Anchoring from A to Z

[Brother]

Anchor - This symbol is widely used in many areas of psychology. The meaning of the anchoring technique is that, just as some objects are extracted from the depths of water together with an anchor, emotions that he once experienced are extracted from the depths of a person's subconscious. The anchor is a gesture, sound, smell, picture and so on.

In fact, there is no difference between anchoring and the classic Pavlov reflex, when he caused a salivary reaction in the dog to a signal: turn on a light or ring a bell. Only we will apply Pavlov's methods to people and more humanely. After all, we are not interested in salivation, but in changes in a person's mood. By learning how to use anchoring correctly, you can make a person feel like buying, nervousness or fear.

You use anchors all the time, you just don't know about it. Life is full of experiences. Joy, sadness, hatred, love, betrayal, nervousness, excitement, anger - they accompany us everywhere. Remembering the past, we remember not only what happened then, but also what we felt then. Moreover, we can experience this feeling again, without even remembering the event that caused it. That is why, when you see a stranger in the distance, sometimes you immediately decide that you do not like him. It's just that the stranger resembles the one who bullied you at school, or he is wearing clothes similar to the one worn by your evil boss.

In this case, appearance or clothing causes a special reaction in a person, which is called an anchor. An anchor can be a thing, situation or experience that is associated in the subconscious with some kind of emotion. Clear? We come across such anchors all the time. For example, we hear a familiar melody and our soul is filled with positive feelings. "Oh-oh-oh, this is Nirvana, do you remember how ...?" Or you look at a photo album and old memories come to life and you feel the same excitement again as you did then. Many filmmakers deliberately use familiar music to create the right mood for the audience.

How to secure an anchor

The choice of anchor (touch, gesture, word, etc.) depends on your desire and the situation in which you are. Touch is a powerful anchor for most people. But there are situations in which physical contact is impossible, then it is better to use a gesture in combination with a phrase. It should be different from those gestures that you make out of habit, choose a special facial expression, slap on the forehead or clap your palms, etc.

It is better to choose a word so that it can be easily “hidden” in the middle of a phrase. Moreover, the word, which in the future will serve as an anchor, may be different, but it should be similar to the first in sounding and also stand out intonationally.

An example of such an anchor. You are playing billiards. To anchor the anchor, you make a special gesture or touch the interlocutor with the words: “What a good blow!”, Highlighting the word “good” in your voice.

Then in business negotiations, you make the same gesture and say, “I'm sure this is a good solution to the problem. And what do you think?" Of course, with an emphasis on the word "good".

Car dealer example

“I'm sure this is a good choice. What do you think?" He says and pats you on the shoulder. And you immediately feel good, because you did not notice how earlier in the conversation, telling a funny anecdote, he fixed the anchor on the word "good" and now, with his help, he turned on the necessary emotion.

Now think about what anchors do advertisers use to get you to buy a particular product? Often the anchor of positive emotions is the product itself, for example, Coca-Cola. We ourselves do not understand why we rejoice at the sight of the logo of this soda or why we immediately want to buy something, it is worth seeing the Nike logo. The next time you watch TV, pay attention to what they want to set you up to.

Custom anchor

It is important to learn how to create the mood we need in the interlocutor. Of course, it would be nice to know what anchors are in his subconscious so that you can get them at the right time. It would be especially helpful to know your own anchors. Tired? Sleepy? I pressed the button and - oops, you are cheerful and full of energy. It would be great, of course, but, unfortunately, anchors belong to the realm of our subconscious, and it is not so easy to find them. But don't give up! You can not look for old anchors, but simply fix new, no less effective, while you know what result you want to achieve, and this, you see, is much easier than randomly clicking on the buttons of the old anchors.

What you say or do at the moment when your interlocutor is experiencing a strong feeling will remain in his memory associated with this feeling. Your actions or your words will be this anchor. When you say the same phrase again or repeat the same action, you will thereby give the person the same feeling as then, and the degree of expression will depend on how successfully you anchored the anchor.

Knowing the anchoring technique can help you avoid many unnecessary grudges. You will also become more mindful of your own anchors. You will notice what emotions other people want to evoke in you, consciously or subconsciously. Like suggestions, anchors can be both positive and negative.

Manipulation using the anchoring method

So how is the anchor set? For example, a situation arises in which a particular person needs to evoke a feeling of trust, and then anchor it with an anchor in order to further have access to a certain resource and manipulate it. In this case, the sequence of actions will be as follows. The first step is to evoke the desired feeling in the person being manipulated with the help of a specific question. For example, you can ask when was the last time he felt a sense of trust and was not disappointed in it. Sometimes there are situations that a person simply did not feel the right feeling, then you will have to rephrase your question, asking, for example, how he will feel when he realizes that he has begun to trust someone.

The essence of the questions is to make a person experience the desired feeling. And for the successful establishment of an anchor, one should catch the highest point of experiencing this feeling. And only now, having caught the moment, you can fix it. This is key to manipulation. Any sound or movement, or just a touch, can act as an anchor, but only if it is in the field of view of the manipulated person. It is worth emphasizing that in this technique of Ericksonian hypnosis, the kinesthetic anchor is very strong and, in turn, it is almost impossible to resist it. Therefore, it can be argued that the best way to set kinesthetic anchors is by touching who you want to manipulate.

After all, you can start checking the result of the work. If the reproduction of the anchor is carried out with maximum accuracy, then the other person, as a response, will have an experienced feeling that has been successfully fixed. This is Erickson's hidden hypnosis. If, for example, you make a phone call as an anchor, then every time the phone rings, the person will again experience the fixed emotions.

Subconscious negative anchors

American coach Jerry Richardson gave an interesting example. Dad hugged his son every time the boy was sad. Of course, he did this to comfort and cheer the child, but the context in which the hug took place was so negative that the child began to associate hugging with sadness. And this would not have happened if dad hugged the child from time to time, and not only when he felt bad, but the father, unfortunately, did not do that. Since then, as soon as he hugged his son, it became even worse. And even if the child was in a good mood, then after the hug, his mood suddenly dropped.

Unfortunately, we tend to make physical contact at precisely the moment when the loved one is agitated or upset. Richardson suggested that this is why people often don't like being touched. From childhood, they associated physical contact with negative emotions. A person remembers not only words and actions, but also the feelings that he experienced at the same time. In general, physical contact is best done when the person is in a good mood, then you will have a positive anchor that can be used if the person close to you becomes upset.

But not only touch can be a good anchor. Words, images, tone of voice, movement, smell, color, taste - all this is associated with this or that feeling. Of course, visuals prefer visual anchors, and kinesthetics prefer physical contact. If you're not sure which anchor to use, try a combination of several. Highlight one word in a phrase with your voice. Touch the other person's hand at the same time. The more anchors are involved, the stronger the effect will be. Good luck with this practice!