Description
The Transformative Self explores three of life's perennial questions: How do we make sense of our lives? What is a good life? How do we create one?In this comprehensive volume, developmental psychologist Jack J. Bauer responds to those three questions by integrating three main areas of study-narrative identity, the good life, and personal growth-to present an innovative model of humane flourishing and human development.The Transformative Self synthesizes an extensive range of scholarship, from scientific research in psychology to work in philosophy, literature, history, cultural studies, and more. The result is a cohesive framework for understanding how personal and cultural stories shape our development and how, through those stories, we might cultivate the growth of happiness, love, and wisdom for the self and others.
Table of Contents
Section I: The Transformative Self as a Good Life Story1. Introducing the Transformative Self2. The Cultural Master Narrative of Personal Growth3. Growth and the Good Life4. Growth and a Good Life Story5. Growthy Tones in Personal Narratives6. Growth Themes in Personal Narratives7. Growth Structure in Personal NarrativesSection II: The Person Who Has a Transformative Self8. Transformative Traits, Motives, and Experiences9. Transformative Self-Regulation and the Quiet Ego10. Growth in the Hard and Soft Margins of SocietySection III: The Development of the Transformative Self11. Nature, Nurture, and 'Ndividuality: Why Personal Growth Is Possible12. The Transforming, Transformative Self: Identity Development13. The Aging, Transformative Self: Growth Is Not Just for the Young14. Stages of Transformative Self-AuthorshipSection IV: Shadows and Illumination15. The Dark Side of the Transformative Self16. Authenticity, Self-Actualizing, and Self-Authorship17. The Self Beyond the StoryReferencesEnd Notes
