An anchor is simply a stimulus that is linked to a physiological state. When the anchor is fired (the stimulus activated) the linked physiological state is triggered. Anchors can be naturally occurring through association by classical or operant conditioning or they can be programmed. Anchors are a great way to achieve desired states when they are needed, such as confidence before having to speak to an audience.
The case of little Albert, a study by Watson and Raynor in 1920 was a famous demonstration of anchoring in action that sadly went terribly wrong. The experiment carried out on an 11-month-old baby (Albert) was supposed to demonstrate how phobia’s can be conditioned. Albert was shown a rat of which he showed no fear. However, each time he reached out to touch the rat, the experimenters banged two pieces of metal together making a loud noise that scared Albert. Albert soon associated the sight of the rat with the scared sensation and quickly learnt to fear it. This fear was then generalized to other objects that resembled the rat, such as cotton wool and fluffy toys. Albert had developed a strong anchor between a stimulus (anything that resembled a rat) and a response (feeling scared). The experimenters had then intended on using similar techniques to allow Albert to unlearn the feared response. Unfortunately it was at this time that Albert’s parents became too concerned about his well being and withdrew him form the experiment. Albert left the experiment with a very powerful anchor demonstrating the awesome power of simple association.
This study demonstrates how powerful anchors can be. Other famous experiments such as Pavlov's salivating dog illustrate the power of association. Natural anchors are fired all the time, smells, a favorite song or even finding an old childhood toy can bring about a flood of memories fully charged with emotions perhaps not felt for a lifetime!
Anchoring is used to great affect in TV commercials to make products more appealing. The advertisers encourage positive feelings of happiness by playing favorite records and using appealing scenes, actors or colors. As you innocently watch the TV feeling great because your all time favorite song is caressing your ears. You begin to associate the feeling with the product on the screen. Pretty soon all it takes is a single glance at the product and all those lovely feelings come flooding back. The deal is clenched as you walk through the supermarket, the product proudly displayed on the shelf waiting to trigger you emotions… you see it…. you feel great… you buy it!
It is easier to learn how to create an anchor by actually doing it. So I will run through the steps of creating an anchor here as I create one for myself.
First you need to choose a state or resource that you would like to have instant access to. I, like many people, am not too comfortable with public speaking… so lets use confidence. Confidence would be the required resource that would greatly aid my public speaking problem.
Next I think back to a time when I was extremely confident…. OK, got one! …..I am 14 yrs old at the local fair ground about to win a huge soft toy for someone I have had a crush on since primary school…. To win I need to hit three playing cards with darts, I have always been a good darts thrower and very confident I am going to win… which I did, and my skill was rewarded by my first real kiss! My confidence bucket was well and truly overflowing!
Before I reach the peak of the experience (that’s the point when the last dark hit the board and I knew I had won… and the resulting prize!!) I need to choose my anchors. Kinesthetically I choose to clench my left fist (I would choose both fists but I might be carrying something when I need to activate the trigger!) as an auditory cue I will say the word CONFIDENT is a positive and confident tone. For a visual cue I have selected the image of an audience looking up at me, it is an easy visualization and is likely to be present when I need my confidence boost the most!
With my anchors ready I get back to the fair ground, really getting into it and seeing through those eyes and feeling those emotions as I did on that day… My confidence builds as I run through the chain of events. As the last darts hits I am feeling more confident then any other time in my life! The moment the confident feeling hits its peak… (Oh. she’s about to kiss me!) I fire all three anchors at once! “CONFIDENT!”
Now that the anchor is installed I break the state, by walking around and thinking of unrelated thoughts etc. Next I trigger the anchor to see if it worked….
Give me a second... (Clenching left fist visualizing the audience and using that same positive confident tone… “CONFIDENT!” Excellent!! I do feel confident, and oddly enough the thought of having to give a speech is actually exciting, not scary!
So, that's how you can create an anchor! Play with it and enjoy it, once you have created your anchor test it out. If it is not as powerful as you hoped you can simply repeat the process, or, try stacking many resources on one anchor. Think of times when you have been happy, excited, confident, brave etc., Associate with the memory as described above and really feel those positive feelings come flooding back. At the peak of the experience fire off your anchor, using the same anchor to stack many states is an extremely powerful process.
Collapsing an anchor is a process that allows us to break our negative anchors. As mentioned, an anchor may be created naturally through association. If the anchor results in an undesirable state then we can use collapsing techniques to break the association.
To collapse an anchor you must first identify the problem state, and decide upon an alternative positive state to take its place. You then create the positive state anchor in the usual way. Once complete you must break state and then create an anchor for the negative state, so that both states are anchored and can be triggered easily.
After breaking state again you need to fire each state in turn without breaking state between. Finally fire both anchors at once… this will cause a little confusion while your physiology attempts to achieve both states simultaneously, now break the negative state but keep the positive state going.
To test the success of the collapse break state and fire the negative anchor, the result should be a neutral state, somewhere between the two states. If the negative state persists positive anchors can be stacked on the same anchor and the procedure repeated.
It is important to create a very powerful positive state, even if this requires stacking states together, as the positive state must be stronger than the negative state to collapse the negative anchor.
Change personal history allows us to change a way that a past event makes us feel. We first need to identify the negative state and create an anchor to this state. Then break state. Next, using the aid of the anchor, have the person go back to other times where this feeling has been present, encourage them to keep going back until they have found the earliest experience they are able. Now release the anchor, break state and bring the person back to the present.
Ask the person what resource they would have required at the time to avoid the negative experience, make sure this is their decision, different people may choose a different resource for similar situations.
Create a new anchor for the resource and, after testing it, take the person back to the experience while holding the positive resource anchor. Have them view the scene so that they can see themselves in it, rather than looking trough their own eyes (this is dissociation and allows a scene to be viewed without the emotions that are present during associated memories) have them watch how the scene plays out differently now that they have the resource.
Next have them step into the memory, seeing through their own eyes in an associated manner. Have them notice the reactions of others and how things have changed from the original memory.
Finally remove the anchor and break state, test by having the person recall the memory with no anchors present and notice how the negative state has changed due to the positive resource.
If the negative state persists then more resources can be stacked and the process repeated.