Narrative psychology and individual’s personality
Narrative psychology is a outlook within psychology apprehended with the “storied nature of human conduct”,[Sarbin, Theodore R. 1986]. That is, how human beings covenant with experience by observing stories and listening to and understanding the stories narrated by others and their own. Working under the postulation that human’s activity, behavior and experience are filled with “meaning” and stories, rather than logical point of view or legitimate formulations, narrative psychology is the study of how human beings construct stories to deal with experiences and its influences on personality of the individual.
Humans are usually good story tellers which is innate and natural for all human beings throughout the world. Narrative psychology is intended to understand the content, nature and style of the stories way the individual reflect or tell their stories that they makeup from their day to day life experiences.
The utterance of the word narrative is used with expansive range of meanings. It is a technique of articulating living experiences in a significant way [Schiff, Brian 2012]. Narrative psychology is not a distinct or precise theory. It refers to a range of approaches to explorate the role of stories in human life and thought processes [Brockmeier, Jens; Carbaugh, Donal A. 2001].
In narrative psychology, a individual’s life story becomes a structure of identity as the individual choose different ways to reflect on one’s experiences, amalgamate and enlighten the whole story and proceedings of their life not only reflects that are given by others, but also shapes, who they are as an individual hence it effects the personality of the individual [Beck, Julie August 10, 2015]. It is a social constructivist approach that studies the implications of these stories for individuals and societies [Crossley, Michele L. 2000].
People especially the psychologists became interested in stories and day by day accounts of one’s life in the 1970s. The tenure ‘narrative psychology’ was introduced by Theodore R. Sarbin in his 1986 book Narrative Psychology: The storied nature of human conduct [Sarbin, Theodore R. 1986]. In his book he claimed that human conduct is best explained through stories and that this explanation should be done through qualitative research [Forgas, Joseph P.; et al 2013].
Sarbin argued that “narrative” is a root metaphor for psychology that should replace the mechanistic and organic metaphors which shaped so much theory and research in the discipline over the past century.
Personality psychologists have focused their research “on the identification of structural characteristics and content themes in life stories and the examination of their relationships to traits, motives, and mental health,” McAdams and Pals publish in the American Psychology journal.
For example, they cite one study that explored the stories of parents of infants with Down syndrome. They found that narratives that included foreshadowing and hopeful conclusions predicted well-being and ego development. In another attention-grabbing study, researchers found that participants’ specific beliefs were associated with different emotional tones in the stories they told.
Jerome Bruner explored the “narrative kind of knowing” in a more empirical way in his 1986 book Actual Minds, Possible Worlds [Bruner, Jerome 2009]. Bruner makes a distinction between “paradigmatic” and “narrative” forms of thought processes, proposing that they are both fundamental but irreducible to one another The narrative approach was also further developed by Dan P. McAdams, who put forward a life story model of identity to describe three levels of personality, leading to explorations of how significant life transitions are narrated and how the “self and culture come together in narrative” [McAdams, Dan P. 1993]
Narrative approaches to personality suggest that human beings interpret their own lives as ongoing stories and that these life stories help to contour behavior establishing the identity, and integrate individuals into modern social life (Hermans, Kempen, & van Loon, 1992; Josselson & Lieblich, 1993; McAdams, 1985; Singer & Salovey, 1993; Tomkins, 1987).
The narrative psychology includes autobiographical memory, early memories related to childhood experiences , high/low emotional points that had affected the overall personality, day to day life experiences in adulthood, and auto life experiences that are subjective or inter-subjective, and stories that are told by others and themselves.
References:
Sarbin, Theodore R. (1986). Narrative Psychology: The storied nature of human conduct. Praeger.
Schiff, Brian (2012). "The Function of Narrative: Towards a Narrative Psychology of Meaning". Narrative Works: Issues, Investigations and Interventions. 2: 33–47.
Brockmeier, Jens; Carbaugh, Donal A. (2001). Narrative and Identity: Studies in Autobiography, Self and Culture. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 10.
Beck, Julie (August 10, 2015). "Life’s Stories". The Atlantic. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
Crossley, Michele L. (2000). Introducing Narrative Psychology. McGraw-Hill education. p. 40.
Forgas, Joseph P.; Vincze, Orsolya; László, János (2013). "Social Cognition and Communication: Background, Theories, and Research". Social Cognition and Communication. Psychology Press. p. 8.
Bruner, Jerome (2009). Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. Harvard University Press.
McAdams, Dan P. (1993). The Stories We Live by: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self. Guilford Press.
Vassilieva, Julia (2016). Narrative Psychology: Identity, Transformation and Ethics. Springer. p. 15.
