Covert Advertising Psychology through Confirmation Bias
Title: Covert Advertising Psychology through Confirmation BiasLength: 698 words (body); 65 cpl
Author: Dorian Greer Email: editor(at)seducingthebuyer.com
Category: Marketing / Advertising / Psychology Copyright 2005
Web Address: http://www.SeducingTheBuyer.com Blog Address:http://www.SeducingTheBuyer.com/MT/
Permission to publish this article is granted. Include: LiveLinks; Author Source & Copyright. May NOT be used in conjunctionwith unsolicited email.
---- Article ----
Covert Advertising Psychology through Confirmation Bias byDorian Greer
Confirmation bias is a tool of choice for covert influence. It'sagreeable, it's easy to use, and can motivate the smartest ofpeople to believe in the weirdest of things.
WARNING: This article gives an example of confirmation bias usedto make otherwise intelligent people believe impossible things.The example chosen is based on pervasiveness, to make the pointobvious, but some might be offended. Publishers beware - theexample MAY adversely affect some of your audience.
What is Confirmation Bias?
Source: http://skepdic.com/confirmbias.html
"Confirmation bias refers to a type of selective thinkingwhereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one'sbeliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or undervalue therelevance of what contradicts one's beliefs."
This simple yet profound definition is why prejudice won't die,why smart people believe weird things, and why facts seldom (ifever) change a strong belief.
Reinforcing the Factually Untrue
The feedback loop created by selective thinking is classichypnotic methodology. Confirmation bias is thus a way of "pacingone's self" into a state of hypnotic belief.
When used in advertising, confirmation bias is the pacing ofchoice, for raw hypnotic influence.
To wit: The more one absorbs information that agrees with whatthey already believe, contrary evidence holds less and lessvalue. This is why a person can be "talked" into a hypnoticbelief system that is contrary to the real world.
Try these examples by answering each question TRUTHFULLY:
1. Does Santa Clause really exist, (led by flying reindeer)? 2.Is our moon made of Swiss cheese? 3. Can snakes talk? 4. Haveyou ever witnessed magic flying carpets, or a real genie? 5. Dohorses fly (Pegasus)?
Now notice that none of these have any factual basis as beingtrue. But they all exist in fantasy, make-believe worlds.
The trick in the hypnotic process is to confuse the believerinto merging the make-believe with the real. And this can bedone through confirmation bias!
Example: Mass Hypnosis through Confirmation Bias
In the list of make-believe stories above, can you recognizewhere the situation from item #3 comes from? It's from the storyof Adam of Eve. This alone makes this article controversial, butI needed an obvious example.
There are probably millions in the United States alone that,every Sunday, have impossible stories reinforced to the pointwhere they become merged with real life, to become literallyindistinguishable from reality by the believer.
It is pure hypnosis through confirmation bias that causes aseemingly logical, rational, person to accept and believesomething that they know cannot be true. Even childrenunderstand that snakes can't talk, and yet...
Many believers would rather admit that talking snakes are notpossible while STILL maintaining the belief, than change thebelief!
Want proof? Ask any devout Christian if snakes can talk, andthey will likely tell you that "back then, it might have beenpossible, because...", and then everything else that followswill be just as pure fantasy as the story itself!
THIS is the power of confirmation bias when it is continuallyreinforced. People will violently oppose the truth, even whenfaced with unequivocal fact. (But note: the confirmation dataneed not be true either; it just needs social ratification!)
An Equal Opportunity Deceiver
It should be noted that confirmation bias is a constant enemy weall share. It's a common problem we experience in science, inreligion, in advertising, and in everyday perceptions.
Eugene Schwartz, in Breakthrough Advertising; page 131, states:
"If you can channel the tremendous force of his belief - eitherin content or direction - behind only one claim, no matter howsmall, then that one fully-believed claim will sell more goodsthan all the half-questioned promises your competitors can writefor all the rest of their days. This channeling of belief is sopowerful that, if properly directed, it will even supportotherwise-absurd claims."
Notice The Last Sentence
Even smart people can be led to believe stupid things with theright pacing of belief by utilizing the technique ofconfirmation bias. (It's true in psychology; it's true inreligion; it's true in hypnosis; it's true in advertising.)Would you like to know more about covert influence?
Continue to Here: "Seducing The Buyer"http://www.SeducingTheBuyer.com/MT/
Copyright 2005 Dorian Greer, Editor - Seducing The Buyer
Author: Dorian Greer Email: editor(at)seducingthebuyer.com
Category: Marketing / Advertising / Psychology Copyright 2005
Web Address: http://www.SeducingTheBuyer.com Blog Address:http://www.SeducingTheBuyer.com/MT/
Permission to publish this article is granted. Include: LiveLinks; Author Source & Copyright. May NOT be used in conjunctionwith unsolicited email.
---- Article ----
Covert Advertising Psychology through Confirmation Bias byDorian Greer
Confirmation bias is a tool of choice for covert influence. It'sagreeable, it's easy to use, and can motivate the smartest ofpeople to believe in the weirdest of things.
WARNING: This article gives an example of confirmation bias usedto make otherwise intelligent people believe impossible things.The example chosen is based on pervasiveness, to make the pointobvious, but some might be offended. Publishers beware - theexample MAY adversely affect some of your audience.
What is Confirmation Bias?
Source: http://skepdic.com/confirmbias.html
"Confirmation bias refers to a type of selective thinkingwhereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one'sbeliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or undervalue therelevance of what contradicts one's beliefs."
This simple yet profound definition is why prejudice won't die,why smart people believe weird things, and why facts seldom (ifever) change a strong belief.
Reinforcing the Factually Untrue
The feedback loop created by selective thinking is classichypnotic methodology. Confirmation bias is thus a way of "pacingone's self" into a state of hypnotic belief.
When used in advertising, confirmation bias is the pacing ofchoice, for raw hypnotic influence.
To wit: The more one absorbs information that agrees with whatthey already believe, contrary evidence holds less and lessvalue. This is why a person can be "talked" into a hypnoticbelief system that is contrary to the real world.
Try these examples by answering each question TRUTHFULLY:
1. Does Santa Clause really exist, (led by flying reindeer)? 2.Is our moon made of Swiss cheese? 3. Can snakes talk? 4. Haveyou ever witnessed magic flying carpets, or a real genie? 5. Dohorses fly (Pegasus)?
Now notice that none of these have any factual basis as beingtrue. But they all exist in fantasy, make-believe worlds.
The trick in the hypnotic process is to confuse the believerinto merging the make-believe with the real. And this can bedone through confirmation bias!
Example: Mass Hypnosis through Confirmation Bias
In the list of make-believe stories above, can you recognizewhere the situation from item #3 comes from? It's from the storyof Adam of Eve. This alone makes this article controversial, butI needed an obvious example.
There are probably millions in the United States alone that,every Sunday, have impossible stories reinforced to the pointwhere they become merged with real life, to become literallyindistinguishable from reality by the believer.
It is pure hypnosis through confirmation bias that causes aseemingly logical, rational, person to accept and believesomething that they know cannot be true. Even childrenunderstand that snakes can't talk, and yet...
Many believers would rather admit that talking snakes are notpossible while STILL maintaining the belief, than change thebelief!
Want proof? Ask any devout Christian if snakes can talk, andthey will likely tell you that "back then, it might have beenpossible, because...", and then everything else that followswill be just as pure fantasy as the story itself!
THIS is the power of confirmation bias when it is continuallyreinforced. People will violently oppose the truth, even whenfaced with unequivocal fact. (But note: the confirmation dataneed not be true either; it just needs social ratification!)
An Equal Opportunity Deceiver
It should be noted that confirmation bias is a constant enemy weall share. It's a common problem we experience in science, inreligion, in advertising, and in everyday perceptions.
Eugene Schwartz, in Breakthrough Advertising; page 131, states:
"If you can channel the tremendous force of his belief - eitherin content or direction - behind only one claim, no matter howsmall, then that one fully-believed claim will sell more goodsthan all the half-questioned promises your competitors can writefor all the rest of their days. This channeling of belief is sopowerful that, if properly directed, it will even supportotherwise-absurd claims."
Notice The Last Sentence
Even smart people can be led to believe stupid things with theright pacing of belief by utilizing the technique ofconfirmation bias. (It's true in psychology; it's true inreligion; it's true in hypnosis; it's true in advertising.)Would you like to know more about covert influence?
Continue to Here: "Seducing The Buyer"http://www.SeducingTheBuyer.com/MT/
Copyright 2005 Dorian Greer, Editor - Seducing The Buyer
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