Dr.

Walter Fisher - Narrative Paradigm - a good story is a powerful means of per suasion; The "stories" people tell are evaluated based on if they relate to an " audience's" own personal values. ((EX: The Price is right! The people give their own bids diffently from one anot her. Why? Each bid is different because each person interprets the price descrip tions based on their background. It's different for anybody, and stories works m uch the same way.)) "Life is all one big story" Paradigm - A conceptual framework Narrative - not a fictive world of storytelling; a theory of symbolic actions, w ords and/or deeds, that have sequence and meaning for those who live, create, an d interpret them Paradigm Shift - from a rational-world to a narrative one. Rational-world - a scientific approach to knowledge that assumes people are logi cal, making decisions on the basis of evidence and lines of argument. Good reasons - not a good argumentative/logical reasons; can be defined as those elements of the narrative that humankind can interpret as reasoning/valuing bei ngs. In other words, through the narrative, the readers are able to cull the the mes based on their own realities and judge the story based on their own values a nd logic. What is a Good story? -conflict -Characters -Beginings -Middles -Ends 5 assumtions of the Theory People are essentially storytellers (every person has a story to tell; every sto ry matters); People make decisions based on good reasons (Fisher refers to people who essenti ally choose the just and the true) History, biography, culture, and character determine what we consider good reaso ns (We all share ideas that are universal and exist in any culture, thus referen ce to the shared experience can help tell a compelling story); Narrative rationality is determined by the coherence and fidelity of our stories (A story brings together issues and ideas that have a unified idea; the issues that comprise the story are not chosen randomly) Fidelity stays for an ability to receive a response, emotional or otherwise, fro m a listener based on shared experience. The world is a set of stories from which we choose, and constantly re-create, ou r lives. (example is a library, you walk in and there are stacks and stack of bo oks, but only the ones that you pick up and read become a part of your existence . How about if you pick up a bad book? Well, not all stories are good, there's n o guarantee that people will going to adapt a bad story. But everyone applies th e same standards of narrative rationality to the stories that they hear. Essential things about the theory -In 1984, Dr. Walter Fisher introduced his theory of the Narrative Paradigm, his most notable contribution to rhetoric and communication theory. People communic ate by telling stories, and those receiving the messages judge the validity of t he message by their own belief system. He says, Regardless of the form they may as sume, recounting and accounting for are stories we tell ourselves and each other to establish a meaningful life-world. The character of narrator (s), the confli cts, the resolutions, and the style will vary, but each mode of recounting and a ccounting for is but a way to

relating truth about the human condition -Fisher s strongest argument against exclusive use of the rational world paradigm is rationality s inherent feature of excluding the common man (1984, p. 4). Fisher explains that, because rationality (the ability to be competent in argument) mu st be learned, the public must be instructed in the ways of logic and rhetoric, and those that are not instructed are disadvantaged in their ability to create m eaning -fisher's narrative paradigm offers a fresh reworking of Aristotelian analysis ( Rhetotic - through arguments - objective) -according to Fisher, humans are storytelling animals -all forms of communication tell a good story -when people are retelling a story, even trying to provide evidence for somethin g, they're essentially trying to tell a good story. -all forms of communication that appeal to our reason are best viewed as stories shaped by history, culture, character. -THERE IS NO communication of ideas that is purely descriptive ((EX: Superstitious Belief)) How to figure out a good story: Narrative Coherence and Fidelity =Coherence: Does the story hang together? Do the characters and events portayed seemed to be in one peice? Is there consistency? -Stories hang together is there is sufficient details and no left out. -We judge coherence of the narrative by comparing it with other stories that dea l with the same theme/thing. -The ultimate is if we can count on the characters to act in a reliable manner. =Fidelity (story s correspondence to reality): When it rings true to the hearers e xperiences. The audience believes because they could see it happening to themsel ves. It provides good reasons to guide our future actions. When we buy on the st ory, we buy on the character that we should be. --People don't need specialize training or expertise to figure out if the story holds together. It still applies to experts to provide input from their respecti ve fields but when evaluating coherence and fidelity, people with ordinary commo n sense are the usually the critiques. --With a little common sense, anyone can spot a fake story LAWYERS -If anyone can spot a fake story, why do lawyers exist? There's more than to it. Rational to narrative. -What lawyers do is present two theoretically logical interpretations of the sam e facts. When constructing their stategies, they apply the same tests to their a rguments as Dr. Fisher does. Does it make sense, do characters act the way they have to, does anything seems out of place? If the attorney's story didn't connec t with the audience, neither the judge nor the jury accept their story. Because everyone's background is different, things that seem logical to a person might n ot seem logical to another. ((EX: THE SIMPSONS - The Simpsons is NOT a good story, because it isn't credibl e. I don't believe that the events that they're showing me could plausibly have happened as they're related by the show. SOME SAY, The Simpsons are sarcastic, b ut through sarcasm it gives a very credible reflection of reality. Therefore eve ntually it is realistic, just not through realistic means. BUT TO ME, SARCASM OR NOT, it is unlikely to happen in real life, or in my case, I find it as a nonse nsical story)) -----------------People are influenced and persuaded in many different forms and ways. One way pe ople are influenced according to Walter Fisher, a contemporary theorist, is thro ugh storytelling.

They go on further to state that people process and evaluate the persuasiveness of competing stories by looking at their narrative rationality. The narrative ra tionality is broken up into two aspects called narrative probability/coherence a nd narrative fidelity. The theory is that the stories that fit the two categories have the potential to be very influential and move people to action. Fisher s narrative paradigm can be applied to many different contexts. -----------------Fisher s narrative paradigm is composed of three main tenets: 1) narrative fidelit y, or a story s correspondence to reality, 2) narrative probability, or a story s in ternal coherence, and 3) good reasons, or a story s values. The ground for determining meaning, validity, reason, rationality, and truth must be a narrative context: history, culture, biography, and character" Fisher argues that the biggest reason for this is that narratives allow the non-e xpert," or public, to be included in rhetorical discussions whereas argumentatio n (or rationality) only includes experts," or those who are well informed on the topic at hand. ------------------ We are persuaded more by a good story than a good argument. -Narratives are universal.