Spoken vs Reading

Spoken vs Reading Words

Ever believe you’re absolutely certain you’re right, but ask 3-4 folks around you just to be sure? “Excuse me but is it just me, or did the floor just move as-if
an earthquake hit New York?”

Your writer has been studying the influence of words on the human brain, speed reading, learning and memory, since 1959. My conclusion was nothing is a more
powerful persuader, convincer and closer than reading the written word. Agree?

Well, does written copy (text) trump the human voice as an influencer?

Intonation And Emphasis

Listening to a human voice with its distinct rhythms and tonality, is a totally different experience than reading the exact same words when spoken. Further, your three-pound coconut is moved-to-action by listening to a human voice almost twice-as-much compared to reading his/her same persuasive words.

When the human voice has a familiar intonation (lilt) to it, the sound produces likeability and believability. No one makes a major decision (says yes!) with someone they do not like or believe, agreed?

It is a psychological fact it is easier to say yes to a Southern salesperson if you are a native and reside in Atlanta, than the harsher auditory vocabulary of a native New Yorker. If you are persuading and influencing on Wall Street, your slow speaking style may offend the locals. Language and specific choice of words count, and so
does your tone and emphasis on key words.

Emotion And Imagination

We are moved to action (or no-action) by the emotions we feel based on the words registering in our brain. Wait – there is more. We must first imagine ourselves enjoying the benefits in-the-future from saying yes! in the present.

Our survey of students and executives (1,050) reveals before we make a serious purchase (not a container of milk and an apple) our brain produces mental-movies
experiencing the future fun of ownership.

For some it is the envy of neighbors when they see you driving up in a new Mercedes, or a flood of self-love and self-esteem by throwing an expensive party. Still others glow in the pride of a promotion or receipt of a hard-won graduate degree. It just feels good to have proof you are better than your peers.

Profound Fact: recent research indicates all age-groups studied, distrust and delete
emails almost ten-to-one compared to those they read. We value and are influenced
more by a personal telephone call, than the best website or blog by the leading expert. Aren’t you surprised? Sure, Email has its place, but if you wish to persuade
and influence, either meet in person, or introduce yourself by telephone and ask for
an appointment. Emails do not convince because of lack of emotional trust.

Metaphor, Analogy and Simile

Don’t get stressed, I checked with Webster’s before I knew the difference too.
There is brain magic in using words that make comparisons to something we
understand and have stored in our long-term (hippocampus) memory.

Secret: always (not sometimes) use examples folks understand when you attempt to influence them to your point of view. A lousy example (metaphor, analogy or simile)
is better than five-pages of high-class scientific explanation.

“She/he looked like a battleship and weighed as much”, is more descriptive than
all the statistics and explanations in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

“As a banker – he is Fort Knox personified.” You can picture in your mind’s eye.

Coda: an analogy and simile are like something else (battleship); metaphor is not
like the real thing but has something is common (looks, personality, character).
The banker is not the place, Ft. Knox the storage facility for U.S. gold. He has in
common with Ft. Knox safety and security of wealth.

Remember, your brain needs to fish in the waters of your memory to understand
the meaning of the three words, metaphor, analogy and simile. No one is convinced
by hearing or reading words they do not comprehend.

Memory is the mental filing cabinet for old ideas we understand, and link with new ideas we want to learn. It is called the law of Association.

Decision by Emotions

Ask the first fifty (50) folks you meet if they make decision by reason and logic or
by their feelings (emotions) and see what they say.

We found 48 voted for reason and logic and 2 for emotion. Bull. A fMRI (functional
magnetic resonance imagery) indicates 100% of the time our brain uses our Limbic
System (the hippocampus, amygdala and hypothalamus) and our frontal and temporal lobes to make decisions. Uh, that means how they feel.

Decisions are based on our feelings and reinforced by a patina of analysis and reason. We tell the world we did our due-diligence and made an informed decision,
but go by our visceral (gut) reactions because they just plain feel right.

Talk Fast

Sure, someone who is a fast-talker threatens us. It’s a cliché that fast-
talkers are con-men and out to steal out wallet. Truth: our brain is persuaded
by fast-talking compared to the pace of ordinary speech. It’s a neurological
fact and you should be aware of it when you wish to influence.

The average American reads with excellent comprehension 120 words per minute.
Slow as molasses – we call it snailing. The same person can listen to and fully comprehend up to 500 words per minute. Reading is more difficult for your brain
to create mental-movies and associations than listening.

Talk more and send less emails, memos and reports if you wish to communicate.
One-more-once: emotion, not your brilliant reasoning, produces behavioral changes
in folks. They have to feel they are losing out before they leave their comfort-zone, status-quo, and homeostasis (balance, equilibrium).

The first step in producing change is disrupting your comfort-zone. No change is
ever produced by being fat-and-happy. There is safety and security in the status-quo, the known element, and change is frightening and perhaps dangerous.

The scientific research offers significant evidence, the faster-speech (spoken-word)
produces up to 34% greater action. You can persuade one-third more people by words spoken rapidly (talk) than the printed appeal.

Get-this: we all pay (up to 50%) more attention to how and what we feel, than to what we think about the decisions we have to make.

You ear absorbs what it hears; your eye analyzes and deconstructs like a mathematician. Guess which produces results and influences? Right, your ears.

Endwords: Would it improve your schooling and career to be able to read-and-remember three (3) books, articles and reports in the time your peers can hardly
finish one? It is called speed reading and speed learning. Ask us how –now.

See ya,
copyright © 2008
H. Bernard Wechsler
www.speedlearning.org
hbw@speedlearning.org
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