Social Interaction through dialogue, conversation and story telling is an important part of our lives. Prior to the establishment and availability of formal education, life's lessons and experiences were passed down from generation to generation informally in order to allow our continued learning and progression, both as an individual and as a society. Much of this important information was delivered through the means of story telling.
In "We are our stories" Rosen puts forward his views on the significance of story telling in our everyday lives. From reading the text I outlined three main points that I feel Rosen was making. Firstly, that we relay our own personal perceptions and experiences of situations through story telling and that it is through "our stories" that we transfer and re-assess our knowledge. On page 148, (paragraph 2), Rosen puts forward his observation that whilst he and his son shared in a canoeing trip, when re-telling the event both he and his son would give different accounts - this would be due to the fact that they both would of had different perceptions and experiences of the event.
The second main point that I outlined was the need and desire to form empathic relationships. On page 149, (paragraph 2), Rosen refers to the telling of a hospital story and how it stimulates others to share their own similar experiences and knowledge. So in telling jokes, or stories, we are not only encouraging and supporting an empathic relationship we are also .
allowing others to get to know "who we are", our personality, experiences, beliefs and morals. This in turn encourages the formation of trusting, working, relationships, which allows for people to more readily accept information relayed to them through further dialogue or story telling. This then further exacerbates the transfer of knowledge.
The final main point that I feel Rosen is making is the importance of refining our interpersonal skills.
