4 Narrative Tools That Trick Our Brains
It’s a well-established claim that humans are narrative animals. Artists, neuroscientists, ad designers, psychologists, and even political scientists are aware of the uniquely powerful relationship that we have with storytelling. As an English educator for over ten years, exploring the tools and influence of narrative has always been a central feature of my work. And as much as educators encourage children to read for pleasure and language fluency, understanding narrative also helps to navigate the world by understanding relationships, traits, meaning, and values.
But narrative can also be put to darker purposes, especially in political and economic situations employing narrative instead of evidence-driven messaging. We’re used to interacting with storytelling in specific arenas like theaters and libraries, but less accustomed to spotting it in the wild. Since narrative can easily frame our expectations and tap into our emotions, it has the ability to circumvent our higher reasoning if we aren’t aware of the ways it functions.
Below are four commonly-used storytelling tools that can trick us if we’re unprepared.
1. Repetition
This is probably the easiest tool to spot, since it involves saying the same word or phrase over and over. What’s less apparent is the lasting impact that repetition…
