Our love for telling tales reveals the workings of the mind, according to Jeremy Hsu in his article, The secrets of storytelling, from Scientific American. The article covers the following key concepts:
Storytelling is a human universal, and common themes appear in tales throughout history and all over the the world.
These characteristics of stories, and our natural affinity toward them, reveal clues about our evolutionary history and the roots of emotion and empathy in the mind.
By studying narrative’s power to influence beliefs, researchers are discovering how we analyze information and accept new ideas.
Which means to me as a TL that stories/fiction (and I've heard people say it could be done by local libraries, and the fiction section isn't necessarily an essential part of a school library...) are most important to education and learning. Who'd'a thunk?!
We tell stories about other people and for other people. Stories help us to keep tabs on what is happening in our communities. The safe, imaginary world of a story may be a kind of training ground, where we can practice interacting with others and learn the customs and rules of society. And stories have a unique power to persuade and motivate, because they appeal to our emotions and capacity for empathy.
Storytelling is one of the few human traits that are truly universal across culture and through all of known history.
Worth reading. I found the reference to this article here. Hmmm. Might save this article to use to promote the next round of holiday borrowing.
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