title: The nature of professional and relational self-aspects at the goal and narrative levels of personality.
abstract: The self-concept is constituted by a series of context-specific self-aspects. Researchers have considered the manner in which personality traits vary across these self-aspects. Here, we examined self-aspects corresponding to professional and relational contexts at the goal and narrative levels of personality. In each of two studies, participants provided lists of goals and recounted self-defining narratives, corresponding to the aforementioned contexts. Goals and narratives were coded for themes of agency and communion. At both descriptive levels, agency more characterized the professional self-aspect and communion, the relational self-aspect. A consideration of context-specific goals and narratives informs understanding regarding the nature of the self in its multifaceted form.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, USA.
authors.forename: William L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Dunlop
authors.forename: Lawrence J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Thomas K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Wiens
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D008875:Middle Aged; D033262:Narration; D010551:Personality; D012649:Self Concept; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: agency; communion; goals; professional contexts; relational contexts; self-aspects; self-concept; self-narratives