Life Script Research Articles

Análisis Transaccional de la Obsesión: Integrando Diversos Conceptos y Métodos

Los problemas psicológicos tales como la fantasía repetitiva, la preocupación habitual y la obsesión parecen haberse incrementado en los últimos años entre las personas que buscan psicoterapia. Este tipo de problemas parecen trascender muchos diagnósticos psicológicos. Obsesionarse y preocuparse de forma habitual puede encontrarse entre los principales temas de tratamiento de nuestra época, son reflejos de un estilo de vida y de las presiones profesionales, de experiencias evolutivas, de déficits en las relaciones interpersonales, y de aspectos del Guion de Vida. Cuando se aborda en la psicoterapia, esta rumiación podría recibir solamente una atención superficial o no parecer pertinente a los aspectos del Guion de Vida. Sin embargo, la preocupación habitual y las fantasías repetitivas absorben gran parte de la actividad mental y dificultan en la persona su capacidad para la espontaneidad, la intimidad, y el disfrute de la vida en el presente. Desde el modelo del Análisis Transaccional Relacional y el modelo de la Psicoterapia Integrativa se presenta una perspectiva de tratamiento de seis facetas para la psicoterapia de la obsesión, la preocupación habitual y la fantasía repetitiva. Además, se ilustra con un caso clínico en el que se muestra el tratamiento de seis facetas, así como, diversas intervenciones integrando distintos conceptos y métodos para el tratamiento de la obsesión, desde los modelos psicoterapéuticos anteriormente mencionados.

Research Gender Features of Formation of Student Life Scenarios

The article provides an analysis of the impact on gender identity formation of student life scenarios. It is shown that socio-economic and political changes are factors which change perceptions of themselves and the general picture of the world youth, and is a catalyst for the process of finding one’s own life script or harmonious way of life. The authors established that the individual life path or script must meet the abilities and capabilities of the young man and also be a means of self-realization in life. The paper stated that under current conditions the process of personal and professional self-education related to a number of difficulties, that is why the problem of forming life script personality in adolescence is becoming increasingly important. Based on the scientific approaches the problem of forming life scenarios identity and gender identity problem. We characterize the sample studied, which was caused by the objectives and purpose of the study. The article provided a description of methods by which we conducted the diagnosis of gender identity influence on the formation of individual life scenarios in adolescence. We used the results of correlation analysis

The transmission and stability of cultural life scripts: a cross-cultural study

ABSTRACTCultural life scripts are shared knowledge about the timing of important life events. In the present study, we examined whether cultural life scripts are transmitted through traditions and whether there are additional ways through which they can be attained by asking Australian and Malaysian participants which information sources they had used to generate the life script of their culture. Participants hardly reported that they had used cultural and religious traditions. They more often reported that they had used their own experiences and experiences of relatives and friends. They also reported the use of comments of relatives and friends and the use of newspapers, books, movies and television programmes. Furthermore, we examined the stability of life scripts and similarities and differences across cultures. We found that life scripts are stable cognitive structures and that there are, besides cross-cultural differences in the content, small cross-cultural differences in the valence and distribution of life script events, with the Australian life script containing more positive events and more events expected to occur before the age of 16.

A Study on Life Script, Ego State and Stroke of Adults with Visual Impairments

A Study on Life Script, Ego State and Stroke of Adults with Visual Impairments

Is the Road Still Bumpy Without the Most Frequent Life Events?

SummaryTwo studies were conducted to explore the effect of the most frequent life events on the reminiscence bump. The first study examined the life scripts and autobiographical memories of 44 adults [Mage = 62.8, standard deviation (SD) = 2.8] by removing the most frequent 10 life events. The regular reminiscence bump disappeared in the distribution of both event types. The second study explored whether results of the first study would be extended to autobiographical memories evoked by different methods. Cue word and important memories reported by 64 adults (Mage = 66.6, SD = 2.8) were examined. Important memories had later bump than cue word memories, but removing the top 10 life events affected the bumps of both memory types with a stronger impact on important memories. Different retrieval strategies activated by these two methods may lead to different temporal peaks, which further influence the sensitivity of distributions to the most frequent life event categories.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Transnational, Global, and Planetary

For all of us, reading auto|biography involves a complex series of global mappings of cultural politics, life scripts, and our own lives. My news feeds over the last year have featured two types of...

Later adults’ cultural life scripts of middle and later adulthood

ABSTRACTThe cultural life script (CLS) refers to expected prototypical life events, often including life transitions overwhelmingly occurring at ages 11-30. This study outlined CLS events at ages after the majority of these events typically occur. Participants, age 38-76, nominated events they expected a person of their age to experience in the future. Participants rated each event’s valence, importance, prevalence, and expected age of occurrence. Events were coded into three categories: the normative CLS for events listed by previous CLS studies, offspring’s CLS for experiencing CLS events of offspring, and later adulthood CLS for other events nominated by at least 4% of participants. Results suggest scripted events highlighting positivity and change. Offspring’s CLS was more positive and occurred earlier than others. Correlations emerged between event characteristics and well-being. Results affirm the prominence of transitions in memory, and suggest ways that older adults maintain well-being despite a cultural narrative that emphasizes decline.

Sticking to the (romantic) script: an examination of love life scripts, stories, and self-reports of normality

ABSTRACTLife scripts represent cultural expectations regarding the events in the prototypical life whereas life stories represent narrative constructions of the events occurring in individuals’ own lives. In Study 1, we generated an outline of the love life script and a list of the self-definitional events individuals tend to associate with their own love lives. Participants were prompted to produce and rate seven important events in the prototypical love life and several significant moments from their own love lives. Building upon these descriptive efforts, in Study 2, we developed self-report measures of perceived and desired love life normality. These characteristics positively predicted the conventionality of autobiographical narratives drawn from participants’ love life stories. Furthermore, perceived normality and desired normality were positively and negatively related to functioning within the romantic domain, respectively. These results underscore the role love life scripts and love life stories play in functioning within the romantic domain.

Life script events and autobiographical memories of important life story events in Mexico, Greenland, China, and Denmark.

Life script events and autobiographical memories of important life story events in Mexico, Greenland, China, and Denmark.

Life Script Events and Autobiographical Memories of Important Life Story Events in Mexico, Greenland, China, and Denmark

The aim of this study was to test the cultural life script theory across four different cultures. We collected life scripts from 606 middle-aged and older adult participants in Mexico, Greenland, China, and Denmark, and examined whether key characteristics of life scripts generalize across these cultures. We also collected autobiographical memories of important personal events from the same participants, and coded them for their correspondence with the life scripts to establish whether the life script serves as a guide for autobiographical memory recall. Finally, we compared the life span distribution of life script events with that of the autobiographical memories. Consistent with predictions, a life script was found in all samples and the life span distribution of life script events tracked the life span distributions of personal autobiographical memories retrieved within the same cultures. These findings indicate a central interplay between cultural life scripts and autobiographical memory across disparate cultures.

Church Affiliation and Life Course Transitions in The Netherlands, 1850-1970

The Netherlands, with dozens of different religious denominations, offer a fine laboratory to study religious differentials in demographic behavior. In this article, I analyze a large historical database with more than 30.000 reconstructed life courses, to answer the question whether statistically significant and consistent behavioral differences across life course domains existed between members of different churches. For each domain – marriage, co-residence, fertility and mortality – the question will be whether the specific ideology of the denominations accounts for the differences or whether the social milieu or life style of the members of these denomination are more important, even after controlling for socio-economic status. By charting demographic differentials across the life course, it becomes possible to detect whether different churches had specific “life scripts” or ideal scenarios according to which their members should live their lives.

Supplemental Material for Life Script Events and Autobiographical Memories of Important Life Story Events in Mexico, Greenland, China, and Denmark

Supplemental Material for Life Script Events and Autobiographical Memories of Important Life Story Events in Mexico, Greenland, China, and Denmark

Imagining the personal past: Episodic counterfactuals compared to episodic memories and episodic future projections.

Episodic counterfactuals are imagined events that could have happened, but did not happen, in a person's past. Such imagined past events are important aspects of mental life, affecting emotions, decisions, and behaviors. However, studies examining their phenomenological characteristics and content have been few. Here we introduced a new method to systematically compare self-generated episodic counterfactuals to self-generated episodic memories and future projections with regard to their phenomenological characteristics (e.g., imagery, emotional valence, and rehearsal) and content (e.g., reference to a cultural life script), and how these were affected by temporal distance (1 month, 1 year, 5+ years). The findings showed that the three types of events differed phenomenologically. First, episodic memories were remembered more easily, with more sensory details, and from a dominantly field perspective, as compared to both future projections and episodic counterfactuals. Second, episodic future projections were more positive, more voluntarily rehearsed, and more central to life story and identity than were both episodic memories and episodic counterfactuals. Third, episodic counterfactuals differed from both episodic memories and future projections by neither having the positivity bias of the future events nor the enhanced sensory details of the past events. Across all three event types, sensory details decreased, whereas importance, reference to a cultural life script, and centrality increased with increasing temporal distance. The findings show that imagined events are phenomenologically different from memories of experienced events, consistent with reality-monitoring theory, and that imagined future events are different from both actual and imagined past events, consistent with some theories of motivation.

Life Gets Better and Better: Cultural Life Script Theory and Subjective Trajectories for Life Satisfaction

Young adults typically believe that life gets increasingly satisfying over time. We examined the cultural life script as a source of these beliefs. In Study 1 (N = 1244), tabulation of previously published studies indicated that life script events are perceived as becoming increasingly positive over time between the ages of 10 and 30. Further, a specific series of 16 key life script events during this life stage was identified. These results were replicated in Study 2 (N = 100, Mage = 21.14, 51% female) based on young adults‘ perceptions concerning life script events in their personal life stories. Further, the perception that life script events in one's personal life story were becoming increasingly positive over time was linked with more steeply inclining subjective life satisfaction trajectories (i.e. recollected past < current < anticipated future life satisfaction). In Study 3 (N = 261, Mage = 18.5, 93.7% female), manipulating life script event information (number and positivity of events over time) within a personal life story had an additive impact on young adults‘ subjective life satisfaction trajectories. These findings reveal a robust connection between information contained with the cultural life script and the belief that life gets more and more satisfying over time. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology

The Influence of Culture on Goal Perception: Qatar Versus Denmark

SummaryExpectations of control put forth by societal norms impose a constant influence on goal perception. To examine the influence of culture on perception of personal goals, 124 Middle Easterners and 128 Scandinavians rated their perceived locus of control, generated goals and evaluated goal characteristics. Findings show several cultural and gender differences, most notably in perceived locus of control, unhappiness despite goal achievement and adherence to cultural life script. Many differences were qualified by interactions, suggesting that Middle Eastern men deviate from Middle Eastern women and Scandinavians of both sexes. The Middle Eastern men demonstrated greater ambivalence regarding goal achievement, and contrary to previous findings from other cultural samples, they also showed a significant positive association between internal and external control. Furthermore, goals generated by Middle Easterners showed a greater overlap with their imagined future events, and were largely represented by life script events. These findings are consistent with the view that especially Middle Eastern men experience a greater responsibility for the fulfilment of culturally defined goals. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

God Our Father as a Script of Intimacy for those Suffering Shame

Feelings of shame are normal when suffering guilt from sin, but the church too often gives congregants a simplistic “shame script,” which paints God only as an angry or disappointed judge and so circumvents a lasting relational intimacy with him. For those who struggle to approach God because of the shame they suffer from past sins and current temptations, recent psychological research provides some insight. I demonstrate: those who agonize over feelings of shame need new “cultural scripts” and “life scripts” by which to flourish, new narratives wherein a healthier view of God, self and community might emerge. The starting point is a proper biblical script of God as our Father, a vision of God the Father that resists one-dimensional notions of divine anger and disappointment. A more robust, intimate and grace-filled concept of God the Father, in other words, provides relief to the sufferers of unhealthy shame.

Gendered lives in anticipation of a biographer?

Abstract Following Carl Pletsch’s hypothesis of ‘The life lived in anticipation of one’s biographers’, we explore the ‘autobiographical lives’ of two couples of creative individuals who have and will become the subjects of biographies: these couples are the canonised and popular Austrian writers Friederike Mayröcker (b. 1925) and Ernst Jandl (b. 1925, d. 2000) and the relatively unknown exiles Salka Viertel (b. 1889, d. 1978) and Berthold Viertel (b. 1885, d. 1953). As more or less well-known actors in the cultural scene of Austria’s ‘long twentieth century’, they give us the opportunity to analyse gendered socialisation and examine how their lives and gendered life scripts shaped their respective personal archives. All four of them left behind substantial collections of documents. The particular archives of these four modern intellectuals are not only of very different shapes and sizes, but also stored in different memory institutions ranging from the Austrian National Library to the Viennese City Library and the German Literary Archive ‐ they, by extension, also depict diverse politics of archival memory in the context of gender and nationality.

Care and Career in the Life Scripts of Young People—Gendered Cases from The Czech Republic and Norway

Based on a qualitative study of young people’s visions of their future, this article explores tensions emerging between care work and professional success in the life-scripts of young girls and boys in the Czech Republic and Norway. The two countries both have a high level of female labour market participation but have developed distinctively different welfare policies as concerns the emphasis placed on family vs. institutional care. In Norway, there has been a strong increase in subsidized public child care, and simultaneously fathers’ roles as caretakers have been stressed both in public policies and discourse. The Czech Republic has experienced an opposite trend; maternity leave has been extended, public crèches have almost vanished and public discourse has focused on the superiority of motherly care over public care. Framing our discussion within debates around naturalization, gendered subject positions and balance, we ask how – or to what extent -– such distinct discourses and policies influence the ways that young people come to envision their future life. Two different models of balance are applied: one which sees the individual as the balancing unit and the other taking relational dimensions into account. Some expected differences between the young Czechs and Norwegians are found, for example, with regards to articulations of male involvement in care work and female economic independence. Through the relational model of balance, we are also able to discover striking similarities between the two contexts, which demonstrate enduring gendered inequalities in perceived divisions of work-care responsibilities. Firstly, the girl career seeker – one who gives priority to career over family -– does not appear as an imaginable position neither among girls nor among boys. Moreover, there is a striking silence around the particularities of care-work as performed by women, something which suggests that aspects of care are still naturalized as female.

Erratum to: Life Scripts and Life Stories of Oral Deaf Individuals

Erratum to: Life Scripts and Life Stories of Oral Deaf Individuals

Life Scripts and Life Stories of Oral Deaf Individuals

Cultural life scripts have been defined by research as culturally shared expectations and public knowledge of primarily positive life events that occur in sequence in an individual’s prototypical life course. In contrast, life stories are based on personal experiences and life events within one’s own life. They represent autobiographical memories that are part of episodic memory. A mixed methodology was used with two studies. First, the quantitative component investigated whether the life scripts and life stories of deaf individuals who grew up using spoken language in hearing families were similar to the life scripts and life stories of hearing individuals or culturally Deaf individuals. Then, a qualitative narrative analysis captured a more detailed description of how these individuals recalled growing up as an oral deaf person, and later being exposed to sign language and Deaf culture. Both studies highlighted the importance of communication in both positive and negative ways.