Why do we tell stories? Hunter-gatherers shed light on the evolutionary roots of fiction
Daniel Smiththeconversation.com
Why do we tell stories? Hunter-gatherers shed light on the evolutionary roots of fiction
storytelling is a powerful means of fostering social cooperation and teaching social norms, and it pays valuable dividends to the storytellers themselves, improving their chances of being chosen as social partners, receiving community support and even having healthy offspring.
Jeffrey Kluger • How Telling Stories Makes Us Human
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One reason for that is obvious: if you’re popular — and storytellers are — you’re more likely to have a partner. Another potential explanation is that the rest of the community is inclined to look favorably on the storyteller’s family and extend help when needed in the form of childcare, pitching in to look after a sick family member, or even offer... See more
Jeffrey Kluger • How Telling Stories Makes Us Human
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It’s testament to the powers of the storytelling brain that many psychologists argue that human language evolved in the first place in order to tell tales about each other.
Will Storr • The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better
“Storytelling is a costly behavior,” write the researchers, “requiring an input of time and energy into practice, performance and cognitive processing.” But the payoff for making such an effort is big
Jeffrey Kluger • How Telling Stories Makes Us Human
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They told themselves stories to explain the mysteries of their own existence. But they also told them because humans loved listening to them. That’s why it is not always easy to figure out exactly what they thought they were doing when they were doing it.
Richard Holloway • Stories We Tell Ourselves: Making Meaning in a Meaningless Universe
Stories and folktales are what bind us together as a community. They tell us who we are and why we have obligations towards each other.
Robin Dunbar • Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships
Storytelling is a primal instinct (people have been telling stories much, much longer than they’ve been reading or writing about them)
Brian Norgard • The Pomp Podcast on Apple Podcasts
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