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Principle 8: Construct a Contrast
The Concept
An Excerpt from Influencing Like Jesus
Digging Deeper: Examples of the Contrast Principle
The Concept
The difference between things
greatly influences our perceptions and decisions. That is, how we feel
about a situation, an idea, a person, or a product, depends on our
benchmark, our reference point—the thing to which we’re comparing it.
An Excerpt from
Influencing Like Jesus
Let me give you a
few everyday examples. When we look at the price tags on clothing or other goods, it says something
like: “Their price: $50, Our price: $39.99.” Contrasted against a
reference point of fifty bucks, $39.99 may seem like a good deal to us.
When you walk into a furniture store, you’ll encounter the more
expensive items first and then the less expensive items further back in
the store. Why? Contrast. After seeing a $2500 living room set, $999
doesn’t seem so bad. Had the store arranged its products from low price
to high price, the contrast principle would reduce rather than enhance
sales.
Another example: When buying a diamond, you’ll rarely see one on a white
background. On what does every diamond sit in almost every jewelry
store? A black background, right? The visual contrast makes it look far
more dazzling.
This is not just a principle for salespeople, though. We see the
contrast principle in operation, sadly, through the growing problem of
Internet pornography. Against the backdrop of younger, thinner, less
inhibited women, a guy’s view of his wife changes—guaranteed. “She just
doesn’t measure up,” he thinks. “Not even close. She’s not nearly as
attractive or exciting as so many other women out there in the world.
I really got ripped off.”
He might as well feed poison to the marriage. The cyber-contrast has the
same toxic effect.
However, the
principle can work just as powerfully to strengthen our relationships.
When we almost lose someone we care about—or even if we genuinely think
about that possibility—we get a chilling glimpse of what life would be
like without that person. How much worse things could be becomes
our new reference point, eclipsing the old reference point of how much
better things could be. As a result, appreciation floods the
relationship and it may be a long time before we again take this person
for granted.
To read more, purchase Influencing
Like Jesus
Digging Deeper:
Examples of the Contrast Principle
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The Contrast Principle in Advertisements |
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Part 1
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Part 2
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Punchcut Web Site Design:
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Managing customer perception
Ever been to
a restaurant where the food is falling off the plate? Pretty
generous portion, right? Maybe not. Some restaurants have simply
reduced their plate size to manage customers' perceptions of the
value they're receiving.
Same with some
burger places: same meat, smaller bun. Pretty clever, huh? It's
the contrast principle in action.
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Managing mom's perception
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Managing mom and dad's perception
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Managing employee perceptions
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A Chaplain's Prayer
This
may be among the most controversial and poignant of public
prayers in modern history. Pastor Joe Wright delivered this
prayer before the Kansas State Legislature on January 23, 1996. Notice the countless contrasts:
Click here for the audio version of this prayer
Heavenly
Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and
seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe
to those who call evil good," but that’s exactly what we have
done.
We have
lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
We confess
that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and
called it moral pluralism.
We have
worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
We have
endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
We have
exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have
neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
We have
rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have
killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have
shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have
neglected to discipline our children and called it building
self-esteem.
We have
abused power and called it political savvy.
We have
coveted our neighbors’ possessions and called it ambition.
We have
polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it
freedom of expression.
We have
ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called
it enlightenment.
Search us,
O God, and know our hearts today. Try us and see if there be
some wicked way in us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us
free.
Guide and
bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people
of Kansas, and who have been ordained by You, to govern this
great state. Grant them Your wisdom to rule and may their
decisions direct us to the center of Your will. I ask it in the
name of Your Son, the Living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen
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Permanent Change: The
power of gratitude
There’s power in seeing what you have rather than
what you don’t have. This study of over 5,000 Christians
confirms that changing our frame of reference (i.e., creating a
new contrast) may be among the fastest pathways to permanent
change, including greater peace, joy, and love.
Read the article on ChristianityToday.com
Along the same lines, consider this comic:
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Coping with our trials
“For I consider that the
sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the
glory that is going to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18)
See the contrast Paul is using? The first part
of the verse is set against the second part; that is, the
temporal sufferings we experience are set against an eternal
life in paradise.
That matters a whole lot to
the original audience, a group of severely persecuted Roman
Christians. Paul didn’t tell this group to combat persecution or
to run from it. He taught them to think about it differently, to
keep it in proper perspective, to contrast it with an infinite
inheritance of joy. Perhaps we should do the same.
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Click here to purchase Influencing
Like Jesus
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