Applied narratology. Theory, Methods, and Analysis of Social and Political Narratives: How Stories Shape Power, Identity, and Reality

If you change only external steps while leaving the narrative the same, the person will constantly revert to old reactions. They will ‘explain’ new attempts within the logic of the old story, thereby nullifying the results.

For example, a person might try to say ‘no’, but if their internal story is ‘I must be convenient,’ new attempts will be accompanied by shame, anxiety, and retreat.

Therefore, applied narratology works not with behaviour, but with the algorithm that creates it.

Narrative governs behaviour not because it is true, but because it is automatic. It triggers faster than thought, deeper than beliefs, and is more stable than motivation.

The next step is not to change actions and not to seek new explanations, but to learn to see exactly where in the story choice arises and how it can be rewritten.

CHAPTER 6. THE FILTER OF PERCEPTION: SELF-LIMITATIONS

We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.

Anaïs Nin

Your brain doesn’t look for truth – it looks for confirmation of the story you’re living in.

Robert Sapolsky

A person is convinced they see reality. But in fact, they see only that part of it which their story permits. In the previous chapter, we saw that narrative is not just a tale, but an algorithm of behaviour. But there is another key aspect without which it is impossible to understand the depth of its influence. Narrative is a filter of perception that determines which parts of reality will be noticed, which will be ignored, and which will be interpreted in a distorted way.

This filter works constantly. It is embedded in memory, emotions, interpretations, bodily reactions, language, and social behaviour. This is why a person is often sure they ‘see the situation objectively’ when, in fact, they see it through the lens of their own story.

This chapter explains exactly how narrative shapes perception, why two people look at the same thing but see something different, and how a story becomes both a limitation and a resource. This is the logical transition to the work of interpretation and narrative transformation, which is the subject of the next chapter.

Narrative Filters Reality Before Awareness

Filtering does not begin with thoughts – it begins with perception. When encountering a new event, the psyche first ‘chooses’ what to let into consciousness and what to screen out. This choice happens unconsciously, at the level of:

– attention,

– emotional sensitivity,

– past episodes,

– habitual interpretations,

– expectations,

– embedded beliefs.

If the story tells a person that ‘people are dangerous,’ their attention automatically searches for signs of threat, not support. If the story says ‘success requires struggle,’ the person underestimates easy paths. If the story says ‘I must be strong,’ they fail to recognise moments when allowing themselves to be weak would be beneficial.

The filter works before the meaning-making process. It determines what will become a fact and what will not even be noticed.

Interpretation is a Continuation of Perception

After attention has selected what aligns with the story, the next stage begins – interpretation. It turns an event not just into a fact, but into a meaningful element of the plot.

For example, a sharp remark from a colleague becomes proof of the story ‘I’m not good enough’; a delay in feedback becomes confirmation of ‘I’m not important’; a rejection becomes confirmation of ‘I have no right to aspire’; uncertainty becomes confirmation of ‘bad things always happen to me’; a conversationalist’s interest becomes confirmation of ‘I can inspire trust.’

From the outside, these reactions look emotional. Inside, they are part of the narrative.

Interpretation does not just explain an event. It supports the central role of the subject: strong, weak, unnoticed, significant, fearful – any role, but stable within their own story.

Why Two People See the Same Thing Differently

This is one of the most striking effects of narrative. Person A sees an ‘opportunity’. Person B sees a ‘risk’. Person A hears an ‘invitation’. Person B hears a ‘test’. Person A feels support. Person B feels pressure. They live in the same world, but in different stories.

Each perceives the situation not directly, but through a structure of:

– personal experience,

– family stories,

– cultural models,

– internal expectations,

– significant episodes,

– anchored emotions.

In this sense, narrative is closer to an operating system than to a story. It sets the rules for processing data. And a person rarely notices that their system differs from another’s.

Narrative as a Source of Self-Limitation

Self-limiting stories do not always arise from trauma. More often, they come from tiny episodes: a critical phrase, a chance reaction, a failed experience, comparison with others.

Over time, a person stops asking questions: ‘Why do I think this way?’, ‘Who first told me this?’, ‘Where did this belief come from?’

The story becomes an axiom. It is perceived not as an interpretation, but as reality.

Examples of typical self-limiting filters: ‘I must not relax’; ‘If I show weakness, I’ll be rejected’; ‘Success is constant tension’; ‘People can’t be trusted’; ‘To be accepted, I must conform.’

Such a filter creates a narrowed space of possibilities – the person limits themselves before reality presents any limits.

Narrative as a Resource: Positive Filtering

But a filter can be not only limiting, but also supporting. Some people automatically notice opportunities, signals of sympathy, points of growth, moments when it’s worth taking a risk, situations where it’s good to show oneself, resources in other people.

This is not ‘optimism’ in the everyday sense. It is a narrative in which a person considers themselves a subject capable of influencing events.

Positive filtering allows one to maintain resilience in the face of failures, to notice more quickly when a situation becomes favourable, to see perspective where others see a dead end, to recognise people who are ready to support, and to feel the right to move forward.

In applied narratology, this is called an expanding narrative – a story that increases the range of possible actions.

The Filter as Part of Identity

At a certain stage, the filter ceases to be perceived as a mechanism. It becomes part of who the person is:

– ‘I’m just cautious like that’;

– ‘I’m just demanding of myself like that’;

– ‘I’m just independent like that’;

– ‘I’m just the type who doesn’t bother anyone’;

– ‘I’m just the type who stays in the shadows’;

– ‘I’m just the type who doesn’t allow myself to rest.’

But all these definitions are not character traits. They are the consequence of a story that has been reinforced over years. When a person begins to distinguish, ‘This is not me. This is my story,’ the first stage of transformation begins.

Why the Work with Meaning Begins Here

It is impossible to change a narrative at the level of behaviour. It is impossible to change it at the level of words. It must be changed at the level of the filter:

– what the person notices;

– what they consider important;

– what they consider a threat;

– what they consider possible;

– what role they take in a situation.

Transformation begins not with a new story, but with a new optic – the ability to see the world differently.

Interpretation is the place where the filter becomes meaning, and meaning becomes action. A narrative cannot be changed directly. But what can be changed is the lens through which it looks at the world.