Cover not available
Article published In:
Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 30:2 (2020) ► pp.343–363

Self-presentation strategies and narrative identity

A consideration of the linguistic and conceptual content of key scenes

| University of California, Riverside
| Lake Superior College
| Belmont University
Narrative identity is most often assessed via prompts for key autobiographical scenes (e.g., turning points). Here, self-presentation strategies were examined in relation to the content and structure of key scenes. Participants (N = 396) provided narratives of life high points, low points, and turning points from within one of four assessment contexts and completed measures of self-deception positivity (SD) and impression management (IM). Narratives were coded for a series of linguistic (e.g., causation words) and conceptual (e.g., redemption) dimensions. Individual differences in IM corresponded with the linguistic and conceptual content of participants’ low points. This effect was particularly evident among females (as compared to males) and the conceptual content of key scenes in conditions in which participants provided written (as compared to spoken) narrative accounts. These results carry implications for the assessment and analysis of narrative identity.
Keywords: narrative identity, self-presentation styles, self-deception positivity, impression management
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Narrative identity and storytelling
    • Self-presentation strategies and storytelling
    • Self-presentation and the narration of low points
    • Considering gender and context
    • The present study
  • Method
    • Quantification of narratives
    • Analytic approach
  • Results
    • Self-presentation strategies and linguistic content of key scenes
    • Self-presentation strategies and conceptual content of narrative identity
    • Supplemental analyses
      • Considering gender
      • Considering context
  • Discussion
    • Self-presentation and the narration of low points
    • Considering gender and context
    • Self-presentation and assessment contexts
  • Limitations and future directions
  • References
Published online: 19 May 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.18077.dun
References (49)
References
Adler, J. M., Dunlop, W. L., Fivush, R., Lilgendahl, J. P., Lodi-Smith, J., McAdams, D. P., McLean, K. C., Pasupathi, M., & Syed, M. (2017). Research methods for studying narrative identity: A primer. Social and Personality Psychological Science, 81, 519–527. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baddeley, J. L., & Singer, J. A. (2008). Telling losses: Personality correlates and functions of bereavement narratives. Journal of Research in Personality, 421, 421–438. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bamberg, M. (2004). Forms and functions of ‘slut bashing’ in male identity construction in 15-year-olds. Human Development, 471, 331–353. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baumeister, R. F., Stillwell, A., & Wotman, S. R. (1990). Victim and perpetrator accounts of interpersonal conflict: Autobiographical narratives about anger. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 591, 994–1105. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Block, J. (1961). The Q-sort method in personality assessment and psychiatric research. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bohanek, J. G., Marin, K. A., Fivush, R., & Duke, M. P. (2006). Family narrative interaction and children’s sense of self. Family Process, 451, 39–54. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bruner, J. S. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Burke, K. (1945). A grammar of motives. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Cohler, B. J., & Hammack, P. L. (2007). The psychological world of the gay teenager: Social change, narrative and “normativity”. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 361, 47–59. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cox, K. S., & McAdams, D. P. (2014). Meaning making during high and low point story episodes predicts emotion regulation two years later: How the past informs the future. Journal of Research in Personality, 501, 66–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dunlop, W. L. (2015). Contextualized personality, beyond traits. European Journal of Personality, 291, 310–325. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2017). The narrative identity structural model (NISM). Imagination, Cognition, & Personality, 371, 153–177. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dunlop, W. L., Harake, N., & Wilkinson, D. (2018). The cultural psychology of Clinton and Trump supporters: A narrative approach. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 91, 193–204. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dunlop, W. L., & Tracy, J. L. (2013). Sobering stories: Narratives of self-redemption predict behavioral change and improved health among recovering alcoholics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1041, 576–590. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dunlop, W. L., Walker, L. J., & Wiens, T. K. (2013). What do we know when we know a person across contexts? The differing relationship between self-concept differentiation and adjustment at the three levels of personality. Journal of Personality, 811, 376–389. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fast, L. A., & Funder, D. C. (2008). Personality as manifest in word use: Correlations with self-report, acquaintance report, and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 941, 334–346. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fivush, R., Brotman, M. A., Buckner, J. P., & Goodman, S. H. (2000). Gender differences in parent-child emotion narratives. Sex Roles, 421, 233–253. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Habermas, T., & de Silveira, C. (2008). The development of global coherence in life narratives across adolescence: temporal, causal, and thematic aspects. Developmental Psychology, 441, 707–721. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hammack, P. L. (2011). Narrative and the politics of identity: The cultural psychology of Israeli and Palestinian youth. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Li, A., & Bagger, J. (2006). Using the BIDR to distinguish the effects of impression management and self-deception on the criterion validity of personality measures: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 141, 131–141. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McAdams, D. P. (1998). Contamination sequence coding guidelines (Unpublished manuscript). Northwestern University. Evanston, IL.Google Scholar
(1999). Coding narrative accounts of autobiographical scenes for redemption sequences (4th rev.; Unpublished manuscript). Northwestern University. Evanston, IL.Google Scholar
(2001). Coding autobiographical episodes for themes of agency and communion (Unpublished manuscript). Northwestern University. Evanston, IL.Google Scholar
(2006). The redemptive self: Stories Americans live by. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2008). The life story interview (Unpublished manuscript). Northwestern University. Evanston, IL.Google Scholar
McAdams, D. P., Anyidoho, N. A., Brown, C., Huang, Y. T., Kaplan, B., & Machado, M. A. (2004). Traits and stories: Links between dispositional and narrative features of personality. Journal of Personality, 721, 761–784. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McClelland, D. C. (1961). The Achieving Society. Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McCoy, T. P., & Dunlop, W. L. (2016). Contextualizing narrative identity: A consideration of assessment contexts (Manuscript in preparation).Google Scholar
McLean, K. C. (2015). The co-authored self: Family stories and the construction of personal identity. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McLean, K. C., Lilgendahl, J. P., Fordham, C., Alpert, E., Marsden, E., Szymanowski, K., & McAdams, D. P. (2018). Journal of Personality, 861, 631–651. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McLean, K. C., & Pratt, M. W. (2006). Life’s little (and big) lessons: Identity statuses and meaning-making in the turning point narratives of emerging adults. Developmental Psychology, 421, 714–722. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McLean, K. C., Shucard, H., & Syed, M. (2017). Applying the master narrative framework to gender identity development in emerging adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, 51, 93–105. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McLean, K. C., & Syed, M. (2015). Personal, master, and alternative narratives: An integrative framework for understanding identity development in context. Human Development, 581, 318–349. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paulhus, D. L. (1988). Assessing self deception and impression management in self-reports: the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (Manual available from the author).Google Scholar
(1991). Measurement and control of response bias. In J. P. Robinson, P. R. Shaver & L. S. Wrightsman (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychology attitudes (pp. 17–59). New York: Academic Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paulhus, D. L., & Trapnell, P. D. (2008). Self-presentation on personality scales: An agency-communion framework. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality (pp. 493–517). New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Pennebaker, J. W. (2011). The secret life of pronouns: What our words say about us. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pennebaker, J. W., Booth, R. J., & Francis, M. E. (2007). Linguistic inquiry and word count: LIWC [computer software]. Austin, TX: liwc.net.Google Scholar
Pennebaker, J. W., & King, L. A. (1999). Linguistic styles: Language use as an individual difference. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 771, 1296–1312. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pennebaker, J. W., Mehl, M. R., & Niederhoffer, K. G. (2003). Psychological aspects of natural language use: Our words, our selves. Annual Review of Psychology, 541, 547–577. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sherman, R. A., & Funder, D. C. (2009). Evaluating correlations in studies of personality and behavior: Beyond the number of significant findings to be expected by chance. Journal of Research in Personality, 431, 1053–1063. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Singer, J. A. (2004). Narrative identity and meaning-making across the lifespan: An introduction. Journal of Personality, 721, 437–460. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Snyder, M. (1974). Self-monitoring of expressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 301, 526–537. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thorne, A., Korobov, N., & Morgan, E. M. (2007). Channeling identity: A study of storytelling in conversations between introverted and extraverted friends. Journal of Research in Personality, 411, 1008–1031. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thorne, A., & McLean, K. C. (2003). Telling traumatic events in adolescence: A study of master narrative positioning. In R. Fivush & C. Haden (Eds.), Autobiographical memory and the construction of a narrative self: Developmental and cultural perspectives (pp. 169–185). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Thorne, A., McLean, K. C., & Lawrence, A. M. (2004). When remembering is not enough: Reflecting on self-defining memories in late adolescence. Journal of Personality, 721, 513–541. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weeks, T. L., & Pasupathi, M. (2011). Stability and change self-integration for negative events: The role of listener responsiveness and elaboration. Journal of Personality, 791, 469–498. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weston, S. J., Cox, K. S., Condon, D. M., & Jackson, J. J. (2014). A comparison of human narrative coding of redemption and automated linguistic analysis for understanding life stories. Journal of Personality, 841, 594–606. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Maíz-Arévalo, Carmen & Carlos Carvajal-Martín
2024. ‘This Is Me’: Spanish Politicians’ Self-Presentation on X/Twitter Bios. In Evaluating Identities Online, ► pp. 127 ff. DOI logo
Dunlop, William L.
2021. Everything you wanted to know about redemptive stories* (*but were afraid to ask). Journal of Research in Personality 92 ► pp. 104078 ff. DOI logo
Dunlop, William L., Daniel Lee, Tara P. McCoy, Nicole Harake, Dulce Wilkinson, Laura E. Graham & Travis J. Miller
2020. The stories we tell, the reputations we form: Narrative identity and person perception. Journal of Research in Personality 89 ► pp. 104023 ff. DOI logo
Dunlop, William L., Dulce Wilkinson, Nicole Harake, Laura E. Graham & Daniel Lee
2020. The redemption and contamination research form: exploring relations with narrative identity, personality traits, response styles, and life satisfaction. Memory 28:10 ► pp. 1219 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.