Chapter One: Introduction: Profound Drama.- Chapter Two: The Person as Actor, the Actor as Person: Personality from a Dramaturgical Perspective.- Chapter Three: Reflections on the Drama of Shame and Guilt.- Chapter Four: A Dramatic Analysis of the Psychology of Fear.- Chapter Five: Asymmetries in the Psychology of Confidence.- Chapter Six: On the Psychological Absurdity of a War on Terror.- Chapter Seven: Dramatic Narratives of Addiction.- Chapter Eight: Paradoxes of Wellbeing: A Dramatic Analysis.- Chapter Nine: Reflections on the Drama of Rejection.- Chapter Ten: A Case Study in the Use of Dramatic Metaphor: Daniel Kahneman’s Psychology.
Karl E. Scheibe is Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Wesleyan University, USA, and Director of the Wasch Center for Retired Faculty. As a social and clinical psychologist, his research interests lie in the psychology of self and identity and the advantages of a dramaturgical approach to psychology.
This book applies a dramaturgical perspective to familiar psychological topics including fear, greed, shame, guilt, rejection, well-being and terrorism. In presenting vivid illustrations of how our understanding of psychological problems can be enriched and enlivened by employing dramatic language and concepts, it brings the well-established field of narrative psychology to life. Providing an accessible and fresh understanding of psychological problems through the language and concepts of theatre, Karl Scheibe builds on the work of leading scholars in the field including Sarbin, Gergen, Bruner and Goffman. This exciting and accessible book acts as a sequel to Scheibe's, The Drama of Everyday Life, and will appeal to students and scholars of narrative and social psychology, theatre studies and the studies of self and identity.