Medical messages and the art of storytelling: Exploring creative communication techniques in TEDMED talks
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Abstract
Storytelling is a powerful communicative means applied across various fields, including medical communication. This study aims to analyze narrative elements used in popular TEDMED talks from the 2010s to 2020s. Freytag’s five-stage pyramid combined with Burroway’s (2003) diagram of power struggle and the key constructs of social cognitive theory were used to examine the data. The majority of TEDMED speeches were found to use the stages of exposition, complication, climax, falling action, and resolution, as well as emphasize the power struggle to convey particular messages. Among the conflicts of man versus man, man versus nature, man versus society, man versus society and nature, and man versus himself, the man-versus-society conflict was the most common, highlighting challenges concerning medical systems and traditional beliefs. Different types of speaker-story proximity were used, with the portrayal of the speaker as the main character or the speaker being partially involved topping the list, indicating the key advantage of the first-person point of view, with its sense of intimacy. All key constructs of social cognitive theory were applied. The two most common were behavioral capability and locus of control, suggesting the significance of the power of information and the power of making one’s own choices. Further research could compare narrative elements applied in TED talks in other fields, including the humanities, social sciences, technology, and business.
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