> I've started to notice -- perhaps belatedly -- considerable attention
> being paid to the concept of storytelling as a way of transmitting
> learning.
Hmm... I've worked with story and metaphor in one-on-one
communication. Here are some thoughts on the structure and use of
metaphor (these may be on a more detailed level than you're asking
about. If so, I apologize). To be most effective, stories need to
be told by a good story teller, who can use their body and voice to
supplement the story.
There seem to be five main kinds of metaphor (this is my own
taxonomy; except for "isomorphic metaphors" the labels are not
intended to correspond to any labels in literature):
#1. Isomorphic metaphors. The most common use of metaphor is using a
story which parallels the situation being discussed.
"Our orders are always late because the trucks get caught in traffic
jams" becomes "The bee couldn't make it to the next flower in time,
because the swarms were so thick, it couldn't fly very far."
#2. Learning metaphors. These are metaphors which make a general
point, but do not parallel a specific situation. Fables and stories
with morals fall into this category.
There was once a hippo, who loved to dance. She practiced and practiced
and practiced, and finally called a recital of all her friends. The music
started and she began to dance. And she sucked. She wasn't just bad; she
was awful. Horrible. Hideous. Her friends stayed, but one by one, they
quietly got up in disgust and left. Finally, only one friend was left. He
turned to her and said, "Stop! Stop it! Stop dancing. You're horrible.
Everyone's left. There's no performance any more!" She looked at him,
mid-pirouette, and said said with a smile, "Ahh... but you see, the
performance was for you. The dancing is for me."
#3. Cognitive structure metaphors. These metaphors lead the listener
through a sequence of specific cognitive representations. They can
be used to help someone learn to make new distinctions about the
world, or collapse old ones.
Last night my roommate had friends over. One friend, Chris, has an
especially piercing Voice. We were all in the living room, and the
Voice--high pitched, shrill, with a hideously dissonant vibrato--was
pounding into my head. I decided to turn in early, and laid down in
bed and closed the door. Though muffled, the Voice was still there.
I put a pillow over my head, however, and it became more of a
murmering. A shuffling collection of vowel sounds. And as I started
to drift to sleep, the vowels acquired melody, pitch, and harmony.
They became resonant, and blended into a fantastically relaxing
symphony in my brain.
[leads one through a series of auditory cognitive steps. From
creating a high, shrill voice -> muffled -> murmering -> melodic ->
relaxing symphony]
#4. Emotional structure metaphors. These metaphors are designed to
elicit a specific emotional state from the listener. As such, the
content can be about almost anything.
There she was, across the street. The Lady in Red. As usual, she
was dressed to the nines, with an attitude that said "business." She
turned, glancing at me for only a second before dropping her
cigarette, her toe grinding it ruthlessly into the sidewalk as she
started to walk. Her laughter drifted back to me, and her back
retreated out of sight, "Yes, little man, I have the papers. Come
and get them, if you dare." If I dare? IF I DARE?...
[These are hard to do in print. Most of the impact comes from HOW
they're read. The same story can be used to elicit very different
emotions, depending on how it's read. In this case, I was trying for
indignation and suspense.]
#5. Threaded metaphors. These metaphors are based on the work of the
hypnotherapist Milton Erickson. He would tell several unrelated
stories, all of which had one item in common. Often it would be
something very subtle, but after enough stories, the listener would
begin to unconsciously follow the thread.
For example, we could discuss the beauty of Michaelangelo's David.
The recent fire at Joe's Detailing Shop. Our own puzzlement at the
whole auction process; after all, who would pay $10MM for something
to hang on their wall? And I recently heard that Levi's got their
start with canvas, not with denim? And my super-VGA monitor only has
a palette of 256 colors. And ....
[all of those hopefully have some aspect of painting as a common
thread.]
-------------------------------
Now how can we use these? There are lots of ways. Isomorphic
metaphors can be used to lead someone through a chain of logic that,
were it being told directly to them, they would argue with at every
step. "My friend John thinks peanut-butter worship is the only
salvation of mankind..."
Learning metaphors can be used to make general moral points, and
provide a discussion framework for the exploration of whatever topics
are raised.
Cognitive structure metaphors can be used to run a person or
audience through a particular set of cognitive steps over and over,
before you teach them a task where those steps will be useful.
[One of my favorites, especially around organizational change, is to
structure stories around the cognitive structures of making a
decision using a NEW set of [mission/vision/values] for guidance.]
Emotional structure metaphors are quite powerful. Most people think
of lecturing, teaching, or learning as purely intellectual
activities. As explained in _Making Connections: Learning and the
Human Brain_ (Caine & Caine, Addison-Wesley), emotions have a
profound impact on our ability to learn. I use emotional metaphors
to move someone through a sequence of emotional states, over and
over, so they become accustomed to moving through that sequence.
Then we connect that with cognitive structure metaphors, and it can
make it much easier for a person to learn, for example:
feel frustration paired with make a picture of what
frustrates
turn into impatience ask yourself, "what is my
ultimate goal, and how
else can I reach it?"
turn into curiousity start looking, listening,
and feeling for
alternatives
turn into motivation choose one to try
turn into ACTION step into the alternative
and put it into action
Threaded metaphors are more subtle, and can be used to encourage
certain concepts to become "activated" in someone's mind. I would
use them when I want people to take something into account when they
think about a topic, but don't want to address it explicitly until
the debriefing.
- Stever
---------------------------------------------------------------
Stever Robbins stever@mit.edu stever@verstek.com
Accept no substitutes! http://www.nlp.com/NLP/stever.html
"You're only young once, but you can be immature forever."