Power of Mental Imagery | Page 5

their motions rather than the
people themselves which I see. I can feel myself getting on the train,
finding a seat, and sitting down. I cannot hear the noise of the train, but
can hear rather indistinctly the conductor calling the stations. I believe
my mental imagery is more motile (of movement) than anything else.
Although I can see some things quite plainly, I seem to feel the
movements most distinctly.'
"A very few in describing their images of the breakfast-table made
special mention of the taste of the food and of its odor. I have
discovered no one whose prevailing imagery is for either taste or smell.
With very many the image of touch is very vivid. They can imagine
just how velvet feels, how a fly feels on one's nose, the discomfort of a
tight shoe, and the pleasure of stroking a smooth marble surface."

HOW TO INFLUENCE OTHERS THROUGH MENTAL IMAGERY

[Illustration]
CHAPTER III
HOW TO INFLUENCE OTHERS THROUGH MENTAL IMAGERY
[Sidenote: A Rule for Influencing Others]
The practical importance of the fact of mental imagery and of the
individual differences in power of mental imagery is very great. They
should be particularly taken into account in any business or profession
in which one seeks to implant knowledge or conviction in the mind of
another.

[Sidenote: Application to Pedagogy]
The underlying principle in such cases is this: To the mind you are
seeking to convince or educate, present your facts in as many different
ways and as realistically as possible, so that there may be a variety of
images, each serving as a clue to prompt the memory.
We cannot do more at this point than indicate a few minor phases of the
practical application of the principles of mental imagery.
In the old days geography was taught simply with a book and maps.
Today children also use their hands in molding relief maps in sand or
clay, and mountains and rivers have acquired a meaning they never had
before.
In the days of the oral "spelling match" boys and girls were better
spellers than products of a later school system, because they used not
only the eye to see the printed word, the arm and hand to feel in writing
it, but also the ear to hear it and the vocal muscles to utter it. And
because of this fact oral spelling is being brought back to the
schoolroom.
[Sidenote: How to Sell Goods by Mental Imagery]
If you have pianos to advertise, do not limit your advertisement to a
beautiful picture of the mahogany case and general words telling the
reader that it is "the best." Pianos are musical instruments, and the
descriptive words should first of all call up delightful auditory images
in your reader's mind.
If you have for sale an article of food, do not simply tell your customer
how good it is. Let him see it, feel it, and particularly taste it, if you
want him to call for it the next time he enters your store.
[Sidenote: A Study of Advertisements]
Turn, for example, to the advertisement of a certain brand of chocolate,
facing page 6. The daintily spread table, the pretty girl, the steaming

cup, the evident satisfaction of the man, who looks accustomed to good
living,--these elements combine in a skilful appeal to the senses. Turn
now to another advertisement of this same brand of chocolate, shown
facing page 22. The purpose here is to inform you as to the large
quantity of cocoa beans roasted in the company's furnaces. Whether
this fact is of any consequence or not, the impression you get from the
picture is of a wheelbarrow full of something that looks like coal being
trundled by a dirty workman, while the shovel by the furnace door and
the cocoa beans scattered about the floor remind one of a begrimed iron
foundry.
[Sidenote: The Words that Create Desire]
The only words that will ever sell anything are graphic words,
picturesque words, words that call up distinct and definite mental
pictures of an attractive kind.
The more sensory images we have of any object the better we know it.
If you want to make a first impression lasting, make it vivid. It will then
photograph itself upon the memory and arouse the curiosity.
A boy who is a poor visualizer will never make a good artist. A man
who is a poor visualizer is out of place as a photographer or a picture
salesman.
[Sidenote: A Key for Selecting a Calling]
No person with weak auditory images should follow music as a
profession or attempt to sell phonographs or musical instruments or
become a telephone or telegraph operator or stenographer.
No man who can but faintly imagine the taste of things should try to
write advertisements