Schank is probably best known for his concept of scripts, defined as a set of expectations about what will happen next in given situations. He proposed that many situations in life, maybe even the majority of situations, have a well-defined script, and that people act (and expect others to act) according to those scripts.
In Tell Me A Story, Schank expands on this concept, and postulates convincingly (I think), that people tend to think in terms of stories, that they understand and give sense and meaning to their world in terms of stories they have heard and understood. New events and situations are understood by reference to familiar, similar stories. People make sense of personal problems and relationships by means of stories that are typical for those situations.
He also argues that intelligence should be defined as our ability to find out what we know when we need to know it. And what we "know" are the stories, experiences, situations, points of view and so on that we have accumulated over the years.
Truly understanding others is so difficult because we "map" the stories we hear onto our own. Different people will understand the same story differently because the stories they already know are different. Ultimately, understanding others means to make sense of what others tell us in the context of our own experiences. No two people will ever really understand a story in the same way.
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Well, I'm still in the process of reading the book. But I find this concept intriguing...and compatible with the constructivist views I have commented on in an earlier post. I would interpret Schank so that people use their accumulated experiences and stories to construct their world view, constantly testing and filing away new stories within their construct system.
2 comments:
Hi,
I find this topic "scripts" quite interesting. I have not read the book myself and so cannot comment on that.
In India especially in south India there is a field known as 'Nadi Josiam', which literally translated into english will read as 'Pulse Astrology', which has something similar to what you refer as 'scripts' here.
It seems that several centuries ago, our forefathers had created a huge data base on the forthcoming generations of people who were yet to be born. Meaning, there is a database somewhere in south India where there are details about me and my family (and may be about you), as per what others have told me and as per what I have read in different magazines.
This is a very controversial topic in India, with many people saying that 'this is all non sense'.
I have no personal experience in this, but the procedure followed is something like this: when I meet this 'Nadi Josier', he will ask me my name. If my name John something something, he will find out all the records on this name and take them out.
Records are maintained on centuries old palm leaves (well preserved). He will proceed to ask you a series of questions on John something something for eliminating the wrong record, such as your age, from you come, what is your education etc. Ultimately if you are patient, he will locate your record and read it for you.
Here is where the surprise is for you. From what I heard (repeating myself), people were astounded to find accurate information about them and all aspects of their family - past and present. There will be also be lots of information on your future incidents (yet to take place in your life) but already marked on those leaves. Many people go searching for such astrologers to find out about their future, while many do not have the courage or the belief in such things and do not care for it.
Any similar occurances in your place like this?
Thanks for your time and bye
Bala
thank you very much for that interesting and thoughtful comment. while i realize that concepts may be perceived differently in different cultures, i don't really think that the 'pulse astrology' you mention refers to quite the same thing as the 'scripts' in Schank's theory. i wish i were better at explaining it! maybe i'll be able to after i've read the whole book :)
but this idea of 'Nadi Josiam' is certainly fascinating... it does sound a little bit like a myth more than actual fact...but then again, i do believe that there are more things between heaven and earth than we have been able to explain yet.
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