Framing The Big Picture

Framing is the most powerful concept in persuasion. When we look at the big picture we see that everything can be thought of as a frame. By using political or religious examples (and any other taboo/controversial thing I can come up with), I am in no way endorsing one side or the other-though of course I do have personal opinions-rather, I'm showing that we all have blind spots. Find a belief that you believe fervently, feverishly, fanatically, even, and I'm going to suggest that you may be blind to the opposite side of the issue.

When we talk about the pro-life/pro-choice debate, the other side, no matter which side you're on, is absolutely wrong. No ifs, ands, or buts. The other side is NEVER going to accept your point of view. It's just not an option. There are some that are so certain that this is not a "choice" but murder. Others believe it's not a frame at all, but an elimination of a woman's choice to have freedom over her body. There is no in between, no gray area for either side.

I have absolutely no interest in changing your deeply held beliefs, but my goal is to simply point out that all of these beliefs, ultimately, are different frames.

The ability to reframe is to tell our truth, life the way we see it. It requires us to repeat things deeply carving neuro pathways that show us what to think in any given situation, with any given group or idea, in any setting.

Without naming names, think of the major coffee chain, the one that's taking over the world. They're responsible for putting little mom and pop cafes out of business. They charge A LOT. They may even be slightly overrated. AND yet, they are fair to their employees even providing part time workers with health insurance. They buy their product from sustainable coffee growers in 'third world' (another frame) countries. They also have a delicious organic iced decaf mocha.

It's possible all of these statements are true at once. Maybe it doesn't matter a lick to you either way. But they are beliefs and as a result, they are frames.

You can do this with everything. Try health care providers, for example. They are 'miracle workers', they're caring, nurturing, overpaid, shills for big pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

You may believe all of these or none of these. But surely you can see that each example is a frame. You have probably had good and bad experiences with doctors that color how you look at this profession. If you were very young and had an illness that required hospitalization and your first memories were of being stuck with needles by doctors, I'd say that's a pretty big imprint and you may have developed a very deep fear of hospitals. It may have saved your life, but you'd still have that frame of health care providers. And only through repetitious positive experience, would you have a change.

It is my hope that in repeating the importance of frames, some of you may begin to view the whole world as a series of frames.

About the Author

Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn the business of affluent clients using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion techniques. Get your own completely unique content version of this article.

Comments

No comments posted.

You do not have permission to comment. If you log in, you may be able to comment.

Complete the details below to send a link to the page:
http://uniquebusinessarticles.com/sales/framing-the-big-picture.html