Story and Identity

This chapter explores the way fictional stories impact personal identity. It discusses how identity develops with a particular focus on adolescence. Then, it sheds light on how fiction contributes to identity construction as teens gain insight into things like careers, relationships, values, and beliefs through stories and how these insights can impact their choices for their futures. The chapter also looks at the way people’s emotional investments in their favorite stories can cause them to become extensions of themselves and how this may lead them to use these stories as symbols of who they are. Finally, it explores the topic of narrative identity—the internalized, constantly evolving life story each person tells of himself or herself—and how fiction influences and becomes incorporated into people’s life stories.

Mental Models of Fiction

Watching or reading a story looks like a passive experience, but actually people’s minds are quite active when they engage with a story. This chapter explores how people construct representations of the various pieces of a story in their minds—from the situation being presented to the characters to the setting—so that they can understand each individual part of the experience. The chapter also explores how people use different kinds of continuity to understand what’s happening in a story and how their pre-existing ideas about real life and fiction impact how they understand a story. Finally, it delves into the different ways a story can seem “real” and whether suspension of disbelief factors into that equation—spoiler alert: According to psychologists, the answer is not so much.

On Actors and Their Roles

Is Benedict Cumberbatch arrogant like Sherlock Holmes? Is Robert Downey Jr. really as arrogant and irreverent as Tony Stark? These are questions fans ask themselves when they’re trying to understand the difference between their favorite actors and the roles they are known for playing. This chapter leads readers through the process that people take to understand each other. Then it discusses how people repeat that process to understand who an actor is and who his or her character is. This process can sometimes lead to the fundamental attribution error—confusing an actor with a role he or she plays. Ultimately, the chapter explores why individuals’ attraction to the actors and their roles makes perfect sense given their drive to understand the people they encounter.

On Prejudice and Values

When it comes to race, gender, sexual orientation, and other social categories, current research continues to document a lack of inclusion and a tendency to stereotype in film and television. However, there are also signs for hope. The recent success of films like Wonder Woman, Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians, and Love, Simon is sending a message to Hollywood that audiences are more than ready for underrepresented categories. For example, Grace and Frankie is a successful show that busts stereotypes about women in their 70s and tells stories about a family that includes an older gay couple, a Black son, a recovered drug addict, and other diverse characters. This chapter examines how stories like this help bring change and reduce prejudice. In addition, it discusses the recent accusations against famous people, including Bill Cosby, and how fans cope when a beloved celebrity falls from grace.

Story and Life Stage

This chapter provides an overview of how favorite stories impact people and help them learn and grow throughout their lives. The chapter covers how people’s relationships with stories evolve as they grow older. It discusses how story comprehension develops in childhood and the important role parents can play in introducing children to media of all kinds. It also considers how people’s ability to distinguish fantasy from reality in childhood is a product of knowledge acquisition and whether children of different ages can learn from screen stories. Next, it explores how stories can impact tweens and teens and how this group looks to fictional characters as role models. Finally, the chapter explores how stories can help people cope with the trials and tribulations of adulthood, how people’s story preferences evolve as they age, and the way stories can serve as emotional anchors throughout people’s lives.

The Timelessness of Stories

What makes a story timeless? Why are there certain story arcs people want to visit again and again? This chapter examines how the human experience is inextricably linked to stories. It considers how imagination factors into people’s ability to relate stories to their own lives, including through their dreams and daydreams, the elements of a story that make them sit up and pay more attention, and how stories can lead to emotional catharsis. The chapter also delves into the way people’s evolutionary imperatives for reproduction and survival impact the kinds of stories they find compelling and how supernatural elements can make a story easier to remember. The end of the chapter turns things over to a fiction writer for his perspective on crafting fictional stories, including the way Aristotle’s three-act paradigm and Joseph Campbell’s monomyth of the hero’s journey fits into the process.

It Matters

Lovers of fiction share enthusiasm for their favorite stories and characters. Many remember iconic moments, such as Darth Vader revealing that he is Luke Skywalker’s father or Rose and Jack sailing carefree on the bow of the Titanic. These shared experiences create common ground and social connection. This chapter explores the psychology of why the stories that become shared cultural touchstones are so meaningful and how people’s favorite stories can help fulfill their psychosocial needs. It discusses what motivates people to immerse themselves in stories and what the outcomes of engaging with different stories can be. Finally, the chapter investigates the lessons people can learn from their favorite story worlds.

Truth in Fiction

This book explores a basic paradox about fiction: Whether the fiction in question is a book, film, or television show, fiction is simultaneously unreal and real. Fiction is a simulation of our real social lives. As such, watching a film or television show or reading a book gives people an opportunity to think about who they are, what they value, who they’re connected to, and what really matters to them. Whether they consider themselves a fan of the entire Harry Potter series or they just remember the moment in the story when Harry stood up to his nemesis, people can derive inspiration from a compelling character making choices and facing consequences. Whether they love Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, or another title, when people get lost in a story, they can find themselves.

Epilogue

The book is wrapped up with an examination of the future of fiction and the future of research on the benefits of engaging with a story. While it’s still in the early stages, research on the positive ways stories can impact people has started to uncover some compelling results. This epilogue reviews studies that indicate that stories can help us cope with the challenges we encounter in our lives, reduce our stress levels, enhance feelings of belonging, and increase well-being. It also discusses the way digital tools can enhance our story experiences and how new technologies like augmented and virtual reality can offer even more immersive story experiences—experiences that might even make us more helpful and altruistic.