When a full stop ends more than a sentence

Top line.  The human mind leaps to conclusions from the tiniest cues. Even a single full stop can trigger a full-blown drama, proving the brain’s subconscious narrative schema will join any dots to make fast sense. This article explores how brands can harness this reflexive story system to influence choices, emotions, and behaviour.

A year after a breakup, James found himself drafting a message to his ex from the bar where he and his friends had held court for a bit more than a few hours. He thought better of it and deleted the message. Or so it seemed. In the blur of the evening, a single full stop was left in the text. And with the accidental slip of a finger, James sent it.

Seconds later, James’ ex received the one-dot message. Certain that the lone period held a sinister meaning, she forwarded it to friends and family to check her thinking. Theories formed fast. The rolling stone gathered moss. Emotions escalated. And sides were taken. No-one has spoken since.

That the many minds drawn into the full stop saga could script an entire miniseries from a standalone point —complete with heroine and villains—seems remarkable. But it’s not. Constructing complete stories from fragments—even isolated ones—is what every brain intuitively does all the time. Every brain is an award-winning story producer. But why?

The narrative schema.

To survive, the human brain must scan and instantly react to around 11 million bits of incoming data per second. But with only 22 watts of energy to power it, the brain can’t consciously radar the enormous flow of inbound traffic. To get through the load efficiently at the nanosecond speeds needed, the brain senses and-reacts automatically. And for that, the brain relies on its powerful narrative schema, a lightning-fast story fabrication system embedded in its subconscious.

The narrative schema is an intuitive data-sorting system that joins dots (even lone ones) into a beginning, middle, and end story sequence. The system is wired to instinctively retrieve missing context and close information gaps (even big ones) from associative memory to conclude a coherent story in a heartbeat. (The subconscious figured long ago that waiting to gather all the facts in the face of a snarling sabre-tooth tiger situation usually didn’t end well.)

Because the brain’s primary function is to predict, its subconscious narrative schema evolved to support this function. To model data into a coherent sequence that helps the brain to forecast a conclusion, the schema instinctively organises data into a beginning, middle, and end story pattern. It detects cues in inbound data to first frame a problem to solve, sense cause and effect, identify roles and intentions (heroes and villains), and outcomes—all enabling the subconscious to assemble and reflexively trigger the best-fit reaction to get to a happy ending. 

What one dot joins up.

So, how did James’ far-from-complete one-dot message turn into the epic it did? It is certain that the narrative schema of all the minds involved produced the entire screenplay in a second. (You’ll be somewhat aware yours did too.) With no more than a full stop to go on, each narrative schema was subconsciously commissioned to rapidly write up the entire script from scratch.

What’s sure is that every narrative schema instantly joined up the couple’s relationship overstory, relational context, memories of their interactions, gossip, things the ex had said about James before, a stereotype of James’s personality, beliefs about relationships and genders generally, and the contextual emotional cues the ex signalled when she sent on James’ message to others. Because the narrative schema also tends to co-opt two other heuristics to make any story a quick wrap, these two were drafted into the narrative schema’s brainstorm room too;  the ‘jumping to conclusions’ bias, which compels the energy-saving brain to buy the first storyline it forms, and the ‘’overconfidence’’ bias, which causes the subconscious to trust and stay committed to its internally formed conclusions – even shakily formed ones.

Applying the narrative schema to brand messages?

Knowing that the subconscious brain uses a simple narrative schema to join data dots into a story pattern offers brands a way to get an unfair share of the brain’s subconscious mastermind (where 95% of all human decisions and behaviours form and stick) —and achieve a lasting neural edge over rivals.

By forming messages to mirror the brain’s natural beginning, middle, and end information-processing framework, a brand reduces the mind’s cognitive load and drives up data processing and storage efficiency and memory recall speeds. (Neuroscience research shows that the brain codes a story, especially emotional loaded stories, more retrievably. The science also shows that when a message feels easy to process, the subconscious interprets it as true, trustworthy, and credible quickly.)

Also, a grasp of how the narrative schema connects dots and fills in blanks from associative memory can be exploited strategically by brands to cause the subconscious to retrieve personal memories that resonate emotionally. By tactically crafting messages that offer a few of the right dots (cues), a brand can rely on the subconscious narrative schema to roll out the story all by itself. This subliminal co-writing (or collusion with the brain’s subconscious) tactic allows the brain’s subliminal system to form its own conclusions. The power of that agency transfers ownership of the story (and the Oscar) to the subconscious. And locks the story in.

Full stop.

About: Jonathan Hall is the CEO of ThinkWorks, a consultancy that helps organisations—big and small—move more minds with applied behavioural science. ThinkWorks blends the disciplines of behavioural science and communication art to produce messaging tactics that persuade effectively. Jonathan holds a certification in behavioural economics and brand science. He is also the author of the e-books The Power of Brand Story and BrainSell. A graduate of Wits Business School, he has trained in strategic modelling at Aix-Marseille University in France. Jonathan’s 35 years of successful work in brand building, marketing, and human influence have earned several accolades, including an IMM Marketing Company of the Year award, a Deloitte Best Company to Work For award, and a PSA Innovator of the Year award.