The autobiographical critic within: Perceiving oneself as a major character in one’s life story predicts well-being

Abstract

Narrative identity research typically assumes that people always play the role of the main character in the life stories they provide (McAdams, 2018). However, it is possible that some people view themselves as playing the role of a “side” character or minor character in their life story. Such views of the self are likely to influence well-being outcomes. In three studies we use a novel self-report method to show that seeing oneself as a major versus minor character within one’s own life story significantly impacts well-being both prospectively and retrospectively. Additionally, we demonstrate that this major character construct is associated with rated psychological need satisfaction, autonomous goal pursuit, and coded agency. We believe these findings contribute to expanding available autobiographical assessments and predictions of well-being from narrative data.