The Storytelling Genius of Jane Goodall and Why Intellectual Arguments Don ’t Change Behavior

<strong>You’ve just got to be calm, and tell stories and try and get people to change from within.</strong>A version of this article also appeared in the It’s Not Just You newsletter. Sign up to get a new edition from Susanna Schrobsdorff every Saturday. —Dr. Jane Goodall Facts never did change hearts. But until the era of alternative Facebook-style facts, it was a bit easier to pretend that we humans were logical creatures. Our inability to ingest inconvenient truths is not news to Dr. Jane Goodall, the legendary naturalist. She has spent decades persuading us to change the way we treat animals and the planet, and she does it by talking about her experiences, not with terrifying U.N. climate reports. “If one wants to change attitudes, you have to reach the heart. You can reach the heart by telling stories, not by arguing with people’s intellects,” she says on her new podcast, or as she calls it, her “Hopecast ,” and this week’s edition of TIME. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The science backs up her approach (of course). A recent study out of Princeton University using brain imaging showed how while hearing a story our brain waves start to synchronize with those of the storyteller. And the better the listener understood, the more closely the brain wave patterns mirrored those of the storyteller. And that narrative connection allows us to better see a situation from another’s viewpoint, an...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized It's Not Just You Source Type: news