Handbook of Identity Theory and Research

Abstract

Narrative identity is the internalized and evolving story of the self that a person constructs to make sense and meaning out of his or her life. The story is a selective reconstruction of the autobiographical past and a narrative anticipation of the imagined future that serves to explain, for the self and others, how the person came to be and where his or her life may be going. People begin to put their lives together into narrative identities in their late-adolescent and young-adult years, but the process of narrative identity development continues across the life course. In constructing self-defining life stories, people draw heavily on prevailing cultural norms and the images, metaphors, and themes that run through the many narratives they encounter in social life. Conceptions of narrative identity began to emerge in the social sciences in the 1980s with the writings of philosopher, psychologists, and social theorists. McAdams (1985) proposed the first full theoretical model of narrative identity and outlined a research agenda for examining content and structural features of life stories. Since then, conceptions of narrative identity have evolved to encompass themes from a number of different approaches and viewpoints. The chapter traces the interdisciplinary history of the concept of narrative identity, recent research on the forms and functions of narrative identity, the role of narrative identity in contemporary conceptions of human personality, the development of narrative identity across the human life course, and the cultural manifestations and meanings of life stories.