Narrative psychology is a viewpoint or a stance within psychology, it is not a subfield of psychology, concerned with the "storied nature of human conduct" [1] (Sarbin, 1986) or in other words how human beings deal with experience by constructing stories and listening to the stories of others. The very notion of it is that human activity and experience are filled with "meaning" and stories, rather than logical arguments or lawful formulations, are "the vehicle by which that meaning is communicated"; such dichotomy is found in Jerome S. Bruner (1986, 1990, 1991) as a distinction between "paradigmatic" and "narrative" forms of thought, in his understanding they are both fundamental but irreducible one to the another.
According to Sarbin (1986) "narrative" is a root metaphor for psychology that should replace the mechanistic and organic metaphors which shaped so much theory and research in the discipline over the past century. The indisputable physical events of a personal occurrence are different from a story that results from the storied cause and effect relationships. (McKinnon)
"The theory of stories are defined as an overt interpretation, the event being increasingly contextually dependent on the ability of the individual "reading-out" the story and the act of a writer authoring a story." (Chatman). Chatman's precise structuring of discourse is fundamental to the critical nature of understanding Narrative Psychology. Independent of any fiction in the actual physical matter told, are physical events that are as unequivocal as quantum mechanics and human chemistry. The epistemological aspect - the science of the matter - is undiscovered without the study of Narrative Psychology and the valid theories defined by the founder's of Narrative Psychology.
Because Narrative Psychology continues to be defined, an excellent reference is: Narrative Psychology, Professor of Narrative Psychology Vincent Hevern -Le Moyne University.
The first accredited degree in Narrative Psychology as a science was awarded to John D. McKinnon (2001) University of Wisconsin - Green Bay.