Anchoring is a technique used in
Neurolinguistic Programming to connect (or "anchor") a stimulus with a response. Simple anchoring is merely
Pavlovian/
classical conditioning, while more complex anchors use
operant conditioning. Neurolinguistic Programming uses conditioning in a more explicit way, often through visualization, than most other branches of
psychology.
This is one way advertisers try to get you to buy their product, ie. by putting supermodels in their advertisements to link their product with sexual excitement. It is also a popular way for televangelists and cult leaders to get followers.
Most learned behavior is initially learned through classical conditioning, then strengthened through operant conditioning.
Types of anchoring
Neurolinguistic programming has several types of anchoring.
- Basic anchoring (connect single stimulus with response)
- Collapsing anchors (connecting 2 or more responses to a single stimulus)
- Swish (replacing one response with another)
- Chaining states (using internal states as stimulus)
- and others...
Qualities of conditioned responses
The following characteristics are important for conditioned responses.
- Intensity of response (strong vs. weak)
- Purity of response (pure vs. mixed state)
- Uniqueness of response (generalized state vs. distinct state)
The basic process
- Elicit a state (ie. feel the response you want)
- When the state peaks, say a word in your mind that describes the state at the same time as you touch yourself in a unique way (eg. hand on wrist)
- Take a break, break state
- Imagine the stimulus you want to pair with the response.
- As you do this, say the word and do the touch from step 2.
- Repeat until it become automatic
Source: The Sourcebook of Magic: A Comprehensive Guide to the Technology of NLP by L. Michael Hall