Narrative thought in childhood and adolescence hierarchical models of story composition and interpretation

Abstract

Stories have been a fundamental feature of human existence for millennia. Since well before recorded history we have been spinning tales with words, images, music, and dance in order to entertain, enchant, enculturate, and entrance. The crafting of compelling narratives has been enshrined as one of our highest forms of artistic achievement. Furthermore, formal training in reading, writing, and interpreting stories has become a core component of our educational curriculum. There can be no doubt that narrated is deeply embedded in the individual and in the cultural mind. In this paper, I will first briefly discuss the nature of narrative thought, presenting its theoretical base and a smattering of pivotal studies that have provided empirical evidence for how narrative develops. I will then describe, in more detail, my own developmental work, which is based on Case's neo-Piagetian theory of cognitive development [1][2]. I will discuss the impact of individual working-memory capacity as well as cultural factors. I will end the paper with a brief discussion of how this work relates to and supports findings from neurological study. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003.