Take a step back … and think
May 19th, 2009 by Ingrid Cliff
More about the power of metaphors. Have you the heard the metaphors “forward thinker” and “step back and think about things” . Psychology has caught up with testing on the validity of these metaphors.
Reported in We’re Only Human, scientists looked at what happens to people’s decision making ability when they literally and physically take a few steps back before making a decision. They tested volunteers physically taking a few steps back, forward and to the side, before taking part in some simple decision making tests.
And the results … drumroll please. If you physically take a few steps back you are more focused and attentive. There is a whole lot of theory about why this happens in terms of vigilance and flight/fight, but all that matters is if you are feeling stuck you may want to get up and take a few steps back from your desk or your situation and think about the situation before responding.
If you want people to consider your marketing offer in more depth – suggest they mentally step back and consider … to trigger a similar response.
Once again – metaphors need to come with warning labels – they have more power than people imagine.
Until next time
Ingrid Cliff
We put your business into words
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 6:03 pm and is filed under copywriting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 12th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Ever since I put together the teachings of Deepak Chopra and the voice on the London Tube, I’ve been able to take that step back. When you “mind the gap” (between stimulus and response) you first realize that you have to take a step back.