How can a narrative perspective help us advance our understanding of the fundamental problems of human psychology and better appreciate persons in diverse social and cultural contexts? In A New Narrative for Psychology, author Brian Schiff offers researchers and scholars a new way to study and think about people and the goals of psychological understanding today. By providing a challenging critique of contemporary methods and addressing what these approaches to psychological research leave unexplored, Schiff presents readers with a cutting-edge approach for getting at the thorny problem of meaning making in human lives.While serving as a helpful guide for psychology scholars, this volume is also an excellent place to start for readers who might be unfamiliar with narrative psychology. Here, Schiff carefully considers the history of the field and its place within contemporary psychology by offering a fresh and innovative theoretical perspective on narrative as an active interpretative process present in most aspects of our everyday lives. Further, Schiff expertly grounds this research for readers in clear, vivid illustrations of what can be learned from the intensive study of how people narrate their experiences, selves, social relationships, and the world today.A New Narrative for Psychology is an invitation to a fascinating conversation about the critical questions of the discipline, the most effective strategies for approaching them, and an exciting glimpse into the future of narrative psychology.

AcknowledgementsDedicationPART ONEIntroduction: What's the Problem?Chapter 1: Out of ContextChapter 2: Out of the HeadPART TWOChapter 3: Turning to NarrativeChapter 4: How Narrating FunctionsChapter 5: Making It SoELPART THREEChapter 6: Interpreting InterpretationsChapter 7: Interpreting Ben's SurvivalChapter 8: Interpretation in PracticeChapter 9: Reasoned InterpretationsConclusion: Unity in Psychology?References