2010 - Public Relations Society of America
2010 - Public Relations Society of America
2010 - Public Relations Society of America
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Physiology<br />
“…your mind was evolutionary hardwired long before birth to think in specific<br />
story terms” (Haven, 2007).<br />
We are born with approximately 100 billion brain cells (neurons). Each cell<br />
makes about 100,000 connections, called synapses (100 billion x 100,000 = 100 trillion<br />
connections!). The more connections a neuron makes, the stronger the neuron becomes.<br />
The more a connection fires, or is used, the stronger the bond becomes, turning this link<br />
into a super-highway for information to travel. Connections that go unused die <strong>of</strong>f or<br />
become hard to access, like two-track pathways through the backwoods <strong>of</strong> the mind<br />
(Haven 2007; Baker, 2003; Goleman, 1995). “Somehow, through this freeway maze <strong>of</strong><br />
links, loops, and electric traffic jams, we each manage to think, perceive, consider,<br />
imagine, remember, react, and respond” (Haven, 2007).<br />
Through the organic construction <strong>of</strong> this vital organ, what connections become the<br />
strongest links and superhighways? Evolutionary biologists and other researchers who<br />
perform clinical studies on infants confirm that, at birth, the human mind processes<br />
information in story terms (Haven, 2007). It appears, hundreds <strong>of</strong> thousands <strong>of</strong> years <strong>of</strong><br />
ancestral storytelling has hardwired the brain in a very specific way. The structure <strong>of</strong><br />
story is how our brains are designed to internalize and interpret data before we even take<br />
our first breath. Odd as it may sound, researchers all agree, we enter this life prepared to<br />
understand the world through story.<br />
As infants grow and develop, the story structure is reinforced. Not only are<br />
newborns looking to make sense <strong>of</strong> their world through the story structure, but children<br />
are constantly exposed to information in the form <strong>of</strong> story. During the most malleable and<br />
important learning years <strong>of</strong> our lives, the story-based neural network is replicated,<br />
reinforced, and solidified. “This dominance <strong>of</strong> story exposure through the key years <strong>of</strong><br />
brain plasticity results in adults irrevocably hardwired to think in story terms” (Haven,<br />
2007, p. 27). Story works best because our brains are hardwired to process information<br />
specifically as story.<br />
Narrative as a Credible Resource<br />
According to esteemed psychologist and research fellow at the New York<br />
University School <strong>of</strong> Law, Dr. Jerome Bruner (1986), there are two primary modes <strong>of</strong><br />
cognitive functioning: argument and stories. They differ radically in their process, each<br />
<strong>of</strong>fering distinctive, yet valuable ways <strong>of</strong> ordering experience. Arguments verify truth<br />
through singular, focused procedures <strong>of</strong> formal, empirical pro<strong>of</strong>. Story establishes a<br />
perspective <strong>of</strong> truth from many points <strong>of</strong> view.<br />
This qualitative outlook is an extremely important process for explaining human<br />
phenomenon. Author Mary Midgley (2001) agrees stating, there is no way we can collect<br />
any significant aspect <strong>of</strong> life without viewing it from different angles. John Seely Brown,<br />
former chief scientist at Xerox and well-known knowledge management guru, agrees<br />
stating, “As a scientist, I moved from equations and formulas to artificial intelligence,<br />
and from there to a growing appreciation <strong>of</strong> the power <strong>of</strong> the narrative -- the power <strong>of</strong><br />
realizing that generalities are different from abstraction” (Ruggles & Holtshouse, 1999, p.<br />
ix).<br />
Researcher, author, storyteller, and NASA consultant Kendall Haven (2007),<br />
performed an exhaustive and comprehensive review <strong>of</strong> more than 100,000 pages <strong>of</strong><br />
quantitative and qualitative research from fifteen independent fields <strong>of</strong> study regarding<br />
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