5 ways to attract attention
In the long run, your success depends on the ability to attract the attention of others – How do you get a promotion if your employer and supervisor do not notice your work?
How to effectively manage a team if subordinates do not listen to you? What are the prospects of your career or business if you cannot attract the attention of customers?
“Attention is the most valuable currency that someone can give you – this is what Steve Rubel of the Edelman company once said – it is worth much more than all the money, possessions and other things”.
But, perhaps, few people know how to get the attention of others from a scientific point of view. Here, for example, is Ben Parr, a partner in the company DominateFund, who devoted 2 years to this issue and wrote a new book.
In this regard, he analyzed more than a thousand scientific works in psychology, neurobiology, economics and sociology.
He has spoken with dozens of leading researchers and experts in the field of self-attention, including Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and illusionist David Copperfield, to name a few.
As a result of the conversations, Parr came to the conclusion that there are 7 signals capable of making a person “perk up his ears”:
1. Automatic reaction– if someone shoots in the air, you will definitely turn around. If a lady trying to hitchhike is wearing red, she has a better chance of being picked up by someone.
Similar sensory signals attract attention at the subconscious level as well. Man’s instinct for self-preservation and the need to ensure his safety makes him react faster than he can think.
However, there is no question at all of recommending always speaking louder than others or wearing red dresses. But it is necessary to think about more effective methods to “play” people’s instincts and attract their attention.
For example, try offering an important customer a cup of hot tea or coffee. A study published in the journal Science indicated that such a “warm” approach puts people in a positive frame of mind and makes them want to indulge.
2. Stereotypes – our view of the world is formed under the influence of biological, social and personal experience, as well as internal inclinations.
These stereotypes lead to the fact that we pay attention to some ideas and ignore others completely. To take advantage of this human characteristic, you must either adapt to your audience’s views or change them.
A classic study from the 1970s shows that the more a person hears an affirmation over and over again, the more likely they are to believe it to be true.
3. Recognition – Dr. Thomas De Zengoghita, media anthropologist and author of the book Mediate /”How mass media shape our world and our way of life”/ is convinced that recognition is one of our most vital needs.< /p>
4. “Undermining the foundations”– we always pay attention to any phenomenon that does not correspond to our expectations. This is related to our inner need to clarify what the given accident brings – a danger or a positive development of events?
5. Reward– many people think that dopamine is responsible for the feeling of pleasure. But according to research by a scientist from the University of Michigan, this hormone is much more related to anticipation and motivation.
Dopamine fuels our desire to pursue food, sex, money, or finer rewards. The potential opportunity to acquire all these things attracts our attention.
