CHAPTER ONE:
How our brains respond to stories
Researchers at Princeton University wired a native English speaker and a native Russian speaker to their machines and said “Tell us a story.”
They recorded both the stories, plus what happened in each storyteller's brains - they looked at their neural activity.
A little later, the researchers wired more English speakers up to their machines, played them both story recordings, and watched the neural activity tell a story of its own, of connection through communication.
What those researchers found helped launch countless TED Talks, blog posts, and LinkedIn articles on storytelling’s phenomenal power.
When we are told a story in a language we understand, as opposed to in a way we cannot comprehend, our neural activity starts to mirror - and in some cases, even anticipate - the neural activity of the storyteller. Through this process of “neural coupling,” we almost live the story as they do. The more perfect the neural coupling, the more successfully the story’s information has been communicated.
Listening to a story releases chemicals in our brains. Cortisol and dopamine can grab and focus our attention. Endorphins can make us more relaxed. Perhaps the most magical is oxytocin.
Oxytocin is strongly linked with empathy in social interactions. Neuroeconomist Paul Zak explains, “Oxytocin is produced when we are trusted or shown a kindness, and it motivates cooperation with others.”
It’s also been identified as the neurochemical responsible for “narrative transportation” - the moment when we begin to emotionally resonate with a story’s characters, when our attention has been captured and our brains intuit their emotions so we feel them too.
Ever felt elated yet exhausted at the end of an action movie? That’s because oxytocin has swept you into the running shoes of a triumphant underdog. If Roger Ebert's famous claim is true, this is in no small part because stories are a machine for generating oxytocin.
The movies are like a machine that generates empathy.
Research shows a link between being told a character-driven story and increased oxytocin synthesis. These increases in oxytocin affect our behavior, even after a story ends.
When Zak’s team told test subjects the story of a terminally ill child and asked them to donate to a charity, subjects with higher levels of oxytocin gave more generously.
Similarly, when two test audiences were dosed with artificial oxytocin or a placebo and shown public safety ads, the group riding an empathy high reported being more likely to follow the safety advice.
Basically, when you tell your audience a story - especially a personal, emotionally compelling one - their neural activity begins to mirror yours. You alter the chemical balances in their brain, and they become more receptive to your message.
Yet still, we see many brands in 2022 continue to neglect centering storytelling at the heart of their internal communications and external materials.
A single storytelling session with hospitalized children can increase oxytocin and reduce pain levels
When a tragic situation is presented as a story, the audience produces more oxytocin, making them give more generously
Increase someone’s oxytocin levels while showing them a public safety ad and they’re more likely to say they will follow its advice
Neuroscience illuminates the way stories affect us as we listen to them. But we have to turn to anthropology and history to understand how stories affect our lives and communities on a much grander scale.
Since the earliest days of oral storytelling, stories have helped to define, develop and preserve human life. A clear example is the Indigenous Australian ‘Dreamtime’ story of Tiddalik the Frog.
In the version told by the Gunnai Kurnai people of Gippsland, Tiddalik is a greedy frog who drinks all the water in the billabongs, rivers, and sea.
Rather than punishing or outcasting the frog, all the local animals team up to make Tiddalik laugh, sending the water rushing back to where it belongs and helping the frog return to normal.
By telling and retelling Tiddalik’s story across the land for tens of thousands of years, communities to this day won't soon forget the preciousness of natural resources, the dangers of selfishness, and the power of working together towards a common goal.
Homo sapiens are a storytelling animal that think in stories rather than in numbers or graphs, and believe that the universe itself works like a story, replete with heroes and villains, conflicts and resolutions, climaxes and happy endings."
