Abstract
This chapter is written from the perspective that the narrative is an organizing principle for contemporary psychology. I have made the claim for a narrative principle previously (Sarbin, 1986a, 1986b, 1986c, 1989a, 1989b, 1990a, 1990b, 1993, 1997a, 1997b, 1997c)—the readiness of human beings both to organize their experience and to interpret their social lives according to narrative plots. The grounds for my claims are common experiences. Our fantasies and daydreams are storied. Our night dreams are experienced as stories, often with mythic undertones. Rituals of daily life are organized to tell stories. The pageants of special occasions are fashioned along story lines. The plans we make, our rememberings, even our loving and hating, are all guided by narrative plots. Survival in a world of meanings would be problematic in the absence of skill to make up and to interpret stories about interweaving lives.
Prepared for the Conference on Believed-In Imaginings held at Clark University, Worcester, MA, May 24 and 25, 1997. The formulations are revised and updated from an earlier set of papers (Sarbin, 1967a, 1967b, 1972; Sarbin & Juhasz, 1967, 1970, 1975). I am grateful to Ralph M. Carney, Gerald P. Ginsburg, Joseph B. Juhasz, John I. Kitsuse, and Karl E. Scheibe for stimulating discussions that helped me round out the text.
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Scheibe, K.E., Barrett, F.J. (2017). Believed-In Imaginings: A Narrative Approach. In: The Storied Nature of Human Life. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48790-8_5
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