As assessed by thematic apperceptive techniques (TATs), self-definition and social definition are two personality styles with differing worldviews and sources of individual identity definition. Self-defining individuals view the world in causal terms and prefer internal, personal definitions of self, whereas socially defined individuals see the world as less systematic and accept external social roles ascribed by their social contexts. Most previous research on these styles has studied women‘s life patterns. The current multi-method study extends that literature to men, using a longitudinal sample studied in 1958–60 to 1969–71 from the Guidance and Oakland Growth Studies at the Institute of Human Development, University of California, Berkeley. Self-definition in 1958–60 predicted higher social class 11 years later, along with valuing intrinsic aspects of jobs and having jobs that used their skills, both with social class controlled. Socially defined men valued extrinsic job aspects that accommodated family life. Self-report and interviewer ratings of marital satisfaction and adjustment were significantly higher for self-defining men than socially defined, but not with social class controlled. Interviewers rated self-defining men‘s morale higher than socially defined, independent of social class. Future research should examine these issues in modern samples having quite different gender role ascriptions.
Self-definition, Thematic Apperception Test, storytelling, narrative measures
