What’s your way of thinking? In what way do other people think?
When we talk about the effective persuasion we cannot forget about metaprograms because they are very useful while convincing someone to do something.
Metaprogram is a generalization of how a person converts the inflow of information in a given situation and in a given moment.
Set of metaprograms forms ‘filters’ which direct our thoughts and decisive processes.
Since it is some simplification (as it is impossible to find out what someone is thinking about at the moment), you should keep in mind that it works well only locally that is in a given situation. ] It is not worth making additional steps or generalizing the knowledge about this person because it may obfuscate the situation and make it more difficult.
Several types of metaprograms have been singled out and they can be treated as a set of scales:
towards - away from
self - others
internal authority - external authority
similarities - differences
general - detailed
options - procedures
Now, we will be aiming at finding out during the process of communication in which place on these scales our interlocutor is and at adjusting to him/her.
The correct determination of all programs simultaneously may be difficult, so we usually concentrate on the scale on which our interlocutor takes up the extreme position.
If someone claims that when he chooses a car, he follows tests results and comparisons made by specialists, we can say that in this situation he has a strong external authority metafilter. Knowing this, we will present him more such opinions, test results and reports of satisfied customers.
This is a good and elegant model which enables you to put in order you knowledge about your clients, acquaintances and nodding acquaintances. However, remember not to generalize too much. One may state that the person from our exercise will always and in every situation have the same ‘external authority’ program and that his decisions are based on the opinions of other people, but of course it may not be true.
There are no good and bad filters, some of them are just more useful in some situations and that’s why some people love their profession while the others feel that it is not for them.
Have lots of fun discovering metaprograms both yours and those of other people!