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Narrative

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Fiction; Storytelling

Definition

Representational format used to organize, store, and retrieve episodic information.

Introduction

Narrative is a representational format used to organize, store, and retrieve episodic information. As such, it is distinct from associated phenomena such as storytelling and fiction. Narrative includes any representation of a series of interrelated events, such as episodic memories, dreams, fantasies, plans, gossip and, of course, stories. The function of narrative can be inferred from its structural components, upon which there is widespread cross-disciplinary consensus: Cognitive psychologists and literary scholars alike agree that narrative requires a protagonist, setting, causally and temporally linked actions and events, and conflict and resolution. Collectively, these components illuminate the type of information that narrative organizes and stores.

Narrative Structure and Function

Arguably, the most essential component of narrative is...

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Correspondence to Michelle Scalise Sugiyama .

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Scalise Sugiyama, M. (2016). Narrative. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3316-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3316-1

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