IA Summit 11: The Stories We Construct

For the last choice presentation of the first day of the summit I chose to attend Stephen Anderson’s The Stories We Construct. It was a really fun and interesting presentation that not only discussed stories, but the way we cognitively perceive the value of objects, and how that value places different meaning on things, and the stories that create those meanings stories. To explain this the group did a brief demonstration lead by Stephen that showed how the different parts of the brain work together to recall and store memories, and how associations and emotions are tied to them.

My Notes

• People experience reality not as it is, but as they expect it to be.
• Essentialism – the meaning we tie to things, the essence of the thing to us.
• How much would you pay for this pen? What about Steve’s Job’s Shirt?
• Positive Contagion Theory
  • Don’t wash Steve Job’s shirt if you get in, or it won’t be worth anything anymore.
• Switched wine labels – people not only think the wine tastes better their brain actually registers is as tasting better as proven in PET scans.
• Context – famous violinist played on the street for a day, and no one recognized him, everyone just walked by.
• Aesthetic Associations – things that resemble other things make us create an mental association that wouldn’t otherwise exist.
• “Classifying Experiences”  – Google it.

Slides: