Why narrative psychology can’t afford to ignore the body.

Abstract

The narrative perspective emerging in psychology since the mid-1980s is threatened by a lingering Cartesianism in how theorists and clinicians approach human beings as storied selves. But, a deliberate effort to engage the narrative perspective in closer dialogue with biological understandings of human activities may challenge continuing Cartesian influences and offers advantageous points of departure for both stances. Areas of intersection may include: (a) biological constraints represented by working memory, speed of processing, and similar functions as they served to shape various cultural adaptations including narrative; (b) the interaction of physical gesture with narrative emplotment which underlies what Sarbin has termed “embodied emotion”; (c) physical and social worlds approached as ecological or environmental challenges which are met by the tactical and strategic use of narrative; and (d) evolutionary mechanisms shaping the form and function of narrative production.

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