Inception In Real Life
I wrote this little idea out a few years ago, but it’s something I still think about, and I don’t think a lot of people realize that the concept of Inception is present in everyday life.
What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Even though the movie Inception is based upon the abstract idea of dream sharing, the concept of implanting an idea in somebody’s mind exists in real life. My first thoughts about the idea of Inception began during my CJ 491 class when we discussed the idea of positioning, which can be broken into three types:
• Positioning: the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization.
• Re-Positioning: involves changing the identity of a product, relative to the identity of competing products, in the collective minds of the target market.
• De-Positioning: involves attempting to change the identity of competing products, relative to the identity of your own product, in the collective minds of the target market.
My professor made me think of Inception when he described positioning by saying, “We aren’t changing products, but the perception of the product. We try to change how people think about things so that when they do something they don’t even know why they do it.”
One of the best examples of inception in advertising is that of the Cheerios brand name. Cheerios made itself stand out from other oat based cereals because it can, “Help lower cholesterol.” Lowering cholesterol is almost synonymous with Cheerios, and the claim would seem to warrant the price difference between Cheerios and generic brands. The thing is, all oat based cereals lower cholesterol, Cheerios just saw that they had a chance to change how people thought of their brand by making a claim that would imbed itself in their minds. Since Cheerios was the first brand to claim that it’s cereal lowers your cholesterol, we believe their claim and dismiss other brands as “knock-offs” or inferior. This concept is called a U.S.P. or, Unique Selling Proposition which states that advertisements must make a proposition to the consumer (show a benefit), the proposition must be unique to the brand or product category, and the proposition must be able to move millions. It is because of U.S.P.s positioning must be used to get other products into our minds.
This got me thinking; the concept of Inception is not limited to advertising. It can be frequently seen in advice and criticism. Some examples of advice where inception can be seen are:
• “He/she isn’t right for you”
• “You’re too weak/small.”
• “You aren’t good enough.”
• “You’re a great person.”
• “You’re the best.”
• Virtually any other advice, positive or negative.
Granted, it isn’t guaranteed that inception will take place, because it shouldn’t be very easy to do, but it is possible. One thing that occurs to combat inception is rejection. For example: If you are in a relationship with someone and a friend says, “You two aren’t right for each other, you should break up.” You probably aren’t going to listen to the advice, and are going to reject it. However, once the thought is brought up it is possible that it will be sealed away in the back of your mind until you find a reason to awaken it again. If you start to ponder the thought of the person not being right for you, you may actually end up believing the thought and taking action as a result. If you begin to think the person is not right for you in a greater frequency over time, your thoughts will tend to skew towards believing the concept rather than the idea of your relationship being fine.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “If you tell/hear a lie long enough you tend to believe it?” Well, inception works just like that. That’s what the idea of dream levels is all about in the film-you start off with a simple enough idea and let it grow and evolve as it marinates in the person’s mind. Repetition also means inception is more likely to occur and you are more likely to accept an idea as one of your own. The concept of repetition also comes into play because like Cobb says in the movie, ideas are “resilient.” It’s likely that you are going to reject an idea that your mind is in direct conflict with, but the resilience of the idea after hearing it over and over may lead to you accept it in the end.
Inception can work in everyday life, but you don’t always see it. If you look back on decisions you have made, you may be able to decipher which ones were made out of your own thoughts or the thoughts of others. Either way, it’s interesting to think that a movie based upon such an “abstract” idea actually holds some truth in real life.