Before reading the second chapter of Gottschalls book, what Roald Dahl said confused me- "the mind of a child is a dark wood." why would a childs mind be a dark wood? To me childs play is so innocent...or so I thought. Kids completely base storytelling around a problem, and sometimes those problems are relatively dark! Why are the Grimm tales so morbid and creepy? How did a baby falling from a tree, cradle and all -become such a sweet little song? All fiction does appear to be a dark wood. I think maybe Gottschall may be trying to tell us that storytelling is not an adaptive trait of humans, however- the material our minds make up certainly is. Good overcoming evil, and resolutions to problems, are always the themes of fairy tales, stories, and nursery rhymes. The storyteller has ingrained these values into the mind of the listener. I do not think children would imagine bad things unless they were introduced to it somehow.
Jared brought something up in his blog regarding story telling that I found very noteworthy, "From a neurological standpoint it is definitely beneficial just like any other activity that stimulates a dopamine release." Humans are an innate group species. We need to be with others, to interact with others, and to feel like we belong. When we engage with each other by telling stories of overcoming adversity, or gossip- we are interacting, we are forming bonds- and dopamine is being released in our brain. That good feeling hormone perpetuates life. It enables humans to carry on, to be happy, productive, and thrive. So I am going to contradict what I said previously, "Gottschall may be trying to tell us that storytelling is not an adaptive trait of humans". I think maybe storytelling is an adaptive trait. It is comparable to exercising, or even intercourse- they feel good, and it also perpetuates life. Storytelling has the same effects.
I agree with your last paragraph, I think it is adaptive because children are so innocent in my mind too and it seems like all of these scary things they come up with came out of no where. I like how after reading someone else's blog you revised yours. Good job!
ReplyDeleteAn interesting question that follows on Anna's blog and Vilca's response is whether the involvement of specific hormones supports the idea that storytelling is adaptive or not. For instance, why trigger a stress hormone for an imaginary event? Or, why trigger a "feel-good" hormone for an imaginary event? Are we training ourselves or tricking ourselves?
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that we are most likely tricking ourselves because these chemical responses happen when the story is being told no matter how "believable" or realistic it actually is.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anna when she says that "The storyteller has ingrained these values into the mind of the listener." A lot of the listeners experience relies on the skill of the storyteller and what points they think are important (and therefore emphasize). I also agree with her when she says kids wouldn't know about the bad things if they hadn't been introduced to them.
i think for our brain it has a hard time deciding what is real or fake. it makes seance that we have triggers that make us feel good. i think we can use this to make our selfs feel good when we need to. in some military's around the world train their soldiers to trick there brains to feel good when they are feeling pain could we be doing the same?
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