Why does our brain retain stories with particular vividness? Why do stories have so much power? Only by knowing the answers to these questions will we be able to fully understand storytelling and, in some way, try to tame it, use it to our advantage and thus put it at the service of others.
Broadly speaking, we can identify three reasons that give stories their persuasive power. The first lies in its ability to imitate reality. In Aristotle's Poetics it is stated that man is a being who has the peculiarity of distinguishing himself from animals thanks to the art of imitating everything that surrounds him: "It is in our nature - says the philosopher - to imitate from childhood, and therefore For this reason men are distinguished from animals” (Aristotle, Poetics, I, 4, 5-10).
Indeed, with stories we recreate reality, we imitate it. Therefore, a narrative is like a window to the world, a "testing ground" where we learn to manage emotions, relationships with others, behaviors, our attitude in the face of difficulties, etc. Following Aristotle, we can say that our Human nature is comfortable in that “imitation of reality” that we are capable of generating with a story.
The second reason for the power of stories is connected to the first and lies in the deep need for meaning that moves every man. Without realizing it, we look everywhere for guidance on how to live, and stories precisely provide us with a kind of intuitive knowledge about how to act to be happy. It is no coincidence that the words text and fabric share the same Latin root: “ tessare ", which means to weave . It is like this: we weave stories with words just as we weave fabrics with threads. With fabrics we make garments that cover us, give us dignity and tell others who we are and how we want to be seen. However, with words and stories we understand the world, we explain our ideas and tell our lives to others. Both texts and words give us meaning. Stories help us understand.
The third and final reason why stories are so powerful lies in our brain's enormous capacity to process them. That body is especially willing to learn through realtos . It has recently been discovered that the so-called mirror neurons play a fundamental role in this activity. Why are they called like that? Because when we watch a movie or listen to a story, the areas of our brain that process emotions are the same as the narrator's areas where there is neural activity. That is, with stories we replicate emotions, we physically empathize with others, thus promoting a stronger bond with the characters and the message. If the speaker gets excited, we get excited; If he gets sad, so do we. It is as if one brain is a mirror of the other. Stories have also been shown to stimulate the release of neurochemicals, such as dopamine and oxytocin, which are associated with pleasure, reward, and social bonding.
These substances help create an emotional connection with the audience, making the message more engaging and memorable. For example, that is why we feel so much relief, for example, when the story ends as we had anticipated.
I hope that with these three ideas I have been able to explain why stories are so powerful. They are not just a hobby for children. They have enormous power because they involve us deeply.
To make the most of this second chapter, I invite you to watch a video and reflect on some questions. Furthermore, in the bibliography that accompanies this unit you will find other materials to delve deeper into the proposed ideas. In the third unit we will focus on what we mean when we talk about Storytelling. TELL YOUR STORY!
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