But, for the most part, Gottschall sees stories as a necessary, fundamental part of who we are. Our greed for stories may have a down side-they may become addictive. It’s easy to see how alluring this alternative reality could be, especially if your everyday world is rather mundane or lonely. Often, participants in these games experience feelings of community and competence. He points to the enormous popularity of online games like “World of Warcraft,” in which players become characters in a complex, interactive story involving thousands, if not millions, of other players. However, he does contemplate possible future directions for storytelling-virtual stories. Now, some worry that the novel itself may become obsolete but Gottschall doesn’t see this happening anytime soon-our attraction to fiction is too great, he writes. When the printing press came along, it was a revolution-people could read stories on their own rather than rely on storytellers. We need to remember that when we are emotionally engaged in stories, we are easy to mold and manipulate, something that people in power have long used to their advantage.įor a lot of human history, storytelling was a communal affair, where people gathered together to listen to stories. This combination has been shown to change attitudes and is often more effective than nonfiction at changing beliefs,” he writes.īut, therein lies the problem with storytelling: Sometimes our emotional resonance with characters can lead us astray, such as when we allow a good storyteller to convince us to believe in a conspiracy theory. “They teach us about the world while infecting us with emotions. Gottschall argues that stories are perhaps “the main cohering force” in human life, helping us learn right from wrong and encouraging us to act ethically. In fact, Keith Oatley and other researchers who study the effects of storytelling on the brain have found that people who read a lot of fiction tend to have higher levels of empathy and better social skills than those who don’t, probably because of the strengthening of the mirror neuron response. Mirror neurons-those brain cells that allow us to experience the emotions of another person, like feeling sad when we see a sad person-also fire when we’re at the movies or reading books or whenever we witness a story character emoting. Whatever the evolutionary origins, our brains are geared to react to storytelling. It may also serve as a kind of social glue, providing origin myths and other identifying stories to help society members bond with and care for one another. Other scientists believe that storytelling serves as a form of communication that provides a way to pass on complex information to others and make it memorable. Alternatively, storytelling may have started as a form of mental exercise, strengthening our cognitive capacities, which would be useful for our survival. Some evolutionists, according to Gottschall, think storytelling began as a kind of foreplay, because storytellers who displayed skill, intelligence, and creativity were desirable in a mate. Even children as young as three years old will engage in make believe story play, creating characters and acting out plots that often involve overcoming difficult obstacles-proof that storytelling is deeply ingrained in our species.
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