Saturday, January 12, 2013

WORDS HAVE POWER....



Words Have Power..

I often cringe when I hear people say that they "took the power" from a word. Is that even possible?? Words have a powerful and undeniably overwhelming influence on us. Words have meanings; that in and of itself has power that can't be taken away.. A word has the power to change your life.

Words cannot change reality, but they can change how people perceive reality. Words change our relationships, our demeanor, our entire system of beliefs. Words create filters through which people view the world around them. Words change the perception of everything!

A single word can make the difference between liking a person and disliking that person. If a friend describes the person you are about to meet for the first time as untrustworthy, you will be predisposed to view that person as untrustworthy, regardless of the person's actual level of trustworthiness. The single word "untrustworthy" creates a filter, or "primacy effect", that predisposes you to view the person you are about to meet as untrustworthy. Thereafter, you will tend to view everything that person says or does as untrustworthy. Overcoming negative primacy is difficult but not impossible.

Conversely, if before meeting a person for the first time, a friend tells you that the person you are about to meet is friendly, then you will likely view that person as friendly, regardless of the person's degree of friendliness. If you meet the "friendly" person several times and do not experience friendliness, then you will tend to excuse away the unfriendly behavior.

An unfriendly person initially described as friendly gains an advantage from positive primacy because people tend to allow the unfriendly person multiple opportunities to demonstrate friendliness despite numerous displays of unfriendly behavior; where you are less likely to meet an untrustworthy person a second time because you perceive that person as untrustworthy, thereby reducing the probability of overcoming negative primacy.

Words have power. Choose them wisely.

MODELS: ELASHA C.
MUA: Dana Marie Garcia