| The way people talk about their pasts reveals | | | | sandlot years through adolescence and middle |
| a lot about how they approach and write the | | | | age. They also describe several crucial |
| future | | | | scenes in detail, including high points (the |
| | | | graduation speech, complete with verbal drum |
| For more than a century, researchers have | | | | roll); low points (the college nervous |
| been trying to work out the raw ingredients | | | | breakdown); and turning points. The entire |
| that account for personality, the sweetness | | | | two-hour session is recorded and transcribed. |
| and neuroses that make the sluggishness and | | | | |
| sensitivity that make Andrew Andrew. They | | | | In analysing the texts, the researchers found |
| have largely ignored the first-person | | | | strong correlations between the content of |
| explanation -- the life story that people | | | | people's current lives and the stories they |
| themselves tell about who they are, and why. | | | | tell. Those with mood problems have many good |
| | | | memories, but these scenes are usually |
| Stories are stories, after all. The | | | | tainted by some dark detail. The pride of |
| attractive stranger at the airport bar hears | | | | college graduation is spoiled when a friend |
| one version, the parole officer another, and | | | | makes a cutting remark. The wedding party was |
| the PTA board gets something entirely | | | | wonderful until the best man collapsed from |
| different. Moreover, the tone, the lessons, | | | | drink. A note of disappointment seems to |
| even the facts in a life story can all shift | | | | close each narrative phrase. |
| in the changing light of a person's mood. | | | | |
| | | | By contrast, so-called generative adults -- |
| "When we first started studying life stories, | | | | those who score highly on tests measuring |
| people thought it was just idle curiosity | | | | civic-mindedness -- tend to see many of the |
| stories, isn't that cool?" said Dan P | | | | events in their life in the reverse order, as |
| McAdams, a professor of psychology at | | | | linked by themes of redemption. They flunked |
| Northwestern and author of the 2006 book, The | | | | sixth grade but met a wonderful counsellor |
| Redemptive Self. "Well, we find that these | | | | and made honour roll in seventh. They were |
| narratives guide behaviour in every moment, | | | | laid low by divorce, only to meet a wonderful |
| and frame not only how we see the past but | | | | new partner. Often, too, they say they felt |
| how we see ourselves in the future." | | | | singled out from very early in life -- |
| | | | protected, even as others nearby suffered. |
| Researchers have found that the human brain | | | | |
| has a natural affinity for narrative | | | | In broad outline, the researchers report, |
| construction. People tend to remember facts | | | | such tales express distinctly American |
| more accurately if they encounter them in a | | | | cultural narratives, of emancipation or |
| story rather than in a list, studies find; | | | | atonement, of Horatio Alger advancement, of |
| and they rate legal arguments as more | | | | epiphany and second chances. Depending on the |
| convincing when built into narrative tales | | | | person, the story itself might be nuanced or |
| rather than on legal precedent. | | | | simplistic, powerfully dramatic or cloyingly |
| | | | pious. But the point is that the narrative |
| During a standard life-story interview, | | | | themes are, as much as any other trait, |
| people describe phases of their lives as if | | | | driving factors in people's behaviour. |
| they were outlining chapters, from the | | | | |