Oh, I’m so sorry …
I didn’t see you standing there:
Last time, we discovered we’re hard-wired to block out messages that repeat exactly the same thing — even becoming literally deaf and blind to them.
And we experienced optical illusions and found our mind plays tricks on us because our highly structured culture trains us to find order, angle, and precision wherever it can.
Today, we continue to dig deeper into the psychology of getting your messages across instead of having them blocked like some psychological spam filter …
As we look at the Law of Association and how memory, recall, and repetition work:
The Law of Association:
How we develop habits and expectations:
Certain things go together. Like a coat and tie. Shoes and socks. Coffee and cream. Bagels and cream cheese. Christmas and presents. Diamonds and a wedding ring.
Our minds make its conclusions based on how constantly things are usually connected together:
- In time: men at work usually wear shoes and sock at the same time … our roads are usually congested during rush-hour morning and evening times … a close couple usually goes everywhere and are seen together all the time …
- In space: coffee shop customers usually will take their cups over to the table where they can add sugar or cream …
- In similarity: floor tiles are usually square or rectangular
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We come to depend on and expect to experience these constant connections. And we’re highly sensitive when they’re not together:
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- There’s Bev but where’s Tom? (“Did they have a fight? Did they split up?”)
- Where did the 2% milk container go for my coffee? (“Are they out? Did they stop offering it? Do I have to pay for it now?”)
- Where did my good carving knife go? (“Who stole my carving knife?!”)
You can see how this constant association calms our nerves — and how our emotions jump when what we expect isn’t what we experience.
Creating new expectations:
Establish new connections and destroy old ones:
If you want to build your trust through credibility through consistency over time — as we discussed in Mass Persuasion — you need to build up your market’s expectations over time that you and trustworthiness are connected in time, space, or similarity.
If you want get rid of their old expectations about you and replace them with something better — such as when you shift from always promoting low prices via last-minute sales to promoting greater value — you announce your new connection and set new expectations by reinforcing it over time in your messages.
So, our mind make its conclusions based on how constantly things are usually connected together: in time, in space, and in similarity:
Shoes and socks. Crowded roads during rush hour. 2% milk always on the coffee shop condiments table. Bev and Tom are always together. Floor tiles are almost always square or rectangular. Your carving knife is always where you put it.
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TODAY’S TIP: If you give people what they expect out of their habits, they won’t notice it and won’t notice you. Simply create new connections that make people notice something’s out of alignment:
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NEXT TIME: Our minds learn and remember certain things best depending on how many times they’re repeated and when and how important they are to us. How many times? When? What do we mean by important?
Find out next time as we continue to chart the underlying currents of psychology, sociology, and economics that flow together as marketing.
In DEEP MARKETING.
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2. Send to me privately if you prefer privacy (bill@rippermarketing.com)
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