
Theories to Ponder
Your “Self” is a Work of Historical Fiction
What Personality Psychology has to teach us about inner growth and crafting our identities. “I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster.” This is the opening sentence of Jeanette Walls’s book The Glass Castle. It is a memoir of surviving an unconventional childhood in poverty, and a fascinating look at one person’s experience of creating the narrative that defines who they are. Personality Psychologist, Dan McAdams says that we all have an “evolving story that integrates a reconstructed past, perceived present, and anticipated future