Understanding Narrative Persuasion: The Power of Stories over Arguments (Part 2) - Prof. B, Study notes of Communication

Download Understanding Narrative Persuasion: The Power of Stories over Arguments (Part 2) - Prof. B and more Study notes Communication in PDF only on Docsity! How Do We Allow Rhetoric to Change Our Minds? Part 2 (The Narrative Paradigm) Overview: - Narratives: - Review Aristotle’s “Rational World Paradigm” - Walter Fisher’s Narrative Paradigm - Factors Influencing Narrative Persuasion o Narrative Rationality  Narrative Coherence  Narrative Fidelity Narratives & Narration: - Narration o “Any verbal or non-verbal account…with a sequence of events…to which listeners assign meaning.” o Fisher: “All communication is narrative”  Thus we are all Homo Narrans (Humans are storytellers) Argument vs. Good Story: - Fisher’s Narrative Paradigm suggests that humans are more persuaded by… o A good story than by a good argument The Rational World Paradigm - Privileges a specific type of communication o Logic  Systematic  Can be proven valid or invalid Narrative Rationality: - A means of judging the narratives we hear, we read, and tell - Two Principles: o Coherence  The INTERNAL consistency of a narrative  Three Types:  Structural Coherence o The degree to which elements of the story flow smoothly (e.g. Does everything fit?)  Material Coherence o The degree of congruence between one story and other stories that seem related to it  Characterological Coherence o The degree to which characters in the story are believable o Fidelity  The TRUTHFULNESS or reliability of a narrative