Episodic Analysis

Abstract

A basic assumption of episodic story grammars is that stories are well-organized structures (Glenn, 1978; Glenn and Stein, note 2; Mandler, 1978; Mandler and DeForest, 1979; Mandler and Johnson, 1977; Mandler et al. 1980; Rumelhart, 1975, 1977; Stein and Glenn, 1979; Stein and Nezworski, 1978; and Thorndyke, 1977). Most stories are seen as descriptions of purposive behavior. Thus, something happens to the protagonist that produces an internal response: ie. the development of a goal. Goals are internal motivating states, and they precipitate attempts to reach those goals, resulting in successful or unsuccessful consequences. Thus, the story unfolds logically from a motive to an attempt to a consequence. There may be other constituents in a story as well, such as settings or reactions by the story participants to events or consequences. These latter constituents are not as central to the kernal structure of the episode, however.