José Sanders and Hans HoekenSanders and Hoeken
Introduction: The Social-cognitive and Persuasive Functions of Narratives
Ineveryknownculture,peopletelleachothernarratives.2Toolan(2001)de-finesanarrativeas“aperceivedsequenceofnon-randomlyconnectedevents,
typicallyinvolvingsentientbeingsastheexperiencingagonistfromwhoseex-periencewecanlearn.”3Theuseof“learn”suggeststhatnarrativesmayserve
anadaptivefunction.Ithasbeenarguedthatthisfunctionliesinnarratives’
contribution to the smooth collaboration between individuals within a
group.4 Since collaborating individuals were more successful in gathering
food and fighting enemies than individuals fending for themselves, their
chancesofsurvivalincreased.
Successfulcollaborationrequiresthecapacitytodecidewhocanbetrusted
todotheirshareandthecapacitytoturntheunwillingonesaround.These
capacitiesarereferredtoassocial intelligence,i.e.,theabilitytounderstand, predict, and manipulate the behaviourofotherpeople.5Thefirstoftheseca-pacities,understandingaperson’sbehaviour,requiresinsightintothegoals
andbeliefsofthisperson,for,asTomaselloetal.(2005)observe,“thesame
physicalmovementmaybeseenasgivinganobject,sharingit,loaningit,mov-ingit,gettingridofit,returningit,tradingit,sellingit,andsoon–depending
onthegoalsandtheintentionsoftheactor.”6Tobeabletoaccuratelyinter-pret this action, one has to master “mind reading”: inferring the goal and
thoughtsguidingtheseactions.Mindreadingisalsoessentialfortheabilityto
predictaperson’sbehaviour.Knowledgeaboutaperson’sgoalsandhisorher
1 Theauthorswishtothankananonymousreviewerofthispaperforhisvaluablecomments.
2 Brown(1991).
3 Toolan(2001)8.
4 Boyd(2009);ScalisaSugiyama(1996);Tomasello(2008).
5 Humphrey(1976).
6 Tomaselloetal.(2005)675.
© JosésandersandHansHoeken,2015 | doi10.1163/9789004270848_009
ThisisanopenaccesschapterdistributedunderthetermsoftheCreativeCommonsAttribution-Noncommercial3.0Unported(CC-BY-NC3.0)License.
beliefsaboutthebarriersandopportunitiesconnectedtothosegoals,enable
onetopredictthisperson’snextmove.Finally,tomanipulatepeople’sbehav- iour,onehastopointoutthatthepreferredbehaviourwillhavemorefavour-ableconsequencescomparedtoitsalternatives.Socialintelligencetherefore
requiresrelevantinformationonhowaperson’sgoalsandbeliefsguidehisor
heractionsaswellasinformationonwhattheconsequencesoftheseactions
willbe.
Boyd(2009)arguesthatnarrativesprovidethetrainingmaterialfordevel-opingsocialintelligence.Narrativesaretheperfectvehicletolearnaboutthe
wayinwhichpeople’sgoalsandbeliefsguidetheiractionsandsubsequentlyto
documenttheactions’consequenceswhileattractingandkeepingtheiraudi- ence’sinterestbecauseoftheentertainmenttheyprovide.Hedrawsananalo-gybetweenpeople’sseeminglyinsatiablethirstforstoriesandthefunctionof
play.Forinstance,lioncubsmock-fightwitheachother;thisplayisentertain-ingbutitalsoleadstothedevelopmentofskillsthatareimportantforsurvival
intheiradultlifeastheyareessentialforkillingtheirprey.AccordingtoBoyd,
storieshavesimilarcharacteristics:theyprovideentertainmentbutalsotrain
humansinthecrucialartofunderstanding,predicting,andmanipulatingoth-erpeople’sbehaviour.
Pinker(1997)claimsthatstoriesenabletheaudiencetoexploretheconse- quencesofactionsbyobservinghowfictitiouscharactersinhypotheticalsitu-ationsactandwhattheconsequencesoftheseactsare.Inhiswords,fiction“is
especiallycompellingwhentheobstaclestotheprotagonist’sgoalsareother
peopleinpursuitofincompatiblegoals.”(…)“Theintriguesofpeopleincon-flictcanmultiplyoutinsomanywaysthatnoonecouldpossiblyplayoutthe
consequencesofallcoursesofactioninthemind’seye.Fictionalnarratives
supply us with a mental catalogue of the fatal conundrums we might face
somedayandtheoutcomesofstrategieswecoulddeployinthem.”7People
maybenefitfromattendingtonarrativesby(learningto)understandandpre- dictpeople’sbehaviourortocharttheconsequencesofcertainactions.How-ever,theydonotreadastoryinordertobemanipulated.Storytellers,onthe
otherhand,maystrategicallyfocusonsomeconsequencesofanactionwhile
keepingsilentonothersinordertoincreasethefavourabilityofabehavioural
alternative.
Wecanthereforedistinguishbetweenasocialcognitionfunctionandaper- suasivefunctionofnarratives.Thisdoesnotimplythatthereissharpdistinc-tionbetween“socialcognitivenarratives”and“persuasivenarratives.”Exactly
thesamestorycanservebothfunctions;theautobiography(lifestory)ofa
personwhorunsforofficecanserveasinputfortheaudiencetopredicthow
7 Pinker(1997)542–43.
thispersonwillactifelectedwhereasthepoliticianmayemploythisstoryto
paintafavourablepictureofhimorherselfinordertomanipulatetheaudi-ence’svotingbehaviour.
Still,somenarrativesmaybemoresuitableforgaininganunderstandingof
aperson’sactionswhereasotherswouldprovebetteratilluminatingtheconse-quencesofcertainactions.Thisdifferenceinsuitabilityappearstoberelatedto
Bruner’s(1986)distinctionbetweenthetwolandscapesthatanarrativecon-structs:thelandscapeofactionandthelandscapeofconsciousness.Although
eachnarrativeconstructsbothlandscapes,narrativescandifferwithrespectto
theiremphasisoneitherthecharacters’actionsoronthebeliefsandgoals
guidingtheseactions.8Inanactionmovie,relativelymoreattentionispaidto
themaincharacter’sability,forinstance,toperformmartialartswhilewelearn
little about the character’s history, opinions, and values. In a psychological
study,itistheotherwayaround;wedolearnalotaboutthecharacter’sback-groundandthoughts,butlittleelsehappens.
Thelandscapeofconsciousnessappearsespeciallyimportantwhentrying
tounderstandseeminglyerraticbehaviour.Forinstance,MarkHaddon’snovel
The curious incident of the dog in the night timeisverypopularamongschool
teachers,notonlyforits(literary)entertainmentvalue,butalsobecauseit
(supposedly)providesaviewofthelandscapeofconsciousnessofanautistic
boy.9Thisviewenablesteacherstobetterunderstandthebehaviourofpupils
withautism.Similarly,inDutchhealthcareeducation,studentsarerequiredto
thereadtheDutchnovelHersenschimmen(“Chimeras”) bytheauthorBernlef,
anoveldepictingthethoughtsandexperiencesofamansufferingfromAlz-heimer’sdisease.10Itisexpectedthatthisnovelprovideshealthcareworkers
withabetterunderstandingoftheseeminglyerraticactionsofsuchpatients.
Generally,literarytextsarebeingusedinmedicalsettingstoincreaseunder-standinginbothcaregiversandpatients.11Pinker’s(1997)descriptionofthe
functionsnarrativesmayserveappearstobemorerelatedtothelandscapeof
action,ashepointstotheinformationabouttheconsequencesactionsmay
have.Byandlarge,anarrativeinwhichthelandscapeofactionisemphasized
appearstofeedintothemanipulationdimensionofsocialintelligence,where- asanarrativeemphasizingthelandscapeofconsciousnessservestheunder-standing and predicting dimensions. In the next section, we will focus on
journalisticbackgroundstoriesandthefunctiontheymayserve.
8 CupchikandLaszlo(1994).
9 Haddon,M.(2007).The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.NationalGeographic
Books.
10 Bernlef,J.(1994).Hersenschimmen[Chimeras].Amsterdam:Querido.
11 Kapteinetal.,2011
Understanding Behaviour and the Landscape of Consciousness Boyd(2009)makesacasefortheadaptivefunctionoffictionalnarratives.In
hislineofargument,hereferstotheworkbyDunbar(1996,1998)whoargues
that“theprinciplefunctionoflanguagewas(andstillis!)toenabletheex-changeofsocialinformation.”12Animportanttopicforthisexchangeisthe
extenttowhichpeopledoordonotbreach(cultural)groupnorms.Dunbar
(2004)arguesthatsuchinformationisimportanttoensurethateverymember
ofhisgroupdoeshisorherfairshareofworkwhichisessentialforthesmooth
collaborationwithinthegroupandfurthersuggeststhatcommentingonthe
breachofsocialnormshasastrongimpactonpeople’swillingnessto“toethe
line.”13
Nowadays,journalistsplayanimportantroleintheexchangeofsocialinfor- mation.Journalistsandtheirnewssourcesbothfunctionwithinan“interpre-tativecommunity,aculturalsitewheremeaningsareconstructed,shared,and
reconstructedbymembersofsocialgroupsinthecourseofeverydaylife.”14For
aneventtoattractajournalist’sattention,ithastobenewsworthywithinthe
interpretativecommunity.Oneofthewaysinwhichthiscriterioncanbemet
isbyviolatingsharedexpectations.Ifaperson’sactionsharplydeviatesfrom
the expected cultural convention, this action becomes newsworthy. For in-stance,ifsomeonebecomesviolentwithoutanapparentreason,ifamother
killsherchildren,orifapolitician“goespublic”onwhatareconsideredconfi-dentialnegotiations,itwillmakethefrontpage.Whensociety’scorevaluesare
underthreat–suchaswithphysicalorpoliticalviolenceorterroristattacks–
journalistsswitchtoaculturalnarrativethatmovesthepublicmindbackto-wardthedominantculturalorder.Inthecaseofnewsthatisculturallyremote
–inthesensethatitviolatesculturallysharednorms–narrativesmustbere-lieduponmoreheavilytoassistjournalists’sense-making,andthenewsis
moremythically-laden.15Thereasonbeingthatsuchremoteactsautomatical-lyevokethequestionofwhyactorsactedinthewaytheydid.
This“why”questionisrelatedtotheobservationbyTomaselloetal.(2005)
citedabove:Weneedtoknowwhattheintentionofthepersonwaswhenper- formingtheaction,thatis,weneedsuchinformationtounderstandwhysoc-cerhooligansactviolentlyinandoutsideofthestadium,whysuicidebombers
wouldsacrificetheirlivestokillothers,whyamotherwouldsuffocatehernew
bornbabies.Thus,newsjournalismplaysoutmyths,rituals,andarchetypes,in
12 Dunbar(1998)98.
13 Dunbar(2004)108.
14 BerkowitzandTerKeurst(1999)125.
15 NossekandBerkowitz(2006)691.
orderto“getthestory,”for“allthataudiences[try]todoisfindreassuranceand
meaninginaratherchaoticnewssituation.”16Bydrawingontheseanthropo- logicalinsights,textualanalysismayrevealthisnarrativeroleofmedia.17Mod-ernnonfictionnarrativesmayberevelationsofimportantculturalstandards
andbeliefs.18Thesestoriesaremadecredible,logicallymotivated,andmorally
acceptablebyapplyingtechniquesthatarenotsomuchtypicallyliterary,but
canbetracedbacktothestructureofGreekmythologyanddrama,suchas
alteredchronology,discovery,peripety(orcomplication),andresolution.19 Ouraimistoexplorefurtherwhyandhownewsnarrativesoftheculturally
remotearebeingtold.AccordingtoBruner(1990),actsthatdeviatefromour
culturallybasedexpectationsrequireastorywhosefunctionis“tofindanin-tentionalstatethatmitigatesoratleastmakescomprehensibleadeviation
fromacanonicalculturalpattern.”20Morespecifically,suchactsrequireare-constructionofthelandscapeofconsciousnessleadinguptotheaction.Next
to“hardnews”descriptionsoftheevents,newspapersrunbackgroundstories
in which they aim to provide such a reconstruction. Although relating the
sameevents,thesenewsstoriesdifferstronglyfromeachotherwithrespectto
thestorytellingtechniquesemployed.Wewillarguethatthemaindifference
betweenhardnewsitemsandbackgroundstoriesofthesameeventresidesin
theextenttowhichthejournaliststrytosketchthegoals,beliefs,andinten-tionsofthecharacters,usingsuchnarrativetechniquesasalteredchronology,
discovery,complication,andresolution.Thesenarrativetechniquesallowfor
journaliststointertwinetheirownpointofviewwiththeirsource’spointsof
view.Analyzingtwonewsarticlesreportingonthesameeventwithtoolsand
modelsdevelopedinliterarystylisticsandcognitivelinguistics,weaimtoshow
howthestrategicuseoflanguagebythejournalistsopensupdifferentper-spectivesontheevent.Thesechoicesarenotsomuchtheresultoftheneedto
pleasethereadersbutratherasanecessarymeanstogainthereaders’under- standingforseeminglyerraticbehaviour.Inthefollowingsection,wewillelab-oratethisclaim,andwewillarguethatMentalSpaceTheoryhelpstodescribe
thenewssources’landscapeofconsciousness.
16 Fürsich(2009)245.
17 Ibidem.
18 Marsh(2010)295.
19 Marsh(2010)296.
20 Bruner(1990)50.
Representing the Landscape of Consciousness in a Mental Space Model
Inthissection,ashort“hard”newstextandalonger“soft”newsarticleareana-lyzedandcompared.21BothtextsweretakenfromDutchnewspaperDe Volksk-rantanddescribetheonsetofeventsthatleadtoamuchdiscussedcase:the
“BeverwijkseBabyMurders”(December2005–Fall2006).Thiscaseprompted
articlestobewritteninvariousjournalisticnewsgenres,amongwhichwere
news reports coveringonesubjectand reportagesreconstructingnewsfactsor
events.Whenwecompareonesuchshortnewsreportwithalongerback-groundstory,differencesinregisterbecomeevident.
Constructingalandscapeofconsciousnessimpliesthatthereaderisableto
reconstructwhataparticularcharacterthought,believed,feltandwanted;in
otherwords:areconstructionofthisperson’sperspectiveonthesituationand
eventsconstitutingthenewsfacts.Fauconnier’sMentalSpaceTheory22offers
aframeworktodescribesuchareconstruction.Ineachcommunicativesitua-tion,abasicspacecanbeassumedasavantagepointinwhichtime,space,
referencepointandtrutharelinkedtotheprimaryspeaker/narrator,23inthis
casethejournalist.Thebasicspaceisillustratedinthefirst,shortnewsre-port.24
1. BEVERWIJK – 1. The police are investigating the death of a newborn
infantinBeverwijk.2. ThebodywasdiscoveredWednesdayinahousein
Haarlem.3. BecausetheinfantmayhavebeenborninahouseinBever-wijk,thepoliceareinvestigatingahousethereaswell.4. Themother
andherboyfriendhavebeentakenintocustodyforquestioning.(ANP) Fromhisbasicspacehere-and-now,thejournalistdescribestheorderofthe
eventsastheyareknowntohimatthetimeofwriting.Thatis,hedescribesthe
investigation as ongoing and positions the discovery of the body in time
21 Becauseoftheillustrativepurposesofouranalysisinthispaper,wehaveemployedmen-talspacetheoryinaratherloose,non-technicalway.Amoretechnicaltreatmentofparts
ofthesetextscanbefoundinSanders(2010)inwhichsheshowshowembeddedspaces
arecreatedbytheuseofverbsreferringtocognitiveactivities(e.g.,thinking,believing),
changesinverbtense,andreferentialchoices.
22 Fauconnier(1985)[1994];SweetserandFauconnier(1996).
23 Sanders,SandersandSweetser(2009,2012).
24 DutchnationalnewspaperDe Volkskrant,December28,2005;translatedandquotation
labels added. http://www.volkskrant.nl/archief_gratis/article1014895.ece/Politie_onder-zoekt_dood_van_pasgeboren_baby.RetrievedonDecember3,2009,2.30PM.
(“Wednesday”).Thepresumednewssource–thepolice–musthaverelated
theevents,buttheirutterancesandperceptionsarerepresentedinadistanced
wayonly.Theyhavenovoice,noraretheirthoughtsrepresented.25Thereport
representsthejournalist’slandscapeofconsciousness,andonlyhis,withre-specttothisnewsevent.Notethatinthishardnewsevent,thechronologyis
iconic;“discovery,”“complication,”and“resolution”arenotelaborated.
Withinthebasicspace,onecanopenupso-calledembeddedspaceswhich
canbefilledwithinformationthatisattributabletoanotherperson,informa-tion on what that person thought, felt, and believed at a certain point in
time.26Theseembeddedspacesenabletherepresentationofotherpeople’s
landscapesofconsciousnessatotherpointsinthenarrativechronology.This
mechanismcanbeseeninexample2,27whichpresentsthefirstpartofalong
backgroundnewsstory(1.700words)publishedatalaterdateduringthetrial.
Inthelead-in(0),thefirstspaceinthisbackgroundarticleisthejournalist’s.In
thisbasespace,thedeadchildisreferredtoas“afourthcorpse,”sinceitwas
foundfirst,butbornlastandreportedlastfromthejournalist’sstartingpoint.
Fromthisbasespace,afurtherembeddedspace(1)iscreatedbytheverbsees.
Thisverbofcognitionfunctionsasaspacebuilderandconnectsthenewem-beddedspacetothefirstnarrativecharacterwhoperformstheactofseeing:
Carla.Inthissecondembeddedspace,thediscoveryofthebabyisretoldmore
elaborately,fromherperspectiveandfromanearlierpointintime.
2. O. On December 22, 2005, the criminal investigation department discovered, in a waste bin in the garden of Jeroen and Etta in Beverwijk, three buckets that each contained the small body of an infant. A fourth corpse had been found the day before. Last Monday, the mother appeared in court, today the father. By (name journalist).
1. ShortlybeforeChristmas2005Carla,whohasjustbecomeagrand-mothertolittleEsra,isrummagingaroundinthecellarofherHaarlem
residence.Sheseesagreenbackpackthatshedoesnotknow.Thatwillbe
Etta’s,shethinks.Ettaishereldestdaughter,whorecentlymovedbackin
withher.(…)WhenreplacingthebackpackCarlagetstheimpression
25 Onlytheverbdiscoveredimplicitlydemarcatescognitiveactivitybythenon-specified
actor,indicatingthemerepresenceofaconsciousness(SandersandRedeker1993:implicit viewpoint).
26 SandersandRedeker(1996).
27 WeertSchenk,Volkskrant,October6,2006“Alles zou goed komen”[Everythingwasgoing
tobeallright];translatedandquotationlabelsadded.http://www.volkskrant.nl/archief_
gratis/article577454.ece/Alles_zou_goed_komen.RetrievedonDecember3,2009,2.30PM.
thatitcontainswetclothes.Shetakesoutagarbagebag,whichcontains
more garbage bags and towels, and moments later she is holding (lit.
“standsinherhandswith”)adeadinfant,wrappedinaredT-shirt(…).An
unbearablesmellfillsthecellar.
2. Thefamilydoctor,whoatCarla’srequestarriveswithinmoments,sees
afull-terminfant,agirlwelloversevenpounds.Lateritisdetermined
thatthechildhasdiedweeksbefore,butthatitwasnotstill-born.
3. CarlathinksthatEttaisthemother.Whosebabycoulditbeother- wise?(lit.Ofwhoelseshouldthebabybe?)Sheasksafriendandasister-in-lawtocometoherhouse.Onlythendoesshephoneherdaughter.Etta
isridingherbiketoschooltopickupthechildrenshelooksafter.
4. “Pleasecomeatonce,”shehearshermothersay,“Ihavefoundsome-thing.”Ettastartstocry.Athermother’shome,Ettaatfirstdoesnotwant
toenter.Sheisveryupset.Shedoesnotwanttotalkaboutanything,she
wantstodie.
5. Laterthatdaysherelatesthatthebabyishers.ItwasborninBever-wijk,inthehousewhereshelivedwithherboyfriendJeroenwhoisfour
yearshersenior.TheexactdayofthebirthEttacan’tremember.Itmust
havebeenthreeoffourweeksago,definitelybeforethedeliveryofher
sisterDaphne.(…)