From eagerly absorbing bedtime stories as children to Netflix bingeing the weekend away as adults, it’s no secret that humans love a good story. And that’s just one of the reasons that storytelling has become an absolutely critical component to delivering an effective presentation.
Our love of stories extends beyond basic entertainment; receiving a compelling story actually changes our brains in very real, measurable ways. Recent studies suggest that stories have the power to dramatically shift our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.
One of the ways storytelling impacts us psychologically is via oxytocin synthesis. Oxytocin is a chemical that’s produced in our brains when we feel trusted or are shown kindness. It’s also shown to motivate cooperation with others by enhancing our empathy i.e. our ability to feel the emotions of others. A recent Harvard study found that when participants watched a video narrative, the amount of oxytocin released by their brain consistently increased, as did their motivation to help others.
Further studies elaborated on why storytelling motivates us to cooperate and found that adequate tension during the narrative is critical to eliciting our motivation to help. That’s because tension is what keeps our brains paying attention to the story, and the closer we pay attention, the more likely we are to share the emotions of the characters in the story.
Moreover, when we absorb uninteresting information, say a bullet-point list of facts and figures, it activates a portion of our brain called the Wernicke’s area, which translates the words into meaning. And that’s pretty much all that happens. On the other hand, when we hear a story, our brains are activated in all kinds of ways. Not only are we processing language, but whatever parts of our brain we’d be using if we were in the story ourselves is also activated. In other words, our brains actually experience the story and its associated feelings as though we’re in it.
But the biggest takeaway is not that we feel characters’ emotions during the story; it’s that we continue to feel those emotions when the story’s over. That’s why you feel so ready to tackle a workout after watching 300 or, more importantly, motivated to donate to a cause after hearing a heart-wrenching story about why it matters.
In addition to helping us empathize and motivate us to action, storytelling also promotes our focus, attention, and retention in presentations. Another Harvard study found that character-driven stories featuring emotional content result in keener understanding of the main points a speaker wants to convey as well as a stronger ability to recall that information later.
The moral of the story is (see what we did there?): If you want to motivate cooperation, compel action, and ensure the audience remembers the message you’re delivering, then you better tell a killer story with your presentation.
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