Generativity and Themes of Agency and Communion in Adult Autobiography
Abstract
Theorists have suggested that generativity combines tendencies toward both agency and communion in adult lives. The highly generative adult is able to generate products that extend the self in a powerful way (agency) and to offer those products to others with the purpose of assisting the next generation (communion). This study examined differences between two groups of subjects, more and less generative adults, in their autobiographical expressions of agency and communion. Employing a new coding system for analyzing themes of agency and communion in significant life-story scenes, the study revealed that highly generative adults express greater levels of communion in their autobiographical scenes than do less generative adults, especially with respect to the communal themes of dialogue and care/help. Highly generative adults also show greater levels of agency/communion integration. However; in the agency themes alone, no significant differences between the two groups emerged.
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Midlife American adults who score especially high on self-report measures of generativity tend to see their own lives as narratives of redemption.
“In a series of nomothetic and idiographic studies conducted over the past 15 years, McAdams and colleagues have consistently found that midlife American adults who score especially high on self-report measures of generativity-suggesting a strong commitment to promoting the well-being of future generations and improving the world in which they live (Erikson, 1963)-tend to see their own”
From The Problem of Meaning in Personality Psychology from the Standpoints of Dispositional Traits, Characteristic Adaptations, and Life Stories (2010) · cites this paper as Mansfield & McAdams, 1996
Cites
Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers.
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1987) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.52.1.81 · Cited by 6,404 · see citing works
Generativity among young, midlife, and older adults
McAdams, D. P., de St. Aubin, E., & Logan, R. L. (1993) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/0882-7974.8.2.221 · Cited by 614 · see citing works
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McAdams, D. P. (2011) · Handbook of Identity Theory and Research · doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-7988-9_5 · Cited by 346 · see citing works
Self-citationMcAdams, D. P. (2010) · The Japanese Journal of Personality · doi:10.2132/personality.18.173 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Mansfield, E. D., & McAdams, D. P.
- Affiliations
- Hamilton Center
- Northwestern University (US)
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1996-07
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 721-731
- ISSN
- 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7433
- OpenAlex
- W2064701021
- Cited by
- 92
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 6.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Keywords
- generativity, agency, communion, life stories, self-extension, dialogue
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