Development of Past Self-Continuity Scale from Narrative and Essentialist Perspectives

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Understanding personal identity and its development hinges on self-continuity perception across time.
• Existing psychological research has a gap in measuring past self-continuity from distinct theoretical perspectives.
• Self-continuity influences identity development and psychological well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate a novel scale measuring past self-continuity.
• To differentiate between narrative and essentialist perspectives of self-continuity.
• To provide a tool for understanding the complex nature of self-continuity.

Main Methods:

• Development and validation of the Past Self-Continuity Scale.
• Four studies conducted with diverse Japanese participant groups (university students, adults, high school students).
• Scale differentiates between integration of past/present selves (narrativity) and core attribute stability (essentialism).

Main Results:

• The Past Self-Continuity Scale effectively measures narrative and essentialist self-continuity.
• Narrativity-based and essentialist-based self-continuity are distinct constructs.
• These distinct strategies for perceiving self-continuity may evolve with development.

Conclusions:

• The developed scale enhances the measurement of past self-continuity.
• Findings illuminate the distinct roles of narrative and essentialist perspectives in identity formation.
• This research contributes to understanding psychological well-being through the lens of self-continuity.