Storytelling: What Stories Our Brains Like

Storytelling is a buzzword, but “telling stories" as a phenomenon and form of communication has been around for a very long time. The precursor of the word “story” is the ancient Greek word “historia”, which means “acquisition of knowledge”. In ancient Rome it acquired a new meaning that we know today: “narration of past events”. But part of the ancient Greek word “historia” as the search for answers to W questions has remained because our minds have a constant need to ask questions and satisfy their curiosity. That may be why you are reading this now.

Why do we like stories

People want to appear rational and thoughtful. Aristotle said that people derive their greatest rational pleasure from being able to learn without having to learn. For example, when we learn something fundamentally new or are given the opportunity to see something familiar from a new, previously unknown angle, in the form of a fascinating story. That is learning without unnecessary mental effort.

People are used to learning from stories. With the advent of language (according to various sources, this happened about 50-65 thousand years ago), people began to tell each other stories — this was a reliable way to learn how to catch a deer or escape from a predator. Since then, people have learned that by listening to other people's stories, you can find answers to your questions, solve your problems and find a way out of similar situations. Through stories, a person more easily absorbs new knowledge. However, depending on context, previous experience, personality, and other factors, different people may draw different conclusions after hearing the same story. Therefore, when telling a story, it is important for us to give our listeners those arguments that, step by step, lead them to the conclusions we need.

Any story is based on real facts and analogies with real life, which can be overgrown with fictitious details. In fact, for our brain it is not so important what is it: a story based on real events or completely fictional, as long as we recognize ourselves or others in it and as long as we understand the simple and understandable hints that this story contains.

That's why a good story gives us emotions for which we don't have to pay “full price”. We can live a story with a character or hero, but not be exposed to danger or make difficult choices, radically change our lives but we still get a full range of emotions. The story is emotionally engaging, memorable, and incites action.

A good story creates trust. It has been scientifically proven that stories help to interest the audience and endear them to the storyteller, be it a person or a company, build his authority and inspire confidence in his words. According to neuroeconomist Paul Zak, when people listen to stories, their bodies produce oxytocin, which makes people more likely to trust.

Another experiment was conducted by Princeton University neuroscientist Uri Hasson. He asked a storyteller to share a personal story in front of an audience and used equipment to test the brain activity of the speaker and the audience. When the storyteller turned on certain areas of the cerebral cortex, the same areas turned on in the listeners. This is how the scientist discovered the effect of brain synchronization. The experiment confirmed: storytelling establishes contact with the listener or reader and helps create trust, because a good story is a manifestation of empathy, that is, we show that we understand the feelings of another person. When Hasson asked to speak rationally when commenting on the graphs, there was no synchronization.

A Good Story: Five Signs

Story is a powerful form of communication because the human mind is designed to create, tell, and perceive stories. What stories do our brains like?

A good story is easy to retell. Most likely, you have heard the phrase “write or talk simply about complex things so that a five-year-old child or your grandmother can understand'' more than once. In fact, this is about the fact that if we tell a story in a very sophisticated way, most likely we ourselves do not understand what we really mean. In addition, if we tell a story in an unclear or complex way, then it is difficult to understand — especially in the conditions of clip thinking, information noise and the habit of quick content. And what is incomprehensible is not catchy or memorable, and you don’t want to share it.

A good story has a conflict or struggle waged by a hero, be it us, our customer, or our product. Where there is no confrontation, there is no story. A story is not an attempt to prove anything. People know that the real world is full of difficulties: things always go wrong as we would like. And if they see that you recognize this common sense, then they understand that you can be trusted and they begin to be interested in what you tell them. We must move not from the “positive” — “we are market leaders, we have the best professionals, our product is number No. 1”, but from the “negative” — the problems of the audience of the story. And develop the plot of our story from negative to positive in order to lead the audience to a happy ending: “look, it was difficult, but now it’s good.”

When there is conflict in a story, there is also emotion. A good story is compelling. If your story contains only dry facts, then perhaps people will agree with you, but your proposal will not seem interesting enough to immediately want to test it personally and follow your advice. Therefore, you must appeal to their emotions — focus on what worries them, worries them, scares them. Therefore, you must appeal to their emotions and focus on what excites, worries, or scares them. Although it is not necessary to scare anyone. You can show them a compelling picture of the future. Tell them how a real person would feel using this product, how their daily life would change.

“Story forms a context, and this context forms new connectors in people’s minds into which facts are connected.”

Annette Simmons, professional storyteller

A good story tells something new, explains something that was not known before. The audience may learn a truth that they did not understand until that moment (and recognize themselves in it). It can be an insight, a surprise, or a turning point when we report something that everyone already knows about from an unexpected angle. Tell something that the audience is useful or interested in knowing, otherwise they won’t read, watch, or listen. In other words, consider the needs of the audience you're telling your story to.

What is the difference between explaining and selling? People don't like having things imposed on them, they like to draw their own conclusions and make decisions, or at least they want to think that they draw conclusions and make decisions on their own. When we tell a story, a person decides what conclusions he will draw from our story. Therefore, we need to give such arguments so that he draws the conclusion we need.

A good story is remembered better, people pay more attention to it, and it increases the credibility of the storyteller. And finally, it encourages action. How can we include a plot in a short message that will push the audience to take the action that we expect from them? When a story has a hero who can be represented, and a sequence: where they started, how they continued, how they ended, this pushes for action due to clarity. Analogies can help with this. They can be such a useful storytelling tool: they help explain complex concepts easily by appealing to common, familiar phenomena.

“Analogies give clients superpowers”.

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple

A good comparison allows the consumer to instantly understand a complex principle and then describe it in conversation with others. That's why the slogan "1000 songs in your pocket" was so effective. Everyone had CDs and cassettes in bulky players that only allowed you to listen to 10–15 songs, one album at a time. Therefore, the slogan “1000 songs in your pocket” stood out strongly as people imagined what had previously seemed impossible that they could store all their favorite songs on one device. They could easily explain to their friends and family why the new iPod was so cool.