TELLING AND RETELLING ONES SELF-NARRATIVE - A CONTEXTUAL APPROACH TO LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT

In the context of a contextual or narrative metamodel of life-span development, a method of self-investigation is described. The method enables a person to tell his or her life story to a psychologist in a way that results in an overview of valuations, including moral valuations, referring to the person's past, present, and future. This process reveals the affective and motivational characteristics of the storyteller and leads to changes in (a retelling of) the narrative. The method is illustrated through an idiographic analysis of a 45-year-old man who wrestled with a failure in his career, and who, in the context of this failure, changed his moral view of the world. Finally, it is argued that a narrative approach may profit from including the subject as co-investigator.