Anchoring (NLP)

Anchoring is a neuro-linguistic programming term for the process by which memory recall, state change or other responses become associated with (anchored to) some stimulus, in such a way that perception of the stimulus (the anchor) leads by reflex to the anchored response occurring. The stimulus may be quite neutral or even out of conscious awareness, and the response may be either positive or negative. They are capable of being formed and reinforced by repeated stimuli, and thus are analogous to classical conditioning.

Steinbach (1984) describes anchoring as one-trial learning which forms one of the basic presuppositions of NLP stating that "A therapist can teach a patient the association between one response and another, or between an external stimulus and an internal response in one trial." [1]

Basic anchoring involves the associating a strong mental or emotional state, with an obvious stimulus (touch, word, sight) when a person is most likely to connect the state and the stimulus. In many cases, repetition of the stimulus will reassociate and restore the mental and emotional state.

There are refinements offered by setting anchors this way, and subtleties involved in order to both set them with precision, and to avoid accidentally neutralizing them in the process of setting them up.

Contents

Types of anchor

Anchors (the "trigger", or stimulus) can come in an infinitude of possible forms: verbal phrases, physical touches or sensations, certain sights and sounds, or internally, such as words one says to oneself, or memories and emotional states. Whenever a person is in an intense state where the mind and body are strongly involved together and a specific stimulus is consistently and simultaneously provided at the peak of the state, the stimulus and the state become neurologically linked. Then, anytime the stimulus is provided, the intense state automatically results. For example, on might sing the national anthem, create certain feelings in our body, and look at the flag. Eventually merely looking at the flag can automatically triggers those feelings. An expansive view is that almost everything one perceives acts as an anchor, in the sense that perceiving it tends to trigger reflexively some thought or feeling or response.

Anchoring is a natural process that usually occurs without our awareness, and may have positive impact, or be maladaptive.There are two broad types of anchors:

A voice tonality that resembles the characteristics of one's perception of an "angry voice" may not actually be as a result of anger, but will usually trigger an emotional response in the person perceiving the tonality to have the traits of anger.

Sometimes people have such an intense unpleasant experience - like fighting with their spouse or boss- that from then on, whenever they see the person's face, they immediately feel anger inside.

Becky and i had an experience like this when we checked into a hotel, late one evening. There was no beliman or valet out front, so we asked the man at the front desk to have the valet park the car and ask the bellman to bring up our bags. He said that was no problem, so we went up to our room and began to relax. After an hour went by and our bags had still not arrived, we called downstairs. To make a long story short, everything we owned had been stolen- our credit cards, passports, and a large cashier's cheque, which I had already countersigned. We had packed for a two-week trip. You can imagine what kind of state I went into. While I was in this angry, upset state, I kept looking at Beck, and she was also mad. After about fifteen minutes, I realized that being upset was not going to change anything, and since I believe everything happens for a reason, I was feeling fine again. But about ten minutes later I looked at Becky, and as I did, I started feeling angry about things she hadn't done that day. I certainly wasn't feeling attracted to her. Then, I snapped myself and asked myself. What's going on here? I realized I had linked all my negative feelings about losing our things to Becky, even though she didn't have a thing to do with it. Looking at her made me feel lousy. When I told her what I was experiencing, it turned out she was experiencing similar feelings about me. (Anthony Robbins, "Unlimited Power", p.332-333)

Phobias in this sense can be studied as one example of very powerful anchor - see spider, feel terrified and nauseated.

Comedians are masters of anchoring. Good comedians know how to use a specific tonality, phrase, or physiology to get laughs instantly. They do something to get you to laugh, and while you're in that specific intense state they provide a specific and unique stimulus, like a certain smile or facial expression, or maybe a specific tone of voice. They do this consistently until the state of laughter is linked with their expression. Eventually they can just make the same facial expression, and you can't help laughing.

If, when young, you participated in family activities that gave you great pleasure, the pleasure was associated with the activity itself, so when you think of the activity or are reminded of it you tend to re-experience some pleasurable feeling.

Flicking through an old family photo album stirs pleasant memories and some of the feelings associated with them.

A child's comforter in an unfamiliar situation.

An old love song re-awakens a romantic mood.

The smell of freshly baked apple pies brings back memories of a happy carefree childhood.

Revisiting an old school or a place with powerful memories

There are certain speculations as to what criteria must be met before an Anchor can be properly formed. Most agree that the trigger must be

It is also important that reinforcement of an anchor (in other words, repeated formation with the aim of reinforcement) should have a "break" between each repeat, since the neurological "lesson" is quite capable of working either way, and only one way is desired. In such instances precision and structure may determine the difference between success and failure.

Usage

NLP-style anchoring is a process that goes on around and within us all the time, whether we are aware of it or not. Most of the time we are not consciously aware of why we feel as we do - indeed we may not realize we have responded in some cases, which makes it a much more powerful force in our lives.

An unusual use of anchoring was studied by Ellen Langer in her study of two groups of 75-80 year old men at Harvard University. For 5 days, both groups were isolated at a retreat, with one group engaged in a series of tasks encouraging them to think about the past in general (to write an autobiography, to discuss the past etc), and the other group engaged in a series of tasks which anchored them back into a specific past time - they wrote an autobiography up to 1959, describing that time as "now", watched 1959 movies, had 1959 music playing on the "radios", and lived with only 1959 artefacts. Before and after the 5 days, both groups were studied on a number of criteria associated with aging. While the first group stayed constant or actually deteriorated on these criteria, the second group dramatically improved on physical health measures such as joint flexibility, vision, and muscle breadth, as well as on IQ tests. They were anchored back physically to being 50 years old, by the sights and sounds of 1959. (Langer, "Mindfulness", Addison Wesley 1989)

Anchoring is used in NLP to facilitate state management. When used this way, an anchor is created by a deliberately chosen stimulus and then linked by repetition to the desired state in order to provide easy access to that state at will. This may be used for Test Anxiety, overcoming fear, creating an emotional state such as happiness or determination, or to remind an individual the benefits of a healthy habit. In Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention Karin Jordan (2006) states that "after the preliminary assessment has been completed, the therapist should help the client develop an anchor. The anchor concept is rooted in neurolinguistic programming (Bandler & Grinder, 1979) and can serve as a tool used by clients to get a break from the traumatic event. To help the client work through traumatic events, an observable/concrete resource should be used as an anchor."[2]

Anchoring is also used by skillful film makers to evoke suspense in the audience. Think of your own psychological changes that occurred when you heard the soundtrack’s amplified, pounding heartbeat rhythm in the moments leading up to each of the appearances of the huge killer shark in the movie ‘Jaws.’ What anchor was established in you by the crescendo of the sound of the music meeting the shark? Did your heartbeat increase? Did your palms begin to sweat? Did you have to see the shark, or was the thumping music enough to start your slide to the edge of your seat? Likewise the finale of classical symphonies, or "mood music" such as romantic, climactic, or apprehensive in films. Leitmotivs — recurring themes — in music and literature also serve to restimulate a previously established response.

For trauma victims, sudden noises or movement can serve as terrifying anchors capable of recollecting the traumatic experience. In this context, amongst other approaches, NLP might be used in a slightly different way - to desensitize the stimulus and perhaps instead also sensitize it to some more neutral or positive feeling.

John Grinder and I were negotiating with the United States Army to create a series of new training models to improve effectiveness in a variety of areas. The general in charge arranged for us to meet with the appropriate officers to work out times, prices, locations, and so on. We met with them in a big conference room, arranged in a horseshoe. At the head of the table was a chair reserved for the general. It was clear that even without him there, his chair was the most powerful anchor in the room. All of the officers treated it with ultimate respect. It was where the decisions were made, where unquestioned commands were given. Both John and I made sure to walk over behind the general's chair, touching it and even eventually sitting in it. We did this until we had transferred to ourselves some of the responsiveness the officers had for the general and this symbol of him. When it was time for me to present the price I wanted, I stood next to the general's chair and told them in my most decisive, commanding voice and physiology what we wanted to be paid. Earlier we had dickered over the price but this time no one even questioned it. Because we had made use of the anchor of the general's chair, we were able to negotiate a fair price without spending time bantering back and forth. The negotiations were settled as if I had ordered them. (Anthony Robbins, "Unlimited Power", p.320)

Relationship therapy

Virginia Satir, the world famous marriage and family counselor, uses anchoring in her work all the time. Her results are outstanding. In modeling her, Bandler and Grinder noted the difference between her style and that of the traditional family therapist. When a couple comes in for therapy, many therapists believe that the underlying problem is the suppressed emotion and anger that the couple have for each other, and that it will help them to tell each other exactly how they feel about each other, all the things they are angry about and so on. If the therapist encourages them to deliver the message of anger with force and vigour, they create even stronger negative anchors tied just to the sight of each other's faces.

Instead of having them yell at each other, Virginia Satir has her patients look at each other as they did when they first fell in love. She asks them to speak to each other as they spoke when they first fell in love. And she continues throughout the session to stack positive anchors so that seeing each other's faces now causes them to feel great about each other. From this state, they can resolve their problems through clear communication, without harming the other person's feelings. In fact, they treat each other with so much caring and sensitivity that it sets up a new pattern, a new way to resolve problems in the future.[3]

I asked, "Is this why you got married? So you could argue? Is that what you were thinking about at the time?" Then I looked at him. I said, "When you first decided you wanted to spend your life with your wife, what was on your mind then?" Talk about something worth anchoring! Chheeeesssshhhh! Because I wanted that glow in his face, I anchored it. Then, every time she started to bring up a subject, I fired off [re-triggered] the anchor. he'd look at her with that look of passion. That will re-anchor the crap out of a relationship. I like that manoeuver. As I did this, the husband kept saying "I know you're anchoring me and it's not working." And she kept saying "It is working! It is working!" It's fun. [...] It wasn't about lost control. He was such a control freak he couldn't have some kinds of experiences he wanted. (Bandler, "Time for a change", p.133 - 134)

Political campaign usage

Throughout history, successful leaders have known how to make use of the cultural anchors around them. When a politician is "wrapping himself in the flag", he's trying to link himself to all the positive emotions that have been linked to the flag. At its best, that process can create a healthy common bond of patriotism and rapport. At its worst, anchoring can provide frightening displays of collective ugliness. Hitler had a genius for anchoring. He linked specific states of mind and emotion to the swastika, goosestepping troops and mass rallies. He put people in intense states and while he had them there, he consistently provided specific and unique stimuli--like raising his open hand in the gesture of heil--to call up all the emotion he had linked to them. He constantly used these tools to manipulate the emotions, and thus the states and behaviors, of a nation. Hitler linked positive, strong, proud emotions to Nazi symbols for party members. He also linked them to states of fear in his opponents. Did the swastika have the same meaning for a member of the Jewish community as it did for a stormtrooper? Obviously not. Yet, the Jewish community took this experience in history and created a powerful positive anchor that helped them build a nation and protect it under what would seem like impossible odds. The auditory anchor of "never again" that many Jewish people use puts them in a state of total commitment to do whatever it takes to protect their sovereign rights.

During the 1988 presidential campaign, U.S. Republican partisans began employing an unusually skillful use of language and advertising technique. The Willie Horton ads, for example, used an old NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP) technique of "Anchoring via Submodalities," linking Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis, at an unconscious level in the viewer’s mind, to Willie Horton by the use of color versus black-and-white footage, and background sound. After a few exposures to these psy-ops ads, people would "feel" Willie Horton when they "saw" Dukakis.
It was no accident. Toward the end of that campaign, I was presenting at an NLP conference in New York, and a colleague mentioned to me how the GOP had hired one of our mutual acquaintances to advise them on the tools of persuasion. [1]

References

  1. ^ Steinbach, A. (1984). Neurolinguistic programming: a systematic approach to change. Canadian Family Physician, 30, 147-50. PMC 2153995
  2. ^ Karin Jordan (2006) The Scripto-Trauma Genogram: Technique for Working with Trauma Survivors’ Intrusive Memories. Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention. Vol.6.1 Oxford University Press.
  3. ^ Robbins, Anthony (2001). Unlimited Power. Great Britain: Pocket Books. pp. 314–339. ISBN 9780743409391.