The magical science of storytelling | David JP Phillips | TEDxStockholm

Summary

In this engaging talk, the speaker explores the power of storytelling as a tool for emotional investment and influence. The presentation begins with Rob Walker's 'significant object study', where objects' value increased dramatically with the addition of stories. The speaker then delves into how stories, like the unrealistic portrayals in James Bond films, can shape our desires and behaviors, even leading to significant financial decisions. The talk highlights the role of hormones in storytelling, aiming to induce 'the angels' cocktail' of vasopressin, oxytocin, and endorphins in the audience, which fosters focus, motivation, empathy, and laughter. The speaker concludes by advocating for 'functional storytelling' in communication to elicit desired emotional responses and improve interactions.

Takeaways

• 📚 Storytelling is a powerful tool: The script begins with an experiment by Rob Walker, which demonstrates the impact of storytelling on the value of objects.
• 🛍️ Emotional investment increases value: By attaching stories to objects, Walker was able to significantly increase their selling price on eBay.
• 🎬 The influence of unrealistic stories: People are willing to pay to watch and emulate characters from unrealistic movies like James Bond.
• 💰 The power of product placement: Companies generate billions of dollars annually through product placement in movies and stories.
• ❤️ Emotional investment and love: Falling in love is compared to storytelling, as both can cause a flood of hormones and neurotransmitters.
• 🧠 Hormones and storytelling: Certain hormones like vasopressin, oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins are released during storytelling, affecting the audience's emotions and perception.
• 🚀 Dopamine and focus: The speaker aims to increase dopamine levels in the audience to enhance focus, motivation, and memory retention.
• 🤝 Oxytocin and bonding: Storytelling can induce oxytocin, making people more generous, trusting, and creating a bond between the storyteller and the audience.
• 😂 Endorphins and laughter: Humor in storytelling can release endorphins, leading to increased creativity, relaxation, and focus.
• 📈 Functional storytelling: The speaker introduces the concept of 'functional storytelling' as a method to intentionally induce specific emotions and responses in an audience.

Q & A

What was Rob Walker's experiment involving eBay and storytelling?

Rob Walker's experiment, known as the 'significant object study', involved purchasing 200 objects from eBay for an average price of one dollar each, then asking 200 authors to write a story for each object. He then sold these objects again on eBay to see if the added storytelling would affect their value.

What was the percentage increase in value for the horse's head object after a story was added?

The horse's head object saw an increase of 6395% in value after a story was added, selling for $62.95 compared to its original purchase price of 99¢.

How much money did Rob Walker make from selling the 200 objects after adding stories to them?

Rob Walker made $8000 from selling the 200 objects after adding stories to them, which was a significant increase from the initial investment of $129.

What is the connection between storytelling and product placement in movies?

Storytelling in movies, such as in James Bond films, can create emotional investment in the characters and their possessions, leading to product placement becoming a powerful marketing tool. This can influence viewers to purchase items associated with the characters, contributing to the $10.5 billion in product placement revenue annually.

Why do people pay to watch unrealistic movies like James Bond and feel inspired by the character?

People pay to watch unrealistic movies because storytelling can create emotional investment, leading to viewers identifying with the characters and their lifestyles. This can inspire them to emulate aspects of the character, such as purchasing items like the Omega watch seen in the movie.

What is the average duration of the biochemical phase of falling in love according to the script?

The average duration of the biochemical phase of falling in love, during which critical thinking may be impaired, is about 13 months according to the script.

How do hormones and neurotransmitters play a role in storytelling and its impact on the audience?

Hormones and neurotransmitters like vasopressin, oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins can be released in the audience's brain during storytelling, creating emotional responses that can affect their perception and memory of the story.

What is 'the angels' cocktail' and how does it relate to storytelling?

The 'angels' cocktail' refers to the combination of hormones—dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins—that can be induced in the audience's brain through storytelling. These hormones can lead to increased focus, motivation, empathy, bonding, creativity, relaxation, and focus.

What are the effects of high dopamine levels on a person's cognitive functions?

High dopamine levels can lead to increased focus, motivation, and enhanced memory, making it easier for individuals to remember and engage with the stories they are told.

How can storytelling create empathy and trust among the audience, and what hormone is associated with these feelings?

Storytelling can create empathy and trust by building emotional connections with characters and situations. The hormone associated with these feelings is oxytocin, which can be released when the audience bonds with the storyteller or the story's characters.

What is the 'devil's cocktail' and how does it contrast with 'the angels' cocktail'?

The 'devil's cocktail' refers to high levels of cortisol and adrenaline, which can lead to negative effects such as intolerance, irritability, uncreativity, criticism, memory impairment, and bad decision-making. This contrasts with 'the angels' cocktail', which induces positive hormones that enhance storytelling and audience engagement.

What is the concept of 'functional storytelling' as mentioned in the script?

Functional storytelling is the practice of using storytelling techniques to achieve specific communication goals. It involves understanding one's natural storytelling abilities, writing down personal stories, and indexing them based on the emotions or hormones they elicit, such as laughter (endorphins), empathy (oxytocin), or focus and motivation (dopamine).

Why is PowerPoint referred to as 'Death by PowerPoint' in the context of the script?

PowerPoint is referred to as 'Death by PowerPoint' because it is often seen as an ineffective method for transferring knowledge and engaging an audience compared to the more emotionally engaging and ancient practice of storytelling.

Outlines

00:00

📚 The Power of Storytelling in Value Creation

The first paragraph introduces Rob Walker's experiment to test the power of storytelling. He purchased 200 items from eBay for an average price of one dollar each and then asked 200 authors to write stories for these objects. These items were then resold on eBay with their corresponding stories. The experiment demonstrated a significant increase in value, with one object, a horse's head, increasing in price by 6395%. The overall increase in value from the initial purchase to the sale with stories was a staggering 6200%. This illustrates the profound impact stories can have on the perceived value of objects.

05:02

🎬 Emotional Investment and the Influence of Stories

The second paragraph delves into the psychological aspects of storytelling, focusing on emotional investment. It discusses how stories can trigger the release of hormones and neurotransmitters like vasopressin, oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins, which can lead to increased focus, motivation, and memory. The speaker aims to induce these hormones in the audience through his talk. The paragraph also touches on the unrealistic nature of movies like James Bond, yet their ability to emotionally engage the audience and influence their behavior, such as purchasing an expensive watch to feel more like the character.

10:04

🧪 The Chemistry of Storytelling: Hormones and Human Connection

The third paragraph explores the chemistry behind storytelling, focusing on how it can induce specific hormones that create a sense of connection and empathy. The speaker shares a personal story about the loss of a child to illustrate the power of oxytocin in creating empathy and bonding. The paragraph also discusses the use of humor to increase endorphins, which can lead to a more relaxed and creative state of mind. The speaker emphasizes the importance of storytelling in creating these emotional and chemical responses in the audience.

15:05

📈 Functional Storytelling for Effective Communication

The fourth and final paragraph provides actionable advice on using storytelling as a functional tool for communication. The speaker suggests that everyone has the innate ability to be a good storyteller and encourages writing down personal stories to later index them by the hormones they elicit—dopamine for focus and motivation, oxytocin for empathy and bonding, and endorphins for laughter and relaxation. The paragraph concludes with a rhetorical question about the most effective method of transferring knowledge, highlighting the human brain's evolutionary adaptation to storytelling over other forms of communication like PowerPoint.

Keywords

💡Storytelling

Storytelling refers to the art of telling a story, often with the intent to entertain, inform, or persuade. In the video, storytelling is presented as a powerful tool for emotional investment and influence, demonstrated through the 'significant object study' where objects' value increased dramatically after a story was attached to them.

💡Emotional Investment

Emotional investment is the degree to which an individual is emotionally involved or attached to something. The video emphasizes that emotional investment can cloud critical thinking and objectivity, as seen in the audience's willingness to pay more for objects with stories and in the personal connection felt when watching movies like James Bond.

💡Product Placement

Product placement is a marketing strategy where products or brands are incorporated into media content to gain exposure. The video mentions that product placement generates significant revenue, indicating how stories in movies can influence consumer behavior and create emotional connections with products.

💡Neurotransmitters and Hormones

Neurotransmitters and hormones are chemical messengers in the brain that regulate various functions, including mood and behavior. The speaker discusses how storytelling can trigger the release of hormones like vasopressin, oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins, which can influence the audience's emotional state and perception.

💡Dopamine

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with the brain's reward system, influencing motivation, focus, and memory. The video illustrates how increasing dopamine levels through storytelling can enhance the audience's engagement and recall, using the suspenseful anecdote about the meeting with the training company as an example.

💡Oxytocin

Oxytocin, often referred to as the 'love hormone,' is associated with social bonding, trust, and empathy. The video describes how storytelling can induce oxytocin, making the audience feel more connected and generous, using the tragic personal story about the loss of a child to evoke empathy and bonding.

💡Endorphins

Endorphins are hormones that act as natural painkillers and are associated with feelings of pleasure and well-being. The video shows that laughter, which can be induced through humorous storytelling, can lead to an endorphin release, making people more creative, relaxed, and focused.

💡Cortisol and Adrenaline

Cortisol and adrenaline are hormones associated with the stress response. High levels of these hormones, as referred to as 'the devil's cocktail,' can lead to negative effects like intolerance, irritability, and impaired decision-making. The video contrasts these with the positive effects of 'the angels' cocktail,' highlighting the importance of storytelling in reducing stress and inducing beneficial hormonal responses.

💡Functional Storytelling

Functional storytelling is the strategic use of stories to achieve specific communication goals. The video introduces this concept as a method to induce desired hormonal responses in an audience, by selecting stories that can elicit laughter (endorphins), empathy (oxytocin), or suspense (dopamine), thereby influencing their emotional state and behavior.

💡PowerPoint

PowerPoint is a presentation software often used in business and educational settings. The speaker, known as 'Mr. Death by PowerPoint,' criticizes the overuse of this tool, suggesting that it lacks the emotional engagement and effectiveness of storytelling. The video implies that while PowerPoint can transfer knowledge, it may not be as impactful as the age-old practice of storytelling.

💡Knowledge Transfer

Knowledge transfer is the process of sharing knowledge from one person or group to another. The video traces the evolution of knowledge transfer from storytelling and cave paintings to text and modern presentation tools like PowerPoint, questioning which method our brains are most adapted to for effective learning and retention.

Highlights

Rob Walker's experiment with eBay objects and storytelling to test the power of narrative.

Walker's acquisition of 200 objects from eBay for storytelling.

The 'significant object study' involving 200 authors to write stories for the objects.

The dramatic increase in value of objects after storytelling, exemplified by the horse's head sold for $62.95.

The overall success of Walker's experiment, selling objects for $8000 after an initial $129 investment.

The comparison of storytelling's power to product placement in movies, like James Bond, influencing consumer behavior.

The emotional investment in stories and its impact on critical thinking and objectivity.

The role of neurotransmitters and hormones in the process of falling in love and its similarity to storytelling.

The speaker's personal anecdote about a challenging meeting with ex-military company owners to pitch training.

The induction of dopamine through storytelling to increase focus, motivation, and memory.

The use of empathy in storytelling to increase oxytocin levels and foster human connection.

The creation of endorphins through humor in storytelling to enhance creativity and focus.

The contrast between 'the angels' cocktail' of positive hormones and 'the devil's cocktail' of stress hormones.

The importance of functional storytelling in presentations and communication to elicit desired emotional responses.

The historical evolution of knowledge transfer from cave paintings to text to PowerPoint, questioning which is most effective for the human brain.

Transcripts

Translator: Florencia Bracamonte Reviewer: Tanya Cushman

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

wanted to find out this:

Is storytelling really the most powerful tool of all?

And in order to do this,

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

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

He then called 200 authors, and he asked them,

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

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

And 200 authors said yes.

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

and I assume that it was with nail-biting anticipation

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

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

Do you think there was a change?

One of the objects was this,

this beautiful horse's head.

There we go.

The beautiful horse's head.

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

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

(Laughter)

That is a slight increase of 6395%.

So, was this a one-off situation?

Not really,

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

selling them for $8000.

Now, that's insane.

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

How can you and I

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

[that] are absolutely unrealistic?

And we sit there; we enjoy the movie.

And some of us, we really enjoy the movie.

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

I would like to be more like him.

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

I like Bond.

(Laughter)

I wonder how I could be more like Bond."

And then this weird revelation hits you like from nowhere,

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

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

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

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

And you leave that store feeling more like Bond.

How is that possible?

PQ Media tells us that 10.5 billion dollars

is turned over in product placement revenue every single year.

How is it possible for you to be so easily tricked

by something so simple as a story?

Because you are tricked.

Well, it all comes down to one core thing,

and that is emotional investment.

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

the less critical and the less objectively observant you become.

And the greatest emotional investment of all

is falling in love.

Now, falling in love resembles a good story.

Do you remember the last time you fell in love?

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

(Laughter)

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

Then you looked at her, and maybe you thought,

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

so crunchy.

(Laughter)

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

Oh, it's so sexy.

Love it!"

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

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

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

"Jesus Christ, where did this thing come from?

Oh my God! And where are my friends?

This is a weird thing."

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

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

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

Could you just keep that down just a little bit?

You're kind of spraying the table there.

Please, please don't."

And you sit down comfortably again,

and just a minute later,

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

And suddenly, this is all annoying to you.

Have you been there?

Sadly enough,

13 months later,

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

and we start questioning things.

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

with neurotransmitters and hormones hijacking your cortex,

throwing your objectively observant skills out of the window.

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

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

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

And you know what?

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

I would like to induce three hormones into your brain.

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

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

And I need your consent on this.

Is it okay?

Cool.

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

So, dopamine. This is what it looks like.

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

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

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

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

who represented one of the biggest training companies in Scandinavia,

and she said, "Hey, David!

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

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

and we think you are a perfect pick.

Would you like to come to a meeting?"

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

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

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

what I don't know then

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

I'm ever going to have in my life.

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

I open the door, and I meet this woman.

Her name is Liana.

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

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

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

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

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

Then she progresses with a bit of chit-chatting,

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

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

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

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

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

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

They've all got an ex-military background,

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

(Laughter)

I'm like, "Come on!

Why am I here?"

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

but the management are on too high horses.

They can't see that they need it.

So it's pretty simple.

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

just prove the opposite."

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

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

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

and just halfway there, she calls my name.

And I still, to this day,

don't know if this woman is sadomasochistic

or just downright unintelligent.

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

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

so I turn around to ask her,

and she says the following -

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

(Laughter)

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

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

Would you say that your focus was increased?

Your attention was increased?

You were creative; you created situations around this,

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

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

Now, the feeling you had there

was high levels of dopamine, which is beautiful.

So how do you do that?

Well, what you do is you build suspense,

you launch a cliffhanger,

and the most beautiful thing of all

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

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

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

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

So that was the first hormone.

I'd now like to go to oxytocin.

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

All right.

The beautiful effects of oxytocin are the following:

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

You want to do that?

All right.

All right, so this was a ...

Nine months had passed,

and it was a planned caesarean.

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

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

what's going to happen.

He was going to become a big brother.

And he had helped us pick out the wallpaper,

he'd helped choose the bed linen.

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

which was placed on the pillowcase.

About two days before the planned cesarean,

something happened.

Something wasn't right.

The parents couldn't - something was off.

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

there was no heartbeat.

You couldn't feel or hear anything at all.

So the parents were rushed into hospital,

laid down on a bed,

and doctor comes in, checks the stomach,

looks at me and sees what I see,

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

This was me, nine years ago.

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

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

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

Can you just imagine that?

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

But it won't happen.

So a part of me and to handle that,

I talk about it.

And I've talked to you about it now.

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

whether you want it or not,

which means that you feel more human;

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

So how do you do that?

In storytelling, you create empathy.

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

And oxytocin is the most beautiful hormone of all

because you feel human.

The third, and last, hormone is endorphin,

and I would like to show you a woman

which, we can say, has overdosed on endorphins.

Let's just look what that looks like.

Ah, we'll go here.

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

(Muffled laughter)

Are you speaking or listening?

(Laughter)

Woman: To speak and to listen.

(Laughter)

I'm sorry.

Okay, um, to speak and to listen?

Priest: To inspire and to respond.

Woman: To inspire and to respond.

Priest: And in all circumstances

Woman: (Laughter)

Woman: And in all circumstances

Priest: Of our life together

Woman: (Laughter)

Woman: I'm sorry - of our life together

Of our life together

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

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

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

Woman and Man: (Laughter)

(Audience) (Laughter)

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

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

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

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

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

is what I call "the angels' cocktail."

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

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

And they feel like this.

(Quick yell)

(Laughter)

Sorry to do that to you.

So, high levels of cortisol and adrenaline.

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

which I didn't give you there -

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

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

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

have in their blood, in their system?

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

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

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

The devil's cocktail or the angels' cocktail?

Most commonly, the devil's cocktail.

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

But all of that can change today.

All of that can change

by you starting to use something I call functional storytelling.

And functional storytelling means that you do these three things:

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

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

In my experience, when I train people,

everybody is a good storyteller from birth.

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

The second thing is write down your stories.

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

than you thought that you had.

Three, index those stories.

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

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

And the next time you go into a meeting,

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

in the person that you're talking to

to get exactly the desired effects that you want.

And that's a beautiful thing.

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

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

And my point is this:

100 000 years ago, we started developing our language.

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

from generation to generation.

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

through cave paintings.

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

through text.

28 years ago, PowerPoint was born.

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

Thank you very much.

(Applause)