Dan P. McAdams

About

Dan P. McAdams is the Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Psychology and a professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University. He is recognized as one of the nation's foremost researchers in the field of narrative psychology. McAdams served as the interim dean of the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University from January 2022 through May 2023. His research primarily focuses on narrative psychology, the development of a life-story model of human identity, and themes such as power, intimacy, and redemption in human lives. He is well-known for formulating a life-story theory of human identity, which posits that modern adults give their lives a sense of unity and purpose by constructing and internalizing self-defining life stories or 'personal myths.' His work explores how autobiographical memory, psychological biography, and the themes of modernity influence the self and identity development.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Psychotherapist
• Literature
• Psychoanalysis
• Aesthetics
• Medicine
• Gerontology
• Theology

Selected publications

• More Vulnerable? The Life Story Approach Highlights Older People’s Potential for Strength During the Pandemic

  The Journals of Gerontology Series B · 2020 · 110 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVES: Older adults have repeatedly been referred to as more physically vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic, however, is not only about becoming physically ill. It has many psychosocial aspects: people are exposed to myriad life challenges. The life story approach does not ignore physical status but also emphasizes psychosocial strengths. It highlights that older people are likely to have developed resilience through experiencing life challenges and living across history.…

  DOI

• Narrative identity in the psychosis spectrum: A systematic review and developmental model

  Clinical Psychology Review · 2021 · 72 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Seeing your life story as a Hero’s Journey increases meaning in life.

  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2023 · 67 citations

  ). Eight studies reveal that the Hero's Journey predicts and can causally increase people's experience of meaning in life. We first distill the Hero's Journey into seven key elements-protagonist, shift, quest, allies, challenge, transformation, legacy-and then develop a new measure that assesses the perceived presence of the Hero's Journey narrative in people's life stories: the Hero's Journey Scale. Using this scale, we find a positive relationship between the Hero's Journey and meaning in life…

  PublisherDOI

• Self‐transcendence and life stories of humanistic growth among late‐midlife adults

  Journal of Personality · 2020 · 52 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVE: Self-transcendence is the experience of feeling connected to something greater than oneself. Previous studies have shown high scores on self-transcendence are associated with well-being and other psychological benefits, but have rarely examined the lived experiences of highly self-transcendent people. METHOD: = 60.4), we created a quantitative coding scheme and scored 1,375 new life story scenes. RESULTS: In Study 1, six narrative themes were identified (closure, interconnectedness, l…

  DOI

• Narrative identity in context: How adults in Japan, Denmark, Israel, and the United States narrate difficult life events.

  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2024-10-07 · 14 citations

  articleSenior author

  ). Taken together, our findings regarding narratives of adversity support the idea that narrative identity cannot be fully captured without an understanding of culture but needs to instead be studied in tandem with the cultural context in which stories reside. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Peter B. Zeldow

  17 shared

• Jonathan M. Adler

  Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

  17 shared

• Steven R. Daugherty

  16 shared

• Jack J. Bauer

  University of Dayton

  15 shared

• Ed de St. Aubin

  Marquette University

  13 shared

• Henry R. Cowan

  12 shared

• Kate C. McLean

  Western Washington University

  12 shared

• Jennifer Lilgendahl

  Haverford College

  11 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Social Psychology

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  1987

• M.A., Social Psychology

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  1984

• B.A., Psychology

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  1981

Similar researchers at Northwestern University

• Dedre Gentnerh-100
• Larry Hedgesh-99
• James P. Spillaneh-63