpersonal relationships, life-threatening events, achievement, and leisure.

Abstract People engage in autobiographical reasoning to make sense of major life events. This study examined whether younger and older adults utilized different autobiographical reasoning strategies to make sense of highly emotional and impactful experiences during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We hypothesized that older adults would show higher levels of redemptive processing, younger adults would show higher levels of exploratory processing, and that these respective processes would be associated with well‐being for each group. Two samples of younger ( n = 245; ages 17–22) and older ( n = 224; ages 55–83) adults provided written narratives about their most impactful positive and negative experiences from the COVID‐19 pandemic and responded to a questionnaire assessing well‐being. We found that younger and older adults did not differ in their use of exploratory and redemptive processing. Redemptive processing was uniquely predictive of well‐being among older adults, although this relationship disappeared when positive and negative events were considered independently. These results suggest that the ability to positively reframe COVID‐related events could be particularly important for the well‐being of older adults.

On January 20, 2009, when Barack Obama placed his hand on the Bible and completed his oath of office as the 44th President of the United States, Michelle Obama instantly was First Lady. The purpose of this psychobiography was to interpret the meaning of Michelle Obama's life during a significant life transition. The research design included a social constructivist epistemological stance, a case study design, and an iterative process of narrative interpretation of Michelle Obama's Becoming memoir and documentary. My narrative inquiry led me to crystalize the research question, How does Michelle Obama narratively process her lived experiences and draw upon a pattern of autobiographical reasoning to curate her life story? My interpretive analysis illuminated how she curated her life story with autobiographical reasoning that employs a "phenomenal woman" script and narrative metaphors based in the sound of striving and the concept of location. This psychobiography supports the life story theory of identity and self-defining memory research about enduring goals of the self. It also elevates the role of positionality as a form of sociocultural methodological integrity within psychobiography. Autobiographical authenticity of her agentic self is a profound force in Michelle Obama becoming a person who can garner worldwide status as a social change agent.