Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • There's a Native American proverb that says,

  • "The one who tells the story rules the world."

  • Stories have the potential to be incredibly powerful.

  • They're able to change how we relate to each other, to change prejudice,

  • so the potential for stories to persuade is staggering.

  • I read this really, really good research paper about these two books

  • which basically suggested, that if you get people to read

  • a couple of chapters of Harry Potter, they'll rate themselves higher than

  • other people in their ability to potentially move something,

  • just using the power of their mind.

  • The people who read about the vampires, they'll actually believe

  • that their teeth are slightly longer than other people in the population,

  • just as a result of having read a chapter or two of this book.

  • In terms of psychology, there's a few things that stories

  • actually do to us.

  • We get this sense that we're

  • fully immersed in the world that we're reading about.

  • We start to almost feel as if the things that are happening to them,

  • are happening to us.

  • Reading is not a relaxation, you are building worlds,

  • you are populating those worlds with cities

  • and those cities you are populating with people.

  • So although television, film, theatre

  • all have their place in the storytelling world,

  • to me that moment of contact with a book, when you read a story

  • and unlock its secrets...

  • nothing quite comes close.

  • Our research has been on the meaning

  • of individual words, if you read

  • the word "jump" for example, you activate those areas that you also

  • activate when you do actually perform the action of jumping,

  • so it would be about here somewhere.

  • The interesting question in this case of course is, I mean if you read

  • about somebody else jumping, why should you activate

  • brain areas related to jumping?

  • The proponents of the theory would say that immersing yourself

  • into a story is based on the mirror neuron system.

  • I am convinced that mirror neurons are part of this process,

  • but it can't be the whole story.

  • It's been found that, when we connect with people who aren't real

  • but are fictional characters, it forms a sort of social surrogate

  • for us - it's almost like they're a real person when they're not.

  • And psychologists sometimes call it...

  • And what's interesting about that is it kind of makes us feel less lonely

  • and it can also buffer self-esteem and improve our mood.

  • We know that having a lot of friendships with other people

  • when you're in a couple is a really positive thing for the outcomes

  • of that relationship.

  • But what's really interesting is they don't have to be real people.

  • If you're trying to change people's opinions about controversial topics

  • such as same sex marriage or immigration for example,

  • stories have actually been found to be a lot more effective

  • in producing political change.

  • Attitudes towards stigmatised groups could be improved by reading

  • Harry Potter, but only if the person identified with Harry.

  • Children love stories, they always have a story to tell whether it's

  • about the weekend or what happened in the playground.

  • And it's such an important part of understanding the world around them,

  • and understanding themselves.

  • You should definitely turn this off right now and go and pick up a book.

  • Thanks for watching! :)

  • Don't forget to subscribe and click the bell to receive notifications for new videos. See you again soon!

There's a Native American proverb that says,

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it