Tuesday, May 13, 2025
ESSAY - TRIGGER WORDS
When I was growing up, and as an adult, most of us, maybe all of us, had never heard of "trigger words."
That seems to be a pretty popular expression these days. I guess so many people are having trouble adapting to the real world, wanting safe places and such, that they're psychoanalyzing themselves or picking up psychological phraseology... seeking a way to define what they see as their "problem."
An easy way to justify a reaction to something is to say one thing caused it... a trigger word.
We used to say, "that reminded me", or "that took me back", or "I had forgotten about that until _____ reminded me".
I don't like to use "trigger word(s)" in my speech because that's a trigger word for me, and I don't believe that complex problems should always be assumed to have simple solutions. For some people a "trigger word" is such because they've never had to face enough real life to know the event is common and likely to be encountered many times in life.
I have worked for and with psychologists (before "trigger word" became a popular phrase. I have taken my own family to various counselors (upon recommendation), and sat through some egregious b___ s___.
Before I go any further, let me say that I have known good counsellors, mediocre counsellors, and downright stupid, self-centered counsellors. There ARE good ones out there, but, as in any profession or occupation, there will be "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly"... apologies to Clint Eastwood.
When my children were referred to a counsellor, the first thing he did was tell us an old family story of his... which I had just read in a copy of Psychology Today magazine in his waiting room. Oddly enough, I had read the same exact story in a Reader's Digest a couple of years before that.
I won't go into the ups and downs, and ins and outs of all I have personally and directly observed... we could be here all day, but, beware self-diagnosis, and approach even the opinions of professionals with a healthy skepticism... especially in the social media driven world of the internet.
And do NOT assume that every problem can be traced to the use of "trigger words" by others. Sometimes the problem is we have taken on someone else's problem, and allow bad feelings to become terrible feelings.
Recently, in a conversation of my teenage daughter's attempted suicide several years ago, I was "triggered" terribly, but took the time to converse and explain events and experiences to someone who truly cared, someone I truly wanted to know what had happened, how I felt... someone who had previously warned ME that they had "trigger words" that made them upset and angry.
Also, for ME, having spent 21 years in the military, the word "trigger" carries a lot more weight than for someone from a civilian environment... where triggers can kill and destroy. Maybe that's why "trigger word" is such a trigger word for me.
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Labels: counselling, essay, psychological triggers, trigger, trigger words
Friday, January 05, 2007
Copy Writing - Are You Losing Sales By Missing This Word
By Paul Hooper - Kelly
There's one word in the English language, that stands head and shoulders above all the others for getting a "Yes" response to your sales letter. And, no -- it isn't the word "free".
I hardly ever read books on copy writing, because I prefer to go right to the source. So I read books on human psychology. You see, to persuade people to do what you want them to do -- whether on a first date or in copy writing -- it pays to mug up on the psychological triggers that compel people to act.
You are reading this now, because of a psychological trigger I used in the title. The trigger that started you reading this was the fear of losing sales if you weren't using this particular word. So what is that word? The word is "because" and here's why it's so amazing.
Its astonishing power was discovered -- not by a copywriter but a lady psychologist -- to be the most compelling word you can use. Here's how she found it.
Harvard Social Psychologist, Ellen Langer, went up to some people standing in line to use a Xerox copier and said, "Excuse me, I have five pages to copy. May I use the Xerox, because I'm in a rush." All the people, bar one, were quite happy to allow her to go ahead.
Later, she asked a similar number a slightly different question, "Excuse me, I have five pages to copy. May I use the Xerox?". This time, only about 2/3 of the group were happy for her to jump right in.
Finally, she asked a third group, "Excuse me, I have five pages to copy. May I use the Xerox, because I have to make some copies?"
This last group mirrored the first group in their almost total acquiescence to her request.
Can you spot the reason for the difference?
In the first and third experiments, which met with almost 100% success, she used the magic word: "because". In the less successful -- but still pretty good -- middle experiment, the word "because" was absent.
So there you have it: one little word makes a 33% difference in the response. That's the awesome power of persuasive copy writing through psychology.
So make sure your sales letters are rich in the words "because" and "the reason why". For example, let's say you're selling an e-book. This has several benefits to the reader, in particular "instant gratification" (another psychological trigger), but if you are dealing with the price, you can minimize that by comparison (yes -- you've guessed it, that's another one!).
Here's an example of both sets of words in action . . .
If this was a hard bound book, not only would you have to wait several days for delivery, it would also cost you over $100. But, order it today and you can be discovering these amazing secrets just minutes from now for just $30, because it is available as an instant electronic download, and the reason why we can let you steal it at this rock bottom price is because we have no inventory or shipping costs, so we are delighted to pass the saving over to you in the form of this amazingly low price.
Copyright 2007 Paul Hooper-Kelly and InternetMarketingMagician.com.
Paul Hooper-Kelly owns http://www.InternetMarketingMagician.com and has been called "The Best Copywriter In The World" by one of his clients and has just compiled a FREE report crammed with more hints and tips you can easily use to take your copy writing to a whole new level of effectiveness. Grab your FREE copy now by clicking this link >> Copywriting_Secrets
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Hooper_-_Kelly
http://EzineArticles.com/?Copy-Writing---Are-You-Losing-Sales-By-Missing-This-Word&id=402794
There's one word in the English language, that stands head and shoulders above all the others for getting a "Yes" response to your sales letter. And, no -- it isn't the word "free".
I hardly ever read books on copy writing, because I prefer to go right to the source. So I read books on human psychology. You see, to persuade people to do what you want them to do -- whether on a first date or in copy writing -- it pays to mug up on the psychological triggers that compel people to act.
You are reading this now, because of a psychological trigger I used in the title. The trigger that started you reading this was the fear of losing sales if you weren't using this particular word. So what is that word? The word is "because" and here's why it's so amazing.
Its astonishing power was discovered -- not by a copywriter but a lady psychologist -- to be the most compelling word you can use. Here's how she found it.
Harvard Social Psychologist, Ellen Langer, went up to some people standing in line to use a Xerox copier and said, "Excuse me, I have five pages to copy. May I use the Xerox, because I'm in a rush." All the people, bar one, were quite happy to allow her to go ahead.
Later, she asked a similar number a slightly different question, "Excuse me, I have five pages to copy. May I use the Xerox?". This time, only about 2/3 of the group were happy for her to jump right in.
Finally, she asked a third group, "Excuse me, I have five pages to copy. May I use the Xerox, because I have to make some copies?"
This last group mirrored the first group in their almost total acquiescence to her request.
Can you spot the reason for the difference?
In the first and third experiments, which met with almost 100% success, she used the magic word: "because". In the less successful -- but still pretty good -- middle experiment, the word "because" was absent.
So there you have it: one little word makes a 33% difference in the response. That's the awesome power of persuasive copy writing through psychology.
So make sure your sales letters are rich in the words "because" and "the reason why". For example, let's say you're selling an e-book. This has several benefits to the reader, in particular "instant gratification" (another psychological trigger), but if you are dealing with the price, you can minimize that by comparison (yes -- you've guessed it, that's another one!).
Here's an example of both sets of words in action . . .
If this was a hard bound book, not only would you have to wait several days for delivery, it would also cost you over $100. But, order it today and you can be discovering these amazing secrets just minutes from now for just $30, because it is available as an instant electronic download, and the reason why we can let you steal it at this rock bottom price is because we have no inventory or shipping costs, so we are delighted to pass the saving over to you in the form of this amazingly low price.
Copyright 2007 Paul Hooper-Kelly and InternetMarketingMagician.com.
Paul Hooper-Kelly owns http://www.InternetMarketingMagician.com and has been called "The Best Copywriter In The World" by one of his clients and has just compiled a FREE report crammed with more hints and tips you can easily use to take your copy writing to a whole new level of effectiveness. Grab your FREE copy now by clicking this link >> Copywriting_Secrets
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Hooper_-_Kelly
http://EzineArticles.com/?Copy-Writing---Are-You-Losing-Sales-By-Missing-This-Word&id=402794
Labels: copy writing, Ellen Langer, human psychology, psychological triggers
