The Four f’s part 2 - Discover The Secret That Any Persuasion And Influence Professional Should Know

Welcome to part 2 of the four fs

Let’s get stuck straight in. From part one I explained how the 4 fs have been genetically bread into us over millions of years. These are the characteristics that have been, until now, the most successful in allowing the genes that we carry to be passed on to the next generation. The four fs are used each and every day to influence and persuade us and we are actually pretty much helpless those who use them against us. That is unless we understand and have a awareness of how and when they are used.

The four fs are:

• Fight
• Flight
• Food

And you guessed it…

• Finding a Partner
  

Over years and years of evolution the genes that make their human carriers adept at deciding and whether to fight or run away (flight) from danger have allowed these people to live longer and (potentially) reproduce with more mates.

The ability to find and identify wholesome and nutritious food has lead to the survival of not just the carrier but also any infants that he or she is raising.

And finally the ability to attract and mate with a member of the opposite gender is obviously the key factor.

Now how does this all come together to help us in our influence and persuasion efforts.

Finding A Partner

Well this is the very reason that the old advertising adage “Sex sells” is so true. It sells because it is how the genes that we carry have survived through the generations. These genes have hardwired us to take notice of anything related to finding and mating with a member of the opposite sex.

Think about it for a second. If you didn’t take a healthy interest I identifying a good quality member of the opposite gender to mate with, would the genes that you carry ever survive more than a generation? Of course not.

This means that only genes that endow their carriers this hard wired instinct to find and reproduce with a partner have made it this far and that is why “Sex Sells”.

For example, as a male we see a picture of an attractive female and we immediately take notice. Step one the advertiser has got your attention. But not only do we take notice of the female but we also take notice of the product she is promoting. Step tow the advertiser has sneaked in a message.

This technique is doubly cleaver as we have now anchored i.e. linked in out mind, that product to finding a beautiful female. So the female made us take notice and then caused us subconsciously to link owning the product to finding a beautiful mate. Very clever. (Anchoring is used by influence professionals all the time. I’ll create a post about this in the future some time.)

Further points to consider

How much of the advertisements on TV are related in one way or another to one or more of the 4 fs. Food adverts probably make up about a third of those adverts on TV and why are so many people in the developed world fat.

Could it be that our primitive minds are still in the find food state that they would have had wired in over millions of year but our conscious mind are struggling with the reality that we no longer need to eat as much food as we can. That is a conflict if ever I saw one and it looks like our hard wired genes are winning!

How many times do politicians harp on about safety, security, avoiding danger, etc in their speeches. Do you think they do it because we are hard wired to take notice of thing related to spotting and avoiding danger. It's very interesting, don't you think?

Until next time,

Jason D.
Total Influence And Persuasion

The Four Fs Part 1 - Discover The Secret of The 4 Fs And How They Are Behind EVERTHING We Do.

Some time ago I read the brilliant book by the Richard Broodie (The guy who we can thank for the invention of Microsoft Word incidentally) called Virus of the Mind.

This book is a fascinating read and mainly covers the concept of Meme's (I'll talk more about meme's in a later post because they are key to understanding Influence and Persuasion).

However also in the book he talks about how our are genes dictate everything that we do at an instinctual level often referred to as our primitive behaviour.

Over the years the genes that have been successful in surviving i.e. being passed on to a new human carrier are those that cause their human carrier (or any other animal for that matter) to carry out certain actions, attitude and behaviours.

For example you might be able to imagine that millions of years ago there would have been a massive pool of genes. These gene genetically hard code certain instincts into those animals carrying the genes.

Now lets say for example that a certain gene didn't have a built in fear of heights. This it could be likely that people without this 'fear of heights' characteristic would over time be more likely to fall of cliffs. If they kept falling of cliffs the they would be less likely to reproduce, because they would be dead! and therefore there would be less likely to pass on their genes to the next generation.

Over time (a long time) genes that had a built in fear of heights would become more prominent because these gene are more likely not die by falling off a cliff and therefore more likely to reproduce an be passed on through the generations.

Now this could be why today most of us have a health fear of heights. Over time only genes that have this 'fear of flights' characteristic have survived.

However the four f's are the main characteristics of genes that have got us to where we are today, and have may be the reason that a lot of social problems exist today.

However we as students of the art of Influence and Persuasion can multiply our effectiveness if we know and use them at every opportunity, but in Influencing others and in detecting if we are being underhandedly influenced or persuaded by others.

In part two of this post I'll outline exactly what the 4 f's are.

Until then thanks for reading,

Jason D.

P.S. If you're interested in disovering more about memes and want to read Richard Brodies bestselling book 'Virus Of the Mind - The New Science Of The Meme' then follow this link to Amazon.com or this link to Amazon.co.uk.