# WhatsMyArc

> A narrative identity assessment: a person writes open-ended answers about their own life, and the account is read for constructs from narrative psychology — agency, communion, redemption, contamination, coherence and meaning-making — then placed among ten narrative types.

WhatsMyArc is not a trait questionnaire and is not a clinical or diagnostic instrument. It operates at what Dan McAdams called the third level of personality, narrative identity, which trait inventories such as the Big Five do not measure. The assessment has not been independently validated: the constructs it codes are established in the peer-reviewed literature, but this specific implementation has no published evidence behind it. That distinction is set out in full at https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/science.

## Foundations
- [Why Study Narratives?](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/why-study-narratives): You already tell your life story every day. The question is whether you've ever looked at how you tell it – and what that reveals. — 2026-02-21, updated 2026-08-07
- [Why Narratives, Not Standard Tests?](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/why-narratives-not-tests): Personality tests tell you what you're like. Your life story tells you how you got there – and where the interesting parts are hiding. — 2026-02-21, updated 2026-08-20
- [How Your Story Connects to Wellbeing](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/how-story-connects-to-wellbeing): The link between life narratives and psychological health isn't metaphorical. It's measurable – and the mechanisms are surprisingly specific. — 2026-02-21, updated 2026-08-20
- [Does Your Type Change Over Time?](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/does-your-type-change-over-time): Your narrative type isn't a tattoo. It's a snapshot – and it should change, because you do. — 2026-02-21, updated 2026-08-07
- [What Is Coherence and Why It Matters](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/what-is-coherence): Your life doesn't need to be a perfect timeline. But the way you connect events says a lot about how you understand yourself. — 2026-02-21, updated 2026-08-20
- [A Personality Test Based on Your Life Story](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/personality-test-life-story): Instead of a rating scale, a personality test based on your life story asks for episodes – and reads the shape of what you wrote. — 2026-08-15

## Concepts
- [What Is Narrative Identity, Really?](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/what-is-narrative-identity): Narrative identity is the evolving life story you build from a reconstructed past and imagined future – and what it isn't. — 2026-08-09
- [How Narrative Identity Is Measured](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/how-narrative-identity-is-measured): Identity assessment through life stories: open-ended prompts, answers kept word for word, a coding manual, two independent raters. — 2026-08-16
- [What Is Narrative Coherence, and Who Decides?](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/narrative-coherence): Narrative coherence is how well the parts of your life story connect – and researchers measure it in two ways that disagree. — 2026-08-11
- [What Agency and Communion Mean in Psychology](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/agency-and-communion): Agency and communion are the two thematic dimensions coded in life stories. They are scored separately, not two ends of one scale. — 2026-08-19
- [Redemption vs Contamination Sequences](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/redemption-and-contamination): Redemption vs contamination: two narrative sequences defined by which end of an episode you give the last word to. — 2026-08-08
- [What Autobiographical Reasoning Means](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/autobiographical-reasoning): Autobiographical reasoning means turning a remembered event into a claim about yourself. What it is, and where it fails. — 2026-08-13
- [Self-Defining Memories](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/self-defining-memories): Self-defining memories are vivid, intense, much-rehearsed, linked to others on their theme, and tied to an unsettled concern. — 2026-08-20

## Practice
- [The Life Chapters Exercise](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/life-chapters-exercise): The life chapters exercise asks you to divide your life into chapters and name them. How to do it alone – and how to read what you wrote. — 2026-08-12
- [What the Life Story Interview Questions Ask](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/life-story-interview-questions): The life story interview questions come from a research protocol: chapters first, then a high point, a low point, a turning point, an earliest memory. — 2026-08-18

## The product
- [How the Product Works](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/how-product-works): You write about your life. An AI reads the structure. You get a map of your narrative – here's what happens at each step. — 2026-02-21, updated 2026-08-20
- [What's in the Report and How to Read It](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/whats-in-the-report): Your report isn't a grade. It's a map – here's how to navigate it, what each section means, and what to pay attention to. — updated 2026-02-21

## Reference
- [What to Read About Narrative Identity](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/reading-list): A curated reading list if you want to go deeper into the science behind narrative identity – from accessible overviews to foundational papers. — 2026-02-21, updated 2026-08-07
- [FAQ](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/faq): Answers to the questions people actually ask – about the assessment, the science, the AI, the types, and what you're paying for. — updated 2026-02-21
- [Glossary of Key Concepts](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/glossary): A plain-language reference for the concepts that underpin narrative identity assessment – no jargon without explanation. — 2026-02-21, updated 2026-08-20

## Research
- [The Science Behind Narrative Identity Assessment](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn/science): The theoretical foundations, empirical evidence, and methodological choices behind using narrative analysis for psychological assessment – and the honest limits of what this is and isn't. — 2026-02-21, updated 2026-08-20

## The ten narrative types
- [The Alchemist](https://whatsmyarc.com/narrative/alchemist): You don't just survive difficulty – you turn it into something.
- [The Architect](https://whatsmyarc.com/narrative/architect): You didn't get here by accident – and you can show your work.
- [The Crucible](https://whatsmyarc.com/narrative/crucible): You're not broken – you're in the middle of something that doesn't have a name yet.
- [The Explorer](https://whatsmyarc.com/narrative/explorer): Your life doesn't need a plot – the interesting part is that you keep going anyway.
- [The Guardian](https://whatsmyarc.com/narrative/guardian): Your story isn't really about you – it's about what you've protected, built, and handed forward.
- [The Narrator](https://whatsmyarc.com/narrative/narrator): You watched it all happen – and your watching is the story.
- [The Phoenix](https://whatsmyarc.com/narrative/phoenix): You burned down to nothing – and what grew back wasn't the same person at all.
- [The Pioneer](https://whatsmyarc.com/narrative/pioneer): You don't know where the road goes – but you know you're going forward.
- [The Sage](https://whatsmyarc.com/narrative/sage): You didn't just live through things – you understood them, and the understanding changed you.
- [The Weaver](https://whatsmyarc.com/narrative/weaver): Everything that happens to you has happened before – you just didn't recognize the pattern yet.

## Start here
- [WhatsMyArc](https://whatsmyarc.com): Homepage: take the assessment and see your narrative arc.
- [Knowledge base](https://whatsmyarc.com/learn): Every article, grouped by topic.
- [The ten narrative types](https://whatsmyarc.com/narrative): Index of the ten types the assessment classifies into.
- [Sample report](https://whatsmyarc.com/demo/report): A full example report, no sign-up required.
- [About](https://whatsmyarc.com/about): Who builds WhatsMyArc, the research it draws on, and what it deliberately does not claim.

## Optional
- [Privacy Policy](https://whatsmyarc.com/privacy): How answers and reports are stored and used.
- [Terms of Service](https://whatsmyarc.com/terms): Terms of use.
- [Cookie Policy](https://whatsmyarc.com/cookie-policy): Which cookies the site sets and why.
- [Accessibility](https://whatsmyarc.com/accessibility): The site's accessibility commitments and known gaps.