How Stories Shape Our Minds via BBC

How Stories Shape Our Minds

BBC: 7.19.2019 by Dr Zoe Walkington, Psychologist, The Open University

There's a Native American proverb that says, "The one who tells the story rules the world." Stories have the potential to be incredibly powerful. They're able to change how we relate to each other, to change prejudice, so the potential for stories to persuade is staggering.

WHY STORIES ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU THINK

I read this really, really good research paper about these two books which basically suggested, that if you get people to read a couple of chapters of Harry Potter, they'll rate themselves higher than other people in their ability to potentially move something, just using the power of their mind. The people who read about the vampires, they'll actually believe that their teeth are slightly longer than other people in the population, just as a result of having read a chapter or two of this book.

Psychologists Call This Assimilation - Where The Reader Takes On The Qualities Of A Fictional Group.

In terms of psychology, there's a few things that stories actually do to us.

1. TRANSPORTATION: WHEN THE READER LOSES THEMSELVES IN THE STORY WORLD.

We get this sense that we're fully immersed in the world that we're reading about.

2. IDENTIFICATION: WHERE A READER TAKES ON THE PERSPECTIVE AND IDENTITY OF A STORY CHARACTER.

We start to almost feel as if the things that are happening to them, are happening to us.

Research Suggests That Transportation And Identification May Be Related To The Ability To Empathise With Others.

Anthony Horowitz, Author and screenwriter: Reading is not a relaxation, you are building worlds, you are populating those worlds with cities and those cities you are populating with people. So although television, film, theatre all have their place in the storytelling world, to me that moment of contact with a book, when you read a story and unlock its secrets... nothing quite comes close.

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So Stories Can Increase Empathy, Reduce Prejudice And Loneliness, And Be Very Persuasive... That Means...

Dr Zoe Walkington: You should definitely turn this off right now and go and pick up a book.  LISTEN 04:29

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on (7) readability formulas:

Grade Level: 10

Reading Level: standard / average.

Reader's Age: 14-15 yrs. old

(Ninth to Tenth graders)