We might forget an anecdote about a stranger because it makes few connections with our existing associations, but we won't forget a piece of gossip about our cousin. There's one complex network that is larger and quicker to access than all others ─ the self. We've been thinking about ourselves in our whole lives. (In fact, there were entire years during junior high when we weren't capable of thinking about much else.) So if a new piece of information has something to do with us, it will be more easily and thoroughly processed. It hits even closer to home than our actual home ─ we can take a vacation away from our home, but not from ourselves. The most effective communicators find ways to make the abstract personal. Consider the warning that law schools give to motivate first-year law students concerning the rigors of their program. Hearing that "the first-year dropout rate is 33%" is an abstract statistic. "Look to your left, look to your right. One of the three of you won't be joining us next fall" wakes up the self.