1. The
Stories
We Construct
presented by
Stephen P. Anderson

5. www.getmentalnotes.com
www.getmentalnotes.com

6. GUIDE BEHAVIOR IN
EVERY MOMENT
FRAME HOW WE
FRAME HOW WE
SEE THE PAST NARRATIVES SEE OURSELVES
IN THE FUTURE
GUIDE BEHAVIOR IN
EVERY MOMENT

7. “Interesting, but...”

14. imagination or narrative?
both are overlays on whatever is “real”

15. People assume that they perceive reality as
it is, that our senses accurately record the
outside world. Yet the science suggests that,
in important ways, people experience
reality not as it is, but as they expect it to be.
—Jonah Lehrer
http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2008/02/the_power_of_expectations.php

16. THE THINGS WE BUY,
THE DECISIONS WE MAKE,
HOW WE SPEND OUR TIME--
STORIES GOVERN ALL THESE ACTIONS.

18. THE THINGS WE BUY,
THE DECISIONS WE MAKE,
HOW WE SPEND OUR TIME--
STORIES GOVERN ALL THESE ACTIONS.

19. THE THINGS WE BUY,
THE DECISIONS WE MAKE,
HOW WE SPEND OUR TIME--
STORIES WE CONSTRUCT
GOVERN ALL THESE ACTIONS.

21. “Essentialism”

23. How much would you pay for this pen?

24. You had to be there!
Video of my friend Steve talking about his Nakaya Pen
http://www.nakaya.org/eindex.html

25. How much would you
pay to have this shirt?
(Not a copy, but the actual one
worn by Steve Jobs when he
announced the iPhone!)

27. How much would you
pay to have this shirt?
(Not a copy, but the actual one
worn by Steve Jobs when he
announced the iPhone!)

28. Do you want me to wash the shirt
before I give it to you?

29. “Positive Contagion Theory”
http://books.google.com/books?id=g7qqPdaVrYgC&lpg=PA103&ots=idBa8Fs1uZ&dq=%E2%80%9CPositive%20Contagion%20Theory
%E2%80%9D&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9CPositive%20Contagion%20Theory%E2%80%9D&f=false

30. “How much would you pay for
[a famous serial kil er]’s sweater?“

31. (In many states, home sellers are required
by law to disclose if a murder previously
took place in the house.)

32. brain scans confirmed
that people don't just
think the more expensive
(but identical) wine
tasted better—it actually
really did taste better…
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainstorm/200803/is-5000-prostitute-worth-the-price

33. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

34. Vermeer
...or Han van Meegeren?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_van_Meegeren

35. GUIDE BEHAVIOR IN
EVERY MOMENT
FRAME HOW WE
FRAME HOW WE
SEE THE PAST NARRATIVES SEE OURSELVES
IN THE FUTURE
GUIDE BEHAVIOR IN
EVERY MOMENT

36. DIRECT EXPERIENCES
SOMATIC
MOOD/AFFECT MARKERS
SOCIAL PROOF
SELF-IMAGE NARRATIVES EXPECTATIONS
PHYSICAL
KNOWLEDGE ASSOCIATIONS
FRAMING
MEMORIES
ASSOCIATED
METAPHORS

37. THE THINGS WE BUY,
THE DECISIONS WE MAKE,
HOW WE SPEND OUR TIME--
STORIES WE CONSTRUCT
GOVERN ALL THESE ACTIONS.
HOW ARE THESE STORIES CONSTRUCTED?

39. FIRST, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BRAIN!
(Volunteers needed)

41. You had to be there! We role-played how the brain makes a decision.

42. COGN ITION
EXTERNAL PERCEPTION Limbic Center
STIMULUS (VIA THE SENSES)
*which aren’t all that reliable!
(focus on the Hippocampus & Amygdale)
(most primitive, seat of unconsciousness, drives)
BEHAVIOR CONSCIOUS CHOICE Pre-Frontal Cortex
(VIA MOTOR CENTERS) (consciousness, meaning, choice)
“Cortext“
Long-term memory of representations
MEMORY (REPRESENTATIONS)

43. REPRESENTATIONS
& ASSOCIATIONS
(also why I started thinking about “how“ stories are constructed...)

44. REPRESENTATIONS
& ASSOCIATIONS

45. Who is this?
How do you know?

46. What is this?
Does the tree know that it’s a tree?

47. Why do we know these are all the letter A?
A A A A A
A A A A A
A AA A A
A AA A A

48. What is this? How do you know?

49. (close your eyes)
What is this sound?
How do you know?

50. What is this girl feeling?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49503002894@N01/3680138/

51. What happens if you touch this?

52. What happens if you touch this?

53. EPISODIC MYTHIC
REPRESENTATIONS REPRESENTATIONS THEORETIC
MIMETIC REPRESENTATIONS
REPRESENTATIONS SCHEMAS
CHUNKING
?
CONCEPTUAL BLENDS
METAREPRESENTATIONS
CONCEPTUAL FRAMES / SCHEMA
CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR
IMAGE SCHEMA
PATTERNS SITUATION MODELS
SYMBOLS
SOMATIC MARKERS
OBJECTS

55. REPRESENTATIONS
& ASSOCIATIONS

56. Video clip from Ratatouille (Anton Ego’s nostalgia scene)

57. Remember mind maps?

58. www.getmentalnotes.com
www.getmentalnotes.com

59. !"

60. www.getmentalnotes.com
www.getmentalnotes.com

68. www.getmentalnotes.com
www.getmentalnotes.com

74. www.getmentalnotes.com
www.getmentalnotes.com

75. LIST A FEW MOVIES PIXAR HAS MADE.

76. a person reads a list of words including
the word table...
later: “complete a word starting with tab”
(probability that subject answers table is
higher than for non-primed people.)

77. “aesthetic”
associations
www.getmentalnotes.com
www.getmentalnotes.com

78. Bouba-Kiki Effect

79. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/104/moto.html

81. Ready for the freaky stuff?
literal-metaphorical confusions

82. Volunteers would meet one of the experimenters,
believing that they would be starting the experiment
shortly. In reality, the experiment began when the
experimenter, seemingly struggling with an armful of
folders, asks the volunteer to briefly hold their coffee.
As the key experimental manipulation, the coffee was
either hot or iced. Subjects then read a description of
some individual...
Students who had recently been
cradling the warm beverage were
far likelier to judge the fictitious
character as warm and friendly
than were those who had held the
iced coffee.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/this-is-your-brain-on-metaphors/

83. Subjects either did or didn’t read an article
about the health risks of airborne bacteria. All
then read a history article that used imagery of
a nation as a living organism with statements
like, “Following the Civil War, the United
States underwent a growth spurt.”
Those who read about scary
bacteria before thinking about the
U.S. as an organism were then
more likely to express negative
views about immigration.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/this-is-your-brain-on-metaphors/

84. Volunteers were asked to evaluate
the resumes of supposed job
applicants where, as the critical
variable, the resume was attached
to a clipboard of one of two
different weights.
Subjects who evaluated the candidate while
holding the heavier clipboard tended to judge
candidates to be more serious, with the
weight of the clipboard having no effect on
how congenial the applicant was judged.
After all, we say things like “weighty
matter” or “gravity of a situation.”
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/this-is-your-brain-on-metaphors/

86. !"#$%&'()*+,%*+-').%$.-*/%0,#12$%.'%&#1(%"#2"3/1(%4+.+*'2$5

87. 64),,/1.%7/,$#'18

89. “designated driver”

91. “Stories, powerful stuff.
Got it. What next?”

92. http://www.poetpainter.com/thoughts/article/classifying-experiences

93. communications layer
presentation
layer
The ‘thing’
itself
perceptions

95. COMPANY
SPACE
communications layer
presentation
layer
The ‘thing’
itself
perceptions
PERSONAL
SPACE

97. COMPANY
SPACE EM
PH
AS
S IS ON IS O
EMPHA BR
AND N
ECT communications layer BUI
DIR G LD
AGIN ING
M ESS
presentation
layer
TRANSACTIONAL The ‘thing’
itself
ENGAGING
perceptions
AP
PE
TO AL
RE S TO
AS A LS
ON PE S
AP T ION
E MO
PERSONAL
SPACE

99. COMPANY
SPACE EM
PH
AS
S IS ON IS O
EMPHA BR
AND N
ECT communications layer BUI
DIR G LD
AGIN ING
M ESS
presentation
layer
The ‘thing’
itself
RATIONAL EMOTIONAL
perceptions
AP
PE
TO AL
RE S TO
AS A LS
ON PE S
AP T ION
E MO
PERSONAL
SPACE

100. http://www.poetpainter.com/thoughts/article/classifying-experiences

101. http://www.poetpainter.com/thoughts/article/classifying-experiences

102. WE SEEK TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD THROUGH COHERENT STORIES.
STORIES ARE IN OUR HEADS AND CHANGING ALL THE TIME.
STORIES ARE CONSTRUCTED THROUGH ASSOCIATIONS.
STORIES DRIVE BEHAVIOR.

103. “What is your story?”

104. Th an ks!!
Stephen P. Anderson
www.slideshare.net/stephenpa
@stephenanderson
www.poetpainter.com
www.getmentalnotes.com