{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"The allure of stories","description":" Once upon a time there was a king and a bishop... No, I'm not actually going to tell you a story right now. I just wanted you to notice something: As I started into that, your mind likely shifted into a different mode. You might have started mentally salivating as you anticipated a coming morsel of fiction. That\u2019s because stories are special; they work a kind of magic on us. Humans everywhere\u2014in every known society, starting from a very young age\u2014seem to hunger for narratives. But why? What makes them so palatable and powerful? What do they do to us and for us? This week I\u2019m joined by two guests who research stories and the human mind. The first is Dr. Raymond Mar, Professor of Psychology at York University in Toronto. His work explores a bunch of different aspects of the psychology of stories, including the relationship between fiction reading and social cognition. My second guest is Dr. Jamie Tehrani, Professor of Anthropology at Durham University in the UK. His research examines the cultural evolution of stories, including questions about why certain stories spread and stick around (sometimes for millennia). In this conversation, Raymond, Jamie, and I talk about why stories are so powerful. We discuss what makes something a story, and what makes something a good story. We talk about findings that reading fiction may boost our ability to understand other minds. We consider the origins and diversification of folktales by zooming in on one in particular\u2014Little Red Riding Hood. We talk about why stories are easier to remember than essays, and we examine a few of the ingredients that make certain stories especially memorable. Finally, spoiler alert: we also do a bit of good old-fashioned story time. This is an episode that has been on our wish list forever. Over the past few years there's been so much buzz about stories and storytelling\u2014both in popular media and across different academic disciplines\u2014we thought the topic deserved an extended treatment. And so here you have it: without further ado, my conversation with Jamie Tehrani and Raymond Mar. Enjoy!    A transcript of this episode is available here.   Notes and links 5:00 \u2013 Many thinkers have alluded to the function of stories in expanding our experiences. As T.S. Eliot put it, \u201cWe read many books, because we cannot know enough people.\u201d 11:30 \u2013 A brief popular discussion of the dramatic principle known as \u2018Chekhov\u2019s Gun.\u2019 14:00 \u2013 See Lost in a Book, by Victor Nell. For the idea of \u201cnarrative transportation,\u201d see the work of Richard Gerrig, especially the book  Experiencing Narrative Worlds. 26:00 \u2013 In a recent paper, Dr. Mar has outlined the two routes through which reading fiction may boost social abilities. See also his recent review of work in this area.  29:00 \u2013 See Dr. Mar\u2019s earlier review on the cognitive neuroscience of fiction reading. See also his lab\u2019s recent review of published studies on the question of whether brief exposure to fiction can improve social ability.  34:00 \u2013 For a review of work using the \u2018Reading the Mind in the Eyes\u2019 task, see here.  36:00 \u2013 On the relationship between the \u2018Reading the Mind in the Eyes\u2019 task and oxytocin, see this influential study. See also this attempt to replicate those findings. 37:00 \u2013 The study by Robin Dunbar and colleagues on social experience and pain thresholds. 43:30 \u2013 See Dr. Tehrani\u2019s study on the phylogeny of Little Red Riding Hood. For anyone unfamiliar, here is a version of the story. For anyone unfamiliar with the Wolf and the Kids, here is a version of the story.  47:00 \u2013 On the East Asian story known as the Tiger Grandmother, see here. 52:00 \u2013 See Dr. Tehrani\u2019s study of a broad swath of Indo-European folktales. For a general overview of Dr. Tehrani\u2019s work in this area, see here.  55:00 \u2013 For discussion of five documented \u201ccontent biases\u201d and an experimental test of these biases in the context of urban legends, see Dr. Tehrani\u2019s recent study here.  58:00 \u2013 The idea of \u201cminimally counter-intuitive\u201d ideas\u2014and their allure\u2014was originally formulated within the cognitive science of religion. For work on \u201cminimally counter-intuitive\u201d elements in the transmission of urban legends, see Dr. Tehrani\u2019s study on \u201cBloody Mary.\u201d 1:02:00 \u2013 See Dr. Mar\u2019s recent meta-analysis comparing stories and essays.   1:07:00 \u2013 For discussion of the \u201cauditory cheesecake\u201d idea and the evolutionary origins of music, see our previous episode, The Roots of Rhythm. For ideas about the evolutionary origins of fictions, see Gerrig\u2019s Experiencing Narrative Worlds. 1:10:00 \u2013 The study on the role of storytelling among the Agta, a hunter-gatherer group.  1:11:00 \u2013 A study finding that scientific abstracts with narrative elements get more citations.    Dr. Tehrani recommends: Why Horror Seduces, by Mathias Clasen \u2018The King and the Abbot\u2019 (aka \u2018King John and the Abbot of Canterbury\u2019)   Dr. Mar recommends: The Moral Laboratory, by Frank Hakemulder A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin   Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) (https:\/\/disi.org), which is made possible by a generous grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation to UCLA. It is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with help from Assistant Producer Urte Laukaityte and with creative support from DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster. Our artwork is by Ben Oldroyd (https:\/\/www.mayhilldesigns.co.uk\/). Our transcripts are created by Sarah Dopierala (https:\/\/sarahdopierala.wordpress.com\/).   You can subscribe to Many Minds on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Play, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts.  **You can now subscribe to the Many Minds newsletter here!** We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Feel free to email us at: manymindspodcast@gmail.com.  For updates about the show, visit our website (https:\/\/disi.org\/manyminds\/), or follow us on Twitter: @ManyMindsPod. ","author_name":"Many Minds","author_url":"https:\/\/disi.org\/manyminds\/","html":"