Our Own Map Of The World

Covert hypnosis articles > Our own map of the world

NLP, science of persuasion, hypnosis... people studying all of these broad as well as specialized fields agree that every person looks at the world through their own "inner map", most often not realizing that their map isn't always very useful.

One of my friends and an eager forum participant recently wrote an interesting article I wanted to share with you. It deals with using your listener's maps of the world and temporarily bending your own to get powerful and persuasive messages through. Enjoy!

Our own map of the world

by Nathan of http://keystothemind.blogspot.com

There once was a scientist who studied frogs. One day, the scientist put the frog on the ground and told it to jump. The frog jumped four feet.

So the scientist wrote in his notebook, "Frog with four feet jumps four feet."

So the scientist cut off one of one of the frog’s legs. The scientist told the frog to jump. Frog jumped three feet. So the scientist wrote in his note book, "Frog with three feet jumps three feet."

So the scientist cut of another leg. He told the frog to jump. The frog jumped two feet. So the scientist wrote in his notebook "Frog with two feet jumps two feet."

The scientist cut off one more leg. He told the frog to jump. Frog jumped one foot. So the scientist wrote in his notebook, "Frog with one foot jumps one foot."

So the scientist cut off his last leg.

He said, "Frog jump. Frog jump. FROG JUMP!"

So the scientist wrote in his notebook, "Frog with no feet goes deaf."

Everyone has his or her own unique map of the world. This map contains our beliefs, and dictates how we interpret the information we receive. A common mistake with persuasion that I, and many others, make is to try and force our own map of the world onto others. There are many ways in which people do this. I shall focus on just one, the expectation that others will interpret information the same way we do.

For example, you could be attempting to persuade your stubborn friend to install a fire alarm in his house. You quote him the statistic that 80% of fire deaths occur in homes without fire alarms. You, sit back, waiting for the gratitude and humility that must surly come form you going out of your way to make your friends life safer. The friend says: “So if I install a fire alarm in my house, there is a 20% chance that I will die?” You quickly leave the unsafe house.

You see this mistake being made everywhere, think back to your last heated argument, play out the script in your mind. Now consider the fact that you both presumably had the same information on which to act, but your interpretations were conflicting, which inevitably lead to a clash. So we now need to find out how to avoid this clash, but still ensure that our intentions are carried out.

So let’s go back to the fire alarm scenario, and humor your friend as he makes his false claims about fire safety. First thing to bear in mind is that by warning him about safety and attempting to impose your conditions on his house you have introduced a meta frame that he may not like. You set the frame as him being inferior to you. Unconsciously you take on the “I know best” role, which is likely to make him feel inferior to you. If he is like most guys, he will not like this.

So now you play out your role as the master persuader you are. “Mate, you know that 80% of fire deaths are in homes without fire alarms”
“Yeah, mate but this means that if I install a fire alarm I have 20% chance that I will die.”

(Bear in mind that he probably knows this is false, I have seen people act far stupider when challenged!). So you reply:

"I know, it’s silly, isn’t it? But how would you feel if your home burned down next week, and you hadn’t installed a fire alarm? I mean how bad would it feel looking back on today and knowing that if you did CHOOSE TO INSTALL A FIRE ALARM you would still have your house. Just how rotten would it feel knowing that you choosing not to INSTALL A FIRE ALARM caused you to lose your house? I mean, can you imagine how terrible that would be? It’s up to you mate, your house, I just can't stop thinking about how awful it would be if your house were to burn down".

Of course, that’s all very well, but what use does this have in our everyday lives, you don’t walk up to a lovely lady in a bar and say, “you know, 70% of girls want to date me,” then install the “away from,” meta frame if she refuses.

To ensure that you don’t attempt to force your map of the world on others, but ensure that they still benefit from it, you alter your map of the world to match theirs, and then subtly bend both maps towards your original shape. It’s just like changing states using rapport, except much broader and can be a lot trickier.

Consider that you are a car salesman, and are listing off the positives of a car you are selling, to a so far pleased potential buyer.

“And airbags, to ensure your safety when you drive this wonderful vehicle.”

“You know, air bags kill more people than they save”

So what do you do here, the classic Simpsonite collar tug and back-away-slowly method?

Perhaps for lesser hypnotists!

You quickly morph into their perspective, which not only gives you rapport and the possibility to change their state, but also the ability to change this particular road on their map of the world.

"I know it’s shocking isn’t it? I was worrying about airbags in my car the other day, and I was thinking of getting them removed. I was just driving down the highway absentmindedly, you know how it is when your mind wanders off, and you feel do calm and tranquil behind the wheel, and as I was driving along feeling this wonderful warm feeling I careened straight into a lamppost, the car crumpled and the airbags exploded and darn well saved my life. So you never know, wouldn’t it be so funny if you made the decision to BUY THIS CAR, and drove out of here happily, and still had this car a year form now, but lost your concentration and drove right into a tree, and you were saved by the airbags. I mean wouldn’t you FEEL SO GOOD, looking back on your decision to BUY THIS CAR knowing that choice saved your life?"

The basic structure is to identify a "conflict of interpretation", then agree with them (bend your map), and gradually convince them to agree with your original map, whilst using time distortion, meta frames and embedded commands to ensure success...