The Storytelling Animal

Notes

• But a close look at the Philbrick passage shows that writers are merely drawing, not painting. Philbrick gives us expert line drawings with hints on filling them in.
• It seems plausible that our continuous immersion in fictional problem solving would improve our ability to deal with real problems. If this is so, fiction would do so by literally rewiring our brains.
• The simulator theory is based on research showing that “realistic rehearsal of any skill . . . leads to enhanced performanc
• psychologists still found that people who consumed a lot of fiction outperformed heavy nonfiction readers on tests of social ability.
• In short, the storytelling mind is a factory that churns out true stories when it can, but will manufacture lies when it can’t.
• Kuleshov effect
• Psychologists are finding that ordinary, mentally healthy people are strikingly prone to confabulate in everyday situations.
• Conspiracy theories originate and are largely circulated among the educated and middle class.
• The world’s priests and shamans knew what psychology would later confirm: if you want a message to burrow into a human mind, work it into a story
• We have religion because, by nature, we abhor explanatory vacuums
• Human groups that happened to possess a faith instinct so thoroughly dominated nonreligious competitors