Using Storytelling in eLearning Can Drive Behavior Change

Throughout human history and across cultures, humans havelost themselves in stories. A key question for eLearning designers is whetherthat deep engagement translates into learning and retention of information or integrationof mores. The type of story, the medium, and even whether storytelling islikely to be effective varies according to the learning goals, but researchindicates that using storytelling in eLearning can be a compelling andeffective strategy for driving behavior change and instilling or reinforcingcultural norms.

Storytelling has been a means to transmit generalizableknowledge since the days of early humans, who relied on oral storytelling toshare information on a wide variety of essential topics—including a community’svalues—according to evolutionary psychologist Michelle Scalise Sugiyama, aresearcher at the University of Oregon. “One of the most pervasive topics inforager oral tradition is social norms and practice,” Sugiyama wrote. “Storiesare also used to condemn and discourage proscribed behavior.”

Sugiyama’s observation that diverse populations have,throughout human history, used storytelling to teach and enforce behavioralnorms indicates that this strategy could be useful in an eLearning strategywith the goal of changing employees’ behavior or shifting a corporate culture.Research on the effect of an emotional story on test subjects’ behaviorsupports this belief.

Neuroeconomist Paul Zak has extensively studied the linkbetween oxytocin, a hormone that regulates social interaction, and prosocialbehavior. Upon realizing how strongly an emotionally charged movie affectedhim, he expanded his study to determine whether watching an emotionally chargedstory could trigger an increase in oxytocin—and affect behavior.

Zak found that watching an emotional video story—a fatherdescribing his efforts to connect with his terminally ill toddler son—producedboth an increase in oxytocin and heightened empathy in test subjects. Theempathy was reflected both in self-reports from the study participants and intheir subsequent behavior, which included donating to a charity. The studyparticipants’ oxytocin levels and behavior were compared with those of acontrol group who watched a neutral video, showing the same father and son atthe zoo without mentioning the child’s illness.

Zak conducted additional studies to test the link betweenoxytocin level and prosocial behavior, and found support for such a link. Inone study, where some participants were given an oxytocin boost, “those whoreceived oxytocin donated, on average, 56 percent more money to charitycompared to participants who received the placebo,” Zak wrote—even though thedonations obviously could not help those specific (fictional) individuals. Inaddition, those participants “showed substantially more concern” for thecharacters in the videos that all participants watched. “Oxytocin makes peoplewant to help others in costly and tangible ways,” Zak wrote.

This held, even when the “stories” tested addressedunpleasant topics, such as racism, gun control, and terror attacks. “Weconfirmed that stories that sustain attention and generate emotional resonanceproduce post-narrative donations—even stories on difficult topics. To thebrain, good stories are good stories, whether first-person or third-person, ontopics happy or sad, as long as they get us to care about the characters.”

What is a “good” story?

The next question Zak’s team explored was what constitutes a“good” story. “Narratives that cause us to pay attention and also involve usemotionally are the stories that move us to action,” Zak wrote, cautioning thata “bad” story will not influence behavior in the same way.

To test that hypothesis, Zak measured the physical responseof test subjects to “stories” that thousands of viewers had indicated that theyliked—he used the top 10 Super Bowl ads based on a 2014 USA Today poll.Participants watched the 10 ads in random order while researchers measuredtheir neurologic response. The team had also created a rating system for theads, which enabled them to accurately predict the viewers’ response.

It turns out that, while viewers might say they like an ad(or story), the brain has its own criteria for deciding what is a “good” orengaging story; some ads that were extremely popular, such as a Budweiser adfeaturing a Labrador puppy and a Clydesdale, produced a flat reaction inviewers’ brains. “Our neurologic measures show that people’s attention wandersstarting 15 seconds into the commercial,” Zak wrote, attributing the lack ofengagement to viewers knowing what to expect, since the horses are a well-knownsymbol of the brand, even among non-beer-drinking viewers. “The suspense isgone.”

The power of storytelling holds across media; a story can be told orally, in writing,over the radio or a podcast, on video—and, increasingly, through immersive games and simulations. An engaging story follows the classic “story arc” and includes these essential elements:

• An objective, goal, or conflict—a challenge thatthe main character must meet.
• Characters—at minimum, a protagonist or hero. Manystories also include an antagonist or villain, someone who throws obstacles inthe hero’s path, as well as a wise mentor who assists the hero and possibly anadditional character or two.
• A plot that follows the conventional storyarc—introduction, development of the conflict or challenge that creates risingtension, a climax or turning point, and a resolution of the conflict orchallenge.

An eLearning story focuses on a challenge or objective thatencompasses one or more learning goals, and it generally ends with reflectionthat helps cement the learning. An understanding of both the audience and themedium are essential to creating engaging learning stories, according to OliverDreon, et al. (see References). Describing a series of math teaching videosthat middle-school teacher Tyler Binkley created—and that became popular onYouTube—Dreon wrote, “The videos communicate in the current dialect of themiddle grades students Tyler is trying to teach. His development of these shortinstructional movies involves more than simply learning how to create a digitalvideo; it requires an understanding of storytelling using the current culturalvernacular, and the ability to integrate the medium as an instructional tool toilluminate the content.”

Using storytelling in eLearning can enhance learnerengagement and aid in influencing a company’s culture and employees’ behavior. Fora deeper dive into “How Stories Help Make Learning Stick,” register for The eLearning Guild’s Designing for Engagement Spotlight, an online event on January 31, 2018.

References

Dreon, Oliver, Richard M. Kerper, and Jon Landis. “Digital Storytelling: A Tool for Teaching and Learning in the YouTube Generation.” Middle SchoolJournal, Vol. 42, No. 5. May 2011.

Sugiyama, Michelle Scalise. “Oral Storytelling as Evidence of Pedagogy in Forager Societies.” Frontiers in Psychology, Vol. 8, No. 471. March 2017.

Zak, Paul J. “Why Inspiring Stories Make Us React: The Neuroscience of Narrative.” Cerebrum: The Dana Forum on Brain Science. February 2015.