What is the main message of Fascinate?

The main message of Fascinate is how to wield influence with irresistible fascination.

Who is the author of Fascinate?

Sally Hogshead is the author of Fascinate.

Personal Development

Fascinate Book Summary - Fascinate Book explained in key points

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Fascinate summary

Name: Fascinate
Rating: 3.6 (226 reviews)
Author: Sally Hogshead

Sally Hogshead

Your Seven Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation

3.6 (226 ratings)

26 mins

Brief summary

Fascinate by Sally Hogshead explores the science behind fascination and how to use it to strengthen personal and business relationships; it provides tips and insights for creating a captivating brand and standing out in a crowded market.

Topics

Neuromarketing Persuasion Branding

Table of Contents

Fascinate
Summary of 11 key ideas

Audio & text in the Blinkist app

Key idea 1 of 11

What’s in it for me? Discover how to make yourself or your company more fascinating in just eleven blinks!

Most people would like to become more fascinating – as would most companies and brands. Behind this desire is an awareness that fascinating others is essential to attracting and persuading them. In other words, we know that fascination can help us get what we want.

Author Sally Hogshead identifies the seven “triggers” of fascination – Lust, Mystique, Alarm, Prestige, Power, Vice and Trust – and explains that learning how to use these triggers is key to maximizing your fascination potential, and thus becoming more persuasive.

It’s easier than you might first think, as each of us has the innate ability to be fascinating. And, perhaps surprisingly, we’re all using these triggers already, without even knowing it.

In these blinks, you’ll read about how popular companies make use of fascination triggers. You’ll also find a three-step guide to adapting these triggers to support your company’s goals.

Also in these eleven blinks, you’ll discover:

which restaurant kicks out paying customers for ordering the “wrong” meal;
how a secret recipe was instrumental to Coca-Cola’s success;
why you often spend a silly amount of money on a single piece of clothing; and
why a teenager might fear losing his driver’s license more than dying in a car crash.

Each one of us naturally has the ability to fascinate and be fascinated.

We’ve all been fascinated by something: a piece of music, a meteor shower, an intelligent and beautiful person.

But what is fascination?

To be fascinated can be defined as a moment of total fixation on a particular thing. Where, though, does fascination come from? And why do we experience it?

Our capacity for fascination is a product of human evolution – put simply, it evolved to help our ancestors survive.

Consider the rest of the animal kingdom. To survive, animals too have to fascinate and be fascinated. The peacock’s colorful fan is noticed and judged by the peahen, and the most impressive fan – the one which fascinates her – will belong to the peacock that will father her peachicks.

A capacity for fascination is a trait that continues to play an important social role: it helps us to develop social ties.

In a study, researchers showed babies a series of pictures, some of them depicting human faces. Interestingly, whenever a picture of a face came up, the baby stared at it much longer (up to twice as long) than at the other pictures.

Why? We’re fascinated with faces at such a young age because it helps us to establish and develop close social bonds with others.

However, our innate capacity for experiencing fascination is just one side of the story; we have also an inborn desire and ability to be fascinating ourselves.

Just like the peacock, we desire and aim to attract others by fascinating them. Flirting, for example, is a universal and innate ability to fascinate others. It doesn’t matter which culture, language or religion we examine; everyone knows instinctively exactly how to fascinate, without needing to be taught.

Yet, just because we all know how to be fascinating, this doesn’t mean that we always do it well! You can reach your full potential for fascination by learning about the seven triggers of fascination.

Lust is what we feel when we anticipate a pleasure; it also makes us act irrationally.

You’re at a dinner party. As the evening winds down, you notice there’s one piece of chocolate left on the table. No one else seems to want it, but you don’t want to be the one to take it. Yet you can’t stop thinking about how the chocolate would taste, how it would feel as it melts on your tongue.

What’s behind that craving? Lust.

Mystique fascinates us, as we’re always interested in figuring out an unsolved mystery.

Whether we’re engrossed in a “whodunit” or scanning the morning headlines, an unsolved murder is something that captures our imagination.

A lack of facts around a case prompts speculation, engaging your imagination and desire to figure out what might have occurred. But why does this happen?

We are fascinated by things that threaten or alarm us.

Filling out a tax form isn’t the most enjoyable thing to do – which is precisely why so many people put it off until the last minute! However, when you realize that you have just two days left to file, that tax form and the task of completing it becomes instantly fascinating.

Why? Because as soon as you feel the imminent threat of serious consequences, you become alarmed, and this triggers your sense of fascination.

Prestige is the fascination with a promise of raised rank and respect in society.

Have you ever noticed how many popular magazines and TV shows feature vastly wealthy people with massive houses and wildly expensive sports cars?

If so, you might also wonder why it is exactly that such shows and magazines are so incredibly popular.

People are fascinated by power, whether it’s used to dominate or merely persuade others.

For millennia, power has triggered our fascination: philosophers spend time trying to define it, and governments spend money and energy finding ways to monopolize it.

But we don’t have to think of power in such grand terms. Instead, we can use the word to refer to any attempt to control someone else. With this, a dictatorship that limits its citizens’ right to free assembly exists on the same spectrum as parents who limit their teenager’s access to the family car.

Vice is the trigger that makes us crave what is forbidden or frowned upon.

In the 1920s, the United States government enacted Prohibition, making alcohol illegal to consume or sell. Was this move effective in dulling people’s desire to drink alcohol, to make it less fascinating?

Certainly not! In fact, during Prohibition, the consumption of alcoholic beverages actually increased.

Trust makes us appreciate reliable and consistent options.

What’s the secret to the global popularity of McDonald’s, Burger King, Starbucks and so on?

In a word, trust – the last of the seven triggers of fascination which we’ll examine. Along with trust comes the comforting feeling of familiarity.

Evaluate yourself or your company to discover your fascination potential.

Now that you’ve learned about the seven triggers and how they can be used to improve a company’s reputation, you’re probably eager to try them out for yourself.

There are three steps necessary in the process of making your company more fascinating: Evaluation, Development and Execution.

Find the perfect way to fascinate by getting creative with triggers and developing ideas.

Now that you’ve discovered your current level of fascination, it’s time to develop ideas that will make you even more fascinating.

This part of the process is a creative one, in that you are aiming to find the perfect combination of triggers to increase your fascination.

To execute your ideas, you must convince others and establish specific goals.

At this point, having discovered your most effective triggers and developed some great ideas for combining them, you now know exactly how to use your strengths to become as fascinating as possible.

There’s just one final thing for you to do: bring those ideas to life!

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What is Fascinate about?

In Fascinate, author Sally Hogshead helps us realize our potential for fascination. By explaining in vivid language exactly how fascination works and how you can trigger it in others, Fascinate provides you, your company and your brand with the tools to fascinate. These “seven triggers of fascination” can help you to increase the odds of success, both in your personal life and in business.

Fascinate Review

Fascinate (2010) by Sally Hogshead is a book that explores the psychology of fascination and offers practical insights on how to captivate others in both personal and professional settings. Here's why this book is worth reading:

Offers a fresh perspective on how individuals and brands can stand out and make a lasting impression in a world filled with distractions.
Provides a holistic approach to understanding the science behind fascination, backed by research and real-world examples.
Encourages readers to embrace their own unique strengths and qualities, helping them unlock their potential to become incredibly compelling and influential individuals.

Best quote from Fascinate

Lust conquers the rational evaluation process, freeing us to stop thinking and start feeling.

—Sally Hogshead

Who should read Fascinate?

Anyone who owns or works at a company interested in improving its reputation
Anyone who’d like to improve their own ability to fascinate others
Students of psychology interested in the concept of human fascination

About the Author

Sally Hogshead is one of the leading marketers and advertising writers in the United States and develops marketing strategies for leading companies such as Starbucks and Microsoft. Hogshead graduated from Duke University and founded her own advertising agency when she was just 27 years old.

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Personal Development Motivation & Inspiration

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