Dan P. McAdams
Faculty Profile
Professor, Human Development and Social Policy
The Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Psychology
2120 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208-0001
Phone: (847) 491-4174
Biography
Dan P. McAdams, one of the nation’s foremost researchers in the field of narrative psychology, served as the interim dean of the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University from Jan. 2022 through May 2023.
McAdams, the Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Psychology and professor of human development and social policy, is most well-known for formulating a life-story theory of human identity. Modern adults, McAdams says, give their lives a sense of unity and purpose by constructing and internalizing self-defining life stories or “personal myths.”
A leader in the recent emergence within the social sciences of narrative approaches to studying human lives – approaches that place stories and storytelling at the center of human personality – McAdams has been funded by major grants from The Spencer Foundation and the Templeton Foundation. He directed the Foley Center for the Study of Lives at Northwestern University from 1997 to 2019, a project funded by the Foley Family Foundation.
The author of nearly 300 scientific articles and chapters, numerous edited volumes, and eight books, McAdams specializes in personality and lifespan developmental psychology. His theoretical and empirical writings focus on concepts of self and identity in contemporary American society and on themes of power, intimacy, redemption, and generativity across the adult life course.
His most recent books include The Person: A New Introduction to Personality Psychology and The Strange Case of Donald J. Trump: A Psychological Reckoning, which grew out of his cover article in The Atlantic magazine, “The Mind of Donald Trump.” Previous books include George W. Bush and the Redemptive Dream: A Psychological Portrait, and The Art and Science of Personality Development.
The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By integrates 15 years of research he collected with students and charts the new psychology of American identity as expressed in cultural and historical American texts and images and in the life stories of caring and productive American adults in their midlife years. The book won the 2006 William James Award from the American Psychological Association and the 2007 Association of American Publishers Award.
McAdams won the 1989 Henry A. Murray Award from the American Psychological Association for research on personality and the study of lives, the 2006 Theodore Sarbin Award for contributions to theoretical and philosophical psychology, and the 2012 Jack Block Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology for career contributions to personality psychology. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division 8) and the Association for Psychological Science, has served on the executive committee of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and is a founding member of the Association for Research in Personality (ARP), for which he served as president 2016-17.
His work has been featured in many national publications and media outlets including CNN, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek, Psychology Today, Self magazine, and Good Morning America.
Research Interests
Narrative psychology; the development of a life-story model of human identity; generativity and adult development; themes of power, intimacy, and redemption in human lives; modernity and the self; autobiographical memory; psychological biography.
Awards/Honors
- 2015: American Psychological Association Master Lecturer
- 2012: Jack Block Award for career contributions to personality psychology, from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology
- 2012: Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Basel
- 2008: Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Valparaiso University
- 2007: Association of American Publishers Award for Excellence in Professional and Scholarly Publishing in the area of Psychology and Cognitive Science for The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By
- 2006: The William James Book Award from Division 1 of the American Psychological Association for. best general-interest book in psychology across all subfields, for The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By
- 2006: Theodore Sarbin Award from Division 24 of the American Psychological Association for contributions to theoretical and philosophical psychology
- 2005: Richard Kalish Innovative Publication Award, Gerontological Society of America
- 2004 G. Stanley Hall Lectureship, American Psychological Association
- 2003: Second annual award for teaching excellence in psychology, Undergraduate Psychology Association, Northwestern University
- 2002: Most Influential Paper Award from the Association for Research in Personality
- 1996: Fellow, American Psychological Association
- 1995-98: Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence, Northwestern University
- 1995: The first Dean’s Award for Innovation in Teaching, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University
- 1992-94: Sigma Xi National Lecturer
- 1989: Henry A. Murray Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology for excellence in the study of lives
- 1988: Valparaiso University Distinguished Alumni Award
Education
| Year | Degree | Institution |
| 1979 | PhD, Psychology and Social Relations | Harvard University |
| 1976 | BS, Psychology and Humanities | Christ College, Valparaiso University |
Selected Publications
McAdams, D. P. (2021). Narrative identity and the life story. In O. P. John and R. W. Robins (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (4th Ed., pp. 122-141). New York: Guilford Press.
McAdams, D. P. (2020). Psychopathology and the self: Human actors, agents, and authors. Journal of Personality, 88, 146-155.
McAdams, D. P., & Cowan, H. R. (2020). Mimesis and myth: Evolutionary origins of psychological self-understanding. In J. Carroll, M. Clasen, and E. Jonsson (Eds.), Evolutionary perspectives on imaginative culture (pp. 93-108). New York: Springer.
McAdams, D. P. (2020). The strange case of Donald J. Trump: A psychological reckoning. New York: Oxford University Press.
McLean, K. C., Syed, M., Pasupathi, M., Adler, J., Dunlop, W., Drustrup, D., Fivush, R., Graci, M., Lilgendahl, J. L., Lodi-Smith, J., McAdams, D. P., & McCoy, T. (2020). The empirical structure of narrative identity: The initial Big Three. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119, 920-944.
Cowan, H. R., Chen, X., Jones, B. K., & McAdams, D. P. (2019). The single greatest life challenge: How late-midlife adults construct narratives of significant personal challenges. Journal of Research in Personality, 83, 103867.
McAdams, D. P. (2019). “First we invented stories, then they changed us”: The evolution of narrative identity. Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 3, 1-18.
McAdams, D. P. (2019). The emergence of personality. In D. P. McAdams, R. L. Shiner, and J. L. Tackett (Eds.), Handbook of personality development (pp. 3-19). New York: Guilford Press.
McAdams, D. P. (2019). “I am what survives me”: Generativity and the self. In J. A. Frey and C. Vogler (Eds.), Self-transcendence and virtue: Perspectives from philosophy, psychology, and theology (pp. 251-273). London: Routledge.
McAdams, D. P. (2019). Commentary: Continuity and growth in the life story – or is it stagnation and flux? Qualitative Psychology, 6, 206-214.
McAdams, D. P., Shiner, R. L., & Tackett, J. L. (Eds.). (2019). Handbook of personality development. New York: Guilford Press.
Jones, B. K., McAdams, D. P., & Destin, M. (2018). Telling better stories: Competence-building narrative themes predict adolescent persistence and academic achievement. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 76, 76-80.
Lanning, K., Pauletti, R. E., King, L. A., & McAdams, D. P. (2018). Personality development through natural language. Nature Human Behavior, 2, 327-334.
McAdams, D. P. (2018). Narrative identity: What is it? What does it do? How do you measure it? Imagination, Cognition, and Personality: Consciousness in Theory, Research, and Clinical Practice, 37, 359-372.
Adler, J. M., Dunlop, W. L., Fivush, R., Lilgendahl, J., Lodi-Smith, J., McAdams, D. P., McLean, K. C., Pasupathi, M., & Syed, M. (2017). Research methods for studying narrative identity: A primer. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8, 519-527.
Dunlop, W., Bannon, B., & McAdams, D. P. (2017). Studying the motivated agent over time: Personal goal development during the adult life span. Journal of Personality, 85, 207-219.
Harris, M., Donnellan, M. B., Guo, J., McAdams, D. P., Garnier-Villarreal, M., & Trzesniewski, K. (2017). Parental co-construction of 5-13-year-olds’ global self-esteem through reminiscing about past events. Child Development, 88, 1810-1822.
Maher, A. H. C., Kleib, S., Loyer, E., Connelley, D., Radamaker, A. M., Mesulam, M., Weintraub, S., McAdams, D. P., Logan, R. L., & Rogalski, E. (2017). Psychological well-being in elderly adults with extraordinary episodic memory. PLOS ONE, October 23.
Manczak, E. M., Levine, C. Ehrlich, K. Basu, D., McAdams, D. P., & Chen, E. (2017). Associations between spontaneous parental perspective-taking and stimulated cytokine responses in children with asthma. Health Psychology, 36, 652-661.
McAdams, D. P. (2017). The appeal of the primal leader: Human evolution and Donald J. Trump. Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 1.2, 1-13.
McAdams, D. P. (2017). How stories found a home in human personality. In I. Goodson (Ed.), Routledge international handbook of narrative and life history (pp. 33-48). London: Routledge.
McAdams D. P., & Guo, J. (2017). The cultural shaping of life stories. In A. T. Church (Ed.), The Praeger handbook of personality across cultures: Vol. 2. Culture and characteristic adaptations (pp. 185-210). New York: Praeger.
McAdams, D. P., & Jones, B. K. (2017). Making meaning in the wake of trauma: Resilience and redemption. In E. Altmaeir (Ed.), Meaning reconstruction after trauma (pp. 3-16). London: Elsevier.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2017). Supporting students’ college success: The role of assessment of intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies. (Study Committee: Joan Herman (Chair), David Bills, Corbin Campbell, Tabbeye Chavous, Greg Duncan, Sylvia Hurtado, Patrick Kyllonen, Dan P. McAdams, Frederick Oswald, Jonathan Plucker, K. Ann Reninger, and Brian Stecher). Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Westerhof, G. J. Bohlmeijer, E. T., & McAdams, D. P. (2017). The relation of ego identity and despair to personality traits and mental health. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 72, 400-407.
Carroll, J., McAdams, D. P., & Wilson, E. O. (Eds.). (2016). Darwin’s Bridge: Uniting the humanities and sciences. New York: Oxford University Press.
Dunlop, W., Guo, J., & McAdams, D. P. (2016). The autobiographical author through time: Examining the degree of stability and change in redemptive and contaminated personal narratives. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 7, 428-436.
Guo, J., Klevan, M., & McAdams, D. P. (2016). Personality traits, ego development, and the redemptive self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42, 1551-1563.
Ko, H-J., Hooker, K., Geldhof, G. J., & McAdams, D. P. (2016). Longitudinal purpose in life trajectories: Examining predictors in late midlife. Psychology and Aging, 31, 693-698.
McAdams, D. P. (June 2016). The mind of Donald Trump. The Atlantic, pp. 76-90.
McAdams, D. P. (2016). From actor to agent to author: Human evolution and the development of personality. In J. Carroll, D. P. McAdams, and E. O. Wilson (Eds.), Darwin’s bridge: Uniting the humanities and sciences (pp. 145-163). New York: Oxford University Press.
Adler, J. M., Brookshier, K., Monahan, C., Walder-Biesanz, I., Harmeling, L. H., Albaugh, M., McAdams, D. P., & Oltmanns, T. F. (2015). Variation in narrative identity is associated with trajectories of mental health over several years. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108, 476-496.
McAdams, D. P. (2015). The art and science of personality development. New York: Guilford Press.
McAdams, D. P. (2015). Three lines of personality development: A conceptual itinerary. European Psychologist, 20, 252-264.
McAdams, D. P. (2015). Leaders and their life stories: Obama, Bush, and narratives of redemption. In G. R. Goethals, S. T. Allison, R. M. Kramer, and D. M. Messick (Eds.), Contemporary conceptions of leadership (pp. 177-165). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
McAdams, D. P., & Guo, J. (2015). Narrating the generative life. Psychological Science, 26, 475-483.
McAdams, D. P., & Manczak, E. (2015). Personality and the life story. In M. Mikulincer and P. R. Shaver (Eds.), APA handbook of personality and social psychology: Vol. 4. Personality processes and individual differences (pp. 425-446). Washington, DC: APA Books.
McAdams, D. P., & Zapata-Gietl, C. (2015). Three strands of identity development across the human life course: Reading Erik Erikson in full. In K. C. McLean and M. Syed (Eds.), Oxford handbook of identity development (pp. 81-94). New York: Oxford University Press.
Rotella, K. N., Richeson, J. A., & McAdams, D. P. (2015). Groups’ search for meaning: Redemption on the path to intergroup reconciliation. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 18, 696-715.
Cox, K. S., & McAdams, D. P. (2014). Meaning-making during high and low point story episodes predicts emotion regulation two years later: How the past informs the future. Journal of Research in Personality, 50, 66-70.
Kandler, C., Zimmerman, J., & McAdams, D. P. (2014). Core and surface characteristics for the description and the theory of personality differences and development. European Journal of Personality, 28, 231-243.
Manczak, E., Zapata-Gietl, C., & McAdams, D. P. (2014). Regulatory focus in the life story: Prevention and promotion as expressed in three layers of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 169-181.
McAdams, D. P. (2014). Psychological science and the Nicomachean Ethics: Virtuous actors, agents, and authors. In N. Snow (Ed.), Cultivating Virtue: Multiple perspectives (pp. 307-336). New York: Oxford University Press.
McAdams, D. P., & Guo, J. (2014). How shall I live? Constructing a life story in the college years. In C. Hanson (Ed.), In search of self: Exploring undergraduate identity (pp. 15-23). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Robinson, O., & McAdams, D. P. (2014). Four functional roles for case studies in emerging adulthood research. Emerging Adulthood, 3, 1-8.
Cox, K. S, Casablanca, M. A., & McAdams, D. P. (2013). “There is nothing good about this work”: Identity and unhappiness among Nicaraguan female sex workers. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14, 1459-1478.
Jones, B. K., & McAdams, D. P. (2013). Becoming generative: Socializing influences recalled in life stories in late midlife. Journal of Adult Development, 20, 158-172.
McAdams, D. P. (2013). The redemptive self: Stories Americans live by (revised and expanded edition). New York: Oxford University Press.
McAdams, D. P. (2013). The psychological self as actor, agent, and author. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8, 272-295.
McAdams, D. P. (2013). Life authorship: A psychological challenge for emerging adulthood, as illustrated in two case studies. Emerging Adulthood, 1, 151-158.
McAdams, D. P. (2013). How actors, agents, and authors find meaning in life. In K. Markman, T. Proulx, and M. J. Lindberg (Eds.), The psychology of meaning (pp. 171-190). Washington, DC: APA Books.
McAdams, D. P. (2013). The positive psychology of adult generativity: Caring for the next generation and constructing a redemptive life. In J. Sinnott (Ed.), Positive psychology: Advances in understanding adult motivation (pp. 191-205). New York: Springer.
McAdams, D. P., Hanek, K. J., & Dadabo, J. G. (2013). Themes of self‐regulation and self‐exploration in the life stories of religious American conservatives and liberals. Political Psychology, 34, 201-219.
McAdams, D. P., & McLean, K. C. (2013). Narrative identity. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22, 233-238.
McAdams, D. P. (2012). Exploring psychological themes through life narrative accounts. In J. A. Holstein and J. F. Gubrium (Eds.), Varieties of narrative analysis (pp. 15-32). London: Sage.