Trust in a bottle!

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian Psychologist who discovered or pioneered a theory of "conditioned reflex" In addition to other methods Pavlov recorded that a dog would salivate before being given food. He then conducted tests which involved using a stimulus such as ringing a bell just before he fed the dog. After repeating this procedure the dog then associated the sound of the bell with food. Pavlov then observed that the dog would salivate when the bell rang even if no food was present. This was a "conditioned reflex"

NLP (Neuro Lingusitic Programming) is a modern program of psychotherapy not generally accepted by the Psychology profession but embraced by Hypnotherapists, stage magicians and business training companies. I have studied NLP in depth over the years and adopted some of its methods with reasonable success whilst developing sales training programs for my staff. 

An important part of NLP is anchoring. This essentially follows the Pavlov theory in so far as an Anchor is a a memory or feeling triggered by the senses. For Instance, When I first visited Egypt I used Hawaiian Tropic tanning oil, whenever I smell the stuff now it takes me right back to that holiday in Egypt, the feeling, the ambience. It has become an Anchor for me. Whenever I hear "Bat out of hell" by Meatloaf it takes me back to being a kid at the Ice Rink, at the end of the night the speed skaters were allowed on, the lights were dimmed and Meatloaf was played, another Anchor.

A huge industry has now sprung up around these Anchors, Marketing gurus understand the concept well and use them to the full potential when selling to us.

It is amazing just how powerful our senses are in influencing how we feel and what we do. Supermarkets buy aromas to simulate the smell of freshly baked bread. They pump it into the air around the bread aisles to stimulate sales of fresh bread products.

I've spotted a couple of products lately when browsing through affiliate sites. One is Pheromone Spray and the other is Trust Spray. Both are targeted at men who are wanting to attract females although I did spot one that claimed to be specifically for Gays. How or if these sprays work I have no idea but they do rely on Anchoring facts to sell them.

The Pheromone spray seems straight forward, It would appear that we are each programmed to be attracted the the natural niff of our sexual opposites much as animals are. If pheromones can be reproduced in a laboratory then  it is perhaps safe to assume that they would attract the opposite sex, or a pack of randy dogs, or they may just make you smell as if you haven't showered all week! who knows?

I do not know what aroma is involved in these so called "Trust" sprays that would appeal generically. For instance, You may well have trusted your Uncle Bill as a child and he may well of had the smell of tobacco on him. This would subconsciously make you trust people who had a tobacco smell on them. But this doesn't mean the same smell would work for your friend. Their Uncle may have been very mean and cold and also had a smell of tobacco so for them the anchor would be reversed. The smell of tobacco on a person would make them avoid that person.

I'm using tobacco as an example, Kind Uncle Bill may have carried the smell of petrol or treacle toffee or Chanel, you get my point. that Anchor would be personal to you so how can a generic trust smell be produced?

NLP is a really interesting subject if you are involved with dealing with the public or selling or negotiating. Check it out.

What Anchors do you recognise in your life? A certain smell, a certain song,