The secret of storytelling in the design process

Cubs who engages in play roles during their first summer present a healthier development from their first summer through the following one, maybe proving play to be a source of pleasure and fun.

It serves as a set of fundamental actions to assume something that oneself are not, with an observable learning outcome. In the context of storytelling, a plot, syntax and a sequence of events are the structural foundation in role play.

Some evidence suggests that play as behaviour is the origin of the narrative.

Sugiyama paper brings an interesting insight (link), ‘Information-gathering is thus essential to human survival.’ It suggests that the narrative structure offered a stable advantage for the species to progress.

Its performance reinforced the social aspect in which primitive humans incorporated as a fundamental part of its survival’s skill. Mimicry may be figured as the first agent to facilitate information to spread, setting a notable advantage against other species.

Considered as non-verbal communication, gestural cues were crucial components chaining the spread and retention of knowledge in primitive humans.

With the development of language, information-keeping and storytelling itself were the areas to most benefit. Language brought symbolism and imprinted signifiers onto objects and things, providing a framework of complex structures with values and meanings.

In Narrative Theory and Function Why Evolution Matters, the author concludes that ‘(…) oral narrative is a product of our hunting-and-gathering past, likely to have emerged between 30000 and 100000 years ago.’

Social functions and small guetos were then conventional practices previous to vocal narratives; it is interesting to wonder if the social factor was the critical significance as it is in contemporary societies.

As an ancient cognitive phenomenon, narratives have been present in all known cultures as a structure of support and endurance concerning human evolution.