Back to the lexicon
cognitive narratology/ˈsɛnsˌmeɪkɪŋ/
Sensemaking
Etymology: English compound 'sense' + 'making' (Karl Weick, 1995; Brenda Dervin, 1983).
Theorist Origin: Karl E. Weick, 'Sensemaking in Organizations' (1995)
Definition
The retrospective, ongoing, cognitive process by which human agents extract cues from ambiguous or chaotic reality, structure them into an intelligible mental map, and generate action.
Mathematical or diagrammatic model:
Sense(t) = Filter(RawCues, HistoricalBiases) ⊕ NarrativePlausibility(t)Example from literature
“In investigative creative nonfiction, the writer receives thousands of discordant police logs and witness testimonies and must construct a coherent causal progression without forging evidence.”
Related terms
The Maker's EyeLadder of AbstractionHermeneutic GapFabula vs. Syuzhet