Shedding a light on the teller: on storytelling, meaning in life, and personal goals

This paper demonstrates that an overlooked personality ability–storytelling–plays a significant psychological role: individuals proficient in storytelling exhibit a stronger sense of meaning in life (MIL) and endorsement of high-level goals (EHG) compared to their less adept counterparts. We employ two distinct methods to assess the storytelling ability: we developed a self-report scale for storytellers and also gathered assessments from listeners. The listeners comprise three categories: (a) close friends, (b) strangers who listen to the storyteller’s narratives, and (c) trained coders who observe videos of these stories. The relationship between storytelling and both the sense of meaning-in-life and endorsement of high-level goals is consistent across all measures. Additionally, this relationship persists whether the narrative concerns a personality trait or is constructed from three random words. Furthermore, the results are consistent across two different cultures (US and Middle Eastern). Finally, these relationships are most pronounced among introverts and least evident among extraverts.