May 28, 2007-- Researchers have long been trying to work out the raw ingredients that account for personality, but they have largely ignored the first-person explanation — the life story that people themselves tell about who they are, and why. Yet in the past decade a handful of psychologists have argued that the quicksilver elements of personal narrative belong in any three-dimensional picture of personality. And a burst of new findings are now helping them make the case. Civic -minded adults from diverse backgrounds tell life stories with very similar features, studies find; so likewise do people who have overcome mental distress through psychotherapy. The ways in which we visualize each scene of our lives shapes how we think of ourselves and how we behave. This compelling New York Times article shares how we may be able to change these narratives in positive ways. (3533 reads)