Revaluing Ordinary Moments: Disrupting Gendered Positive Self-Concepts through a Narrative Feedback Intervention

How do people craft a positive self-concept? How does the content of positive self-concepts change in response to feedback? Our research seeks to answer these questions by analyzing data gathered from two different samples before and after a positive feedback intervention. Collectively, our findings identify three narrative themes that people use to articulate how they add value to their workplace and communities: Mobilizing, Connecting, and Task Engaging. Further, we found that while our participants’ initial positive self-concepts showed gendered patterns, these patterns were largely diminished after the positive feedback intervention. Also, after the intervention, the content of participants’ positive self-concepts were broadened and enriched. In post-hoc analyses we explored possible mechanisms underlying these patterns of change. We then theorize that non-comparative, positive narrative feedback from significant others across multiple domains provides people with the opportunity to re-value ordinary actions and build a more integrated understanding of their value. We discuss the implications of these findings on strength-based research, positive identities, and gender identity construction.