The impact of storytelling on the brain

based on the work of Professor Paul Zak

what storytelling does to the brain

Professor Paul Zak - neuroeconomist

"When you want to motivate, persuade, or be remembered, start with a story of human struggle and eventual triumph. It will capture people’s hearts – by first attracting their brains."

Scientists liken attention to a spotlight. Using our attentional spotlight is metabolically costly - therefore, we use it sparingly and as such, it is hard to capture it.

Cortisol and Catching Attention

cortisol

Stories that increase in tension stimulates in our bodies, which sharpens our attention We are attentive to stories with tension because we intuitively understand that we, too, may have to face difficult scenarios. So, we must develop our own problem solving skills.

So the story has got our attention, but how does it make us care?

In a 2009 study, subjects were asked to watch two videos. One video told the story of a father - his son is dying of cancer. The father is finding it hard to connect with him. The other is a plainer, storyless video of the pair of them walking in a zoo.

The Oxytocin Effect

47% more oxytocin

Not only was the first video was more engaging... It also promoted in the bodies of those who reported feeling empathetic towards the characters, compared to those who didn't feel that empathy

'love'

It gives us the warm, fuzzy feelings that leads us to falling in love, bonding with others and feeling good

Oxytocin is known as the hormone

Okay, but what has oxytocin got to do with stories?

So stories that evoke empathy (and therefore oxytocin) are more memorable

Oxytocin also increases memory of events

For example, they might be more likely to contribute to a cause associated with the narrative

Also, the quantity of oxytocin released by the brain is a predictor of how much people are willing to help others.

If there's a happy ending to the story, we release dopamine

A Final Dopamine Hit

Attention

What does dopamine do?

Dopamine affects many processes, including: Learning Motivation Heart rate Sleep Mood Pain processing

So experiencing a story does more than meets the eye. They can alters our neurochemical processes, and can even shape human behaviour through appealing to empathy

AND REMEMBER

BE EMPATHETIC

BE ATTENTIVE

which makes us

DOPAMINE

OXYTOCIN

CORTISOL

Stories can make our brain release:

So in a nutshell...

Credits

Video by Kat Smith Copyright free images from Wikimedia commons, Unsplash and Flickr

Sources:Study by Professor Zak:https://hbr.org/2014/10/why-your-brain-loves-good-storytelling Jeremy Adam Smith: https://news.berkeley.edu/berkeley_blog/the-science-of-the-story/