Everybody is above average.
Well, not exactly, but if you talked to most people on the street, they would all say, or at least be keen to the idea that they are above average.
There’s even been a few school districts in the U.S. that have expressed a public policy to create ALL students to be above average.
Mathematically, this is impossible.
However, it is a true aspect of human nature. We all think we are a little “better” than most people. Smarter, more insightful, a broader perspective.
Now, most of us wouldn’t come out and say it. And we’d actually disagree if somebody put it to us consciously.
But we sure do respond to it. Advertisers have known this for years.
So have “psychics.”
They use this idea in a very clever way. They connect the idea of us being “better” somehow with the idea that they are psychic. Because even the most die hard believer in that sort of thing will always be thinking, “is this really true?”
So to overcome that objection, they apply a very subtle version of the “complex equivalent” formula from the Milton Model.
Namely, any form of “X means Y.”
They set it up so that X = you are better than everybody else, and Y = I’m psychic.
That way, if they choose to “disbelieve” the psychic, they’ll also have to “disbelieve” that they are better than everybody else.
Which, of course, they won’t do. This is why “psychics” have ALWAYS been in high demand since the dawn of time.
How, specifically, do they do that?
They deliver the “you are better than everybody” statement through some sort of psychic “channel.”
Since people like hearing the “you are better than everybody” they’ll naturally have to believe the source, which is some cloud of smoke or communication from beyond.
The only way for this not to work would be for:
A) The person to absolutely think they are NOT better than everybody else (which is pretty contrary to human nature)
B) The person to be so SURE of their “betterness” that they believe it consciously, and don’t “need” any kind of “psychic” evidence.
I’m wondering if you could figure out a way to use this in your own persuasive efforts?