UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF STORYTELLING IN PSYCHOLOGY AND CULTURE Narrative refers to the resources and skills people have to construct stories. This includes things like the ability to structure events in a temporal sequence, create coherent plots, develop characters, and convey meaning. A story is the end result the actual tale that gets told using people's narrative skills. So narrative is like the toolkit, while the story is the finished product. Someone may have excellent narrative skills that allow them to tell very compelling and coherent stories. Others may lack strong narrative skills, so their stories end up disorganized or confusing. Some key characteristics of narratives include: Temporal aspect - Narratives involve the dimension of time, sequencing events so they unfold meaningfully. This temporal structure is fundamental to making sense of experiences. Generic conventions - Certain storytelling conventions and structures reappear across cultures. This allows people to recognize and understand common story forms. Intention and meaning - The stories we tell reflect our intentions and allow us to ascribe meaning to events. Stories are told purposefully, not accidentally. Breaches of norms - Stories often involve breaches of expected norms or scripts. It is violations of the ordinary that make a story worth telling. Reliance on truth - Even fiction makes reference to notions of truth and norms. The audience trusts that a story coheres, whether real or imaginary. Cultural context - Stories situate events and individuals within larger cultural contexts, not in isolation. The context shapes the stories told. Some key concepts from a social science view of narrative include: Positioning - Assigning roles like hero, victim, villain etc. that carry meaning Embodiment - Viewing the mind as embodied within an environment rather than separate. Distribution - Minds distribute across social discourses and objects in the environment. Emotion discourse - Shared emotional standards in a culture rather than just individual experiences. In the end, humans enjoy stories for explanation, entertainment, and meaning. Myths and even science operate as forms of explanatory narratives. We should view scientific theories as provisional narratives that provide our best explanation so far. But just like myths, they are stories aimed at truth even if limited or subject to future revision. The human appetite for narrative is innate and central to our consciousness.