The Realities Of Unconscious Communication
Psychologist, George A Miller, first introduced what has since become locked-in lore back in 1956. It has to do with the “seven plus or minus two” premise of in awareness, thought retention. This is a representation of how many elements of experience people can hold consciously.
When it comes to those people listening to the radio, their paying conscious attention to what they are listening becomes a bit of a chore. Let’s just say a person is driving their car. They might be paying attention to the road – a good thing. They could be having an internal conversation. They could also be adjusting their seating position. They might be paying attention to a passenger or the kids or the dog or all of those. They could be noticing an amber light or somebody making a turn into their lane. They could become aware of an itch or another bodily development.
Now, please appreciate: All of these elements are requiring that attention be paid and all are happening in evolving time. None of these are events, but rather processes. Add to all that – the radio station. Even that is not a singular element. That is because what is being communicated involves the triggering of our many sensory capacities.
It’s not about just hearing the radio – it’s about processing the information or other on-air elements, like the music. Even as that is happening, we could also be having another internal chat by commenting on what we are hearing. And then there is the frequency change the listener undertakes when they get tired of the commercial phusterclucks. All of these draw our attention – even if only momentarily. So, a reader can appreciate when all of these possibilities reach the “seven plus or minus two” threshold.
Now, I do appreciate where, from time to time, the radio catches our attention and becomes one of the “plus or minus two” experiences in our awareness, but those occasions, especially in the spoken word environments, are actually quite rare. Shabby commentary and shoddy commercials will drive those elements into a listener’s unconscious realm in one hell of a hurry.
Our conscious minds are easily overwhelmed. Everything else, then, drops into unconsciousness. Rather than the iceberg analogy where 10 percent of the bulk is above the surface and 90 percent is below the surface, I prefer the analogy of a rapidly evolving and changing lava lamp to represent conscious/unconscious processing. Elements of experience rise to the level of awareness and are quickly replaced by other bits of experience.
Since language is processed exclusively at the unconscious level, it might be prudent for radio communicators to apply those linguistic elements and patterns that work best – at the unconscious level.
The materials I have been providing do, indeed, work best at the unconscious level of any given listener. The attempts at delivering price/product/benefits information into already-overwhelmed conscious minds are much more of a struggle than it has to be. Trying to get listeners paying attention to pure content - and in awareness - is a difficult enough chore, particularly given the “seven plus or minus” factor that is always in play.
Well-crafted radio communications, both on-air and in commercial content, are far more likely to have influence when targeted at listeners’ unconscious minds.
As a further reminder: Because listening to the radio is, primarily, a sub-dominant (right brain) neurological process, the more likely it is that most messaging will be limited to those capacities supplied almost exclusively to that hemisphere.
A slight irony would be that when broadcasters are listening, they are doing so by attempting to be objective, and would be applying dominant (left brain) capacities to the practice.
Failures to address these and the other strategies and methodologies I have been promoting will, I submit, assure that radio will continue to hold down fifth place on the list of desirable entertainment, informational and advertising media.
It would be wise to consider the “seven plus or minus two” factor as it is ubiquitous, but also pervasive in the accessing of electronic media, including radio.
Over the decades, radio has found what doesn’t work. Instead of reassessing and developing its skill-sets, radio has been doubling down and doing what hasn’t been working for decades, only they have been doing it harder.
Continuously delivering the least possible services that provides the least possible positive responses from our markets by presenters that are operating with the least education and acquired skills that are directed at audiences and advertisers, is hardly a recipe for many future successes. To the contrary, it is a recipe for an imminent demise.
Please note: I am inviting reader comments be sent to my email address (below).
Ronald T. Robinson
info@voicetalentguy.com