Psychology

Research Program onPersonal Growth(Rev.11/06)"Our lives are shaped by our minds. We become what we think." -BuddhaWhat follows:Overview and theoretical backgroundFindings from my researchCurrent research and future directions OverviewMy work focuses on intentional self-development (that is, personal growth) and related processes of self-understanding. My research studies examine how people think about and plan their lives in relation to how their lives turn out. These studies address the questions: How do people...* guide the development of their own personality and life course?* create a richly meaningful life?* create a happy life?* transcend egotism? * deepen their self-understanding?* interpret their past (i.e., their memories)?* plan their future (i.e., their goals)?* make and adapt to major life transitions? Personal Growth and Scientific PsychologyNever in the course of human history have so many individuals had as much opportunity to shape their own lives as they do today. Yet the field of psychology has generated relatively little scientific understanding of this process. Psychology has historically viewed the individual's personality as created by forces outside the individual's intentions, namely nature (biology, genes) and nurture (family, peers, culture). However, a growing body of rigorous, empirical research is examining how the individual person can intentionally contribute to his or her own development. Personality Development: Toward happiness and richer meaning in lifePersonality can be said to develop along two broad paths (Bauer & McAdams, 2004a). One is more experiential, the other more cognitive.Experiential personality development involves how one experiences or emotionally interprets one's life. Examples of this phenomenon include levels of psychological well-being, happiness, and health. Theories of this kind of personality development are primarily concerned with how good one feels about the self in a world of others.Cognitive personality development involves how one conceptually interprets one's life. Examples of this phenomenon include the capacities for meaning-making, psychosocial maturity, perspective-taking, and complexity of moral reasoning. Theories of this kind of personality development are primarily concerned with how complexly or integratively one thinks about the self and others.Interestingly, research shows consistently that greater capacities for meaning-making do not correlate with well-being. In other words, people who can think complexly about their lives are just as likely to be happy or unhappy. I am particularly interested in how people intentionally cultivate high degrees of both happiness and meaning, a condition that is indicative of what philosophers have long called "the good life" (King, 2001). So how do people attain happiness and rich meaning in life? Aristotle said that luck and leisure are necessary (and research supports this to a degree; one needs food and shelter before happiness typically arises). But beyond that, happiness and meaning in life are largely matters of interpretation--of how we interpret and make sense of our lives. How We Interpret Our Lives: Narrative Identity What is narrative identity? People think about and create meaning in their lives by constructing life stories (Bruner, 1990; McAdams, 1985, 2001; Singer, 2004; Taylor, 1989). These stories create a sense of personal identity, or what's called narrative identity. Like other stories, a life story revolves around particular themes, like power and love. Unlike other stories, a life story is not a mere "fiction." A life story guides a person's actions and sets an interpretive foundation for psychological health, life decisions (such as what career we pursue and whether/whom we marry), and other very "real" things in a person's life.How is it studied? Personal narratives, more than any other source of data, open a window to how people make sense of their lives--and notably how people foster personal growth or not. By coding personal narratives according to well-defined forms of growth-oriented thinking, my colleagues and I transform qualitative (narrative) data into quantitative (numerical) data. We then compare these data with various measures of personality development. For a recent sampling of this kind of research (not just my own but others'), see the Journal of Personality special issue on narrative identity and meaning-making (June 2004). Growth StoriesGrowth can serve as a dominant theme in a person's narrative identity. I have called such narratives "growth stories" (Bauer, McAdams, & Pals, in press). Growth stories are personal narratives that emphasize development. A growth story can be a narrative of the past (a growth memory) or of the anticipated future (a growth goal). For example, in a growth memory, a person might say, "It was important because I learned something about myself" or "...because our relationship grew" (deepened, etc.). The more growth memories and growth goals a person has in his or her life story, the more growth-oriented that life story is. My research has shown that growth stories--i.e., interpreting one's life in terms of growth--have implications for how people's lives turn out.Back to top Findings: Growth Memories, Growth Goals, and Personality DevelopmentPlease contact me for copies of papers cited belowSome people interpret and plan their lives with personal growth explicitly in mind, while others do not. The first type, on average, attains higher levels of personality development.Growth Memories. My colleagues and I have found that two kinds of growth memories--integrative memories and intrinsic memories--relate to meaning-making and well-being, respectively (Bauer & McAdams,2004b; Bauer, McAdams, & Sakaeda, 2005a). The findings suggest that, on the one hand, people who interpret episodes in their past as important because they learned or integrated new information about their lives have higher capacities for psychosocial meaning-making (measured as ego development; see Loevinger, 1976). On the other hand, people who interpret past events as important for intrinsically motivating or humanistic reasons (like personal growth, meaningful relationships,and contributing to society or future generations) have higher levels of well-being, compared to people who think past events were important because the events gained them status, money, or other forms of approval (based on Sheldon & Kasser, 1995).Growth Goals. My colleagues and I have also found that two kinds of growth goals--exploratory goals and intrinsic goals--relate to meaning-making and well-being, respectively (Bauer & McAdams, 2004a). In other words, people who plan for a future of exploration and learning have higher capacities for conceptual meaning-making, compared to people who don't strive