How do the stories we tell shape who we are?
Prof. Ann PhoenixConversation is a continuous act of curating, connecting and analysing the events in our lives. How do we decide how we want to be seen?
Learn about this Garden Talk
Every time we tell a story, we are deconstructing and reconstructing an image of ourselves: our social identity.
We use narratives to make sense of the world. The simple act of having a conversation with someone else forces us to curate, connect and analyse the events of our own lives and in the world around us. How does this complex process take place, and what conscious and unconscious decisions are we making about who we are and who we want to be when we talk?
Professor Ann Phoenix is an expert in how psychological experiences and social processes are linked, particularly in young people building their social identity. She's joining us in The Garden to explore how the life stories we tell in the present about the past are influenced by our anticipation of the future, and how we all become experts in accomplishing this.
Read this talk's transcript
Talk outline
50 minutes
30 minute talk
20 minute Member Q&A
Ann researches the ways in which psychological experiences and social processes are linked and intersectional. She became fascinated by this topic because people were often treated too simplistically in much psychological work.
Rethinking Collection
It’s always good to question what we think we know. The Rethinking Collection is a series of Garden Talks by world experts that reexamine the ideas and events that have shaped and continue to shape our world.Research has proven that there's more to luck than simple chance. How can the right mindset turn uncertainty into serendipity?
The most transformative scientific breakthroughs depend on maths. Which problems are mathematicians working on that will drive scientific change in the coming decades?
Artificial intelligence systems are built to mimic human intelligence. Do they have any chance of replicating all the abilities of a brain?
The Abgar Legend tells the story of the King of Osroene, who (it's said) got into a correspondence with Jesus. Are these letters real?
With more scrutiny on it than ever, inclusion in our universities should be the widest it's ever been. So why do so many key metrics tell a different story?
Conversation is a continuous act of curating, connecting and analysing the events in our lives. How do we decide how we want to be seen?
History's leading ladies often come with a bad reputation. What can the Black Queen teach us about the misunderstood women of the past?
The Sharing Economy is challenging the West's traditional view of ownership, but other ways of thinking about property and possession have existed for millennia. What do they look like?
