Week 11 - Narrative Perspective Flashcards
define the narrative mode of thinking and distinguish it from a paradigmatic approach
Narrative mode of thinking -
Taking into account the ‘story’ of an individuals experiences and life events when understanding the person.
Other theories focus on the ‘structure’ of personality, whereas this perspective focuses on their experience.
The less scientific of personality perspectives.
Stories, events aren’t explained in terms of physical or logical causes, more human wants, needs and goals.
Narrative identity - a persons internalised and evolving life story.
Paradigmatic approach -
Bruner (1986, 1990) While still focusing on interpreting experience in terms of stories, this ‘mode’ focuses more on people seeking comprehension through a reasoned analysis, logical proof and empirical observation.
We order our world through logical theories to help predict and control reality.
Look for cause and effect relationships
identify the components of the Story grammar
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Coherence -
Does the story make sense on it’s own terms?
Openness -
Openness for change and tolerance for ambiguity.
Offers a # of alternatives for future action and thought.
The ability to grow change and develop.
Credibility -
Has to be real, not fantasy
Differentiated -
Rich in character, plot and theme
Reconciliation -
As differentiation increases, adults seeks reconciliation between conflicts.
Affirms harmony and integrity of the self.
Generative integration -
A story to be passed on to next generation to promote, nurture and guide.
describe the development of the personal myth over the course of the life span from infancy to old age
Age 2 -
Emergence of the autobiographical self where children begin to tell simple stories about their own experiences. Then store them as episodic knowledge in autobiographical memory.
Age 4 -
Most children have now developed theory of mind (a set of working hypotheses about how others minds work, and their own)
Age 5 -
Story structure now understood.
Scaffolding -
The verbal and psychological supports that parents provide for children as they build their own sense of who they are in the world.
Primary School -
narrate our own personal experience in ways that conform to implicit understandings of how good stories should be structured and include.
Adolescence -
Ready to make sense of who we are and use wealth of experience to do it.
Young Adults -
Tell stories with a humorous tone.
identify four types of ideological settings for self-narratives
People need to be able to exercise at least 4 different mental skills in order to construct a coherent life story.
1 - Temporal coherence -
Accounting for a goal-directed life episode by telling a story about it.
2 - Biographical coherence -
Knowing the cultural expectations regarding the nature and timing of life episodes and events across the life course.
3 - Causal coherence -
Linking multiple life episodes into a meaningful sequence that provides a causal explanation.
4 - Thematic coherence -
Deriving an integrative theory or principle about the self from a narrated sequence of episodes.
describe the features of the two superordinate motives within the narrative perspective (agency and communion)
Agency -
The individuals efforts to expand, assert, perfect and protect the self, to separate the self from others and to master the environment within which the self resides.
Captured in traits of dominance, extraversion, achievement and power motivation.
Agentic life story: characters strive for power, achievement, independence, mastery etc.
Self-mastery/ Status/ Victory/ Achievement/ Responsibility/ Empowerment
Communion -
Refers to individuals efforts to merge with other individuals, to join together with others in bonds of love, intimacy, friendship and community.
Captured in the traits of agreeableness, nurturance, intimacy and affiliation motivation.
Communal themed stories: characters strive for friendship, love, intimacy. community etc.
Love/ Friendship? Dialogue/ Caring/ Help/ Unity/ Togetherness
identify the features of Imagoes and their role as key characters that represent idealised self-images
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Redemption sequence -
A bad or emotionally negative scene turns suddenly good or emotionally positive.
The bad episode is redeemed by the good that follows it.
Sustains hope, and commitment in narrative.
Contamination sequence -
The move in narrative from an emotionally positive or good scene to an emotionally negative or bad outcome.
The initial good scene is spoiled, ruined, contaminated, or undermined by what follows.
Suggest that goof events cannot be trusted to last, that bad outcomes eventually follow.
Suggest despair, hopelessness, and the endless repetition of a negative past.
explain the role of Nuclear episodes (nuclear memories) in narratives and the themes of continuity and change in such memories
Nuclear scene -
A positive childhood scene that eventually turns bad. Turns bad with the appearance of ‘an intimidation’ ‘contamination’ or ‘confusion’
Can replay and magnify the scene
The original ‘scene’ organises the narrative of the persons life, giving meaning and serving as a template/pattern for other scenes.
describe the features of a ‘good narrative’ or personal myth.
Coherence -
Does the story make sense on it’s own terms?
Openness -
Openness for change and tolerance for ambiguity.
Offers a # of alternatives for future action and thought.
The ability to grow change and develop.
Credibility -
Has to be real, not fantasy
Differentiated -
Rich in character, plot and theme
Reconciliation -
As differentiation increases, adults seeks reconciliation between conflicts.
Affirms harmony and integrity of the self.
Generative integration -
A story to be passed on to next generation to promote, nurture and guide.
