Abstract:The present study investigates functions of personal and vicarious life stories focusing on identity and empathy. Two-hundred-and-forty Danish high school students completed two life story questionnaires: one for their personal life story and one for a close other's life story. In both questionnaires, they identified up to 10 chapters and self-rated the chapters on valence and valence of causal connections. In addition, they completed measures of identity disturbance and empathy. More positive personal life st… Show more
“…The items were rated using four‐point scales ranging from: 1 = “strongly agree” to 4 = “strongly disagree.” The ratings were scored according to established criteria yielding a range from 0 to 80, with higher scores indicating better empathy. The EQ has been shown to possess good validity and reliability (Baron‐Cohen & Wheelwright, ; Lawrence, Shaw, Baker, Baron‐Cohen & David, ), also in the Danish version (Lind & Thomsen, ) and showed good internal reliability in the present study (Cronbach's alpha of 0.90).…”
Section: Methodssupporting
confidence: 60%
“…One questionnaire addressed the participant's personal life story and one concerned the parent's life story. The two questionnaires were organized similarly and inspired by previous research (Lind & Thomsen, ; Thomsen & Pillemer, 2017a). The interviewer began the first part of the interview with the following instruction:This part of the study is about your life story.…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The items for the subscale consolidated identity were reversed and a total score was calculated with higher scores indicating more identity disturbance (ranging from 27 to 189). The SCIM has been shown to possess good validity and test‐retest reliability (Kaufman et al ., ), also in the Danish version (Lind & Thomsen, ). The scale showed good internal reliability in the present study (Cronbach's alpha of 0.96).…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…While most research on life stories have focused on personal life stories and how they support self‐understanding, recent studies show that people also construct vicarious life stories for close others, such as parents and friends (Lind & Thomsen, ; McLean, ; Zaman & Fivush, ). Constructing life stories for other people is one aspect of gaining a better understanding of their minds, which helps make sense of and anticipate their behavior and emotions (Thomsen & Pillemer, 2017b).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Similarly, individuals may use their own life stories when constructing life stories for close others, an assumption supported by studies showing that personal life stories are related to how individuals describe close others’ life stories (Thomsen & Pillemer, 2017a). Thus, the more positively individuals describe chapters and causal connections in their personal life stories, the more positively they also describe their parents’ life stories (Lind & Thomsen, ). Themes of agency and communion show a similar pattern; the more a person describes themes of agency and communion in the personal life story, the more these themes also predominate in the description of a romantic partner's life story (Panattoni & Thomsen, ).…”
2019). Personal and parents' life stories in patients with borderline personality disorder. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 60, 231-242.Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) display disturbances in understanding self and others. We examined whether these disturbances extended to how patients described their personal and parents' life stories and to measures of identity, alexithymia, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Thirty BPD patients and 30 matched control participants described personal and parents' life stories and completed measures of identity disturbance, alexithymia, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Compared to the controls, patients with BPD described their personal and their parents' life stories more negatively and with fewer themes of agency and communion fulfillment. Patients and controls showed equally complex reasoning about their personal life stories, but patients displayed less complexity and more self-other confusion, when reasoning about their parents' stories. Patients also differed from controls on identity disturbance, alexithymia, and empathy. The results suggest that patients' storied understanding of themselves and others are disturbed and should be taken into account to better understand BPD.
“…The items were rated using four‐point scales ranging from: 1 = “strongly agree” to 4 = “strongly disagree.” The ratings were scored according to established criteria yielding a range from 0 to 80, with higher scores indicating better empathy. The EQ has been shown to possess good validity and reliability (Baron‐Cohen & Wheelwright, ; Lawrence, Shaw, Baker, Baron‐Cohen & David, ), also in the Danish version (Lind & Thomsen, ) and showed good internal reliability in the present study (Cronbach's alpha of 0.90).…”
Section: Methodssupporting
confidence: 60%
“…One questionnaire addressed the participant's personal life story and one concerned the parent's life story. The two questionnaires were organized similarly and inspired by previous research (Lind & Thomsen, ; Thomsen & Pillemer, 2017a). The interviewer began the first part of the interview with the following instruction:This part of the study is about your life story.…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The items for the subscale consolidated identity were reversed and a total score was calculated with higher scores indicating more identity disturbance (ranging from 27 to 189). The SCIM has been shown to possess good validity and test‐retest reliability (Kaufman et al ., ), also in the Danish version (Lind & Thomsen, ). The scale showed good internal reliability in the present study (Cronbach's alpha of 0.96).…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…While most research on life stories have focused on personal life stories and how they support self‐understanding, recent studies show that people also construct vicarious life stories for close others, such as parents and friends (Lind & Thomsen, ; McLean, ; Zaman & Fivush, ). Constructing life stories for other people is one aspect of gaining a better understanding of their minds, which helps make sense of and anticipate their behavior and emotions (Thomsen & Pillemer, 2017b).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Similarly, individuals may use their own life stories when constructing life stories for close others, an assumption supported by studies showing that personal life stories are related to how individuals describe close others’ life stories (Thomsen & Pillemer, 2017a). Thus, the more positively individuals describe chapters and causal connections in their personal life stories, the more positively they also describe their parents’ life stories (Lind & Thomsen, ). Themes of agency and communion show a similar pattern; the more a person describes themes of agency and communion in the personal life story, the more these themes also predominate in the description of a romantic partner's life story (Panattoni & Thomsen, ).…”
2019). Personal and parents' life stories in patients with borderline personality disorder. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 60, 231-242.Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) display disturbances in understanding self and others. We examined whether these disturbances extended to how patients described their personal and parents' life stories and to measures of identity, alexithymia, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Thirty BPD patients and 30 matched control participants described personal and parents' life stories and completed measures of identity disturbance, alexithymia, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Compared to the controls, patients with BPD described their personal and their parents' life stories more negatively and with fewer themes of agency and communion fulfillment. Patients and controls showed equally complex reasoning about their personal life stories, but patients displayed less complexity and more self-other confusion, when reasoning about their parents' stories. Patients also differed from controls on identity disturbance, alexithymia, and empathy. The results suggest that patients' storied understanding of themselves and others are disturbed and should be taken into account to better understand BPD.
We review research on life story chapters, defined as important extended time periods in individuals' lives with identifiable beginnings and endings (e.g., "my marriage"). Studies show that individuals form chapters for the personal past and future, and for other people's past and future lives (vicarious chapters). Research also indicates that emotional qualities of both past and future chapters are related to well-being, and that mentally constructing fewer and temporally less extended future chapters could underlie the sense of limited remaining time experienced by older adults. Qualities of vicarious life story chapters are related to characteristics of chapters in the individual's own life, suggesting potentially important interactions between how individuals represent their own lives and how they represent close others' lives. Life story chapters are more than an important part of autobiographical memory; they are centrally involved in time perspective, well-being, and social cognition.
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