Personology and the Narrative Interpretation of Lives

Abstract

ABSTRACT Personology is the science of persons. In this article we show that the concept of person presupposes the continuity of experience and that the storylike structure of lives makes narrative the most promising methodology. Researchers use first‐person narratives as source material and third‐person narratives in describing and interpreting lives because the temporal nature of experience makes it difficult for human beings not to attribute order, direction, and purpose to experience. It is because lives are structured through experience in a storylike manner that their study takes the narrative form. Psychologists' attempts to understand the person are traced from James and Freud, through Murray and Erikson, to Tompkins, McAdams, and Hermans and Kempen. We outline each psychologist's concept of person and show how their case studies illustrate their use of narrative methodology.

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