Social Engineering - Christopher Hadnagy [121]
Anything that can alter people’s perceptions or the way they make decisions can be called framing. A friend tells you that last week she went to town and took a certain route that was backed up for 10 miles due to some construction. You might then take a longer route to avoid the potential delay, even though the news your friend shared is more than one week old.
Our minds are designed to not like “clutter” or chaos. When presented with things that are cluttered our brains will try to make order out of them. One interesting example of this is found in Figure 6-4.
Figure 6-4: Can you alter your reality frame to change what you see?
In your present frame, what is the background and what is the foreground? Your minds will insist on finding familiar patterns in things. We do it in clouds, space, and inanimate objects. Humans also tend to see faces in these things.
In Figure 6-4 can you alter your frame and change what is the image and what is the background? Try by focusing on the opposite of what you noticed first.
Another very interesting example of how human brains find order in chaos can be illustrated in an e-mail that circulated over the last few years that looked like this:
O lny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs psas it on !!
I am not sure whether this is actually Cambridge research, but the interesting part in that forwarded e-mail is how many of us who use English as our main language or are very proficient in reading English are probably able to read that paragraph without much effort, because our brains are very efficient at making order out of chaos.
Many times the framing is more subliminal. Companies use this in marketing in hopes that the subliminal messages will alter the target’s perception of their product. Many times companies will use subtle measures of framing to plant an idea.
For example, Figure 6-5 shows something you probably have seen many times.
Figure 6-5: Can you spot the frame?
After I show you this, you will never see the FedEx logo the same way again—there is an arrow in the FedEx logo. In an interview with the creator of the logo, he said he embedded the arrow in the logo to plant an idea about FedEx’s services. It is there to communicate movement, speed, and the dynamic nature of the company.
Did you find it yet? Look at Figure 6-6 where I outlined and circled the arrow.
Figure 6-6: The arrow indicates quality service that is always moving.
FedEx is not the only company that utilizes framing. For decades companies have been embedding messages into logos in an effort to frame the thinking of the viewer to remember, think, and view their company in the way they want. The next few figures show more examples.
Did you ever notice Amazon’s logo for its embedded framing message (see Figure 6-7)?
Figure 6-7: Do you see the smiling happy customer?
Amazon has two framed messages in its logo. One is the happiness you will feel as a customer, represented by the smile in the image, but the smile is also an arrow. That arrow points from A to Z, indicating the Amazon has everything from both points and in between.
Another great example is the Tostitos logo. This is a very social logo, as you can see in Figure 6-8.
Figure 6-8: Does this logo make you want to share a chip with someone?
The two T’s in the middle are people sharing a chip over a bowl of salsa. In 2004, Tostitos issued a press release that said, “Tostitos plays a role as a ‘social snack,’ helping to create connections between friends and families, whether it’s at a party, during