What growth sounds like: Redemption, self-improvement, and eudaimonic growth across different life narratives in relation to well-being.

OBJECTIVE: We disentangled three growth-relevant concepts (redemption, self-improvement, and eudaimonic growth) in personal narratives of high, low, and turning points and tested their relations to well-being. METHOD: In two studies, participants (Study 1 n = 111, Study 2 n = 206; overall ages 17-83, 56% women, 75% white) wrote narratives of high points, low points, and turning points. Researchers coded each narrative for redemption sequences (i.e., affectively valenced changes in life from bad to good), self-improvement sequences (i.e., affectively valenced changes in oneself for the better), and themes of eudaimonic growth (i.e., values or motives for cultivating meaningful activities or relationships, helping others, or wisdom). Participants also self-reported well-being. RESULTS: Redemption sequences in low points predicted higher well-being but in high points predicted lower well-being. Self-improvement sequences and growth themes each predicted higher well-being in each life event (and interacted in high points). Growth themes consistently mediated predicted relations between both redemption and self-improvement sequences and well-being. Findings held when controlling for global narrative affect, self-reported growth motivation, and big-five traits. CONCLUSIONS: Thematic motives for eudaimonic growth were more closely tied to well-being than were affective evaluations of either changes from bad to good (redemption) or one's becoming better (self-improvement).

Promotion by Others through Social Networks.

Although self-promotion may be the most direct way people self-present, it carries social costs. We propose a novel phenomenon-promotion by others-wherein social networks may afford similar advantages with fewer costs. We utilized egocentric network analysis to examine relationships between social connections and perceived promoter potential (i.e., likelihood a friend will tell others about successes; PPP) and relationship dynamics. Participants enumerated friends and reported perceptions these friends would promote them, were valuable, and the extent to which they wanted these friends to know about successes. PPP was positively related to (a) network connectedness, (b) relational value, and (c) desire to know about success. We discuss benefits of promotion by others and individual differences related to engagement in this process.

A Multilab Preregistered Replication of the Ego-Depletion Effect.

Good self-control has been linked to adaptive outcomes such as better health, cohesive personal relationships, success in the workplace and at school, and less susceptibility to crime and addictions. In contrast, self-control failure is linked to maladaptive outcomes. Understanding the mechanisms by which self-control predicts behavior may assist in promoting better regulation and outcomes. A popular approach to understanding self-control is the strength or resource depletion model. Self-control is conceptualized as a limited resource that becomes depleted after a period of exertion resulting in self-control failure. The model has typically been tested using a sequential-task experimental paradigm, in which people completing an initial self-control task have reduced self-control capacity and poorer performance on a subsequent task, a state known as ego depletion Although a meta-analysis of ego-depletion experiments found a medium-sized effect, subsequent meta-analyses have questioned the size and existence of the effect and identified instances of possible bias. The analyses served as a catalyst for the current Registered Replication Report of the ego-depletion effect. Multiple laboratories (k = 23, total N = 2,141) conducted replications of a standardized ego-depletion protocol based on a sequential-task paradigm by Sripada et al. Meta-analysis of the studies revealed that the size of the ego-depletion effect was small with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) that encompassed zero (d = 0.04, 95% CI [-0.07, 0.15]. We discuss implications of the findings for the ego-depletion effect and the resource depletion model of self-control.