Expanding the Study of Narrative Identity in Personality Psychology

Narrative identity is the component of personality capturing the internalized and evolving story of the self over time and across life contexts. In this chapter, we describe current best practices and recent developments in research on the construct of narrative identity, focusing on how methods can be expanded or improved. We begin by outlining the philosophical underpinnings that govern investigations of narrative identity in personality psychology, considering how and why quantitative methods have generally been favored. We then describe novel quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches, arguing for the use of expanded methods that can refine understanding of narrative identity across multiple levels of personality (i.e., characteristic adaptations and integrative life narrative). We conclude by offering recommendations for how future research can leverage narrative data to better understand personality in context.