A while back I had a friend who deeply offended me over something he said after I showed him an excerpt from the book ‘The Black Swan’. He assumed something about me which I attributed to the narrative fallacy, which was odd considering that was the exact thing I was reading about in this book. I wrote an almost seething blog post about it and kept it in my drafts for a while. I decided not to post it and decided to give him a copy of the book instead. I wanted to be more respectful and discreet about it. I wrote a note stating almost the exact same thing I said in the original blog post and left it in the book. I left it out so his coworkers could see it because it applied to them as well. After I was sure they had read it and gotten the message I decided I’d not give him the note at all. I just wrote that he was a good man capable of great things, which I still believe is true.
My note made an impact reaching more viewers than I intended. A couple of my co-workers brought it up casually, not thinking I’d notice.
I found this article that goes a little more in depth on the narrative fallacy. It might be of interest to you.
Avoiding Falling Victim to The Narrative Fallacy
Bethene Zetterquist Photography 