Influence Tip: Ask the Right Ear for a Favor

One of my hypnosis teachers, Dave Dobson, used to conversationally give his clients unconscious minds suggestions while looking at the person's right ear. It turns out that he really might have been on to something. Research done in Italy showed that it made a noticeabledifference which ear was spoken into when they asked someone for a small favor.

A request spoken into the right ear resulted in a much higher positive response than the same request spoken into the left ear. They concluded that the higher number of positive responses to a request spoken into the right ear had to do with the difference in information processing between the two sides of the brain. Words spoken into the right ear are processed by the left side of the brain which is more logical, and which has localized areas for understanding language.

This information is particularly useful for those of us who use hypnosis, of course. As this information becomes more widely known, we can expect to find hypnotherapists rearranging the furniture in their offices so that they are sitting to the right of their clients. Hypnotherapists are always looking for ways to make their more effective. And, of course, teenagers will be asking Dad's right ear for that new and fancier laptop like everyone else has.