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Cited by 473

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 3 of the 3 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

How Stories Make Sense of Personal Experiences: Motives that Shape Autobiographical Narratives

Baumeister, Roy F., Newman, Leonard S.·1994·Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Abstract

People's efforts to understand their experiences often take the form of constructing narratives (stories) out of them, and this article offers framework for the motivations that may guide the construction of stories. Evidence about the nature, importance, and pervasiveness of narrative thinking is reviewed. Next, motivations are considered that may guide narrative thought, both in terms of interpersonal manipulation and in terms of wanting to make sense of experiences. Regarding the latter, four needs for meaning are proposed as guiding narrative thought. First, people interpret experiences relative to purposes, which may be either objective goals or subjective fulfillment states. Second, people seek value and justification by constructing stories that depict their actions and intentions as right and good. Third, people seek a sense of efficacy by making stories that contain information about how to exert control. Fourth, people seek a sense of self-worth by making stories that portray themselves as attractive and competent. Within this framework, narratives are effective means of making sense of experiences.

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Crossref · 10.1177/0146167294206006

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Metadata

Authors
Baumeister, R. F., & Newman, L. S.
Venue
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Published
1994-12
Volume
20
Issue
6
Pages
676-690
ISSN
  • 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-7433
OpenAlex
W2160596122
Cited by
473
References
3
FWCI
16.44
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.