The Science of Storytelling
- bellabrough2
- Feb 12, 2023
- 2 min read
A scientist called Rob walker wanted to find out how powerful storytelling was, so he went on his computer and bought 200 objects for an average of 1 pound. He then asked 200 authors to write a story about one of the objects. Rob Walker then sold his objects, one of the objects was a horse head, it was bought for 95p, then Rob sold it with the story and the price went up to £62.95p. When stories are told, it makes you want to be more like the person in the story, then you decide to go to a bag shop, and there is a bag just like the one in the story, and you pay £5,000 to wear that bag, and you go back to your house feeling more like the character in the story.
How is this possible to be tricked by a simple story?
This is because of emotional investment, the more emotionally invested you are in something, the less critical and the less objectively observant.
Stories make you release hormones like: Dopamine which increases your focus, motivation and increases your memory, it makes you remember things in a better way. So just by listening to stories releases dopamin. Oxytocin, which makes you become more generous, you trust the storyteller more and you bond to the storyteller. This also means you feel more relaxed and in storytelling you create empathy for that character. The final hormone is Endorphin, to create endorphin you make people laugh, they become more creative, more relaxed and you become more focused.
It seems that listening to stories releases powerful hormones in your brain that make you more focused, empathetic and bonded to the storyteller.