Vol. 12 – March 21, 2005
Ericksonian Hypnotic Language Patterns
Pattern 13. The “Because Frame” —
As pointed out by Dr. Robert Cialdini is his excellent book “Influence,” the word ‘because’ has an almost magical persuasive effect on people. It lends emotional credibility to whatever goes before it.
“You can use this pattern and have a tremendous effect, because people love to hear reasons for things.”
“You may find that it is easy to learn to use this pattern because ‘because’ is so powerful it almost doesn’t matter what you say afterwards.” (Really. See the section in “Influence” about this. It’s remarkable.)
A. As a strong closing, add a ‘because’ on the end of a double bind. “I don’t know if you’ll want to stop smoking now or if you’ll want to stop in the morning, because this important development is really between you and your own unconscious mind.”
It further strengthens a because if you can successfully relate it to the person’s values. i.e. have a reason that really is important to them. As an example, if you know that the person you’re dealing with places a high value on freedom, you could say something like, “…because its your freedom that’s really on the line. (The freedom to live a long and healthy life, etc.)”
So now, I would like to suggest, like I do every week, that you stop now and write out your own examples of this language patterns and then use them in your real life today and tomorrow. Because I know you really want to gain fluency with these skills, don’t you? And, of course, the more you write them and the more you use them, the better you’ll get at them.
Have fun. See you next week.
