Most of the measures described in this book assess the content in verbal material. In contrast, the measure to be described here assesses aspects of the narrative style, under the assumption that the way in which an individual tells a story reflects a broader “personal style.” Stylistic characteristics of personality have been considered a part of both normal and abnormal personality from the beginning (see, e.g., Allport, 1961; Allport & Vernon, 1933; D. Shapiro, 1965), but they have captured the interest of psychologists less consistently than have thematic or content characteristics. Perhaps one reason for this is that exploration of content-based characteristics and stylistic characteristics requires completely different strategies. A researcher seeking to establish the validity of a content-based measure is usually in a position to choose a relatively narrow domain of human activities, and assess correlates in that domain. In contrast, a researcher seeking to establish the validity of a stylistic measure generally hopes to establish that the style unifies behavior in many different domains. The research strategy must be to cast a relatively wide net, and to identify stylistic similarities underlying substantive, or domain, differences.

Self- and social definition are concepts derived from Sartre's (1946/1965) analysis of the problem of identity formation for Jews in the context of anti-Semitism, and de Beauvoir's (1949/1953) application of the same reasoning to the problem of identity formation in women in the context of constraining social definitions of women.