The stories we tell reflect what we know, both explicitly and implicitly, about ourselves and others and reveal the processes through which our social worlds are constructed. With nearly a 100-year history in psychology, this volume takes a fresh look at narrative story completion methodologies (NSCM), a story-based research approach that harnesses the power of storytelling to better understand our inner and socially constructed worlds. The volume represents the first compendium to present the diverse array of NSCM used by contemporary researchers and practitioners. It synthesizes three decades of quantitative and qualitative studies across disciplines and through the lifespan, and offers exciting new directions for bringing the method to its full potential. By bringing together and highlighting strengths in both quantitative and qualitative works, the volume urges researchers to break through epistemological dichotomies. It charts a way forward for conceptualizing holistic frameworks that acknowledge and integrate life course processes, specifically perspectives that account for individual characteristics and processes within sociocultural contexts. Providing valuable insights and applications for researchers who study cognition and development across the lifespan, the volume also offers examples of and future directions for building on the strengths of storytelling in culturally sensitive and asset-based ways, highlighting approaches for researchers to advance social justice and promote the well-being of individuals and communities worldwide.

Kimberly R. Kelly is Professor and Chair of Human Development at California State University Long Beach. With over 15 years of experience in education and developmental psychology, Dr. Kelly has made significant contributions to the study of parent-child conversations, informal science learning, and narrative methods using anti-deficit frameworks. She holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of California Los Angeles and has used and studied story stem methodologies for over a decade. Dr. Kelly has published numerous articles in prestigious journals, including Infant & Child Development, Science Education and the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, and has presented her work at national and international conferences. Her earlier coauthored work reviewing narrative story stem methodologies received the Distinguished Research Award from the American Educational Research Association Human Development Division. In addition to her research, Dr. Kelly has taught and mentored countless undergraduate students in research, fostering the next generation of scholars and professionals.