He believed that stories have the power to include a beginning, middle, and end of an argument and that the rational world paradigm fails to be effective in sensemaking.
"[6] For this reason, Fisher thought narration to be the ultimate metaphor to encompass the human experience.
"[7] According to this viewpoint, people communicate by telling/observing a compelling story rather than by producing evidence or constructing a logical argument.
"Fisher's interest in narrative developed out of his conclusion that the dominant model for explaining human communication—the rational-world paradigm—was inadequate.
This view claims that: Narrative rationality requires coherence and fidelity, which contribute to judgments about reasons.
Coherent stories are internally consistent, with sufficient detail, strong characters, and free of significant surprises.
[16] Fisher's narrative paradigm offers an alternative to Aristotelian analysis, which dominates the field of rhetorical thinking.
"[18] Alternatively, Foucault claimed that communications systems formed through the savoir and pouvoir (knowledge and power) of the hierarchies that control access to the discourses.
Hence, criteria for assessing the reliability and completeness of evidence, and whether the pattern of reasoning is sound are not absolutes but defined over time by those in positions of authority.
The narrative paradigm instead asserts that any individual can judge a story's merits as a basis for belief and action.
[4] Narration affects every aspect of each individual's life in verbal and nonverbal bids for someone to believe or act in a certain way.
[21] Fisher’s theory has been considered for domains ranging from organizational communication to family interaction, to racism, and to advertising.
McNamara proposed that the narrative paradigm can be used with military storytelling to enhance the perception of the United States armed services.
[25] Hobart proposed using narrative theory as a way to interpret urban legends and other kinds of hoaxes.
Participants were presented a fabricated news story about strange noises being heard in a nearby science lab.
Additionally, the main character of the story was either presented as a child witness, a university student, or a scientist with the hypothesis that a possible disparagement in credibility could be a factor.
It was also determined that source credibility had a statistically significant impact on the outcome of belief in the paranormal narrative.
As companies continue to diversify, businesses look for communication models to help manage the complex structure of human relationships.
Narrative paradigm serves as a communication technique that shows companies how the application of a good story could provide benefits in the workforce.
[29] A study claimed that narrative features could be strategically altered by health communicators to affect the reader's identification.
For example, Rowland asserted that it should be applied strictly to communication that fits classic narrative patterns to avoid undermining its credibility.
Kirkwood stated that Fisher's logic of good reasons focuses only on prevailing issues[41] but does not see all the ways that stories can promote social change.
[9] The narrative approach does not provide a more democratic structure compared to the one imposed by the rational world paradigm.
[43] The narrative paradigm gained attention from poststructuralist education theorists for appealing to notions of truth.
There are three modes of ethos When people experience a story, the comprehension phase is where they form a mental representation of the text.
[46] When observers have extensive knowledge of the spatial layout of the story setting (e.g., a building), they update their representations according to the location and goals of the protagonist.
The interpretation of the meaning of a verb denoting the movement of people or objects in space, such as to approach, depends on their situation models.
[48] Subjects took about the same amount of time to name sat when the clause about the speaker sitting down was omitted and when it was included.