The usage and relevance of storytelling

[A shard of glass]

Hey everyone,

 

I recently go thinking about authors of best selling novels, and it made me start thinking: "Is there an evolutionary/biological purpose for storytelling?"

 

What made me think of this is that there are people who fill the role as a dedicated storyteller in society. This has been a significant part of human history, and has been extremely well documented throughout the past ~6000 years (albeit the accuracy of early stories may have been questionable). There also must be an evolutionary/biological purpose for it as the same stories (or varieties thereof) have been passed on from one generation to the next.

 

I know what many of you may be thinking "it's there to pass information from one generation to the next" but my question is: Why? Why have we evolved with the ability to tell stories, and understand them? There must be a biological purpose for it. 

 

I personally think that it's probably something to do with "programming" a mind to function properly in accordance with the rules that we set ourselves.

 

Let me know what you all think

[fuzzipueo]

There are any number of biological reasons for storytelling I think.

1] Incite fear and caution into youngsters. Telling them stories about boogie men and monsters who come to get naughty little children or children who dare cross a boundary-line their parents don't want them crossing will hopefully cause them to stop and think first. Associating the fear with something that goes against the rules is an attempt to keep them safe. Not that it always works mind you, but it works enough that we still do it even now.

 

2] Storytelling is a way to instill a sense of community, the group that stands against the dark and the unknown. It helps foster a sense of common purpose and safety in numbers. Community is how humans have managed to survive and thrive over the millennia.

 

3] To give us a sense of a link to our past, that others have traveled this way before and we can survive if they could.

 

4] Storytelling can make us and others feel good about ourselves. It can be used to uplift the emotions or take you on a roller coaster ride of emotions, from good to bad. Heroes tales to ghost stories to horror to humor - it's all important.

 

Also, humans just love storytelling in general. From campfire stories to plays to books to radio to movies to TV to the internet, storytelling allows us a chance to be part of something bigger and wondrous and to connect with others.

[XYZ96]

Well, if generation A can pass on knowledge (for example about hunting or travel routes) to Generation B, and Generation B to Generation C, over time the methods/knowledge (for example, the hunting technics/travel routes) become more efficient, more so then if every generation were learning these things alone. 

I think the main reason why transferring information to the next generation (what storytelling is a form of) was something that was kept around, was because it made survival more efficient, that it also made future generation follow rules set by previous generations leading to society as we know it to arise, probably came lots later. 

And stories (fiction and non-fiction) are basically just a more advanced form of information transfer trough generations.. 

 

there was an interesting study published not all to long ago with pigeons, who over generations made their route that they flew shorter

Spoiler

https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15049

 

[A shard of glass]

I really like the ideas presented here, and I definitely agree that there is a simple purpose in mind for making survival more efficient and easier, along with the need for entertainment and joy.

 

I also really like the idea of forming a community and the idea of bonding us with each other.

 

But what I find interesting from this is that it raises the question as to why we embellish stories that have a survival/communal purpose (such as the boy who cried wolf) rather than the simple note "don't do that, you'll get us all killed". But I imagine that stories work to convince children "yeah, that's happened before" rather than "not sure if that's happened before, but don't do it just in case" kind of thing.

 

I really like these ideas

[Music & Lyrics]

I'm so excited by this topic, sorry I don't have the answers but I've been pondering the question for ages!

 

I definitely think that passing on information such as what is dangerous and what is useful are part of the answer.  But for me it can't be the whole thing.  It's a very inefficient way of conveying the information.  And evolution is normally concerned with efficiency.  Also, it doesn't at all explain how stories evolved into what we have today (I don't think).  What has this generation discovered that we can't pass on without seven Harry Potter books?  

3 hours ago, Baggage_warrior said:

I definitely agree that there is a simple purpose in mind for making survival more efficient and easier, along with the need for entertainment and joy.

But why do we have that need for entertainment, and why do stories fulfill our need for joy?  To me, a satisfying answer would have to deal with those questions too.

 

Here's a weirdo theory I just came up with...apparently we have 5 core emotions (fear, anger, joy, sadness and disgust.  If this is sounding familiar, yes there is a Pixar movie about it and it's amazing!).  I was just reading this morning that we have to experience all our emotions in order to fully process our environment and create our inner selves accordingly (or something like that).  So maybe stories enable us to experience them all, from a safe distance?  You usually know what type of story you need in a given moment ('I want to watch a funny film', 'I'm in the mood for a scary book') that will help you process and respond, even if you don't know that's what you're doing.

 

A related question that interests me is whether stories are intended to teach morality?  I think the stories in the Bible are (among?) the oldest accessible to us.  They're clearly moralistic by design.  But I heard one author argue that stories have moved away from that completely and are now purely for entertainment.  I disagree, I think I learned a lot of my morality from stories.  What do others think?

 

Also, why do stories need different media?  It's fun to see books converted into movies, movies adapted into musicals or vice versa.  Why so many duplicates?  

 

 

[gisiebob]

I would like to whisper to you a secret, so quiet that you can almot hear it. something about fishing, maybe. if I say it just right then you'll want to know more. I'll tell you I am hungry, get me a fish and I'll tell you more. and every fish you bring me I will knock into the dirt. they aren't good enough, if I told the story just right, for either of us. not from the market, not from your friend's table, not from the fisherman who just got back from the sea, not even from the prince's personal chef. if I say just the right thing, and you are desperate enough to feed this hungry old man, you might just come back with a sickly mud carp hanging from a reed pole. you know, I made a fish hook a lot like that one once, before I learned to make fish hooks. we'll cook that small, sorry fish right here and have banquet better than the prince ever did! and maybe, just maybe, if I was careful just to tell the right tale, you might know what I whispered earlier was something I think you have heard dozens of times...'give a man fish and he will not starve for a day, teach a man to fish and he will not starve' but you already know how to fish, now don't you?

 

c:/>savestate

[ConorOberst]

All I can say is that you need to watch Dr Jordan Peterson's lectures series on the bible.  He comments in detail about how storytelling affected the evolution of mankind.

 

A true genius he is!

[RoseGoesToYale]

There are a whole number of reasons why humans tell stories, but a lot of it has to do with providing social instructions. E.g. the Bible, Torah, and Quran are all basically long stories, but they provide instructions on how to conduct oneself socially and spiritually. But a person has the free will to accept or reject the stories, so there's always the possibility of new stories. I also think there's definitely a group survival element to it. By telling Bob and Dave about the gigantic bear wandering around the neighborhood, I can (hopefully) keep Bob and Dave from going outside and getting eaten, maintaining the integrity of the group.