Storytelling and Choice

by Marina Bianchi , Roberta Patalano

Stories happen at the bifurcations of possible routes to take, when choices with their dilemmas confront us. A story provides the framework that embeds choices in actions that have a past, a present and a (still uncertain) future. With their requirements of presuppositions and interpretations, stories represent a sort of a cognitive template of choices. But stories are also exercises in creativity, mental structures for understanding and creating change. This book explores the role of narratives for sense-making, and suggests how storytelling can inform decisions especially when disruptions of the ordinary and departures from the expected take place. Storytelling doesn’t replace analytical thinking, but it supplements it, enabling us to imagine new worlds.