The magical science of storytelling | David JP Phillips | TEDxStockholm

TEDx Talks
16 Mar 201716:45

Keywords

💡Storytelling

Le storytelling est l'art de raconter des histoires de manière à captiver l'attention d'autrui et à transmettre un message ou une leçon. Dans la vidéo, il est présenté comme un outil puissant pour créer une connexion émotionnelle avec les auditeurs, augmenter l'investissement émotionnel et ainsi influencer leur comportement ou leur perception. L'exemple des objets achetés sur eBay et racontés par des auteurs illustre l'impact du storytelling sur la valeur perçue des objets.

💡Émotionnel

L'investissement émotionnel fait référence à la manière dont les émotions peuvent influencer la façon dont une personne perçoit et réagit à un objet, une situation ou une histoire. Dans le contexte de la vidéo, cela est lié à la capacité du storytelling à susciter des émotions fortes qui peuvent augmenter la valeur d'un objet ou changer la perception des gens sur un sujet. L'investissement émotionnel est un élément clé pour comprendre le pouvoir du storytelling.

💡Hormones

Les hormones telles que la vasopressine, l'oxytocine, la sérotonine, la dopamine et les endorphines jouent un rôle dans l'expérience émotionnelle et la réaction du corps. Dans la vidéo, l'orateur explique comment le storytelling peut induire la libération de ces hormones, créant ainsi des effets tels que la créativité, la générosité, la relaxation et l'empathie. L'exemple donné est celui de l'augmentation des niveaux de dopamine liée à la construction de suspense dans les histoires.

💡Dopamine

La dopamine est une hormone liée à la récompense et au plaisir, qui peut être libérée par des activités qui créent de l'anticipation ou du suspense, comme le fait le storytelling. Dans la vidéo, l'orateur utilise la technique de cliffhanger (suspense) pour augmenter les niveaux de dopamine chez les auditeurs, ce qui se traduit par une augmentation de la concentration, de la motivation et d'une meilleure mémoire.

💡Oxytocine

L'oxytocine est souvent appelée l'hormone de l'amour ou de la confiance, car elle favorise la générosité et la confiance envers les autres. Dans le contexte du discours, l'orateur explique comment raconter une histoire qui suscite de l'empathie, comme celle d'un enfant qui perd un frère ou une sœur dans le ventre de sa mère, peut augmenter les niveaux d'oxytocine et créer un lien émotionnel plus fort avec l'auditoire.

💡Endorphines

Les endorphines sont des hormones du système endocrinien qui agissent comme des analgésiques naturels et peuvent être libérées par des activités qui provoquent de la joie ou du rire. L'orateur montre que faire rire le public augmente les niveaux d'endorphins, ce qui rend les gens plus créatifs, plus détendus et plus concentrés. Un exemple est donné par une vidéo montrant une femme qui rit pendant son mariage, ce qui illustre l'effet des endorphines.

💡Cortège des anges

Le 'cortège des anges' est une métaphore utilisée par l'orateur pour décrire la combinaison des hormones - dopamine, oxytocine et endorphines - qui sont induites par le storytelling et qui ont des effets positifs sur la personne, tels que l'amélioration de la créativité, de la générosité et de la relaxation. Cela contraste avec le 'cortège du diable', qui est composé de cortisol et d'adrénaline, qui ont des effets négatifs tels que l'intolérance et l'irritabilité.

💡Cortège du diable

Le 'cortège du diable' fait référence à la combinaison des hormones cortisol et adrénaline, qui sont associées à des états de stress et d'anxiété. Dans la vidéo, l'orateur explique que ces hormones créent des effets négatifs tels que l'intolérance, l'irritabilité et la diminution de la créativité. Il suggère que les situations de stress courantes dans la vie professionnelle peuvent induire ces hormones négatives, ce qui est à l'opposé de l'effet souhaité du storytelling.

💡Définition de l'histoire

L'orateur remet en question la définition traditionnelle d'un 'bon raconteur', soulignant que tout le monde est né raconteur et que le plus grand obstacle est de se croire capable. Cela remet en perspective l'idée que le storytelling est une compétence réservée à quelques-uns et encourage l'auditoire à explorer et à partager leurs propres histoires.

💡Indexation des histoires

L'indexation des histoires est une technique suggérée par l'orateur pour que les gens puissent identifier et classer leurs histoires en fonction des hormones qu'elles libèrent. Par exemple, certaines histoires peuvent être associées à la libération d'endorphins, d'autres à l'oxytocine. Cette indexation permet de choisir intentionnellement l'histoire à raconter en fonction de l'effet souhaité sur l'auditoire lors d'une présentation ou d'une réunion.

💡Présentation efficace

La vidéo met en avant l'importance d'une présentation efficace qui utilise le storytelling pour créer une expérience émotionnelle riche pour le public. L'orateur critique les méthodes traditionnelles de présentation, comme PowerPoint, et suggère que le storytelling 'fonctionnel' est un moyen plus adapté à la façon dont le cerveau humain est conçu pour traiter l'information, en particulier par rapport à l'ancienneté du langage et des peintures rupestres par rapport à la technologie moderne.

Transcripts

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Translator: Florencia Bracamonte Reviewer: Tanya Cushman

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In 2009, a man, a journalist by the name Rob Walker,

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wanted to find out this:

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Is storytelling really the most powerful tool of all?

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And in order to do this,

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he went on his computer, and he bought 200 objects from eBay.

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And the average price of the objects was about one dollar.

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He then called 200 authors, and he asked them,

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"Hey, would you like to be part of the 'significant object study'?

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Which means that I would like you to write a story to one of the objects."

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And 200 authors said yes.

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So there he had 200 objects, he had 200 stories,

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and I assume that it was with nail-biting anticipation

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that he went on eBay again with all the 200 objects.

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Would there be a difference? Would there be a change?

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Do you think there was a change?

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One of the objects was this,

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this beautiful horse's head.

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There we go.

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The beautiful horse's head.

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Now, this beautiful horse's head was bought for 99¢

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and was sold, when the story was added, for $62.95.

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(Laughter)

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That is a slight increase of 6395%.

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So, was this a one-off situation?

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Not really,

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because he bought the 200 objects for a total of $129,

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selling them for $8000.

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Now, that's insane.

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But you know what's even more intellectually challenging to understand?

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How can you and I

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go to the movies and pay good money to watch movies like James Bond,

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[that] are absolutely unrealistic?

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And we sit there; we enjoy the movie.

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And some of us, we really enjoy the movie.

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And we leave the theater, going like, "God, what a man!

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I would like to be more like him.

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I'd like to walk like him. I'd like to talk like him.

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I like Bond.

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(Laughter)

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I wonder how I could be more like Bond."

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And then this weird revelation hits you like from nowhere,

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and you come up with a brilliant idea to walk to a watchmaker shop.

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And wow! It just happens to be an Omega watch in that shop

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that resembles the one that Bond was wearing in the movie.

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And you pay $10,000 to put that watch on your wrist.

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And you leave that store feeling more like Bond.

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How is that possible?

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PQ Media tells us that 10.5 billion dollars

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is turned over in product placement revenue every single year.

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How is it possible for you to be so easily tricked

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by something so simple as a story?

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Because you are tricked.

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Well, it all comes down to one core thing,

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and that is emotional investment.

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The more emotionally invested you are in anything in your life,

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the less critical and the less objectively observant you become.

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And the greatest emotional investment of all

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is falling in love.

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Now, falling in love resembles a good story.

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Do you remember the last time you fell in love?

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Yeah? Good for you. It's a beautiful feeling, isn't it?

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(Laughter)

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Do you remember how you longed and how you yearned and how you dreamt?

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Then you looked at her, and maybe you thought,

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"God, I love the way you chew that apple -

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so crunchy.

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(Laughter)

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And the way you slurp that tea, just over the edge, you know.

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Oh, it's so sexy.

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Love it!"

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And then about 13 months later, when you biochemically fall out of love -

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13 months later, on an average, you fall out of love -

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suddenly you find yourself sitting in the sofa, and you go,

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"Jesus Christ, where did this thing come from?

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Oh my God! And where are my friends?

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This is a weird thing."

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Then suddenly you hear a sound; you go like, "What's that?"

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You go over to the kitchen, and you look, and you go like,

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"Oh, it's you! You're eating an apple there.

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Could you just keep that down just a little bit?

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You're kind of spraying the table there.

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Please, please don't."

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And you sit down comfortably again,

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and just a minute later,

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you hear somebody drinking tea from the kitchen, going (Slurp).

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And suddenly, this is all annoying to you.

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Have you been there?

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Sadly enough,

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13 months later,

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our critical thinking and our cortex comes home from a one-year-long vacation,

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and we start questioning things.

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During those 13 months, what happened was that your brain was flooded

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with neurotransmitters and hormones hijacking your cortex,

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throwing your objectively observant skills out of the window.

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And the thing with storytelling is that the same thing can happen.

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In stories, the same hormones and neurotransmitters can be released.

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Hormones like vasopressin, oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine, endorphins.

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And you know what?

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That's what I would like to do during my talk.

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I would like to induce three hormones into your brain.

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I call it "the angels' cocktail," so it's a nice cocktail.

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I would like to start with radically increasing your dopamine levels.

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And I need your consent on this.

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Is it okay?

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Cool.

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And if you don't like the idea of that, you'll just have to cover your ears.

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So, dopamine. This is what it looks like.

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And when you have that in your blood, these are the beautiful effects:

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you get more focus, more motivation, and you remember things in a better way.

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So what does dopamine feel like? It feels like this.

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About six years ago, I received a phone call from a woman

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who represented one of the biggest training companies in Scandinavia,

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and she said, "Hey, David!

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We've got a lot of trainers in presentation skills and in rhetorics,

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and we'd like to increase the level of all of these,

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and we think you are a perfect pick.

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Would you like to come to a meeting?"

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I'm like, "Wow, I'm honored. I'd love to."

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And I come up to Stockholm, and I'm going to their office,

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and just as I am going to pull the handle down,

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what I don't know then

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is that I'm walking into one of the absolute worst meetings

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I'm ever going to have in my life.

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But I don't know that yet, so it's okay.

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I open the door, and I meet this woman.

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Her name is Liana.

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And hurriedly she says, "David, just so you know,

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I'm not the one you're having this meeting with;

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you're going to have it with three gentlemen, further on here."

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And I'm like, "Okay, that's a bit strange."

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Usually you know who you're going to have the meeting with.

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Then she progresses with a bit of chit-chatting,

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and then suddenly she says, "Are you ready now?"

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And I'm like, "Yeah, what should I be ready for?"

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She says, "Just so you know - Can you see the room over there?"

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And I go like, "Yes, I can see it."

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"Well, in that room you have the three gentlemen.

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Just so you know, they're all majority owners of this company.

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They've all got an ex-military background,

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and none of them wants the training that you are going to pitch."

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(Laughter)

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I'm like, "Come on!

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Why am I here?"

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And it's like, "Well, all the trainers want this,

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but the management are on too high horses.

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They can't see that they need it.

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So it's pretty simple.

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The only thing you have to do is go in there and kind of, you know,

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just prove the opposite."

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I'm like, "Yeah, that sounds simple, doesn't it?"

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And I can remember myself, I'm walking towards this office,

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my sweat is coming down my palms, my heart is racing,

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and just halfway there, she calls my name.

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And I still, to this day,

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don't know if this woman is sadomasochistic

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or just downright unintelligent.

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Because she calls my name, and she goes like, "David!"

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It's like I'm going to get the tip or something like that,

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so I turn around to ask her,

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and she says the following -

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And if I don't tell you what she says there, is that annoying?

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(Laughter)

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Well, actually, as an example, I'm not going to do that.

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I just wanted to prove to you what it feels with high dopamine levels.

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Would you say that your focus was increased?

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Your attention was increased?

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You were creative; you created situations around this,

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and you probably already figured out what that room looked like, correct?

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And you'll remember that I did that to you for quite a while.

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Now, the feeling you had there

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was high levels of dopamine, which is beautiful.

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So how do you do that?

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Well, what you do is you build suspense,

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you launch a cliffhanger,

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and the most beautiful thing of all

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is that all storytelling is, per definition, dopamine-creating

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because it's always something that we're waiting and expecting.

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So just imagine, just by using storytelling you can get those techniques.

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You don't have to do a cliffhanger like I did.

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So that was the first hormone.

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I'd now like to go to oxytocin.

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Is that okay as well? I'll induce that?

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All right.

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The beautiful effects of oxytocin are the following:

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you become more generous, you trust me more, and you bond to me.

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You want to do that?

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All right.

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All right, so this was a ...

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Nine months had passed,

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and it was a planned caesarean.

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And the little brother, who was 5 years of age at that point of time,

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he was kind of really looking forward to what's going to be -

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what's going to happen.

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He was going to become a big brother.

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And he had helped us pick out the wallpaper,

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he'd helped choose the bed linen.

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He'd even saved his own pocket money to buy a little stuffed animal,

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which was placed on the pillowcase.

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About two days before the planned cesarean,

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something happened.

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Something wasn't right.

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The parents couldn't - something was off.

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And the day before, there was simply no movement in the stomach,

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there was no heartbeat.

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You couldn't feel or hear anything at all.

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So the parents were rushed into hospital,

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laid down on a bed,

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and doctor comes in, checks the stomach,

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looks at me and sees what I see,

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and that is that the heart is no longer beating for this child.

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This was me, nine years ago.

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It was the worst thing I've ever experienced in my entire life.

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And, I don't know, can you just imagine what you have to tell a five -

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how you tell that to a five-year-old?

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Can you just imagine that?

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Because he's home there, waiting in anticipation for this coming event.

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But it won't happen.

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So a part of me and to handle that,

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I talk about it.

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And I've talked to you about it now.

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And now you got higher levels of oxytocin in your blood,

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whether you want it or not,

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which means that you feel more human;

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you're bonding to me, and you're feeling more relaxed.

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So how do you do that?

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In storytelling, you create empathy.

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So whatever character you build, you create empathy for that character.

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And oxytocin is the most beautiful hormone of all

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because you feel human.

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The third, and last, hormone is endorphin,

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and I would like to show you a woman

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which, we can say, has overdosed on endorphins.

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Let's just look what that looks like.

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Ah, we'll go here.

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(Video) Priest: To inspire and to respond ...

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(Muffled laughter)

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Are you speaking or listening?

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(Laughter)

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Woman: To speak and to listen.

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(Laughter)

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I'm sorry.

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Okay, um, to speak and to listen?

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Priest: To inspire and to respond.

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Woman: To inspire and to respond.

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Priest: And in all circumstances

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Woman: (Laughter)

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Woman: And in all circumstances

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Priest: Of our life together

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Woman: (Laughter)

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Woman: I'm sorry - of our life together

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Of our life together

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Priest: To be loyal to you with my whole life and all my being

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Woman: To be loyal to you with my whole life and all my being

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Priest: Until death parts us. Woman: Until death parts us.

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Woman and Man: (Laughter)

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(Audience) (Laughter)

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Oh, the timing of that is so lousy, isn't it?

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So how do you create endorphins? Well, you make people laugh.

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What happens then is that they become more creative, they become more relaxed,

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and again, they become more focused, which is beautiful to have.

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Now, all these three hormones that I've induced into your brain now

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is what I call "the angels' cocktail."

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But there is an opposite of that cocktail, and I call that '"the devil's cocktail."

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And the devil's cocktail has high levels of cortisol and adrenalin.

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And they feel like this.

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(Quick yell)

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(Laughter)

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Sorry to do that to you.

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So, high levels of cortisol and adrenaline.

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The problem with that is that if you've got really high concentrations -

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which I didn't give you there -

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but when you've got high concentrations, look at this:

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[Intolerant, Irritable, Uncreative, Critical, Memory impaired, Bad decisions]

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Is this something that you want to have the people you talk to

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have in their blood, in their system?

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Now, in our stressful work lives, in our stressful lives,

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many times, when you present, communicate, deliver meetings,

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Which one do you think they've drunk most of?

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The devil's cocktail or the angels' cocktail?

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Most commonly, the devil's cocktail.

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And the problem then is that you've got all this to work against.

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But all of that can change today.

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All of that can change

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by you starting to use something I call functional storytelling.

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And functional storytelling means that you do these three things:

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One, you have to understand that you don't have to be a bearded old man

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in front of a fireplace with a dark voice in order to be a great storyteller.

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In my experience, when I train people,

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everybody is a good storyteller from birth.

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The only problem is that you don't believe in it.

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The second thing is write down your stories.

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You'll notice that you have three to four times more stories in your life

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than you thought that you had.

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Three, index those stories.

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Which of your stories make people laugh, i.e. create endorphins?

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Which make people feel empathy, i.e. oxytocin?

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And the next time you go into a meeting,

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you pick the story you want to release the hormone you wish

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in the person that you're talking to

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to get exactly the desired effects that you want.

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And that's a beautiful thing.

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Now, you know me, some of you know me as "Mr. Death by PowerPoint."

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I want to round off with making my point very clear.

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And my point is this:

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100 000 years ago, we started developing our language.

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It's sound to say that we started using storytelling to transfer knowledge

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from generation to generation.

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27 000 years ago, we started transferring knowledge from generation to generation

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through cave paintings.

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3 500 years ago, we started transferring knowledge from generation to generation

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through text.

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28 years ago, PowerPoint was born.

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Which one do you think our brain is mostly adapted to?

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)