People continuously construct stories about their lives, shaping their identity and emotional well-being. Central to this process are causal inferences, the way individuals habitually explain the causes of negative life events. A negative inferential style, characterized by attributing negative events to internal, stable, and global causes, has been linked to poor mental health and vulnerability to depression. Conversely, inferential flexibility – the ability to dynamically shift between inferential styles-is increasingly recognized as crucial for emotional resilience. Although previous research highlights the benefits of inferential flexibility for emotional regulation, its role in the broader context of personal narrative construction remains underexplored. The ability to make sense of life events and life-story is fundamental to psychological health and a sense of meaning. My doctoral research will bridge this gap by examining the relationship between inferential flexibility and narrative flexibility, the dynamic capacity to revise and build coherent life narratives over time. Utilizing Ecological Momentary Assessment(EMA), this research will track daily attributional shifts in response to negative events and explore their links with broader narrative identity in everyday-life. Additionally, it will investigate underlying mechanisms such as autobiographical memory and prospection to assess whether flexible inference-related processes facilitate adaptive narrative formation. Furthermore, the research will test whether an Ecological Momentary Intervention(EMI), designed to enhance inferential flexibility, can promote healthier narrative development, potentially improving psychological resilience and reducing vulnerability to mood disorders. By integrating momentary cognitive processes with narrative identity theories, this research will offer novel.

Supervisor: Prof. Nilly Mor