Actor, Agent, Author (L3)

What three layers of personality exist according to McAdams (1995)?

Actor, Agent, Author

What is in the “actor” part of personality?

Dispositional traits (personality traits, as measured with the big 5 for example)

What is in the “agent” part of personality?

characteristic adaptations (what motivates the person and makes them who they are - getting what they want and not getting what they don't want)

* Agenda: Personal goals, values, projects (starts around beginning of primary school)  (example: Trump's only goal is winning)
* No population taxonomy like FFM
* For each trait position, there are many alternative adaptations

What is in the “author” part of personality?

narrative identity (what is the story you hold about yourself - not truth, but a thread that produces a temple of continuity and meaning to our lives

* After a significant life event, this can significantly change

Psychological self

a reflexive arrangement of the subjective ‘I’ and the constructed ‘Me’, which evolves and expands over the course of life.

Why are semantic (trait-based) and episodic (event-based) knowledge about the self considered functionally independent?

Because rating oneself on traits does not typically activate recall of specific events that indicate the trait (rating oneself as extravert does not require recall of specific moments where one showed extraverted behavior). Rather, information from concrete personal experiences is summarized into general semantic categories (trait labels), that one can retrieve

Actor-agent-author framework

An integrative theory of the self that asserts that humans (the ‘I’) understand themselves (the ‘Me’) from 3 different standpoints (actor, agent, and author), which emerge at different points in their developmental trajectories

How does the actor, agent, author framework develop over the course of one’s life?

The self begins life as a social actor, struggling to regulate itself to perform effectively in the social stages of human life. As the person moves into middle childhood, the motivated agent emerges, which broadens focus to the future in the form of goal pursuit. In late adolescence and adulthood, the autobiographical author joins the actor and agent, creating a story about the Me in order to integrate the past, present, and future.

Why is the “actor” part called a social actor?

People reflexively observe their own performances as social actors and monitor the reactions of others: these reactions determine one’s social reputation.

How does the motivated agent integrate with the social actor?

Children will internalize a theory of mind and gradually integrate their goals with roles of the social actor.

Autobiographical reasoning

A wide set of interpretive operations through which people draw on autobiographical memories to make inferences about who they are and what their lives mean. These include skills like deriving organizing themes in one’s life and sequencing personal experiences into causal chains.

What central psychosocial problem is present in the “actor” part?

Self-regulation: the extent to which the self (the I) has reflexive control over its (the Me’s) feelings, thoughts, impulses, and behaviors in social settings. It is the way the self keeps itself in check to minimize social punishment and maximize social reward.

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Self-awareness, which develops at around age 2, is central in this, as well as social and moral emotions, like pride, shame and embarrassment

What central psychosocial problem is present in the “agent” part?

Self-esteem: the extent to which the self (the I) feels good about itself (the Me). It involves the evaluative attributions that the I makes regarding the Me’s worth. The extent to which one is able to achieve goals appears to be a large determinant of self-esteem.

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Differences in self-esteem seem to develop at around 7 or 8, when there are increasing demands made from parents and teachers

What central psychosocial problem is present in the “author” part?

Self-continuity (identity): the extent to which the I apprehends the Me to be continuous in space and time. Generally, the I may construct a different Me for many different situations, while it aims to construct continuity over time

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Disruptions in phenomenological continuity can happen in things like psychosis, but also to a lesser extent in dreams, reverie and altered states of consciousness

In what two ways does the “I” aim to construct continuity over time?

• Phenomenological continuity: a basic, moment-by-moment feeling that the I continues to exist as the same locus of feeling, thought, and consciousness (you expect to wake up as the same person when you go to bed at night).

• Narrative continuity: a constructed sense of self as a character in one’s life story. In this form, continuity is demonstrated by a narrative of how the self has changed and how it remained the same over time. o In narrative discontinuity, one might not know who they really are or want to be (identity crisis).

In what way does culture relate to the self in the “actor” way?

Behavioral expression: Culture provides norms and constraints for the behavioral expression of an actor’s traits and roles. Social roles entail different behaviors, duties, and customs in different societies.

In what way does culture relate to the self in the “agent” way?

Articulation of goals: Culture provides timetables, scripts, and strong priorities for the agent’s articulation of goals and values. Different cultures (individualistic vs. collectivistic) emphasize different types of goals (self-actualization vs. social harmony).

In what way does culture relate to the self in the “author” way?

Culture provides the psycho-literary menu off of which the author chooses the images, metaphors, and narratives that can be used to make narrative identity.

Narrative identities are constructed to make sense in one’s own culture, while it might not make sense in another (a narrative identity including encounters with spirits might make sense in some ancient tribes but not in our current Western society). Further, there are differences in autobiographical memories between cultures (Americans provide more memories of individual events, while Chinese recall more social and historical events).

What do you not specifically recall when you are recalling traits about yourself?

Specific episodic memories in which you displayed the trait. This means that people have a “trait self” and a “story self” which may not be related all that much

When does the self-conscious actor (I) develop?

Around 18 months of age, when the child starts recognizing themselves in the mirror and using words like “me” and “mine”

The actor role develops across adolescence and adulthood. What can change a person’s view of their traits even in adulthood?

Assuming specific social roles, for example that of a parent

When do infants begin to develop a sense of agency (the “agent” role)?

At around 1 year old, when they begin developing the knowledge of the difference for intentional and accidental behaviour

How does the agent role develop?

At age 4, we develop a theory of mind, recognising that people have desires that drive their actions

At age 5-7, children typically enter school and take on responsibility. They develop a goal-oriented perspective on life

By 8-9, they evaluate themselves on culturally valued goals

When does the development of narrative identity (the “author”) begin?

At around 2 or 3, when children begin developing autobiographical memory

How does the development of narrative identity (the “author”) develop?

In kindergarten, children can tell coherent stories about their past experiences

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During teenage years and early adulthood, people construct a purposeful narrative identity