Parts 1 through 3 in this arc answered "Why do this exercise?" Parts 4 through 7 discussed "Why those messages?" Part 8 shared the results and analysis of the first anthropologic communication, "We trust you". Part 9 shared the same for "You can trust us", part 10 shared the results and analysis of "This is important" and part 11 "This is important to you". This post shares results and analysis for "We can help".
Survival information (as in "This is important to you") requires an offer to help if the survival information is to be considered useful. The example of the destroyed California orange crop would progress as follows using these concepts:
- "The orange crop in California has been pretty much devastated due to freezing cold weather" == "This is important"
- "This means what you pay for oranges, orange juice, citrus fruits, etc., is going to go up" == "This is important to you"
- "Fortunately, Grocerteria Inc has negotiated with Florida orange growers to provide high quality oranges and other citrus fruits for the remainder of the season" == "We can help"
The "We can help" results and analysis are: Once again the Inaugural Address "We can help" was the weakest message in the stream increased as did the other messages discussed thus far. In all cases, the intensity of each message fairly doubled after 9/11 and in most cases continued to climb through the 2nd President Bush's administration. "We can help" indicates the speechwriter's ability to communicate to the listener or viewer that the speaker has a solution or can provide a solution. These numbers demonstrate that the speechwriter was convinced the speaker either had or was able to provide a solid solution which could solve whatever problems were being addressed in the communication at a conscious level. One way to think of this difference between conscious and non-conscious messaging is to remember the Kennedy-Nixon debates. People who heard the debates were convinced Nixon had won them, people who watched the debates were convinced Kennedy had won them. Kennedy was the more photogenic of the two, yes, and there was also the aspect of Nixon's perpetual fidgeting and general look of discomfort and unease. The conscious message -- Nixon knew his stuff and was a capable candidate -- was lost due to the non-conscious message -- Nixon is nervous and uncomfortable. Another more recent example was the 1st President Bush-Clinton debates. There is a famous scene where the 1st President Bush looks at his watch with a "negative" expression on his face while Clinton is answering a question. Many people cite this as the 1st President Bush's demonstration of his lack of interest in things important to general citizenry. (more to follow) Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics. Links for this post:
Message: We can help Inaugural Jan 20, 2001 32% State of the Union Jan 29, 2002 58% State of the Union Jan 28, 2003 72% State of the Union Jan 20, 2004 69% State of the Union Feb 2, 2005 72% State of the Union Jan 31, 2006 77% State of the Union Jan 23, 2007 77%
(Information in this arc is from Reading Virtual Minds Chapter 4, "Anecdotes of Learning". Text and images copyright Joseph Carrabis and NextStage Evolution 2006-2007)
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