Storytellers: Hackers and Drug Dealers
"A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.” — William StyronComparing experiences is one of the most powerful and fascinating ways stories exert their influence. Whenever we listen to a story, we automatically draw on our own experiences, asking ourselves whether we have ever lived through something similar to what we are hearing.
When we have not, a well-told story can trigger another psychological phenomenon known as proxy learning. Because we naturally identify with the protagonist—or with the narrator—we experience the events of the story alongside them. The hero or heroine faces the challenges and adventures on our behalf. We learn together with the protagonist as though we were experiencing the events ourselves.
Borrowed Experience
Neuroscientists and psychologists have found compelling evidence for this kind of "borrowed experience." Véronique Boulenger, a psychologist and linguist at the University of Lyon, demonstrated in her cognitive research that sentences describing actions or movements—such as "Pablo kicks the ball"—are processed in the brain much as if the listener were kicking the ball themselves.
Uri Hasson, a neuroscientist at Princeton University, describes this phenomenon as brain coupling. Based on detailed analyses of brain scans from storytellers and listeners, Hasson found that telling a story creates a kind of neural synchronization between speaker and audience. The same regions of the listener’s brain become active as those of the storyteller.
This synchronization can become so powerful that listeners may eventually perceive a story as though it were one of their own memories. Julia Shaw, a criminal psychologist at London South Bank University, has demonstrated the remarkable—and potentially dangerous—consequences of this effect.
Caution: Memory Hacking
"I hack your memory," Shaw says—and she means it literally. Using carefully constructed stories, she has successfully implanted false memories into people's minds. In just three or four sessions, she convinces participants that they had bullied classmates in school or shoplifted as teenagers, forcing their parents to call the police. None of it ever happened. The memories are entirely fabricated, yet effectively "hacked" into the participants' minds. According to Shaw, this technique succeeds in up to 70 percent of cases (see her book The Memory Illusion)."A memory is a network of brain cells," Shaw writes. "This network, which spans different regions of the brain, is constantly being updated. Its function is essential because it allows us to learn and solve problems. But it can also be manipulated. Every time you tell a story, you alter your own memory of it. Sometimes new details are added—small pieces of information you may have heard from someone else. Images and stories are internalized remarkably quickly."
A single speech or presentation is unlikely to overwrite an audience's memories permanently. Yet the mechanisms of brain coupling and experience matching demonstrate just how powerful storytelling can be in the hands of a speaker. (…)
Storytelling as a Drug
Stories do not merely affect the brain—they affect the entire body. It is no exaggeration to say that stories act like drugs. Three of these "drugs" are particularly valuable because they produce:- Attention
- Pleasure
- Trust
Thanks to Paul J. Zak, neuroeconomist and founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University, we understand much more about how stories influence the human body. In his experiments, participants gave blood samples before and after hearing a story. Zak demonstrated measurable increases in three hormones and neurotransmitters that significantly shape how stories—and the information embedded within them—are received.
One of these hormones is cortisol, commonly known as the stress hormone. Cortisol is a steroid hormone that heightens alertness, stimulates metabolism, and sharpens attention. Whenever we perceive a potential threat, increased cortisol prepares us to focus. Interestingly, the same reaction occurs when we merely hear about danger. Good stories typically begin with a conflict or problem in which the protagonist appears trapped with little hope of escape. This narrative tension triggers precisely this physiological response. (…)
The Pleasure Effect
Fortunately, the stress does not last long. It is soon balanced by another chemical released during storytelling: dopamine, often referred to as the brain's reward neurotransmitter. This dopamine release is one reason literary scholar Jonathan Gottschall argues that humans are literally addicted to stories. Dopamine facilitates communication between nerve cells, but even more importantly, it has profound psychological effects. It energizes us, motivates us, and generates feelings of pleasure. Dopamine supports memory formation, enhances learning, and improves higher cognitive functions.Stories trigger dopamine for many reasons. They captivate us through the artistry of their telling, immerse us in fictional worlds, and allow us to identify deeply with their protagonists. As the hero—our surrogate—faces seemingly impossible obstacles and ultimately overcomes them, dopamine is released. This is the brain's reward response.
Then we read the story again.
Remarkably, anticipation alone can stimulate dopamine release. We return to beloved stories even when we already know exactly how they end because we anticipate experiencing the same emotional rewards once more. Simply expecting dopamine causes the brain to release dopamine. Stories, quite literally, are addictive. Great speakers who master storytelling know exactly how to harness this effect. (…)
Complete Trust
The hormonal cocktail produced by storytelling is completed by a third remarkable substance: oxytocin, often called the bonding hormone.Oxytocin reduces stress and anxiety, dampens aggression, and makes us more empathetic. It promotes prosocial behavior, strengthens social relationships, supports the bond between mother and child, and deepens intimacy between romantic partners.
"Without oxytocin in the brain and body," journalist Rafaela von Bredow writes, "there would be no falling in love, no tenderness, perhaps even no fidelity—only endless conflict. Above all, one of humanity's greatest social engines would be missing: trust."
Von Bredow was describing an experiment conducted by economists Ernst Fehr, Michael Kosfeld, and Paul Zak together with clinical psychologist and oxytocin researcher Markus Heinrichs at the University of Zurich. The researchers wanted to determine whether oxytocin influences investor behavior—specifically, whether the hormone measurably changes people's willingness to trust others with financial decisions.
To investigate, they administered oxytocin to 194 participants via nasal spray, while a control group received a placebo. Participants then took part in an investment game. Each received a sum of money and had the opportunity to entrust it to another participant, who could increase its value. The more participants trusted one another, the greater everyone's potential gains—but there was also the possibility of losing everything.
Would elevated oxytocin levels increase trust? The answer was yes.
Fehr, Kosfeld, Zak, and Heinrichs demonstrated that oxytocin acts like a kind of fabric softener for the brain—the memorable phrase Rafaela von Bredow chose as the title of her report on the experiment. Participants who had received oxytocin trusted others significantly more and were willing to risk substantially larger investments than those who had received the placebo.
Oxytocin strengthens empathy, compassion, and, above all, trust.
Should speakers take advantage of this effect? One possibility would be to hand out oxytocin nasal sprays before every presentation and invite the audience to take a deep inhale before you begin.
Or... you could simply tell a story.
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and find more insights and tips on effective storytelling on the blog Amazing Stories
This text was written by a human; AI tools were used for translation, spelling, and grammar review. Photo by Trac Vu on Unsplash
