Hey what’s up Thinkers! Kathy Gibbens here…
Let’s start off with a quick review of a Compliance Technique that we discussed earlier this season, the Pique Technique, which by the way is spelled p-i-q-u-e, is making your offer or invitation particularly interesting by making an unusual request. This may make more sense when you learn that the word pique means “to excite or arouse”, and in this use of the word, it means to excite or arouse curiosity. So the pique technique is doing something to make people curious and interested, and it’s particularly designed to get people to behave in a specific way in situations where people aren’t typically paying a lot of attention to the request or in situations where people often reject the request. And when I say curious, sometimes it’s a conscious curiosity and sometimes it’s an unconscious or psychological curiosity.
The Question to ask yourself when you’re faced with the Pique Technique is this: “Is this really something I want to spend my money on?”
If you want to review or hear more about this fallacy, go back & check out Episode 136.
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Alright, so we are continuing on with our miniseries on Propaganda Tactics. The Tactic we’re talking about today is called the Hypnotic Bait & Switch. The Hypnotic Bait & Switch happens when someone says a series of true statements that people will agree with and then throws in another statement that they want the people to also accept as true. It’s a form of the Foot In The door tactic that we talked about back in episode 132.
Here’s an example of what this sounds like in a TV commercial by a car company:
1. Do you care about your family?
2. Do you care about your country?
3. Then you’re going to love driving the new XYZ pickup truck!
Can you see how in this example they got you saying ‘yes’ a few times, quickly followed by a new statement that they want you to also say yes to. Is it really true you’re going to love driving that new pickup truck? Maybe, but not necessarily.
The reason this tactic works is that when someone can get you to agree with several things they say, it’s easy to let your guard down and continue agreeing with them, assuming they’ll continue to say things that are true. The hypnotic part comes from the fact that this tactic sort of causes people to ‘turn off their brains’ and just accept what’s being said without questioning it. The Hypnotic Bait & Switch is used to try to get you to accept something as being true without asking yourself whether or not it actually is true.
Here’s another example of what this sounds like:
4. You’re a busy mom of little kids
5. You fall on the couch exhausted every evening
6. You feel guilty that you don’t spend more time with your kids
7. You need to buy this new video game to keep them entertained all day while you take a nap!
Ok, this one may seem fairly obvious, but you can see how it follows the Hypnotic Bait & Switch model: Several statements that the Moms will agree with, followed by a statement that they want them to accept. But is buying a new video game really what the moms need? No, not necessarily.
So, the question to ask yourself when you’re facing a Hypnotic Bait & Switch is this: “Are all those statements really true?” *repeat*
Remember: When you learn HOW to think, you will no longer fall prey to those who are trying to tell you what THEY want you to think and it all starts with asking one simple question: “Is that really true?”
