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This volume reflects on the place of narrative interpretation in life course developmental theory. Featuring exciting chapters by the leading figures in narrative psychology, it provides insights on the narrative character in early childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, midlife, and old age.
List of contents
1. Introduction: Development's Story in Time and Place 1 Brian Schiff This introductory chapter outlines the four major theses of Bertram J. Cohler's groundbreaking chapter Personal Narrative and Life Course and argues for the necessity of a narrative perspective for understanding human development. 2. Narrative Making and Remaking in the Early Years: Prelude to the Personal Narrative 15 Peggy J. Miller, Eva Chian-Hui Chen, Megan Olivarez Ethnographic studies of young children in the family context reveal that the process of narrative interpretation is vigorously underway much earlier in life than Cohler realized, constituting a surprising degree of continuity between early meaning making and the personal narrative. 3. Contextualizing the Self: The Emergence of a Biographical Understanding in Adolescence 29 Tilmann Habermas, Nese Hatiboglu Inspired by Cohler's seminal theory, the authors argue that adolescents learn to create coherence in their life story by contextualizing their life in family and social history and by forming a story of personal origins and future prospects. 4. Narrative and the Social Construction of Adulthood 43 Phillip L. Hammack, Erin Toolis The authors highlight the link between Cohler's original essay and interpretive approaches to human development, cultural-historical activity theory, and a social constructionist perspective on emerging adulthood that emphasizes identity and memory as coconstructed through storytelling and the construction of an individual life story. 5. The Life Narrative at Midlife 57 Dan P. McAdams Over the past three decades, psychologists have demonstrated the integrative power of personal narrative in the lives of midlife adults, demonstrating how life stories function as adaptive personal resources and windows into the influence of culture on human lives. 6. Narrating Your Life After 65 (or: To Tell or Not to Tell, That Is the Question) 71 Amia Lieblich This chapter examines the long-held belief that narrating one's life story contributes to the well-being of the elderly. 7. "Personal Narrative and Life Course" Revisited: Bert Cohler's Legacy for Developmental Psychology 85 Mark Freeman By addressing ordered transformations in the personal narrative throughout the life course, Bertram Cohler's seminal 1982 essay provides a valuable vehicle for rethinking the nature of the developmental process itself. INDEX 97
Summary
This volume reflects on the place of narrative interpretation in life course developmental theory. Featuring exciting chapters by the leading figures in narrative psychology, it provides insights on the narrative character in early childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, midlife, and old age.
