6. People Process Information Best in Story Form

In the chapter “How People React Emotionally,” you learn more about how stories are important to engage people emotionally. Stories are also a main way that people understand the content of your presentation. They help people process information, and they imply causation.

The Structure of a Story

Aristotle identified the basic structure of stories, and many people have since expounded on his ideas. One model is the basic three-act structure: beginning, middle, and end. This may not sound very unusual, but when Aristotle came up with it over two thousand years ago it was probably pretty radical.

Let’s apply Aristotle’s ideas to the story I use in the chapter “How People React Emotionally.” Here’s the story:

One day many years ago, I found myself in front of a classroom full of people who did not want to be there. Their boss had told them they had to attend the talk I was giving. I knew that many or most of them thought the class was a waste of time, and knowing that was making me nervous. I decided to be brave and forge ahead. Certainly my great content would grab their attention, right? I took a deep breath, smiled, and with a strong voice, I started the session with a big, “Hello, everyone. I’m certainly glad to be here.” More than half the class wasn’t even looking at me. They were reading their e-mail and writing to-do lists. One guy was reading the morning newspaper. It was one of those moments where seconds seem like hours.

I thought to myself in a panic, “What am I going to do?” Then I had an idea. “Let me tell you a story,” I said. At the word story, everyone’s head jerked up and all eyes were on me. I knew I only had a few seconds to start a story that would hold their attention.

According to Aristotle’s model, in the beginning you introduce your audience to the setting, the characters, and the situation or conflict. In my story, I introduced you to the setting (I had to give a class), the characters (me and students), and the conflict (the students don’t want to be there).

My story was very short, so the middle part was short too. In the middle part of a story, there are typically obstacles and conflicts that the main character has to overcome. These are usually somewhat, but not completely, resolved. In my story, the main character tried her usual opening and it failed. Then she started to panic.

At the end of a story, the conflict comes to a climax and is then resolved. In my story, I thought of what to do (tell a story to the class), I did it, and it succeeded.

This is just a basic outline. There are many variations and plots that can be added and woven in.

Stories Imply Causation

Stories may create causation when none is there. Because stories usually involve some form of chronological narrative (first this happens, next this happens), they imply causation even where none exists. Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons give this example in their book The Invisible Gorilla. Look at these two passages:

Joey’s big brother punched him again and again. The next day, his body was covered by bruises.

Joey’s crazy mother became furiously angry with him. The next day, his body was covered by bruises.

In the first passage, you don’t need to assume much. Joey got punched, and he has bruises. He got the bruises from being punched. In the second passage, the inference is not quite so clear. Research shows that your brain will actually take a little bit longer to ponder the second paragraph. Yet most people will conclude that Joey has bruises because of his mother, even though the passage doesn’t say that. In fact, if you ask people later to remember the passage, they will believe that they read in the story that Joey’s mother actually hit him, even though that is not what the paragraph says.

People are quick to assign causality. Your brain assumes you have been given all the pertinent information and that there is causation. Stories make it even easier to make this causal leap. If you are looking to convince people of a certain idea or persuade them to take a certain action, then using a story that implies causation will help people to be convinced.

Here’s an example: I give presentations about why it is important to use psychology principles to design persuasive Web sites. Here are two different ways I could explain the principle that you have to be careful what colors you use:

Colors are important. They can affect behavior. Choose your colors carefully and be aware of their meaning—for example, in many cultures red means danger or stop. You would not want to use red as the color of a button, because people would hesitate to press the button.

OR

I was recently reviewing a Web site for a client. On the homepage of the site, they had a short form for people to fill out to have the company contact them. Filling out the form was the main action they really wanted the Web site visitors to take. But the button was red. I told them that for their audience, red means danger or stop. People will be much less likely to press a red button. They looked up their Web site data, and sure enough, they discovered that so far no one had filled out the form and pressed that red button!

The story about the red button implies that the reason no one was pressing the button was because it was red. The story makes the point more strongly than just giving the information does.

Stories Are Important In All Communications

Sometimes clients say to me, “Stories are fine for some presentations, but I’m giving a serious talk.” Not true. There are appropriate stories you can use any time you are trying to communicate.

Think about this example: You are a shareholder for a medical technology company. At the annual shareholder meeting that you attend, one of the speakers shows a list of the medical products the company makes and says, “Our medical products have helped hundreds of patients around the world.”

Now think about this example: The same presenter shows a picture of a smiling 45-year-old woman walking on a city street and says, “Marianne Winter had such severe lumbar scoliosis that the pain incapacitated her, and the deformity was progressively getting worse. Then she underwent spinal fusion surgery using our spinal products to correct the alignment. Today, Marianne’s spine is much straighter, her pain is virtually gone, and she is several inches taller.” It’s a serious topic, but a story makes the point much stronger.