How make believe is important to our survival

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[REBROADCAST] Once upon a time, we told stories through oral tradition, moved on to words and pictures and fast-forwarded to video games. Drawing on research in evolutionary biology, psychology and neuroscience, Washington and Jefferson College English professor, JONATHAN GOTTSCHALL, examines how storytelling ensures human beings’ survival. We’ll discuss how the need to ‘make believe’ helps us work through complicated social problems, and how a narrative can make us vulnerable to conspiracy theories and unwilling targets of marketing. His latest book is “The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human.”

Photo Credit: jonathangottschall.com

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