The Power of Narrative Intelligence. Enhancing your mind’s potential. The art of understanding, influencing and acting
their own behaviour than they do about what is sold in the nearby supermarket. But those who form the system of narratives know us better. Big data technologies make this knowledge incredibly effective. It is clear that a system can be discreetly changed by adjusting the culture and education. People should learn more about themselves and the world, understand how their system of narratives makes the world the way it is, and how it can be changed.
What exactly forces us to make certain 'conscious’ decisions or guides us? Only narratives: what we believe, what we are made up of, and what we choose from. Our behaviour is a choice of the possibilities presented to our brain, what is already recorded in it. It cannot be chosen if something does not already exist. But it can be created.
And even if the state has a monopoly on narratives, and if it shapes the agenda, we still are engaged in an odd relationship with our narratives. We own a small monopoly on narratives.
A Parable Is a Form of Narrative
Special learning space.
Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they
are ideally set up to understand stories. ― Roger Shank
A person always needs a specific space where they can reflect, learn, understand and accept their place in this world and the place that they have yet to find. This is not a home, work, or social media, which has become a part of today’s world. This is where it all started, intelligence and its narratives.
One of the forms of narratives that help us understand the world and our place in it is a parable. A parable is a brief, didactic story presented in an allegorical form. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines a parable as an 'example… that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle.' Parables allow us to give knowledge a live and dynamic image, to imprint it deeply in memory and present it as a complete idea that has meaning. Any parable captivates the listener not only with its plot. The parables are imaginative and concise, they are full of metaphors, they are emotional.
In real life, we often encounter parables that relate to our daily problems. Such parables are widely known and often quoted, for instance, King Solomon’s proverbs. And even today, thousands of years later, they are able to make a strong impression on listeners. The works of art based on them are among those known to many. Other well-known parables are no less meaningful.
For example, the Parable of the Sower:
'Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold'.
What is this parable about? It is about many things, including the process of becoming a person and the role of conditions and environment in this process. Much of our life really depends on how deep the seeds of knowledge fall into us. And how much we are affected by external factors – birds pecking at grain, weeds that grow near us. If we do not focus, if the knowledge and experience we gain are not taken into account in such a way that they are transformed into competencies, if they are not connected with our values and life principles, they will eventually wither and become worthless. The eighty-nine words of the Parable of the Sower provide a clear and concise SWOT analysis of the possible forms of this process.
There are many similar parables or stories, but they are probably not as scalable, profound and artistically flawless as the classics. We wonder how they manage to very delicately connect so many simple events, captivate us and focus on the essence of the presentation. An entire science, narratology, is devoted to this phenomenon.
Managing the Paradoxical and Unpredictable
Management is the formation of purposeful behaviour and, as classical experiments show, how much this is possible.
There are two great days in a person’s life: the day you
are born and the day you find out why. ― Anonymous
What does a person really want besides traditional happiness, health and prosperity? Most of all, they want certainty in life and destiny. But this is impossible without control over yourself and your surroundings. Self-control in the view of a person means understanding how they think, what they decide and how they act. The ultimate goal of controlling the surroundings is to make sure that the latter contributes to the achievement of a person’s life goals.
There are various components to managing your surroundings. In addition to constant and active communication and a thoughtful strategy for building relationships, these are specific targeted actions that lead to the fact that an individual’s personal needs become the personal desires of the surroundings.
Ultimately, the essence of any self-management and management of the surroundings lies in the formation of stable, purposeful behaviour. In this simple formula, both of its components – purposes and especially behaviour – can be broadly defined, which makes this formula not as unambiguous as it looks at first glance.
As for human behaviour itself, sometimes it seems completely unpredictable and incredibly paradoxical. Let us look at some of the most famous experiments, the discourses around which do not subside even today. One way or another, they show the extent of this unpredictability and paradox.
In 1971, Philip Zimbardo and three colleagues from Stanford University investigated the nature of violence and cruelty that arises in a person under the conditions of a social role imposed on them. Final year college students were recruited to play the roles of guards and convicts in a simulated prison environment.
The experimenters were surprised to find that after a short time, the relationship between the 'guards’ and the 'prisoners’ quickly developed features typical to this scenario. At the same time, the 'guards’ noticed the rapid growth of sadistic manifestations in themselves and just a few days later, the 'prisoners’ staged an actual uprising in the 'prison’.
The study demonstrated how compliant and submissive people become when an ideology that justifies their actions is endorsed by the state or society. Simply put, when we are designated specific roles, and if those around us behave similarly, we follow suit.
The next experiment was conducted by Stanley Milgram of Yale University. The 'teachers’, whose reaction was tested, were told to increase the voltage in the electrodes attached to the 'learner’, who was actually a professional actor. The 'teachers’ did not know that, and the 'learner’ imitated the suffering caused by the electric shock in a highly believable manner. If the 'learner’ answered the questions incorrectly, the 'teacher’ was ordered to increase the voltage. At the same time, the 'teachers’ knew that a voltage of more than 300 volts was life-threatening. The experimenters, when asked about it, insisted that the experiment was not really as violent as it looked and that the 'teachers’ should continue.
Before the experiment, it was assumed that 2—3 per cent of 'teachers’ would administer 450 volts, which is lethal for humans. This corresponds to the statistics of people in the population with sadistic tendencies. But in the course of the experiment, this turned out to be 65 per cent! Only 12.5 per cent stopped on 300 volts, and the rest of the participants – in the range from 300 to 330 volts.
The experiment showed that people are inclined to do many things when provided with valid reasons or when they obey the instructions of an authority.
In 1977, another well-known experiment, called the Good Samaritan experiment, was conducted at Princeton University. But first, it is significant to understand the concept of human values. Values represent a person’s beliefs about what is important to them, what they adhere to, and