Identity And Story: Creating Self in Narrative (The Narrative Study of Lives)

In Identity and Story: Creating Self in Narrative, the fourth volume in theseries "The Narrative Study of Lives," Dan P. McAdams, Ruthellen Josselson,and Amia Lieblich bring together an interdisciplinary and international group of creative researchers and theorists to examine the way the stories we tell create our identities. An increasing number of psychologists argue that people living in modern societies give meaning to their lives by constructing and internalizing self-defining stories. The contributors to this volume explore how, beginning in adolescence and young adulthood, our narrative identities become the stories we live by. "In Identity and Story: Creating Self in Narrative, the fourth volume in the Narrative Study of Lives series, Dan P. McAdams, Ruthellen Josselson, and Amia Lieblich (2006) bring together an interdisciplinary and international group of creative researchers and theorists to examine how the stories we tell create our identities. An increasing number of psychologists argue that people give meaning to their lives by constructing and internalizing self-defining stories. The contributors to this volume explore how, beginning in adolescence and young adulthood, our narrative identities become the stories we live by. This volume addresses the most important and difficult issues in the study of narrative identity, including questions of unity and multiplicity in stories, the controversy over individual versus societal authorship of stories, and the extent to which stories typically show stability or growth in the narrator. The detailed examination of excerpts from stories told to researchers and the analysis of published memoirs, together with the contributors' insights into narrative psychology, make this provocative volume a rich, research-based exploration into how our lives may be the product of the stories we tell"--Cover. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved) Multiplicity and Conflict in the Dialogical Self: A Life Narrative Approach / Peter T.F. Raggatt -- Between "Being" and "Doing": Conflict and Coherence in the Identity Formation of Gay and Lesbian Orthodox Jews / Tova Hartman Halbertal and Irit Koren -- The Raw and the Bland: A Structural Model of Narrative Identity / Gary S. Gregg -- Creative Work, Love, and the Dialectic in Selected Life Stories of Academics / Dan P. McAdams and Regina L. Logan -- Self vs. Society -- Identity Light: Entertainment as a Vehicle for Self Development / Kate C. McLean and Avril Thorne -- Silk from Sows Ears: Collaborative Construction of Everyday Selves in Everyday Stories / Monisha Pasupathi -- Making a Gay Identity: Life Story and the Construction of a Coherent Self / Bertram J. Cohler and Phillip L. Hammack -- Stability vs. Growth -- Constructing the "Springboard Effect": Causal Connections, Negative Experiences, and the Growth of the Self within the Life Story / Jennifer L. Pals -- The Identities of Malcolm X / John Barresi -- A Narrative Exploration of Personal Ideology and Identity / Ed de St. Aubin, Mary Wandrei, Kim Skerven, and Catherine M. Coppolillo -- "Where is the Story Going?" Narrative Form and Identity Construction in the Life Stories of Israeli Men and Women / Rivka Tuval-Mashiach CONTENTS......Page 3 CONTRIBUTORS......Page 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 7 INTRODUCTION......Page 11 I. UNITY VERSUS MULTIPLICITY......Page 20 1. MULTIPLICITY AND CONFLICT IN THE DIALOGICAL SELF: A LIFE-NARRATIVE APPROACH......Page 21 2. BETWEEN "BEING" AND "DOING": CONFLICT AND COHERENCE IN THE IDENTITY FORMATION OF GAY AND LESBIAN ORTHODOX JEWS......Page 42 3. THE RAW AND THE BLAND: A STRUCTURAL MODEL OF NARRATIVE IDENTITY......Page 67 5. IDENTITY LIGHT: ENTERTAINMENT STORIES AS A VEHICLE FOR SELF-DEVELOPMEN'T......Page 112 6. SILK FROM SOW'S EARS: COLLABORATIVE CONSTRUCTION OF EVERYDAY SELVES IN EVERYDAY STORIES......Page 129 7. MAKING A GAY IDENTITY: LIFE STORY AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF A COHERENT SELF......Page 151 8. CONSTRUCTING THE "SPRINGBOARD EFFECT" : CAUSAL CONNECTIONS ,SELF-MAKING, AND GROWTH WITHIN THE LIFE STORY......Page 173 9. THE IDENTITIES OF MALCOLM X......Page 198 10. A NARRATIVE EXPLORATION OF PERSONAL IDEOLOGY AND IDENTI'TY......Page 220 11. "WHERE IS THE STORY GOING?" NARRATIVE FORMS AND IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION IN THE LIFE STORIES OF ISRAELI MEN AND WOMEN......Page 246 AUTHOR INDEX......Page 266 SUBJECT INDEX......Page 271 ABOUT THE EDITORS......Page 278 "An increasing number of psychologists argue that people give meaning to their lives by constructing and internalizing self-defining stories. The contributors to this volume explore how, beginning in adolescence and young adulthood, our narrative identities become the stories we live by. This volume addresses the most important and difficult issues in the study of narrative identity, including questions of unity and multiplicity in stories, the controversy over individual versus societal authorship of stories, and the extent to which stories typically show stability or growth in the narrator."--Jacket.