Monday, November 7, 2011

Dominic - Remembering Names & Faces

Dominic developed four (five) systems that he uses simultaneously to memorizes names and faces.

One
1) When you see someone for the first time relate them to someone who is familiar (say an aunt)
2) Location - Picture a location associated with your familiar person (aunt's house)
3) Name - Relate the name to the location.

ex)
So, say you are talking to Martin Van Buren, who reminds you of your uncle. Picture a martian in a van that is burning in the driveway of your uncle's house. When you associate Martin with your uncle you will picture his house and from the house you will see the burning van.

Two
1) If they do not look like anyone familiar, make a judgment about their "occupation" (lawyer, journalist etc)
2) Location - You meet a guy who reminds you of a car salesman, so picture a garage or a car show room
3) Name - Relate the name to the location

You can do this using the same example above using the location that they remind you of

Three
1) If they do not have a look alike and no occupation comes to mind create an artificial link, such as a distinguishing mark on their body
2) Location - Their physique becomes the location
3) Name - Relate their name to their distinguishing mark.

eg)
You get introduced to a Mrs. White who has really albino colored white hair. Picture yourself pouring a bucket of white paint on their head. This strategy should not be used very often because it is not as powerful as the rest

Four
1) Name - after hearing their name (Carol),(Jean),(George),(Cathy),(Leo) associate it with a location
2) Location - (Church),(Clothing store),(White House),(Mom's House!),(Titanic)
3) Last Name - Use the person's last name to create an image at that location with the person's face

If you are introduced to multiple people that have the same name, then you can easily combine the images together, or simply put them in different places at the location. This method is the strongest one.

3 comments:

  1. I am terrible with names and faces...always have been. I must try to put this into practice next time I am introduced to someone. Thank you :)

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  2. In psychology we looked at a similar thing to remeber information better. If we wanted to remeber say, a list of words, we would picture them visually in different rooms of our houses, e.g- dog in the kitchen. The theory applies to remembering bits of info too I guess :)

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  3. I'm glad this post has helped you guys! I've actually only tried to memorize one face, by a different method although very similar, and it seemed to work fairly well. I can say that the lists and numbers definitely work though.

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