Angus Fletcher, PhD, is a professor of story science at Ohio State University’s Project Narrative, the group’s main objective being to promote leading-edge research and education in the field of narrative studies. His research in cultivating emotional resilience, creativity, and character building, and his desire to tackle such heady topics as imaginative representation as a technology and how exactly our brains think in stories, has led to several revelatory books, including Wonderworks, Storythinking, and his latest, Primal Intelligence.

Story science. That sounds fascinating, but what is it exactly?

Story science is how biologists study narrative. It rejects universal stories, archetypal characters, and plot formulas. Instead, story science suggests that, just as a forest is filled with many species of trees, each branching in their own way, so is the world filled with continually evolving stories.

Does that mean that each of us can imagine new stories?

Of course! And each of us can also live new stories. Every life story is unique. That uniqueness is your gift to the world — and the source of your own original power.

So, my life story is kind of like my personal superpower?

Yes. The mightiest thing in your brain is the story that you tell yourself about yourself.

You can develop a personal purpose that gets stronger through challenges and setbacks. You can adapt and change without losing your way. You can bolster your determination and your patience, achieving long-term growth. You can help the people around you discover their own distinct stories, nurturing a community of independent doers. And you can deepen courage, integrity, generosity, and the other traits that make up your individual character.

Story can help cultivate character?

Absolutely! Stories are made of characters, because characters drive narratives. In the case of your own personal narrative, what propels it is your own personal character. Your character creates your story, and your story gives back by strengthening your character.

I’m sure you’re aware that ACA is in the middle of a Character at Camp initiative, and I understand that story science offers a new approach to using story to nurture character in young people. Is there something missing in the traditional approach?

The main problem with the traditional approach is that it doesn’t work. Instead of encouraging young people to act with more courage, integrity, and kindness, its main effects are to increase shame and anger.

Well, that’s not good! So, what is the traditional approach?

It’s to provide young people with role models. In other words, it’s to give young people stories about other people doing good — and doing bad.

I’ve heard lots of those stories over my life!

We all have. They’re the main way that schools and other cultural institutions try to encourage young people to act in positive ways. Those stories don’t work for a simple reason: they’re other people’s stories. When our brain hears them, we compare our character to theirs. That prompts self-judgment, which is the source of the shame and anger that young people feel when they hear stories about other people behaving more admirably than them.

OK, so what can we do instead?

My lab studied campers with high degrees of courage, integrity, generosity, and other character traits. And what we found is that their main role model was themselves. Instead of modeling themselves after other people’s positive behaviors, they model themselves after their own positive behaviors. They do this by continually recalling past moments from their life story that make them feel proud.

You’re saying that the key to strengthening character is to stop focusing on other people’s story — and instead, focus on our own?

Exactly! Don’t read inspirational memoirs or watch feel-good movies. The most powerful story in your brain is your own story. So, the more you remember acts of courage and kindness from your history, strengthening that narrative in your brain, the more you build character for the future.

Can we make our character even stronger by ignoring — or forgetting — less-positive moments from our personal story?

No. And you also can’t make up positive things that didn’t happen. Your brain has lived your life. It knows the honest truth about what’s happened. You can’t erase or rewrite your personal history. Eventually, to have a fully integrated character, you must return to the less happy moments of your life and extract wisdom from them. But, to give yourself a foundation for that work, it helps to start by grounding yourself in times when you acted in admirable ways, giving you confidence, rooted in your lived experience, that you have positive character.

It strikes me that this is the opposite of the way that most of us reflect on our past. Rather than proactively looking for the positive, we turn to the past when something goes wrong in the present, looking back in time for a root cause to blame.

That’s right! And what story science does instead is ask young people: “What’s right with your life? What are you most proud of doing?”

Why do you think this approach to developing character is a good match for camp?

Well, we’ve used this approach in schools, from third grade through college and up to MBA. And it has produced very positive results. But camp can produce even more positive results for two reasons. First, camp provides young people with a great deal of autonomy. Instead of following a script that’s handed down by adults, camp allows young people to take a greater role in authoring their own daily narrative.

Camp allows young people to be the main character of their own story?

Beautifully said. And the second advantage of camp is that it creates time for sharing stories. Stories are maybe the most important legacy of camp! You don’t return home from camp with test scores and grades. You return home with memories, mementos, and other reminders of the adventures you had. This means that camp is a natural way for young people to strengthen their story of themselves, developing character.

If I wanted to help a young person use story science to develop their character. What’s the first thing I should do?

Use the method on yourself to strengthen your own character. That way, you learn how it works firsthand.

OK, so what’s my first step to strengthening my own character?

Think back over your personal history at camp. Pick a moment where you acted in a way that makes you feel proud. Write down that story, recording every detail you remember. Every detail — no matter how small! Then tomorrow morning, before you check your phone or do anything else, read what you wrote down, reinforcing the narrative. Repeat every morning this week, strengthening the story pathway in your brain.

How will I know if it’s working?

You’ll know because the story will spring to mind during challenging moments of your day, guiding you to act with the same character you displayed at camp.

Is that all I need to do to cultivate character?

As a second step, return to your memories of camp and pick a moment where you acted in a way that causes embarrassment or shame. Ask yourself, “Was I acting inconsistently with my character?” If not, then you feel embarrassed or ashamed because you’ve internalized other people’s negative judgments. Forget those judgments and own the negative memory with pride. But if you decide that you were acting inconsistently with who you want to be, have gratitude for the negative memory — and commit to living your character better in the future.

So, basically, use the good parts of my story to learn from the bad parts?

You got it! That’s how our brain develops wisdom — and also integrity. Integrity is the joining of all the parts of our life, good and bad, into a single narrative, increasing our purpose, clarifying our direction, and bolstering our resilience.

All that comes from reflecting on what is unique about our own life story?

That’s why our life story is our superpower!

Photos courtesy of Camp Romaca, Hinsdale, MA; Camp Fire Alaska, Anchorage, AK.

Interview conducted by Marcia Ellett, editor in chief of Camping Magazine.