The Impact Of Narrative Approach On Personality Self-development

Narrative approach research on self assumed that individual constructed and developed self through telling life-story and retrieving autobiographical memory. Recent study explored the factors that influencing narrative and its meaning on self-development. Relative results showed that such factors as coherent positive narrative, narrative style, and personality traits were correlation with life-story and self-development. A series of experiments proved that different narrative style and self-perspective on events in autobiographical memory have different effect on emotion, behavior, and body.Three studies manipulated narrative perspective (1st-person vs.3rd-person) individuals used to recall autobiographical events and examined its effects on personality development. Methods:Study 1 used Cattell-16PF questionnaire to examine college students who use different memory perspective. Intervention study(Studies 2 and 3) used standardization semi-structured life story interview to examined different person narrative style's effects on personality development. Study 2 (n=37)through individual writing and study 3 (n=12)through group psychotherapy discussion. Results:(1)There were significant difference between the participants who used 3rd-person perspective and who used 1st-person perspective in E, G, Q1. (2)Participants in study 2 have more changes in personality than those in study 3. In two studies, H were all changed. (3)Participants who used 3rd-person have more changes in personality than those who used 1st-person. In two groups, H and Q1 were all changed. Conclusions:(1) 3rd-person narrative has more effects on personal change than 1st-person narrative; (2) As means of narrative intervention, individual writing were more effective than group psychotherapy discussion; (3) Different person narrative could as intervention approach to influence personality development.The fourth study was analysed by qualitative research method. Two cases with 1st-person narrative perspective and 3-rd person narrative perspective are displayed. After learning all the materials, like key words,core sentences and the overall meaning of each essay, it is clearly to aware that there are more conflict and struggle of writers who use 1st-person narrative perspective than writers who use 3-rd person narrative perspective.3rd-person narrative perspective makes both readers and writers more freedom and flexible.