Lists of Words to Describe Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Representations

When you want to educate your fellow non-Muslims about the terrifying brilliance of Islam, you will have the best chance of getting through if you gain strong rapport with the person first. One way to help you gain rapport is to notice which representational system they favor and present your information in those terms (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic). To give you a better idea of which words indicate which representational system, here are some lists of words:

VISUAL WORDS:
see
an eyeful
short sighted
sight for sore eyes
take a peek
tunnel vision
bird’s eye view
naked eye
paint a picture
look
bright
clear
picture
foggy
view
clear
focused
dawn
reveal
illuminate
imagine
hazy

AUDITORY WORDS:
hear
hush
roar
melody
make music
harmonize
tune in/out
rings a bell
quiet as a mouse
voiced an opinion
clear as a bell
give me your ear
loud and clear
purrs like a kitten
on another note
tell
sound
resonate
listen
silence
deaf
squeak

KINESTHETIC WORDS:
feel
touch
get hold of
catch on
tap into
heated argument
pull some strings
sharp as a tack
smooth operator
make contact
throw out
firm foundation
get a handle on
get in touch with
hand in hand
hang in there
grasp
hard
unfeeling
concrete
scrape
solid

Read more about how to use this rapport-building technique: Improve Your Persuasion Powers By Speaking Their Language.

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Making it Public Makes it Harder to Change

In an article entitled, Bias for Confirmation, we find this useful little tidbit:

In an experiment, people were asked to determine the length of a line. One group was told to decide how long the lines were in their heads; another group was told to write it on a Magic Pad (pads for children that erase what you write when you lift up the top sheet) and then erase it before anyone saw it; and a third group was told to write their conclusions on a piece of paper, sign it, and give it to the researcher.

Then the subjects were given information indicating their first conclusion was wrong, and they were given an opportunity to change their decision. Those who decided in their heads changed their conclusions the easiest; those who wrote it on the Magic Pad were more reluctant to change their minds; and those who declared their conclusions publicly remained most convinced their first conclusion was correct.

Their feeling of certainty was an illusion; it wasn’t related to their conclusion’s accuracy. It was being influenced by another factor — how publicly they had made their conclusions.

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