How Embedded Commands

Influence Reader Awareness

Special Note: This report was written in a rather “scholarly” format
for the purpose of presenting these strategies to the academic
community. This report will teach you the reasons these
types of Influence strategies work. Enjoy!

Influencing people with language has been the object of study since at least the 5 th century B.C.,
when the early Greeks developed the science of rhetoric as a way of persuading people. The
following data is based on experimental findings in social psychology and information-processing
theory.

Embedded commands are sophisticated techniques for communicating with readers subliminally,
to help satisfy the needs of both the reader and the writer. They are hidden suggestions that fit
into the sentence without calling attention to their existence. They are designed to create positive
reader expectancies, while reducing the internal resistance of the reader and enhancing
movement towards successful closure. Some of the forms these subliminal persuaders might
take include:

 Use of italics
 Underlined words

 Hidden suggestions in a quote

 Embedded questions

 Implications

 Presuppositions

 Implied cause and effect statements

 Hidden double binds

 Embedded indirect commands within an anecdote

 Word associations

 Affect bridges

 Use of ambiguity

 Analogy

 Multiple-level communication
  Polarized yes/no responses

 Yes-sets

 Use of partial remarks

Embedded commands are composed of small segments of larger statements, which are marked
out for the attention of the reader’s unconscious mind. Like post-hypnotic suggestions, subliminal
commands evade scrutiny by normal waking consciousness and are retained in unconscious
secondary memory, and may influence subsequent behavior without the reader being aware of
what is determining his responses (Dixon, 1981)

According to Johnson (1988), embedded commands can reinforce potential behavior and help
the reader come to a faster decision. These hidden commands are used effectively and
frequently in newspaper and television advertising. In Buick commercials we hear “wouldn’t you
really rather “have a Buick?” Of course, the embedded command used in the sentence is “have a
Buick.”

According to a study conducted at Harvard University and reported by Johnson (1988), certain
trigger words have a positive impact on motivating people to take action. Using subliminal
commands acts similarly to these motivating triggers.

How Embedded Commands Work

The purpose of embedded commands is to by-pass the observing critical ego, to direct inner
experience while modifying the reader’s awareness, and finally, to help alter his point of view on
the topic presented. Utilizing both indirect and covert modification of reader attention, the casual
writing style weaves suggestions for conscious alterations of reader awareness. The use of slight
confusion depotentiates the reader’s habitual frame of reference. Then, as the reader follows the
dialogue, the acquisition of right hemispheric functioning begins providing modifications of internal
images. The writer’s use of questions, and direct and indirect suggestions, creates expectancies
of behavioral changes in the reader. These implications to the reader’s subconscious mind help
create an internal reality that is amenable to further modification using the linguistic techniques
described above (Erickson and Rossi, 1979).

Thus, through a consistent series of linguistic maneuvers, the reader is taken further and further
away from a rigid and resistant frame of reference and closer and closer to an ‘open-mindedness’
regarding the outcomes suggested by the writer.

Watzlawick (1985) describes the use of these linguistic patterns as practicing hypnotherapy
without trance, and states “the use of these linguistic structures has a virtual hypnotic effect.”

Some Examples and Suggestions

Any and all of the techniques centered around the use of suggestions and language patterns
contained in my Home Study course will increase the power of your writing exponentially. Care
needs to be taken so as not to “load up” your writing with too many commands and language
patterns.

Some of the better patterns to use are:

A. Embedded Commands
 B. Cause and Effect and Implied Cause and Effect

C. Single Binds

D. Any and all of the 18 most powerful words (Presuppositions)

E. Pacing and Leading

F. Time-released Suggestions/ Future-Pacing

Here are some examples of the use of Embedded Commands, along with some additional
language patterns. Embedded Commands are marked out by both bolding and italicizing the
commands. Note that the commands make sense on their own.

1. As you read this information, letting your eyes follow each word, you’ll discover the
benefits of how this information can significantly make your life easier.
2. The ability to eliminate resistance in learning to persuade is paramount. In fact, the
more you understand how to make someone believe in these concepts, the more
success you’ll have in getting them to do what you want.
3. Reading this information enables you to understand why you are starting to become
convinced that you should take the kind of action I’m suggesting you take and to do it
now!
4. Thank you for having read this so far. Having done this identifies you as the kind of
person who really wants to get ahead and is willing to take the kind of action necessary
for that to happen. As you become aware of just how powerfully this information has
affected you, now and into the future, have you decided just what will continue to signal
you and remind you of your excitement about this? I could suggest that getting in your
car, or talking with a business associate or friend, or just sitting and relaxing will be the
signal that creates this – however – I think that you should decide for yourself what will
cause that to happen.
5. Of the three most powerful techniques for persuading other, the one I’d like you to learn
quickly is the subtle use of Verbal Pacing and Leading. In doing this, you can
experience results fast so that your writing takes on a much more powerful and
compelling personality. As this starts to take place and you find yourself starting to feel
great about your ability, remember to use this knowledge more and more and also in all
that you write that will be used to influence others.

Why You Should Use Embedded Commands In Your Writing

The literature is rich in experimental evidence in the area of subliminal perception (Zeig, 1985).
This body of data suggests that information can be processed without conscious awareness. The
research in subliminal perception indicates that a stimulus of which the individual is unaware can
elicit a response. Experimental psychology research supports the view that the unconscious mind
can work autonomously and lead to behavioral change, without conscious awareness (Erickson,
Rossi, and Rossi, 1976).

Embedded commands can circumvent and go beyond ego-defense boundaries. Defense

mechanisms/resistance, exist within a linguistic framework, and therefore, alterations of
resistance can be accomplished linguistically.
Wester (1985), reports these methods are extremely effective. The effectiveness of cognitive
behavior therapy, which is related to these techniques, is well documented, (Maultsby and Ellis,
1974, Wilson, 1977, Meichenbaum, 1977).

As Wester further states convincingly, “imagery techniques and cognitive restructuring methods
are actually hypnotic and we have mountainous evidence as to its efficacy, and in professional
consulting, pragmatism is paramount, that which has been accepted at least since the early
1940’s has a validity that would be foolish to dismiss. When hypnosis is applied naturalistically, it
may be used effectively by business people at all levels.”

Embedded Commands Can Improve Your Marketing Letters

The use of embedded commands allows the writer to:

 By-pass reader resistance

 Covertly give instructions

 Persuade on both conscious and unconscious levels

 Create positive reader expectancies

 Reduce the internal resistance of the reader

 Enhance movement towards successful closure

 Influence subsequent behavior without the reader being aware of what is determining his
responses

 Help the reader come to a faster decision

 Motivate the reader to take action

Increases of 10-20% in the effectiveness of your marketing letters would not be an unrealistic
expectation.

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