Scanning the Landscape of Narrative Inquiry

Abstract

Narrative inquiry in psychology has become a richly hued endeavor with multiple and significant implications for social and personality investigation. Such inquiry first represents an important venue for dialogue between psychologists and scholars from across the social sciences and humanities. Furthermore, the focus on narrative invigorates concern with the sociocultural context of human action. This article reviews some of the major lines of inquiry in narrative psychology. The narrative structuring of reality, the achievement of narrative intelligibility in conversation, and the function of narrative in individual life experiences, all receive attention. This review also reveals how narrative inquiry has added importantly to social and personality psychology in its enhancement of critical sensitivities, methodological tools, and investments in social action.