DARK PSYCHOLOGY SECRETS

Improve Your Life with Secret Persuasion Techniques

Learn How to Read, Analyze, And Influence People Through
Manipulation and Mind Control

JACOB ANDERSON
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 Table Of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: The Dark Psychology
Chapter 2: The Dark Triad
Chapter 3: How The Dark Triad Can Be Applied
Chapter 4: Common Tactics And Techniques Used To Influence Others
Chapter 5: Influence People With Mind Hijacks
Chapter 6: A Look At Manipulation
Chapter 7: The Power Of Words
Chapter 8: Most Common Techniques To Use In Manipulation
Chapter 9: Advanced Dark Psychology And Manipulation Techniques
Chapter 10: What Are The Differences Between Persuasion And Manipulation
Chapter 11: What Is Mind Control And How Does It Work
Chapter 12: Undetected Mind Control
Chapter 13: Mind Control Techniques
Chapter 14: Case Studies On Dark Psychology
Chapter 15: Covert Manipulation
Chapter 16: How To Analyze People
Chapter 17: Dark Persuasion
Chapter 18: Body Language And How We Communicate Even Without Speaking
Chapter 19: Hypnosis Facts, Fiction, And The Psychology That Powers It
Chapter 20: Deception Tactics
Chapter 21: Learning Psychology To Recognize And Maintain Our Identity
Chapter 22: Dark Seduction Techniques
Chapter 23: Neuro-Linguistic Programming
Chapter 24: Seduction Techniques
Chapter 25: Provide Knowledge Ethically Dealing With Other People's Emotions
Chapter 26: The Internet And Dark Psychology
Chapter 27: Brainwashing
Chapter 28: Acceptable Influence Vs Toxic Manipulation
Chapter 29: How To Detect Victims Dark Psychology Manipulation
Conclusion
 Introduction

A recent study from the University in Denmark came out with some
interesting findings after a study that looked at aspects of the “dark
core of personality.” When we think of the darker characteristics, a
few stand out as what many psychologists call “the dark triad.” These
include psychopaths (a personality lacking empathy), narcissism (total self-
centeredness), and Machiavellianism (believing that the ends justify the
means). These definitions of each term are quite simplified, but most people
in modern society have some understanding and exposure to each of these
terms. We hear all the time about criminals, such as serial killers,
demonstrating one—if not all—of these personality traits. A serial killer
tends to lack any kind of empathy with his victims, is completely self-
serving to the extent that hurting others is not a concern. He ultimately
proves through his actions that he believes in the ends justifying his means,
i.e., raping and killing this person will make me happy, and I deserve
happiness. Therefore, I’m going to kidnap murder this victim exactly as I
see fit.

What psychology professors at the University of Copenhagen found

through their studies is that people with one aspect of the “dark personality”
also tend to involve other corresponding personality characteristics. In other
words, if you demonstrate a lack of empathy or narcissism, it is likely that
you also exhibit other dark personality traits. This was termed in the study
as the “D-factor.” The D-factor can be loosely defined as the subject’s
tendency to maximize his own “utility” and to dismiss others’ utility,
through either provocation or complete disregard. Basically, I am worth
preserving, and you are not.

So, while each of the traits considered to be on the spectrum of dark

personality traits is unique, they also tend to manifest together in
individuals who are identified as dark personalities. This is important
because, in a world where just one of these dark traits is dangerous and
even lethal, it can be lifesaving if you know when dealing with a
psychopath. You are also probably dealing with someone skilled and
oriented toward other dark traits and strategies. Some traits most often
associated with dark psychology include the big three cited above as well as
spitefulness, impulsivity, antisocial behavior, callousness, lack of remorse,
egoism, moral disengagement, entitlement, sadism…the list goes on and on.
And there are many shades associated with each one as they manifest in
different personalities. So, what can we obtain from this information and
research?

Well, the fact that the tactics practiced by such personalities have been
heavily researched, especially in recent decades, means that we all have
access to ways of learning these techniques for our own purposes, should
we be willing to put in the time and research ourselves. You are about to
have a world opened up to you that may have always before been hidden
from your eyes. The inner workings of the world are colored with all kinds
of manipulation and persuasion techniques, many of them having an effect
on people who don’t even know they’ve been targeted. We see it every
single day at work, in schools, on the streets, in the clubs, on TV, on the
radio, in the boardroom, and in the White House. We see these techniques
blatantly used in social media to sway elections, and we see it used in subtle
ways in our environment to convince us we need something we really don’t.
Whatever your purposes and intents are, this book will teach you the skills
and techniques you will need to master in order to take advantage of our
knowledge of human psychology today.
 CHAPTER 1:

The Dark Psychology

A
t its root, dark psychology is all about mind control. You can
influence what other people think or do by understanding the inner
workings of the other person's mind. You can motivate people to
help you by helping them first. You know that they are more likely to offer
help if you help them first simply because people tend to reciprocate. When
you understand how the minds of those around you work, you can begin
utilizing it to your advantage.
Uses of Dark Psychology
Dark psychology is used widely throughout a wide range of scenarios, some
of which are more sinister, while others are typically seen as far less
harmful. Each of the following groups utilizes concepts included in dark
psychology to get desired results: Religion, politics, cults, terrorist
organizations, abusers, and salespeople all rely heavily on the concepts of
dark psychology, pulling strings behind the backs of other people to get
what they want.
Religion
Religion is all about conformity. You are required to conform to a certain
set of beliefs, into which you are most frequently indoctrinated as children
and then encouraged to follow through adulthood. Though it may seem
harmless, religion uses several dark psychology techniques to keep people
in line and follow the doctrine. Typically, this is seen as some sort of threat
or punishment if you do not follow through—it could be going to hell
instead of some sort of paradise or heaven after death, or it could be a threat
of ex-communication and abandonment. These threats play upon two huge
fears of people—losing community and a threat of eternal suffering, and
people are more likely to obey.
Politics
Political leaders often engage in several different dark psychology
techniques that are useful in manipulating other people's minds. They hold
themselves certain ways, word things in ways that make the people believe
they can better empathize, and speaking in ways that inspire other people to
follow them. They often use slippery slope fear-mongering tactics,
promising results that no one will like if people oppose them. They use
stances meant to convey power and authority, and people fall for it. People
fall for the artificial body language that the politicians use, and the
politicians win out.
Cults
Cults, especially destructive cults, are incredibly exploitative. They are
considered totalistic—meaning they seek to gain control over the other
person entirely. They frequently engage in various forms of thought reform
to gain control over the other person's mind. These cults rely on
authoritarian following and leading into a wide range of manipulative
tactics. Cults rely on their leaders' charisma, deception, isolation, methods
of thought-reform, demands for loyalty and devotion, creating a divide
between those who follow the cult and outsiders, cult language or jargon
that is difficult to understand and follow if you are not a member and as
much control as possible over the day-to-day existence of the members. All
of this culminates in a group that seeks to manipulate and control the
members in a way that demands absolute loyalty. This is how people get
sucked in—they are drawn in with false promises, and their personality and
thoughts are whittled away, bit by bit, day by day until finally, all that is left
behind is a tool for the cult to use. When under the cult's leaders' control,
the leader can command nearly anything, and the followers will do so. This
makes them so destructive that the members are essentially turned into
mindless weapons, willing to do whatever it takes to stay in favor.
Terrorism
Terrorism groups follow similar methods as cults to get people in line—
promising the world for their absolute devotion. They draw people in with
idealized values and charismatic leaders and whittle the people away until
they are willing to do anything, even if it involves suicide. They see
themselves as a part of the whole, a part of the change that they will use to
change the world for the better, and they are glad to give their very lives, or
the lives of their loved ones, to achieve it.
Abuse
Abusers love to utilize dark psychology—they use the inner workings of the
minds to weasel their ways into their victims' lives and firmly root
themselves as integral members while taking advantage of people's
tendencies to want to keep their relationships meaningful. The abuser love
bombs the victim, meaning he showers the victim in love, attention, and
affection to hook the victim to him before suddenly revoking the attention,
making the victim crave it and do anything necessary to get the love back.
This sort of manipulation tactic and use of dark psychology is often seen
with narcissists, in particular, to understand what the narcissist wants.
Sales
Even something as innocent as sales can be littered with dark psychology
tactics. The best salespeople can intuitively convince people to buy, tapping
into unconscious tendencies, appeals to emotions, and even hijacking the
other person's body language to achieve the desired result. Salespeople get
paid based on their sales, so they will do anything necessary to get the
desired results. They will appeal to a parent's fear of a car accident to upsell
to a safer vehicle. They will use a person's near-death experience as a segue
into selling life insurance. They will change their body language to
convince the other person, picking up on small cues here and there and
acting upon them to get the desired results.
 CHAPTER 2:

The Dark Triad

T
he dark triad is a collection of character traits that are present in
every person. However, these traits are more prevalent in some than
in others. When they are predominant in an individual’s personality,
they can lead to inappropriate behavior, and in some cases, lead to criminal
activity. These traits are the hallmark of manipulators. While it is not
entirely how they form, we do have a good understanding of how they can
be fostered.
Moreover, you will find detailed descriptions and examples pertaining to
these traits and their corresponding behaviors.
When one of these traits is predominant in a person, you will find that they
are generally disruptive in many ways, but highly creative and energetic in
others. Moreover, people who exhibit dark triad traits in high order are
generally more skilled and intelligent individuals who have a keen sense of
the world around them. This is why they can make the most of their desires
and push their agenda along.
In some cases, you’ll see them as people who will stop at nothing to get
what they want. Other times, you will see them as people who don’t care
much about the others’ feelings, especially if that gets in the way of their
achieving something.
So, if you are dealing with someone who exhibits any of these traits, or
heaven forbid all three, then you really need to watch where you’re
stepping. Often, the best course of action is to get away from them. If you
try to do battle with people exhibiting dark triad characteristics, you need to
be several steps ahead of them. But, be warned that winning a war with
these folks may turn out to be winning a war of attrition more than based on
skills and tactics.
Narcissism
The first dark triad trait is narcissism. Narcissism is typically associated
with feelings of entitlement and conceit. These are individuals who seek to
be the center of attention at all times while trying to get others to do their
bidding. The most rudimentary of narcissists don’t really care how they get
others to go along with them. All they care about is that others do what they
want—the end of the story.
More skilled narcissists are able to use many tactics at their disposal to get
others to go along. Often, these types of narcissists seem charming and very
pleasant.
Yet, it’s all a ploy. Their main objective is to get others to trust them and
admire them. As long as they are admired and shown constant displays of
affection, they are good with people. The problem occurs when they are not
fed the feedback they seek. Often, it is a question of having their ego
stroked.
For example, a narcissist will become livid if they get no recognition for the
work they do. This is compounded if they feel that they have put their best
foot forward. As such, the lack of recognition will drive them up the wall
like no tomorrow. On the contrary, if they are showered with praise and
accolades, then all is good. They bask in their glory and seek to move on to
the next display of affection and appreciation.
The immense issue with narcissists is that they are control freaks. Since
they feel that everyone must do their bidding, they need to control
everything and everyone around them. Consequently, if a narcissist feels
that they have lost control of their environment, there are liable to go to all
means necessary to ensure that they regain full control. If this means
destroying people along the way, they may not stop to ponder the effects of
their actions on others.
A typical narcissist is formed in childhood, usually as the result of neglect
and oftentimes abuse. Generally speaking, kids who go through
abandonment and neglect in childhood tend to develop issues with control
and lack of affection. If untreated, these conditions can develop into a full-
blown narcissistic personality. In adulthood, a typical narcissist may have
serious trouble being part of social groups leading them to isolation. While
extroverted narcissists may have a lot of friends early on, they may end up
becoming isolated as they struggle to form genuine relationships.
Machiavellianism
This trait is often associated with deviousness and underhandedness.
Machiavellianism can best be seen in people who come up with clever
schemes to get what they want. In general, highly intelligent people are
pronto to developing Machiavellianism. The challenge lies in the limits they
are willing to respect in the pursuit of their aims.
In the worst of cases, Machiavellian folks tend to go as far as their personal
convictions will allow them. This means that a person who has a good set of
values will find clever ways of getting things done without resorting to
unethical or even unlawful means. However, if the individual does not have
a good set of ethics, they may engage in increasingly reprehensible activity
in the pursuit of their aims.
The limits to which Machiavellianism can go essentially depend on the
intelligence or support network of the person. There are cases, such as those
of master criminals, who may be unable to figure out schemes for
themselves but will employ those who can. This is a good example of how
scruples and morals may be quite loose on some folks.
As such, if you are dealing with a Machiavellian person, you may have to
choose if you want to be in such a situation or perhaps move away from it.
Generally speaking, beating a Machiavellian involves total defeat, that is,
destroying them completely. For instance, if you’re dealing with someone
who is defrauding others, this may involve bringing them to justice. Even
then, you might be involved in a complex legal battle that you may not have
the will to see through.
Machiavellianism is developed throughout the course of adolescence. It can
be quite predominant in those who don’t have a solid set of morals rooted in
them. When folks lack this type of grounding, they may be unable to
distinguish what are unacceptable limits to their actions.
Psychopathy
The third element to the dark triad is Psychopathy. In general terms,
Psychopathy is an absence of emotion. In particular, psychopaths are unable
to feel empathy. This means that they are unable to gauge who others feel.
This is why they are incapable of understanding that their actions hurt
others. When you look at serial killers and other types of criminals, they
genuinely believe they have done nothing wrong as they are unable to
comprehend the pain and anguish they have put others through. Think about
white-collar criminals who embezzle pensioners out of their savings. They
have no remorse over their actions as they could really care less about those
affected.
In some instances, Psychopathy is associated with physiological issues in
the brain. When this occurs, neurochemical reactions may not take place.
As a result, these individuals unable to process their emotions leading to a
condition of flat reactions to emotion.
In other cases, it may be a purely psychological issue as they psychopaths
tend to have dissociative personality. Dissociative personality is usually the
result of prolonged exposure to abuse and trauma in childhood. Regardless
of the type of trauma, a child may develop a dissociation between their
feelings and the situations around them. This leads them to cut out their
feelings from the mental processes that they carry out. Consequently, a
perfectly normal person can be developed into a psychopath purely through
an abusive and neglectful environment.
The Dark Triad in Action
Having just one of the dark triad traits fully developed is enough to foster
an evil individual. When all three come into consort, the individual may
have no morals, scruples, and ethics, even to a lesser degree. While they
may not actually become serial killers, they may engage in activities that
harm people in the pursuit of their personal aims and pleasures. This
behavior may lead to unspeakable acts of horror, crafty business schemes,
or even a relentless pursuit of power in which people fall by the wayside.
There is no real way to handle with such individuals. It takes a lot of
courage and energy to stand up to them. That is why the most common
course of action is to get away from them. For example, people who grow
up with narcissistic parents often leave home at a young age as they are
unable to put up with the behavior of their parents.
In other cases, children of Machiavellian parents tend to have their parents
concoct clever ways to run their life well into adulthood. And if someone
happens to grow up with a psychopathic parent, they may be in for a
childhood filled with abuse. At the end of the day, the dark triad is present
in all of us. We all have some type of manifestation of these traits, though
most of us will never exhibit them to the degree that is quite harmful to
others. If you happen to recognize the predominance of any of these traits in
your own life, it is worth doing some introspection so that you can
determine if you really need to get a better handle on your feelings and
thoughts. After all, letting any of these traits run wild may end up
consuming you to the point of emotional and psychological exhaustion.
 CHAPTER 3:

How the Dark Triad Can Be Applied

W
e must understand the three parts of the Triad and the different
ways that it can manifest itself in actual behavior. Let's look at
the behaviors that can show this in each of the three Triad areas.
Machiavellian Actions
They are almost concerned with that as much as they are with their pursuit
of self-interest above everything else. So, how is a Machiavellian person
going to behave? This action can be hard to recognize because these kinds
of people are, in their nature, adept at being able to hide all their true
intentions from public scrutiny. However, there are a few different signals
that you can see when you are dealing with a Machiavellian person.
First off, these people are going to have a very clear distinction between
what they are and how they come across when they are out in public. For
example, there are a lot of cases where a serial murderer was able to get
away with the crimes for a very long time. And the main reason is that their
outward image is so far removed from what people imagine a murderer to
be like.
An excellent example of this could be a religious leader. This person would
spend time running their congregation, spend time doing some charity
work, and seem like they always help regular people. But then on the side,
they will commit horrific acts of violence. This person's public actions are
the masks that hide the private side away from scrutiny for a very long
time.
Of course, there are examples of this distinction in areas that aren't as
extreme as serial murder. There are many talks where the leaders in the
field of business were able to ruthlessly cut jobs in order to get profits,
without worrying about the people it would hurt. And these bosses, if they
are really talented with the work, are able to act like they are behaving in
this manner because it is a necessity, rather than just because they want
more money.
Another hallmark that you will run into with Machiavellianism is a
willingness to exploit other people. Let's keep with the idea of someone
who is in an office and just started there. Someone who isn't a
Machiavellian would look around that office and see that there is a room of
different co-workers that they could get to know. But a newcomer who is a
Machiavellian would see each person in front of them as another resource
to exploit or use. Instead of seeing these people as fellow human beings, the
Machiavellian individual would see weaknesses and other things to exploit
when it works for them.
Another principle of Machiavellianism that comes from "The Prince" is the
idea that the person will only keep their promise or their word when doing
so will serve their self-interest. Many people believe that a Machiavellian
person isn't trustworthy, but this isn't quite right. If it is going to serve their
interests to keep their word, such as when they want to build up trust with
their victim, they will keep their word. And in many cases, when this type
of person isn't able to keep their word, they will be able to do it in a way
that can make them appear noble and even praiseworthy in the process,
leaving them in a good light, even when they decide not to keep with the
promise.
And the final hallmark that shows up for this kind of person is the ability to
instill fear in others around them. This idea comes directly from "The
Prince" which is going to urge a person to be both loved and feared at the
same time. If it is not possible for the person to be both, then the book states
that it is better to be feared than loved. This concept of the desirability of
being feared and loved at the same time is directly related to the trait of
splitting up the private and the public perception. The perfect Machiavellian
can then inspire obedience and fear in the people who are most likely to
claim to feel love stronger than fear as a result.
The Psychopathic Actions
Charm is a very common outward behavior of a psychopathic person. It is
going to be more of a superficial charm and never a deep or a genuine one.
If you think about someone who is genuinely charming, you would be able
to pinpoint that they have a very positive personality under this display of
the behavior. This is not something that you are going to see when a
psychopath is trying to be charming.
Psychopaths have the ability to show all the signs of charm, including an
interest in those around them, an apparent warmth, and physical
attractiveness. But the inward motivation to these displays is going to be a
red flag. Psychopaths are only using charm in order to get a certain result.
They see that if they present charm to someone, they will feel good, and the
manipulator can use that to their advantage. Remember that charm is going
to be calculated and shallow, just like everything else the psychopath does.
There isn't going to be any depth of feeling behind the behavior.
Another sign of a psychopath is lying. Of course, lying is not enough to
place someone in a psychopath's category, but when it is combined with
other signs, it can be a problem. A psychopath will find that lying is very
natural and can do it in a very convincing manner. They also aren't going to
show any signs of lying simply because they don't have an emotional
attachment or any feelings of excitement, guilt, or shame about their lies. In
a psychopath's mind, lying is just "doing what is needed at the time,"
nothing more and nothing less.
A lack of remorse is another feature that is going to show up with a
psychopath. Many people who have committed crimes, such as murder,
would show a sense of shame or guilt over what they do. But a psychopath
is not able to feel remorse at all. They are able to do these actions and these
crimes without any feelings about it at all. Linked to this is a lack of guilt.
Most humans are going to feel at least a little guilty when they go against a
moral norm. But psychopaths are not going to think in terms of what is right
and what is wrong. They look at things in terms of what is useful and what
is not useful to them. Remorse and guilt don't fit into this at all.
Psychopaths are often incapable of empathy. They may be able to fake it if
it suits their goals, but they do not have real empathy at all. Other humans
are just there to provide something of value to the psychopath and nothing
more. If the psychopath sees that something bad is happening to another
person, he would just wonder how this affects him or could use that to his
advantage. It would never be a feeling of empathy towards that person.
Narcissistic Actions
An early sign that can show up with a narcissist is fantasies and even
daydreams about immense status and power levels. Many narcissists will
report that they had fantasies of being adored and worshipped even when
they were children. While many non-narcissistic people may have this kind
of daydream on occasion, they will feel that they deserve this elevation and
praise because it is their basic right. And the fact that there are times when
they are not being revered or worshipped is seen as a personal affront to
these people.
They believe that "I am better than most people. They are not worthy of me.
I am above them" is something that most narcissists will feel. Yes, there are
times when humans are going to have an inflated sense of self-image, such
as after a significant achievement. But a narcissist will view praise and
flattery as something that they should get all of the time, no matter what
circumstances are going on around them.
The inflated sense of self-worth that the narcissist experiences internally
can show up outwardly as well. This can show up in two ways. They will
always have a need for praise and agreement, and they will despise any
form of rejection or criticism. The agreement from others and all the praise
are like oxygen for the narcissist's ego, and they just can't make it through
the day without this. If the people around them are not praising the
narcissist, things can turn ugly.
An example of this is a dictator who is in a hermit state. These types of
people will demand worship from the ones they have power over, asking for
the people to build statues in their likeness and get complete acceptance and
obedience. When one of the people disagrees or does an act of dissent, it is
going to be met with brutal and quick punishment.
Sadism
Sadism may not be one of the Dark Triad aspects, but it is still something
necessary to add to this. Modern researchers into psychology have proposed
that the dark Triad is, in fact, composed of four parts and that a sadistic
personality disorder should be added to this. Sadism is sometimes the
hardest personality trait to understand here because it is often the least
relatable out of all of them. Sadism is when the person derives some sort of
pleasure from the suffering of others. This could add a new and worrying
dimension to the preexisting traits that we have conferred above. If the
Machiavellian leader wanted to cause others to suffer, they would not regret
it. But if they were a sadist as well, they would enjoy that suffering. They
would get some sort of pleasure out of the brutal acts that occur.
The feature that will set sadism apart from some of the other aspects of dark
psychology is that it is all about cruelty. And this cruelty is just there to
provide pleasure for the one using it. It is not there to serve a larger aim. It
is not there for some control for the manipulator. Sadists just want to cause
others' suffering because it is entertaining for them and they enjoy watching
it, and nothing else.
 CHAPTER 4:

Common Tactics and Techniques Used to

Influence Others

W
e all find manipulating other people's minds unethical. This is
because we consider it as playing with people's feelings as well
as thoughts and emotions in order for it to benefit us alone.
Many manipulation techniques that one can use to manipulate, persuade,
and influence people are:
Fear and Relief Technique
Fear and relief is a technique that is said to be very efficient when it comes
to playing with other people's emotions. A manipulator is only required to
instill some fear on an individual, which immediately makes them
vulnerable. At the time when they are vulnerable, the manipulator does
anything they want in their favor. The manipulator manipulates the
individual since they know that the victim will do anything to get out of the
fearful situation.
The only challenge that the manipulator might encounter when using this
technique is identifying the things that make them fear. Therefore, they will
need to keep fearful situations every now and then, until people recognize
them. The manipulators succeed in this situation since most people hate
situations that make them fear. They would do everything to ensure that
they get out of the situation.
An example of this technique is when the media wants to keep its viewers
following the channel. They will put up a juicy headline, which will keep
the viewers glued on the screen, waiting for it. The reporter will then keep
reporting that they need to keep watching the program in order for them to
get the juicy news. Everyone will keep watching in the hope that the
program will still come.
With fear and relief techniques, the manipulators expect to instill fear until
when they see that the victim is about to give up. At this point, they will be
able to relieve them of the pressure they are going through, making them
less stressed. The fearful situation that they have been through makes them
obey the manipulator's orders anytime they give them since they would not
want to go back to their situation before.
Guilty Approach Technique
Through the guilty approach technique, the manipulator makes their prey
guilty in order to involve and manipulate them. They will make sure that
that people blame the victims for things they did not do. One will want to
compensate the manipulator without the knowledge that they are about to
be manipulated. A manipulator has to, however, make sure that their target
is someone prone to feeling guilty.
Once you make the person guilty, you will be able to swing them in any
direction since they are willing to do anything to make sure that you forget
the things that they did to you. It works so perfectly since, according to the
victim, they will compensate for the moments that they were not nice to
you, but it will be time to use them for their selfish gain for the manipulator.
Therefore, the guilt approach technique works so well when one wants to
influence other people since the victim will be feeling an obligation to make
it up to you for the trouble they caused. Little do they know that the
manipulator was waiting for such a moment to strike.
Playing the Victim
This type of technique is somehow similar to the guilty approach technique.
Playing the victim may, however, work against you if not careful when
implementing it. You would be required to ensure that you do not overuse
it. The trick usually is to ensure that you make the targeted person feel bad
about a given situation. You will be required to ensure that the person
actually made a mistake, but for you, playing the victim shall be an
exaggeration. The victim will feel bad about it and will want to compensate
it by doing something different for you. Therefore, they will be nice to you,
which will help the manipulator use them to achieve her goals.
Love Bombing Technique
We all like it when we feel loved by the people around us. We will all
appreciate it when the people around us make us feel appreciated and loved.
That is why manipulators use love and attention to manipulate people.
This technique is mostly used for the purposes of manipulating people
emotionally. A manipulator will mostly give a lot of attention to their
targeted individual. They will show them a lot of affection, which would
make them not suspect anything from the manipulator. By doing this, they
will be setting up a trap for them. They will be laying the ground, which
they will use for their manipulation purposes. When the right time comes,
they are able to execute their plan easily. Meaning that by the time they
realize that you are manipulating them, they will have already been
influenced to no return.
Bribery Technique
This technique is said to work like a charm. This is because you will reward
someone out of nowhere, and the person will automatically want to return
the favor differently. It is an easy job since you are only required to find out
what your victim needs, and you get them exactly that. You will only have
to look as genuine as possible. This will make the person really happy such
that if you ever mention that you need anything, they will not hesitate to get
it for you. By doing this, you can make demands from them as many times
as possible without them noticing that you are manipulating them. Through
this technique, you will have influenced people to your system, which they
may find it difficult to exit.
Becoming a Good Listener
A manipulator knows that people need good listeners in their lives. A good
listener earns people's trust so easily. This is because they will come out as
being very caring and concerned. This makes the victim trust them
completely. A manipulator cannot manipulate people before gaining their
trust. Once you get their trust, it will be very easy to manipulate them. You
will only be required to discuss a few things that you may be going through
with them, and without even questioning, they will reciprocate for it since
you were there for them before. Through the trust, the manipulator will be
able to manipulate them for a long time without the victim noticing.
Inasmuch as a manipulator uses these skills to manipulate, persuade,
and influence people, they all need to be good in some skills. Some
examples are below:
They need to have excellent verbal communication skills. No
one will listen to someone who cannot communicate clearly. You
would need to be able to express yourself well if at all, you want
people to listen to you. Most manipulators have mastered this skill
very well, which helps them prey on people without noticing.
When one is good in communication, they can easily prey on the
victims with the language they understand. Therefore, the victims
will understand the manipulator very well and follow all the
instructions given without knowing that they are in the trap of
being manipulated.
For a manipulator to be able to manipulate and persuade
people, they should look good before them. Your way of dressing
and the way you present yourself tells a lot about you. People will
only take you seriously when you look good. You will be able to
earn their trust easily. People are normally impressed by people
who dress nicely, well kept, and have manners. They will easily
like them and listen to them and, in the process, trust them. Once
trust kicks in, the manipulators can easily persuade them and
influence them in the direction they want.
When you are conversant about psychology, you will be able to
read people's minds. You will know how they feel, how they will
react to certain things, and their mood. Knowing all this will be of
great help in ensuring that you use their weaknesses to your
advantage. You will be able to manipulate them without their
knowledge.
 CHAPTER 5:

Influence People with Mind Hijacks

Y
ou can brainwash someone and get complete control over his mind
relatively easily. You can plant ideas into someone’s mind to direct
them to do what you want. You can do all of this so secretive that
you never get caught. Blowing your cover can jeopardize the entire mind-
control mission, so you have to be sneakily about it.
Mind control is not like in the films. You don’t need to compel someone
into hours of hypnosis and other tactics to get into his head. You only need
to use subliminal tricks to get into his mind. Over time, you can
successfully change his style of thinking. It takes time to train someone to
think in a new way, but you can achieve successful mind control just once
on a victim, too.
Mind control is not only used for evil. You apparently won’t be able to
brainwash a person into assassinating your boss at your job. But you can
have people to do what you want and to think in ways that are favorable for
you. You can use it for good or evil. It is far from ethical, and most people
won’t agree with it. However, if you are careful, no one will know.
The Power of Subliminal Messaging
It is beautiful because it is so subtle. You can put ideas into someone’s head
and influence them without even come up like you are the one behind it.
Subliminal messages usually involve a flashing figure or sound that
reminds someone of something. These are usually hidden and occur so
rapidly that people are not aware of them.
Subliminal techniques work perfectly in advertising. A company can just
flash an image, and all of a sudden, customers start thinking about their
products without knowing why. They don’t know what they have seen
because it happened so fast, but some parts of their brains process the
image. You can use this concept to your advantage by flashing images,
sounds, or other sensory stimuli in front of people to plant an idea or desire
into their minds without their knowledge. You get away with murder when
using subliminal messages.
Say you want to seduce someone. You can briefly flash a pornographic
image or play a millisecond of a recording of a woman or man moaning
sexually. Suddenly, this person wants to have sex.
You can also expose someone to the smell of Italian food. Suddenly, he will
want to go to your favorite Italian place when he wanted Mexican earlier.
Gain mind control over people by using subliminal techniques to influence
their thinking and feeling. You can take a step further by conditioning a
person by exposing them to some sort of stimulus that triggers them to
perform an action and receive a reward from you. Then, flash this
conditioned stimulus around the person briefly to cause him to perform his
trained response.
Brainwashing
Brainwashing is the process by which you change someone’s thinking and
make someone believe what you want. You can turn someone into your
mental slave over time if you perform enough psychological abuse and
manipulation to make the person completely rely on you.
To start brainwashing, you need to start with a blank slate. This means that
you need to destroy someone’s sense of identity and perception of the
world. You can do this by repeatedly gaslighting someone, making him
doubt his perception. You can also make little hurtful digs and jokes to
uproot his self-esteem and plant insecurities within his mind, while also
complimenting him and building his ego up so that he relies on you for his
self-esteem. Confusing and hurting someone will debase his sense of
identity, but making him feel good also enables you to keep him around and
make him dependent on you. Isolation is also a great way to strip away
someone’s identity. Use isolation to keep him from being around people
who reaffirm his identity and make him feel secure. Slowly remove him
from his friends and family so that he has no support to keep him anchored
in his sense of self.
Exposing someone to something over time will also make it seem normal to
him. He will eventually start to accept it as a part of his reality if he is
exposed to it enough. Just exposing a person to a violent movie has been
found to cause callous behavior and less empathy, indicating that you can
very easily influence someone with even only some slight exposure to
something. Change his lifestyle or way of thinking by exposing him to the
differences you want to see in him. This could be used for good – you could
expose someone to more positive thinking or a healthier lifestyle to
encourage him to do better for himself. Or you could use it for evil and
make him accept dark thinking, low self-esteem, violence, drug use, or
other such harmful things into his life.
In time, you can transform a person into someone entirely different. Think
this extreme form of brainwashing is not possible? Consider Charles
Manson, who was able to convert some of his disciples into murderers in a
matter of days. Also, think of abusive relationships, where the victim
becomes someone entirely different in a matter of months and tolerates
abuse because he or she believes it is real love.
Mindwipe
Mindwipe is the process of wiping thoughts or memories from someone’s
mind. While it is far from easy, you can find many practical uses for it. You
can erase shameful memories from someone’s mind and rebuild your
reputation. You can also make someone misremember things in order to
cover up your own tracks when you lie. Basically, you can choose what you
want someone to remember. But understand that wiping someone’s mind is
not always easy.
One effective way to erase memories is to prevent them from becoming
memories in the first place. You can accomplish this by interrupting
someone’s memory-making process. Interrupting the memory before the
brain can process it is a great way to disrupt memory formation. You can
use distraction and interrupt someone’s attention by exposing them to an
even more vivid, violent stimuli, such as a loud noise or a gruesome scene
on TV. Doing this will distract the person and tear his attention away from
the occasion that you would like him to forget.
You can also erase the associations that trigger memories. People tend to
link memories to simple items, sights, sounds, or scents. Identify a source
that brings up memories for your subject. Then focus on training him to
stop associating this item or stimulus with the memory. Create new
memories or tell him to think of different things when he sees the object or
stimulus in question. Breaking this association can take some time.
Thought Control
Controlling someone’s thoughts is possible through various methods of
influence. Basically, you want to train someone to think differently. When
someone has a thought that is not desirable to you for whatever reason, you
can redirect those thoughts. Consider using Dark CBT and ask him a series
of questions to make him doubt his thinking and redirect it in the direction
that you want. Or use NLP to lead him down a different line of thinking.
Subliminal messages can cause him to change his mind about something
suddenly. The different forms of psychological warfare can also be used to
strip down someone’s ego and make his thoughts about himself far darker.
Thought control is possible through all of the techniques conferred in these
pages.
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is portrayed in an often comical way in movies, and old 1970’s
action shows. But in reality, you can’t really make someone into a zombie
with the snap of your fingers. However, it does not mean that hypnosis is
not an extremely powerful way to make someone do what you want.
Hypnosis works by tapping into someone’s subconscious and planting ideas
there. When you get someone into a hypnotic state, he will be more
receptive to your ideas because the barrier between his conscious mind and
subconscious mind will be shut down. During the hypnotic state, you can
tell someone what he should do. You can also force his brain to form an
association between what you say and a trigger, such as a sound or a song
or even a finger snap.
But there’s a catch. You can certainly use hypnosis to plant ideas in
someone’s mind. You can convince someone to quit smoking, for instance.
However, people will not do things that go against their inherent natures.
So, say you are trying to accomplish something really evil and get a guy to
assassinate the Malaysian prime minister, like in the Ben Stiller comedy
Zoolander. If you decide to hypnotize a person with homicidal tendencies
and tell him to kill the prime minister, he may just do it. If you try to
hypnotize a nice pacifist who wouldn’t dream of killing someone, you
might not have such great luck. His conscience will override your
hypnotism, and he won’t be able to bring himself to do what you want. So,
if you want hypnosis to work, you must find a person who is already open
and susceptible or capable of what you are asking.
The best way to hypnotize someone is to put him in a situation or
environment that is very relaxing. Disarm him by relaxing him. Speak to
him in a soothing voice that lulls him into a state of quiet. Ask him to focus
on his breathing and say that you want him to relax. If he is stressed out,
this will work out because it will seem like you are simply trying to help
him relax. You can even tell him that you want to try hypnosis on him to
help him let go of stress and relax deeply.
Ask someone what his goals are for hypnosis. You can also set your own
goals. Try to get your goals to mesh with his for the most successful
hypnosis session. Guide him to do what you want by disguising your goals
within his. Maybe you want him to quit smoking, and he wants to learn to
handle stress better. These two goals work together seamlessly because they
are related. You can use his goal to encourage him to adopt better stress
coping mechanisms and to quit harmful coping mechanisms, such as
smoking. That allows you to achieve your goal while making it seem like
you are only working on helping him achieve his goal.
 CHAPTER 6:

A Look at Manipulation

W
hen coming from a psychological point of reference,
manipulation is mostly about perception. How we perceive
things or actions determines our laws, social formalities, and
even our lives.
The manipulator changes these norms with tactics. The determination of the
positive or negative connotation of these actions remains subjective.
Psychological manipulation is often considered devious. With the subject of
dark psychology, we can take into account that the manipulation practiced
is often exploitative at the expense of others.
So, what is the manipulation of the dark?
Sources tell us that it is concealment—hiding in the shadows knowing when
to strike. It is also a false front, hiding true intentions. When we are talking
about this level of deception, we are talking about hiding aggression. When
we take, there is a certain level of aggressive behavior that happens. A
small part of manipulation is hiding that aggressive behavior so that the
victim sees only good nature.
This is accomplished in various ways and means, one being knowledge.
When we allow another to know us, we display vulnerability along with
strengths. The knowledge of these personality traits can give the
manipulator the ability to maneuver around without any alarms going off.
The effectiveness of manipulating those strengths and vulnerabilities arrives
when the practitioner of the dark knows what is vulnerable and what
inspires pride.
A reoccurring ideology that drives us to war takes into consideration that
war is more negative than positive. We want to avoid it. The manipulation
process sees pride in all of us and plays to that pride. It is our strength.
However, when used to drive an army to slaughter others, the intention of
our pride has been manipulated to enforce the agendas of others.
There is ruthlessness when we talk about psychological manipulation.
When dealing with someone other than the pure psychopath who feels little
to nothing, ruthlessness can be measured. Often soft ruthless behavior can
sneak up on its prey and snag it before it knows what is happening. This
harm of the prey becomes less than even a momentary qualm in the mind of
the manipulator.
Often the practitioners of dark psychology use aggression and fear to drive
us. The less dark side still falls into the category of knowing what weakness
is, and that weakness leaves the individual open to control.
How the manipulator uses that control determines the severity of
manipulation. There is and are positive versions of manipulating others like
convincing someone that they are not doing well and that they need to get
help. We, however, are looking at the darker side of this. The manipulator
uses their control skills to get what they want—and the cost does not apply.
There are many ways to move another into a place of being controlled.
From the positive to the negative, psychological manipulators utilize all
tactics.
When positive reinforcement is used, the charm is displayed. A forced
smile or laughter can trigger laughter in all of us. As when we were infants,
we copy what we see. When we see tears, we want them to stop. When we
see a smile, we find ourselves smiling as well.
Using positive reinforcement, the manipulator can shower money, charm,
and gifts to get us to feel something. The usage of these things allows
control of us on an instinctual level. We follow those who tell us what we
want to hear.
Psychological manipulation can also implement negative reinforcement.
This is a form of deflection—a substitution of one thing for another.
Often, we have things we need or have to do, and we do not really want to
do them. The psychological manipulation of negative reinforcement uses
that power of negativity to lure the subject from their original need, pushing
them toward something they want to be done instead. The long game, a
slow play of putting tasks into another's life and then controlling those tasks
so that the manipulator can get what they want is an extremely effective and
subdued tactic.
Sometimes only partial reinforcement is required to gain control. We are
talking about elevating the fear or doubt regarding the tasks needed to be
done. The partial is the long play. It knows that in the end, the victim will
lose. It knows that by planting small seeds now, victory will eventually
happen. It knows that we all have our weaknesses and that by planting even
a small seed; we can take someone to that weakness. An individual trying to
work toward something they already were shaky on or had doubts about,
will listen to the lie and flow with that idea, and use it to their own
destruction.
The partial manipulator only needs to put the thought in mind; knowing the
weakness is already there, and utilizing it will take their prey to a
destructive end.
Psychological manipulators flat, outright punish. From an actual physical
lashing to the passive-aggressive playing of the victim, punishment is very
effective when one wants to control another.
We skulk and cry and yell and nag and go completely silent. This is the
blackmail of the manipulator. It inspires guilt in us. That "wanting to be the
better person" rises to the front, and we do what the manipulator wants.
When the manipulator sets free the crocodile tears, we have no idea if they
are real or not. The degree of crying is not up to us to determine. Only the
manipulator knows if the tears are legitimate or not.
In this case, the trap is often sprung from the victim's side. They walk up to
the hurt individual to help, only to find that the manipulator is just lying in
wait to strike.
One extreme version of manipulation is violence.
Violence triggers something inside us. We often do anything to avoid it. The
manipulator knows that violence strategically applied can make us go into a
state of avoidance. There incites the control. Physical violence can have
mental scarring. The manipulator causes the scarring. It places violence in
tactical places to get the result they want.
Some would say this is the darkest of the dark.
Taken to the individual, this can mentally damage them for a long period of
time, if not permanently. Placed on a world stage, it can lead all the way up
to the physical conflict of genocide.
The manipulation process in dark psychology is normally not a single
move. It is a complex series of moves, often with the outcome only known
by the manipulator. The motivations of manipulators are as convoluted as
human nature.
Mostly it is about gain. Manipulators of the dark want to gain something.
When we speak about gain, we are talking about power and influence,
control and manipulation over others. The trophy is up to the individual.
This can be everything as to gaining affections, to money, and even to life
itself.
It is about gaining for their own personal reasons and gratifications. The
taking of others and making the power and control their own. Selfishness to
the extreme. The mind of the dark practitioner sees the ultimate win as gain
over others.
They have power. Superiority is the power over another, and taking of
someone else's power makes them feel superior. This is a huge driving force
behind the manipulator. Often, in the case of immature individuals driving
manipulations toward superiority, any is pushed aside for just the feeling of
being superior.
In relationships, it is about control. The manipulation of power can put one
in control. Although we have looked at the role of the vampire and power,
and we know who really has control.
This feeling of control can be overwhelming to the mental state of the dark.
Almost drug-like, it is a feeling of emotion that is most logical. Control is
one of the easiest manipulation tactics to achieve with only logic to guide. It
drives not only the victim but the manipulator as well.
Psychological manipulation can also be about self-esteem. The self of the
manipulator is always in question. This is one of the reasons they
manipulate, to define themselves. How easily they are able to manipulate
another can tell the dark that they are better than others. That weakness and
strength can be measured in the tactical playing field of the hustle.
This defines who they are. Can they manipulate? Yes? They are stronger.
No? They are weaker. It is a measuring device for self-esteem.
However, we are not saying it is the only device for measurement. Self-
esteem can be measured by far less damaging means.
The mind gets bored. And what do we do when we get bored? We seek
entertainment. How do we achieve entertainment? We manipulate.
We all do it.
Let us assume we are bored, and we want to remove or alleviate that
boredom with something else. Do we just sit back and wait for something
new to happen?
No. We actively search for something to replace boredom. Manipulation
can take place on many different levels, as well as the severity of which
they are applied, from picking up a crayon and coloring to taking a mental
absence to massacre everyone around you.
The dark psychological manipulator is bored most of the time more than
most. The psychological manipulator will often use manipulation to
determine their own validity of feelings and emotions.
What this boils down to is that manipulation applied in relations with others
helps the manipulator to regulate reactions to validate or not validate their
own emotions. The manipulator measures the self and their self-esteem by
how others handle their personal self-questioning.
This happens when the practitioner does not have a grasp on what emotions
are. They look at their own emotions as invalid and manipulate the situation
in such a way as to validate them.
We are stuck with ourselves, and we cannot get away. Psychological
manipulators validate or invalidate themselves by the tactical controlling of
others. It is an interesting way of viewing life, although there is one form of
manipulation that we all idolize—the con. One common form of
manipulation is convincing of another to make their money yours.
This is a hidden agenda of the criminal. This form of mental manipulation
preys mostly on the elderly and the rich. However, we all can fall to this
form of manipulation. What we choose to spend on and what we do not is
our response to a form of psychological manipulation.
Something happens when the buck is passed over. We go from manipulation
into action. Something drives us. It is within us, and it is outside forces that
drive. What causes this drive and the drive itself is called persuasion.
 CHAPTER 7:

The Power of Words

The Communication Tool

W
ords are a powerful tool. They can inspire, motivate, and cause
us to conjure up images in our imagination. This, in turn, affects
our emotions. Imagine then, how powerful that tool is when
used by a ruthless manipulator. Those with the skill can build
people up to be strong, or knock them down like a set of skittles.
It should be up to us as individuals. Do we allow the words of
encouragement or discouragement to influence us the most? But a
manipulator will use both methods to gain the result they are seeking.
Initially, they will make their target feel good about themselves. The
manipulator now believes the target to be under their persuasion because
they have allowed the target to feel that emotion. The target has become a
puppet. Once within their grasp, they will seek to break the target's self-
esteem. By the sheer power of words, they will break down any self-
confidence that they find. All of this using words. They may even lie to
them. Put them down with sarcasm and accusing them of being wrong all
the time. Both tactics were for the same result. To coerce their target into
behaving in a manner that will benefit the manipulator. This is how
powerful the art of words can be, and this is in their simplest form.
This maneuver may not appear tangible to the victim. It could be for
financial gain, or simply a means to gain control over another person.
However, control is achieved; the process will have been devious. Add to
that the art of body language; it renders even more power over the use of
words—all for the art of persuasion.
As a tool, language is one of the fundamental human characteristics that
separate us from other living creatures. Even the great apes, our nearest
relatives, do not have a grasp of the language to the extent that we have.
Uniquely, we can abstractly use language. Our minds can create things that
do not exist. We can take that a step further more and communicate our
imaginary thoughts to others. What do you conjure up at the word "alien?"
None of us have ever seen one, or at least they are not proven, yet we
instantly create an image in our minds. Different cultures may use different
forms of language to communicate. But language is still used for the same
reason, no matter where you are born. It is a way for humans to advance
and survive. With language, we can learn much quicker because words give
meaning to everything. Words are very influential in conveying how our
emotions and our needs. A manipulator, especially one with no moral
boundaries, can hypnotically use language. One such powerful persuasion
technique is known as Conversational Hypnosis. A competent proponent of
this technique is manipulating another's thoughts without them even
realizing it. For example, someone may be able to convince you to change
your mind over a decision. Further, they will make sure that you believe
you decided to change your mind. You will not even realize that it was they
who persuaded you to change your mind. A study conducted in 2015 looked
at relieving anxiety before a medical procedure. The results indicated that
Conversational Hypnosis was successful in doing this. (3a)
A similar technique to Conversational Hypnosis is used in a personal
development technique. This is known as Neuro-linguistic programming
(NLP). (3b). NLP is considered a positive use of the method. Yet, there are
still unscrupulous manipulators who use it to coerce individuals to their
own will. This method is subtler, using word deceptions to hide true
intentions. They will attempt to build up a personal trust with their target,
albeit on falsities. This bond maneuvers the target into a position to be more
agreeable and open to suggestions.
Listening
Language is used for a great many purposes:
Stories to entertain and educate.
Compose lyrics to compliment musical notes.
People have conversations to communicate their
emotions to each other.
These are but a few examples, but it is the last one that is of interest when
we discuss the art of manipulation. Words are a tool, a way of expressing
our inner thoughts to others and ourselves. Humans might communicate
with language, but words alone are not enough. Words have the ability to
bring us to our knees and weaken us. They have the power to teach us
topics we do not know about or understand so that we can learn and
develop. Yet, to know if you can trust what someone is saying is true, there
are other factors to consider; body language being one of them. This
indicates that language, as powerful as it is, does not work alone in a human
relationship. Language can be a potent contrivance, but more information is
needed before we can build up our bonds with one another. That is because
what a person says with words may not necessarily reflect the truth of who
they are. The ability to perceive fact from opinion is also a useful skill in
understanding the communicator's true aims. What can make words even
more powerful is the user's tone and inflections in the words they speak. If
someone told you to be quiet, you may or may not take any notice in a soft
tone. If there is a menace to their soft words' tone, you are more likely to
pay attention. If they shouted the words at you, then you might take more
note of the request. If the tone is one of uncertainty in their authority, then
maybe not. Whether others take note of the spoken request or instructions
could be dependent on how influential that person is. If it is a person
perceived as authoritative, such as a teacher to a student, then words will
have meaning. If the words are spoken from someone unknown, then the
words are less likely to have any influence. This means that the same words
can be used by different people and result in different effects. It is not only
the power of the word but also the user's power that transfers the message
across.
Inner Voice
We can also use words to communicate with ourselves. We may write a
journal or have a discussion with ourselves in our own mind. For some, this
is an excellent form of therapy. It can even help us solve problems by
visually mind mapping a solution to some difficulty we are experiencing.
Or, it can help us to maintain a good balance of mental health by writing
down our emotions. We are still using words and playing our own
counselor's role to comfort ourselves in stressful times.
Social Interactions
But humans are social creatures and prefer to share words. Using language
as a means of understanding our environment. Few humans prefer the
solitary life of their own company to that of others. Most of us like to be
with other people. The use of language will help build up friendships and
share common interests. No one needs to be experts in linguistics to achieve
this goal. Body language also comes into play. Observation compliments
language. Combined, it gives us efficient feedback on whether we will feel
safe with who we are with.
We are at ease if we are in a group of like-minded people. Why then would
anyone connect themselves with people who make them feel
uncomfortable? Yet, we do. It could be that we have been fooled into
believing a false impression. It is easy to use a combination of words and
body language to mislead someone. Most of us would not wish to use such
tactics, but many would have no scruples about doing so.
 CHAPTER 8:

Most Common Techniques

to Use in Manipulation

T here are many techniques used by manipulators to gain absolute or a

substantial level of control on their victims. Manipulators, most
times, lookout for some types of personalities to prey. The reason
for this is that they feel the need to manipulate their victims easily. They
lookout for the vulnerable parts of others and use it against them.
Most of the time, their prey is either naïve, empathetic, those with low self-
esteem, or with a lack of confidence. Below are some common techniques
used by manipulators:
Gaslighting
This is a style of manipulation that makes use of three different phrases: "it
didn't happen," "you are out of your mind," "it's your imagination." Some
experts believe that this may be one of the most dangerous manipulative
techniques there is as it aims to disorganize and kill the victim's sense of
reality.
When a person gets manipulated with this technique, he loses touch with
reality and can no longer trust himself. What is worse is that the victims of
this type of manipulative technique do not feel the need to call out the
manipulator for maltreating them.
Projection
In this type of manipulation, the manipulator finds someone else to blame
for everything that goes wrong around them. This is something that is
common with most people but is more common amongst narcissists and
psychopaths.
Here, the manipulator makes use of a defense tactic, which involves shifting
responsibility from him/her for wrongdoings and negative attitudes and
blames everything on another person aside himself.
Generalizations
This happens in cases where a person chooses to misunderstand another for
ulterior motives intentionally.
Have you ever found yourself in a case where a sibling, for instance, refuses
to think about the long-term effects of his actions or that of your parents?
Though you haven't said anything as such, this sibling goes about telling
everyone who cares to listen that you called your parents "wicked" just
because you stated that you were not comfortable with a certain major
decision, they are making for you.
In cases like this, you find yourself wondering what is really happening and
start to believe that maybe your sibling didn't understand what you said.
The truth is that this type of person understands their victims clearly, but
they choose to run with an entirely different story.
This is very common with narcissists who aren't very good at making very
sound intellectual decisions because they are plain lazy. When it comes to
using their brains, they would instead make hasty generalization of
whatever a person says than to make a critical assessment of another
person's word.
They usually make conclusions and statements that are not in line with their
victims' thoughts and words, and they do not try to look at things from a
different perspective to see where their victim is coming from or consider
the reasons, they said what they said.
Moving the Goalposts
There is a common logical fallacy known as moving the goalposts, and
sociopaths and abusive narcissists make good use of it all the time. In this
case, the manipulator makes sure that they always have a cause to complain
about their victims because they find reasons to, not because they are
actually not pleased with their victims' actions or words.
Even in cases where the victim has found every possible reason to justify
their actions or validate their words or even done things to meet their
demand, they remain adamantly dissatisfied. In most cases, they simply set
higher expectations or change their terms, or they simply ask that you give
more proof.
Changing the Topic
This may seem like an innocent action, but it is not. Changing subjects in
conversations is one of the techniques used by manipulators. With is a way
to run away from being held accountable for their words or actions.
This is also common with narcissists as they do not wish to ever dwell on a
topic that will demand that they be responsible for anything. To avoid this,
they simply find ways to change topics to favor themselves.
This type of manipulation will go on for as long as possible if the victim
keeps letting it happen. In cases like this, it becomes difficult to have
relevant discussions whenever the manipulator is around.
Name-Calling
This is a technique that involves attacking the victim's personality by
calling him derogatory names. Most victims may think this is normal
because they have become used to it from bullies in school, to parents,
friends, or partners who call them names, but it is not, and it is as
destructive as other manipulative techniques. This type of manipulation is
found in all areas of life, and it goes as far as presidential politics.
Devaluation
This is common with friends or colleagues who tend to show love to you
while they always have bad or terrible things to say about the last person in
your place.
Narcissistic abusers always do this. When it comes to intimate
relationships, they have very terrible things to say about their exes. Still, the
new partner will eventually find out why the ex was such a "terrible
partner" because the narcissist will eventually mate the same treatment that
he gave to the ex on the current partner.
This type of person can also be found in a professional setting as much as it
can be found in personal settings.
Making Aggressive Jokes
Sometimes, you find yourself uncomfortable with the jokes that a coming
from someone else. Your sense of humor may not be the problem as you
will be made to believe. Maybe the main problem is the motive behind the
joke.
Some people derive pleasure in making malicious comments at the expense
of others. These comments may be presented as jokes so that they can
easily pull through with it without consequences. This way, they are able to
say terrible things without having to apologize for the things they say.
Because they maintain their innocence in saying what they want to say, you
are rendered powerless and unable to complain because anytime you try to
react, you are seen as one who does not have a healthy sense of humor.
Less Common Manipulation Techniques
Some manipulation techniques are not so common but have been proven to
be effective when used. Look at some of those:
Home Advantage
When a person wants to manipulate you, he may insist that you both meet
in a place where it will be easy for him to control you and exert his
dominance over you.
What they do is simply take you to their homes, office, car, or any other
place where it will be easy for them to maintain their ownership or
familiarity because you simply do not have such an advantage.
Speak First to Determine Your Strong and Weak Points
This is a common technique with marketers when they are trying to pitch
their sales to you. They come at you by asking general probing questions,
which will give you room to speak for a while. This way, they are able to
determine your personality, thought pattern, and attitude.
It is with these findings that they are also able to know your strengths and
weaknesses.
Certainly, their questions come with ulterior motives, and they are going to
use your answer against you later. This type of manipulation can manifest in
your office or your personal relationships.
Manipulation of Facts
Lies and excuses are a common part of this technique. These types of
manipulators are two-faced people. They find ways of blaming the victim
for getting victimized. To do this, they alter the truth or choose the
information that they are willing to let out. They may also choose not to
give very vital information.
This type of manipulators exaggerates, is biased, and may also be prone to
understating issues in order to have things go in their favor.
Presents Overwhelming Facts and Statistics
It is a form of "intellectual bullying," and some people like to engage in it.
This technique consists in assuming that they are experts in certain fields or
areas of discussion. They present themselves as though they know the most
about some particular areas.
However, they manipulate people by giving false facts, statistics, or other
data because they know that their victims do not know so much about the
topic. This is a common strategy in sales and the world of finance. It is also
common in professional terrains and negotiations. People usually make use
of this technique in social gatherings and other arguments.
Overwhelming Victims With Procedures and Red Tape
Some types of manipulators use officialism, processes, laws/by-laws,
organizations, and another possible roadblock to exercise their superiority
or power while making things harder for others.
It is used to hide the shortcomings of manipulators and their weaknesses,
which helps them avoid scrutiny.
Display of Negative Emotions by Raising Their Voices
In order to manipulate others in a very aggressive manner, some
manipulators raise their voices while discussing with others. They tend to
think that they will be able to have things their own ways and have others
submit to their wills and get what they want from them if they are able to
raise their voices and negatively react to things.
The over-projection of their voices always comes with some strong body
language like pacing or displaying gestures that depict excitement to boost
the impact of their emotions.
Negative Surprises
This technique is used to throw people off balance and gain an advantage
over them psychologically. This happens more in negotiations. It entails
having the victim to make assertions that he/she may not be able to pull
through with or deliver on in one way or the other.
In most cases, the most potent type of negative surprises comes without
giving any signs or warnings. This way, the victim is not able to get himself
set to counter their moves.
Giving Little Time to Make Major Decisions
This is a common strategy used in marketing and negotiations. In cases like
this, the manipulator pressures the victim into making hasty decisions
without letting him/her get enough time to think it through.
By creating tension and gaining control over the victim, the manipulator
aims at breaking the victim's defenses, such that he/she will finally give in
to their demands.
Silent Treatment
This is a technique where the manipulator creates a sense of anxiety by
making their victims wait. To achieve their aims, they refuse to pick calls,
respond to messages, or attend to their victim's inquiries. The manipulator
hopes to achieve with this technique to create a feeling of doubt and
uncertainty in the victim's mind. That works in their favor as they sit back
and leverage on the silence they have created.
Feigned Ignorance
Manipulators use this method by simply acting dumb. They pretend as
though they do not understand their victims' needs or pretend like they do
not know what the victim wants from them. This way, they become both
possessive and aggressive, such that you begin to take on their
responsibilities and stress over things that you ordinarily should not concern
yourself with.
 CHAPTER 9:

Advanced Dark Psychology and Manipulation

Techniques

P eople use psychology within their daily lives, so why not use Dark
Psychology and the tactics to influence people. There are some
personality traits that can be very harmful if you get caught up in
them. Sadists fall under this category. For instance, this personality type
enjoys inflicting suffering on others, especially those who are innocent.
They will even do this at the risk of costing them something. Those who are
diagnosed as sadists feel that cruelty is a type of pleasure that is exciting
and can even be sexually stimulating.
We do have to face the fact that we manipulate people and deceive people
all the time. When it comes to deception, people are deceiving not only
others on a daily basis, but they are also deceiving themselves. People often
lie to gain something or to avoid something. They might not want to be
punished for action, or they might want to reach a goal, and they self-
deceive to get there.
Here are some examples of how people deceive themselves:
Having a hard time studying—this is a common occurrence. When people
are trying to study, they find a lot of things that can distract them, especially
cell phones and social media apps. They will find just about anything to
distract them from the task at hand. These types of people seem to have a
phobia of not studying long or well enough and they are afraid that they
will come home with a bad grade, and it will show how unintelligent they
are. So, they take the art of self-deception and come up with the idea that
will help prevent them from studying. This excuse will weigh better in their
mind if they do end up getting a bad grade on their test. The person's
subconscious is telling them that it is better for them to get bad grades for
lack of studying than to study and failing and therefore having to blame
their intelligence. They couldn't live with that.
Here are other ways that we regularly deceive ourselves:
Procrastinating: People often waste time when they do not
want to study or do something important. However, the main
reason for procreating could be the phobia against failing, and
procrastinating was just an excuse. Self-confidence can be an
issue as well.
Drinking, doing drugs, and carrying out bad habits: People
often fall into bad habits, drink, or do drugs just to have
something to blame if they fall again. This type of person will
try to convince them that if they could stop doing drugs, they
could be very successful when they are the ones deceiving
themselves and standing in their own way.
People often hold back because life is unfair: They tell
themselves that we all live in a big lie that most people believe
in, but not them. It is easier to blame it on life being unfair, and
then hold ourselves accountable for not reaching our goals.
If you realize that you have been deceiving yourself, here are a couple
of things that you can do to change that.
Remember that you are smart, and the fact that you have been
able to deceive yourself reaffirms it. If you were not smart,
there would have been no way that you would have been able
to come up with some of those ideas.
It is important to learn how to face your fears. If you are
running from a certain trauma, or not wanting to take a test,
you have to remind yourself that you are stronger than this and
that you can beat it.
Lastly, once you face your fears, your self-confidence and
courage will grow.
Manipulation in Our Daily Lives
Manipulation is an underhanded tactic that we are exposed to on a daily
basis. Manipulators are people who want to get their needs met.
Those who grew up being manipulated, or being around manipulation, find
it hard to determine what is really going on because if you are experiencing
it again, it might feel familiar.
Maybe you were manipulated in a past relationship, or the current
relationship that you are in reminds you of your childhood.
This is important because manipulation tactics break apart communication
and break a person's trust. People will often find ways to manipulate the
situation and play games rather than speaking honestly about what is going
on.
However, others value communication only to manipulate the situation to
reveal the other person's weaknesses so that they can be in control. These
types of people do this often in conversation. They have no concern with
listening to others talk about anything about themselves. And they are not
there to help those people get through whatever it is that they are going
through. It is all about dominance in this case, and that's it.
Some of the common techniques that we can experience are:
Lying: White lies, untruths, partial or half-truths,
exaggerations, and stretching the truth.
Love Flooding: Through endless compliments, affection, or
what is known as buttering someone up.
Love Denial: Telling someone that they do not love you and
withhold your love or affection from them until you get what
you want.
Withdrawal: Achieved through avoiding the person altogether
or giving them the silent treatment.
 Choice Restriction: Giving people options that distract them
from the one decision that you don't want them to make.
Reverse Psychology: Trying to get a person to do the exact
opposite of what you want them to do in the attempt to
motivate them to do the direct opposite, which is what you
really wanted them to do in the first place.
Being Condescendingly Sarcastic or Having a Patronizing
Tone: To be fair, we are all guilty of doing this once in a while.
But those who are manipulating us in conversation are doing
this consistently. They are mocking you; their tone indicates
that you are a child, and they belittle you with their words.
Speaking in Universal Statement or Generalizations: The
manipulator will take the statement and make it untrue by
grossly making it more prominent. Generalizations are afforded
to those who a part of a group of things. A universal statement
is more personal.
Example: Universal Example: You always say things like that.
Example: Generalization: Therapists always act like that.
Luring and Then Playing Innocent: We, or someone we
know, are good at pushing our loved ones' buttons. However,
when a manipulator tries to push their spouse's buttons and
then act like they have no idea what happened. They
automatically get the reaction that they were after, and this is
when their partner needs to pay close attention to what they are
doing. Those who are abusive will keep doing this repeatedly
until their spouse will start wondering if they are crazy.
Bullying: This is one of the easiest forms of manipulation to
recognize. For example, your spouse asks you to clean the
kitchen. You don't want to, but the look they are giving you
indicates that you better clean it or else. You tell them sure, but
they just used a form of violence to get you to do what they
wanted. Later they could have told you that you could have
said no, but you knew you couldn't. It is important to note that
if you fear that you cannot say no if your relationship without
fearing for your safety, then you need to leave the relationship.
Using Your Heart Against You: Your spouse finds a stray
kitten and wants to bring it home. The most things to do would
be to discuss being able to house and afford the cat. But
instead, they take the manipulative approach. Their ultimate
goal is to make you feel bad about not being able to take care
of the animal. Don't let anyone, even your spouse, make you
feel that you cannot make the best choice for you. You do not
have to take care of the kitten if you don't want to, bottom line.
Meet their manipulations with reasonable alternatives.
"If you love me, you will do this": This one is so hard
because it challenges how you feel about your spouse. They
are asking you to prove your love for them by giving them
what they want from you, making you feel guilt and shame.
The thing you can do in this instance is to stop it altogether.
You can tell your spouse that you love them without having to
go to the store. If they wanted you to go, they could just ask.
Emotional Blackmail: This is ugly and dangerous. The idea
that someone will self-harm if you leave is harmful at the core.
Manipulators are using guilt, fear, and shame to keep having
power over you. Remember that no one's total well-being is
your responsibility alone. You have to tell yourself not to fall
for it. This will always be a manipulation tactic. However, you
can tell them that if they feel like they are going to harm
themselves, you will call an ambulance to help them.
Neediness When it's Convenient: Has your spouse started to
feel sick or upset when they didn't get what they wanted? This
is a direct form of manipulation. For instance, they don't want
to go somewhere with you and have a panic attack, that you
have to help them through, so that they don't have to go at all.
This is not healthy at all, and if this persists, you should think
about ending the relationship.
They Are Calm in Bad Situations: When someone gets hurt,
or their conflict, somebody dies; your spouse always seems to
not react with any feeling. They are always calm. This type of
manipulation makes you think that perhaps how you are
reacting is a bit much. Maybe your emotions are a little bit out
of control. This is a controlling mechanism because no one
should be able to tell you how to feel. This might seem like
they are questioning your mental health and maturity level, and
you find yourself looking to them and how to respond in
certain situations. If this happens often and you see that you
keep falling for it, you might need to see a therapist. This way,
they can help you work on your emotional responses and find
your true feelings again. This manipulation method can be very
damaging to your psyche. At the moment, learn to trust your
gut. It will not steer you wrong.
Everything is a Joke: This is a two-part manipulation tactic.
Your spouse will say hurtful things about you, and then when
you get upset, they get upset because you can't take a joke.
Other times they will joke about you in front of others, and if
you don't respond positively, you are again ruining the fun.
This is a way to put you down continuously without having to
take responsibility for it. Remember that you are not ruining
the fun here, but you have to stand up for yourself.
 CHAPTER 10:

What Are the Differences between Persuasion and

Manipulation

M
any people fail to recognize the nuances between manipulation
and persuasion. Despite the fact that both seek to convince
someone else to do something else, they are quite different in
enough key ways to be classified completely differently. One is only
beneficial to the manipulator (manipulation), while the other ideally, should
benefit both people. Because of these key differences, manipulation
becomes far more insidious than persuasion. The manipulator sees the other
person as a tool, a means to an end, whereas the persuader sees the other
person as a partner.
Defining Persuasion
Though persuasion involves changing someone else's mind, it is not
necessarily a bad thing—there are plenty of ways that persuasion can be
used innocently or benevolently. Persuasion is any method that will actively
change the thoughts, emotions, actions, or attitudes of another person
toward another person or thing. This change is seen as a persuasion. It can
be done inwardly toward oneself by changing one's own attitudes or being
done to other people.
Usually, persuasion is used as a form of influence—it is everywhere. It is
present in ads, politics, schools, professions, and just about everywhere you
could think of. If you can think of something, chances are there is some sort
of persuasive layer to it somewhere and somehow.
When persuading someone, four key elements must be present. These
four elements are:
Someone who is doing the persuading
The message or the persuasion
A target recipient for the persuasion
A context that the persuasion is received
Each of these four key elements must be present for something to be
considered persuasive. Of course, this means that manipulation would fall
within the category of persuasion as well.
Defining Manipulation
In psychology, manipulation is a type of influence or persuasion, but unlike
regular persuasion, manipulation is covert, deceptive, or underhanded. This
means that, unlike regular persuasion, which seeks to be most honest,
manipulation is often untrustworthy. The manipulator will have no concern
about lying about the situation or attempting to coerce the target into
believing something, so long as he gets what he wants.
The manipulator seeks only to serve himself further—he does not care
about the target and does not care about hurting the target. The target is seen
as little more than collateral damage—a necessary sacrifice to get the
desired results. As such, manipulation tactics are often quite exploitative
and almost always meant to be insidious and harmful.
Successful manipulation requires three key concepts to happen. These
three are:
Concealing the intentions and behaviors while
remaining friendly upfront
Understanding the ways, the victim or target is
vulnerable and using those vulnerabilities to the
advantage of the manipulator
Being ruthless enough to not care about the harm
caused to the victim
Manipulation can take several different forms, but most of them follow the
pattern of being covert, harmful, and causing no guilt to the manipulator.
Key Differences
Ultimately, persuasion and manipulation are quite similar: They are both
forms of social influence, but that is where the similarities end. While
persuasion is generally positive, even within dark psychology, manipulation
is not. Manipulation is harmful, ruthless, and insidious in every way, shape,
and form.
When you are trying to choose whether something is manipulative or
persuasive, there are a few questions you can ask yourself to decide. This
simple test can allow you to analyze what you are doing and say to ensure
that you are making the best choices for you. If you are not looking to
manipulate, but the questions tell you that you are erring on the
manipulation side, you know to tone it down a bit, lightening up on the
manipulative factors. These questions are:
What is the intention that has led you to feel the need to
convince the other person of something?
Are you truthful about your intention and the process?
How does this benefit the other person?
The persuader is going to be attempting to convince the other person from a
good place—they intend to help the other person somehow. While they may
benefit too, they are primarily looking out for the other person's best
interest. For example, you may try to convince someone to buy a specific
car because it will work better for their family than the person currently
looking at. This would be seen as persuasion—you are offering facts about
the other car and showing how it would likely serve the person longer and
better.
On the other hand, the manipulator is not concerned with the other person's
needs—the manipulator is going to attempt to push for whatever benefits
him or her the most. There is no good intention, and there will likely not be
much truth either. It is also not likely to benefit the other person in any way
and may even be detrimental. For example, the manipulator may try to sell
a car that is no good for the buyer simply because the other car may be
worth more money and therefore net a much higher commission. The car is
not likely to be very good for what the buyer needs, but that is not the
manipulator's concern. The manipulator would see that as something the
buyer should know on his own and not bother pointing out the ways that the
buyer may be making a bad decision, even if the manipulator knows the
decision was wrong.
 CHAPTER 11:

What Is Mind Control and

How Does It Work

M
ind control sounds like a terrifying act, but if you think about it,
each and every one of us has undergone some sort of mind
control just from watching the commercials during the Super
Bowl. By definition, mind control is a forcible push of information toward a
person to break them down and create new beliefs that align with the person
or organization controlling them.
We see this type of behavior in everything from religion to what type of
cereal to buy. It is a controlled system and doesn't mean Houdini is standing
over you, waving his wand. It doesn't mean you are a walking zombie.
Often times, this breakdown, and reintroduction can seem calming and
positive, which is the case for many religious institutions. However, lurking
behind many of the peaceful moments are negative connotations of control
by someone other than yourself.
Consider mind control as a form of persuasion, but completely reducing the
victim's thoughts to nothing and building them back up in the controller's
ideals is anything but minuscule in gravity. Controlling someone's thoughts,
emotions, and behaviors can be found in abusive relationships on a regular
basis. Sometimes it can even be found in kidnapping situations where the
victim finds themselves worshipping as their kidnapper did, believing as
their kidnapper did, and finding themselves lost once saved from their
abduction.
There are a couple of positive ways for the use of mind control. Most of
them have to do with addiction. You are changing your addictive
personality to be stronger, more resistant to urges. This type of persuasion
goes with drugs, alcohol, and smoking. There are numerous hypnotist
sessions you can attend to help rewire your brain in order to lose weight,
quit smoking, stop addictions to gambling, sex, drugs, alcohol.
Within the military, you go in with your own thoughts and ideas and come
out with the military's thoughts and ideas. They break you down mentally,
emotionally, and physically in boot camp and then rebuild you in their
vision. Your whole life revolves around military pride, military rules, and
the lack of empathy for those you kill based on the military's pride to honor
your country.
Mind control doesn't always have to be performed by one single person,
either. As in the case of cults and gangs, mind control can be pushed and
implemented by group ideals and group pressure. Those cults and gangs can
be extremely dangerous and very hard to break.
The manipulator at the head of the group, sect, etc., twists their victims'
minds until they become completely reliant on them. Manipulators often
revel in the idea of having people worship them and rely on them for
everything from how they live to what they believe. It increases the
aggressor's self-worth and self-esteem, and when they are feeling down, all
they have to do is find someone new to bring in. It is a very dangerous
business, and in extreme cases such as cult mass suicides, it can cost you
and your family their lives.
If you choose to practice mind control, take heed. The situations don't
always turn out positive for either party.
History of Mind Control
There are hundreds of theories and tin hat ideas on the history of mind
control. Many years ago, dating back further than the cold war, it is said that
both foreign and domestic militaries used, and still test, mind control on
soldiers and prisoners of war. The truth about it is unknown as military
records are secret, and no exact evidence has been brought forward to
solidify these theories. However, the forms of mind control of everyday
society have been around as long as there has been television and movies to
relay people's information.
Some of the more nefarious methods of mind control are as follows:
Wall Standing
Wall standing is classified as a torture technique but can also be utilized as a
mind control method. The person is placed about four feet away from a wall
and instructed to lift their arms until their fingertips touch. They are then
forced to stand there like that for prolonged periods of time. Usually, some
sort of fear tactic is used to keep them there, and during this time, as they
get weaker and weaker, mind control techniques can be implemented.
Hooding
Hooding is another tactic considered torture. The person has a hood placed
over their entire head while their hands and legs are bound. They are then
introduced to a bout of questioning. The hood creates an absence of sensory
abilities. The person can become disoriented, isolated, and begin to feel fear
and dread. These emotions can get extorted, and mind control can come to
the scene.
Malnutrition
The person is starved almost to death. Their mind will not be clear, they
will fear, and they will do whatever is necessary to get food. Their weak
mind allows for new ideas to be placed and rewards to be given with their
compliance.
Sensory Deprivation
Sensory Deprivation removes all sensory attributes from a person. They
cannot see, hear, or feel what is going on around them. It is an isolation
technique that weakens them considerably. They become confused and
disoriented, and mind control tactics can be implemented.
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is used in modern-day to change a person's personality when it
comes to addiction, weight loss, gambling, etc. A professional hypnotist
usually carries out this technique. When the patient is under, they are given
new ideas and ways to think that then sit in the subconscious when the
person awakens from the hypnosis. Science is still out on whether this
works.
Deep Narcosis
Narcosis is a change in consciousness during dives. It can happen in
shallower water, but for mind control purposes is done in deep waters or
pressure chambers. During this change in consciousness, techniques are
used to implement new thoughts and ideas into the mind. When the person
switches back, those ideals are still lodged in the person's memory.
Subliminal Messaging
Subliminal messages are those that sit at a tone, frequency, and sound level
too low for the conscious mind to perceive. At the same time, the
unconscious mind takes them in. It is popular to use this technique when a
person is sleeping.
These are the more perverse manners of mind control, most of them illegal
to perform due to their status as torturous. They can also be dangerous to
the participant. While they may gain some of the ideas that the manipulator
hopes to instill, they will also gain post-traumatic issues, especially when it
comes to hooding and wall standing. Not all methods are dangerous, and
some of them are used on a regular basis. It is important to remember that
mind control does not mean total control of the person and their body. It
means changing their conscious ideas about specific pieces of information.
Mind Control vs. Brainwashing
One of the major distinctions between brainwashing and mind control is the
fact that the victim of brainwashing almost always knows that the aggressor
is their enemy. They undergo extreme stress and pain as the aggressor uses
violent techniques to attempt to brainwash them. They are incomplete,
understanding that in order to stay alive, they have to start believing what
their aggressor is telling them. When the victim finally gets away from the
aggressor, the brainwashing melts away, and they are able to retrieve their
original ideas.
Mind Control, on the other hand, is usually done subtly, by someone that
the victim trusts. Even when using some of the techniques listed above, the
victim doesn't remember the traumatic part, waking up with new ideas in
their minds. It is a subtle and sophisticated art, and the victim of the mind
control usually is not attempting to control themselves at all. They are
relaxed, with no fear, and have no idea what is happening. Often, due to the
trust level, the victim will even provide information that the aggressor will
then turn around later and use against them.
When the victim is away from the aggressor, they do not lose thoughts and
ideas into their brains during the mind control. They believe that those ideas
were thought up on their own. They think that they may have been
manipulated, but other than that, nothing. They are not willing to concede
that these thoughts and feelings they are having were actually implanted
into them by their aggressor. This is also dangerous because the victim is
not willing to see what truly happened to them. Some of the actions and
ideas implanted can create hardships or even injure the person in the long
run.
The ideas that we create in our own minds are the ideas that last the longest.
That is why when a manipulated victim is brought away from the aggressor,
and they still hold those ideas. They truly believe they thought them,
created them, and in some cases, manifested them. This further pushes the
victim into the false reality that the manipulator has created for them.
 CHAPTER 12:

Undetected Mind Control

M
ind control has been termed as a form of manipulation,
brainwashing, and coercive persuasion, thought reform, mental
control, and coercive control, among other terms. However,
despite the many names used to explain what mind control is, it has a
simple, universally acceptable definition.
It is possible to define mind control as a system of influences that majorly
disrupt a person's core, preferences, beliefs, behaviors, values, relationships,
and decisions and create a new pseudo-identity or persona. Though the
name mind control comes out as a bad thing, if used well, it is useful in
some cases like helping addicts transform.
However, in dark psychology, mind control is used unethically. It is a
process by which personal or collective freedoms or action is compromised
by agents or persons that distort or modify perception, cognition,
motivation, behavioral outcomes, or affect. It is a form of manipulation to
deny personal freedom of choice and thoughts. Mind control is what results
in the formation of cults and sects. People lose the ability to think or reason
for themselves; instead, they follow everything their cult leader says.
People Who Uses Mind Control
You may be curious to know who would use these techniques to destroy
others for their own gain. Or manipulate others because they can and want
to control others. The answer is sociopaths or psychopaths and narcissists.
The only reason as to why they do it is simply lack of conscience.
When people do not know about these scholarly names, they call the
manipulators abusive or controlling wife or husband, jealous boyfriend,
strict boss, or verbally abusive woman, among other names. When closely
scrutinized, it is found that these people suffer from various personality
disorders.
Undetected Mind Control Tactics
Various tactics are used by people every day to control others for their
selfish gains. Difficult people that want to control others are everywhere.
From the workplace, intimate relationships, or friendships, mind control is
rampant. It is important to be cognizant of these control tactics so that you
can stay away from them.
Below, we shall discuss a few controlling tactics that manipulators often use
to maneuver others to be disadvantaged and for them to have the upper
hand over them. However, it is also important to know that not everyone
that uses these tactics wants to control you. Some people just don't know
how to behave, and if told, they are likely to stop. Some of these control
tactics include:
Time dominance and home-court advantage
A controlling and aggressive person may insist on having a meeting and
interacting with you at an advantageous location. He wants to be in a space
where he can exercise his dominance and control to get what he wants.
Apart from location, a controlling person will want to control how long a
meeting takes to their advantage. They may want to make it very long to
tire you or short of cutting you off abruptly before you can express your
opinion.
Causing you to wait
If you had an appointment with a person at a particular time, you get there
on time, but the person deliberately makes you wait, he or she is simply
exercising their power over you. It is a classic form of power play, and the
message is that their time is more important than yours, and that person is
also more important than you. They want to make you feel that you need
them, and they don't need you, so you must be the one patient with them.
Furniture setup to insinuate differences in power
This mostly happens in office setups where you find a person has set up
their office in such a way to exercise power. They make sure their seat is
large and adjustable indicating executive while you are given a small chair.
When seated, they look like they are over you, and you are below them. He
or she also dominates the tablespace making sure her things have fully
occupied the desk, and you have no space to place even a laptop. In some
cases, the table is used as a sign of emotional, physical barrier, or creating a
psychological distance.
Calling your name deliberately
Someone can call your name strategically or deliberately as a form of
power play. When a person calls out the name of another person, they have
their attention. The listener feels like they have been put on the spot and are
forced to respond more attentively. Because of this, the listener ensures to
answer questions with care and detail.
Intimidation through the strength of numbers
An aggressor may want to intimidate another with a show of might and
numbers. They take dominance of a situation by having their associates and
friends present to reinforce their position. When the other party sees those
numbers, they may get intimidated. In addition, his associates or friends can
back each other up and occasionally challenge you during the process. In
some instances, they will put undue pressure on you to make a decision
before you feel ready to. At its worst, strength through numbers can be used
to harass or bully an opponent directly or indirectly.
Uncomfortable formality
An aggressor may deliberately want to make their opponent uncomfortable
and make them feel defensive. They do this by making their speech,
physical environment, clothing, and or the proceedings uncomfortable and
formal. This feeling may be accurate if the formalities or demonstrations
are not in accordance with their usual behavior. When the aggressor is
excessively formal and extra, they may be trying to be impressive and
psychologically intimidating to have the upper hand and get what they want
from the proceedings.
They maintain an uncomfortable physical closeness to you
An aggressor may want to sit or stand uncomfortably close to you,
especially if they are taller to intimidate you with their height. When people
stand tall over you and uncomfortably close, naturally, the height
intimidates you. In so doing, the person hopes to gain a sense of superiority
and psychologically dominate you to their advantage and at your expense.
They use procedure and red tape as a form of intimidation
To show and maintain their power position, some people will use
procedures, bureaucracy, by-laws and laws, paperwork, and much more to
make it difficult for you. This technique is also used by those who want to
delay those seeking facts or truth, hide weaknesses and flaws, or avoid
scrutiny.
Displaying negative emotion and using a raised voice
When holding a normal discussion, some aggressors will raise their voice to
intimidate others. They believe that with raised voices and displaying
negative emotions, you will yield to their coercion so that they get what
they want. They often combine the aggressive voice with intimidating body
language like using excited gestures or suddenly standing.
Threaten a walkout and lack of patience
Like raising a voice, other power-play tactics that aggressors use to
pressurize their listeners to confirm show a lack of patience and threatening
to walk out of a proceeding. If the recipient is emotionally invested in the
situation or the aggressor, it gets easier for this kind of coercion to work on
them.
Negative humor
An aggressor knows that using negative humor that focuses on your area of
weakness will disempowering you. He or she makes critical remarks
disguised as humor to make their victim insecure and inferior. They can
make negative comments about your appearance, possessions like your
phone, or even your credentials and background. By making a person feel
and look bad, an aggressor hopes to impose their perceived superiority over
you psychologically.
Constant criticism and judgment
An aggressor will make sure to criticize and judge your every move or
decision so that you feel inadequate. In this case, the aggressor will directly
pick on you. He or she will ridicule, marginalize, and dismiss you to keep
you off balance and have superiority over you. The aggressor wants you to
think there is something wrong with you and the people around you to
consider the same. Regardless of how much you try, he or she works at
making you feel nothing good can come out of you. At all times, they focus
on your negative traits, but not once will they offer solutions that are
constructive or helpful.
Pressurizing you to make a decision
This tactic is most common with salespeople. When a person wants you to
buy something, they refuse to give you time to weigh your options and
think through; instead, they want you to decide now. They apply tension
and bully you into making a crucial decision without thinking it through.
Even during negotiations, one party will pressure you to decide when you
are not ready. They put undue pressure on you with the hope that you give
in to their demands, and they get their way without caring how you feel
about the situation.
Giving you excessive and multiple directions
It aims towards controlling you psychologically and behaviorally. This is a
tactic common with law enforcers to control one's behavior. Individuals that
like to control in business also use this tactic often. In domestic, intimate
relationships and other situations, this tactic is also used by excessively
controlling people. Some people use this tactic for no reason just because
they want to bully and abuse their victims. They look at the vulnerability of
their victims and take advantage of it.
Use of threats
Aggressors may use threats to intimidate their victims about the
consequences that will come if they don't comply. The consequences are
varied and can be emotional, legal, financial, psychological, physical, or
social, among others.
Difficult people that want to control others are everywhere. Knowing the
tactics they use is important for an individual so that you can use strategies
available to restore respect and balance.
Many people that have been mentally controlled, especially those in cults,
will never admit to it. They believe they made the decisions soberly, and
their leader is on the target. Mind control can be so severe that their
individuals choose their leader over their loved ones. These leaders use
various tools to make their subjects loyal to them.
Tools of Mind Control
Controlled environment: A manipulator or aggressor will
make sure to disconnect the victim completely from their loved
ones. They forbid any form of communication and brainwash
them into thinking their family and friends are the enemies.
They break your sense of self: They attack their victim's self-
esteem on the basis that they are wrong, and their views are
wrong as compared to the group is right.
They instill a new sense of self: The victim receives a new
sense of identity, that of identifying with the group. This gets
reinforced by the group environment where the victim only
interacts with members of the group, and any information he or
she gets is from the members. They train the victim on how to
behave and the right way to live according to them.
Isolation: A victim, is kept off the outside world. They are
shunned from the internet or watching the news. Fear is
instilled in them such that they are afraid to venture out of the
"safe" group environment.
 CHAPTER 13:

Mind Control Techniques

H aving control over everyday situations is something all human

beings wish for. The ability to command what will happen is the
dream of most people. Although it is impossible to accomplish
100% of the time, some techniques allow you to achieve the desired results
more often. If you did not know, it is possible to influence someone's
actions with simple behaviors and signals sent directly to the person you
would like to impact. You can apply the following tips in meetings with
your boss, at a job interview, or even with that platonic passion!
 1. Honest Smile
You should know that a smile is one of the most important and significant
aspects of body language, yet do you know how to give a perfect smile?
Some smiles are visibly forceful and hostile, so you should seek to convey
truth. But how can we maximize this action? It's simple. Basically, you
should keep your normal countenance and, after only a few seconds, greet
the person and give him a sincere smile. Whoever smiles the most can gain
greater emotional control of the other person, who will feel more
comfortable with his presence.
 2. Look
When you are in a group of friends, and the person of your interest is there,
do not hesitate to direct your attention to him/her. The tendency is to pay
attention to what is being discussed at the wheel of the conversation, but
what will attract your interest's attention, however, is the look. When you
focus your eyes on the other person, you will automatically catch their
attention eventually. If you know how to gauge your looks, it will soon be
within your power to get their attention. If you're at a job interview or
talking to the boss, keep your eye on the eyes of the person you're talking to
because this increases the chances of that person feeling greater empathy
and confidence in you!
 3. Be Insistent
You will be impressed by how you can persuade your friends. We already
know the famous phrase that says, "A lie repeated a thousand times
becomes true," right? But although we are not dealing with lies, you can
apply this phrase in the present technique. If you want someone to believe
and give credence to what you say, just insist on their point of view. For
example, imagine that you want to sell some product and need to show that
it is worth buying it. To persuade your buyer, it is no use to be insistent by
repeating the same arguments because you will become inconvenient.
Instead, try to increase the list of good points to gain credibility, and you
will be successful.
 4. Justifications
You may disbelieve it, but you increase your ability to convince the other
person to do the desired favor when you justify your requests. Researchers
conducted a test in which a woman went to five locations and asked, "Could
you pick up the five pages of Xerox for me?" In 60% of the situations,
people did not respond to her request. Subsequently, the same test was
carried out only with the justification "because I have so much work here
that I will not be able to arrive on time," and about 94% of the people
responded promptly to the request! The next time you have to make a
request, be sure to justify the reason!
 5. Narrow Ties
Studies have proven that tightening bonds is one of the best techniques for
gaining control over another person. The quickest way to have power over
someone is to make them feel good in your presence, that is, to involve
them emotionally. Researchers have discovered that engaging in some kind
of activity with the other person ends up generating an emotional
connection, and while you might find it complicated at first, it's actually
quite simple. For example, you can share your songs as well as find which
songs you like together. This can make them feel connected to you!
 6. Listen More
If you are a very shy and introspective person, you will probably do this
technique successfully. But if you are a more communicative person, do not
worry. Studies have shown that people who listen more in the workplace or
in social gatherings end up assuming a position of power over the others. If
you are facing a difficult situation, try to control yourself and listen to
everything the other person has to say. Expect them to ask you for your
opinion. All the caller's attention will come to you at times like this, and it
will be easier to have a pleasant conversation. This technique will increase
your credibility and make your opinion the most considerable in any
dialogue.
 7. Tell the Truth
Did you know that little lies can end up hurting more than helping? Show
the people around you that your life is not based on telling lies to please
someone, but that you have a personality strong enough to speak the truth,
even if it hurts. Be honest, and you will control the situation much more
easily than telling a lie and slipping afterward.
Use the Past to Influence a Person's Future
Do you realize how much the things you learned in childhood influence
your present? Have you noticed that the way parents and educators created
an individual's childhood affects their current talents and their fears and
limitations? It is almost mathematical the result obtained nowadays. We can
even use the equation: parents + education that we had = influence.
Want some practical examples to verify this reality? There is nothing better
than the Numerological Challenges to show us the influence - positive or
negative - of the way we were educated. The numbers in this position
represent those fears that needed to be faced and overcome with our parents'
help. It represents the kinds of attitudes and activities we fear most to
develop and engage. Hence, the way parents and educators dealt with such
difficulties when we were children may indicate whether we view them
today with fear or as a differential in our behavior.
So, it pays to do this dive into the past and understand the possible effects
that the education you received has in your present.
Persuasion Tips for Everyday Use
The capacity to persuade is an important quality for any entrepreneur.
Often, we have a great idea, but we may have difficulty selling it to an
investor. Meanwhile, we see other people with not-so-innovative projects
who can close deals and get financial support. Do you wonder why? The
way we sell our ideas is essential.
Persuasion is not only important for those who want to undertake their own
business venture, but for those who work in the corporate world because it
is a characteristic that can lead the professional ahead in the company, and
consequently in their career. When dealing with bosses and colleagues, the
power to influence is beneficial in discord situations and when presenting
new work proposals in the company. Even to discuss wages and benefits,
one needs to be persuasive at some level.
Here, we list of universal for effective persuasion to familiarize yourself
with and gradually learn to master. Knowing these laws can be used or
avoided when necessary. Let's take a look at them:
Law of Connectivity
Establishing a connection with someone is the step that allows natural
persuasion. "The law of connectivity says that the more someone feels
connected or similar to you, and loved or attracted to you, the more
persuasive you become," says Mortensen in his book. This connection need
not be old. Instead, it can be formed with informal conversation almost
instantaneously.
The key is to try to present sincerity in the interaction - you cannot seem
false or forced - whether it is before a presentation, in a quick conversation,
on the phone, or in another situation. Just talk naturally, with good humor
and inviting body language. The four key aspects of connectivity are the
attraction, similarity, skill in dealing with people, and understanding. Body
language, look, and smile, make you prone to be more pleasing and
attractive in others' eyes. Demonstrating empathy is also a powerful way to
form a connection, as it is another way to show that you are similar to the
other person.
Law of Expectation
Have you ever heard of a "self-actualizing" prophecy? It is the one where
you imagine yourself in a certain way, and that imagining makes it happen.
One experiment that exemplifies this is one in which students were told that
they are the best at a certain subject, and then they take a test. Other
students took the same test without being said anything. Surprisingly, the
students who heard the compliment performed better, even though they
were chosen at random.
Law of Contrast
"The law of contrast explains how we are affected when someone offers us
two different options and sequence," Mortensen says. If a mechanic reviews
your car and says you need to change the brakes, battery, and transmission,
you probably won't want to spend a few thousand dollars on the repair.
When you go back to the garage, and he says he only needs to change the
brakes, spending a few hundred dollars does not seem so bad, right?
This is the law of contrast. To master this law is to oppose price and value.
The second will always win. By comparing two alternatives, we can distort
or broaden the perception of the customer, investor, boss, as to price, effort,
or time. Using this, it is possible to get the person you are trying to persuade
to choose the option you want.
Law of Scarcity
If we think that the product is limited, we tend to close the purchase faster.
Large-scale events like Black Friday are an example. In the US, people
queue to wait for the stores to open, precisely because stocks are limited,
and the promotion only lasts a certain amount of time.
Creating a sense of urgency in the customer or the person you want to
influence is a powerful tool to get them to accept your offer. The law of
scarcity states that the thinner an item becomes, the more its value
increases. For fear of losing a good opportunity, people take action more
quickly; this principle is very important in the process of persuasion. There
is no need for scarcity to exist to convince someone. It is enough that you
create this illusion.
Law of Esteem
Humans need a large amount of acceptance and praise. Incorporating this
when trying to persuade someone can make a big difference. The author is
not talking about lying, though. Seeking to praise people authentically is far
more powerful. So, it is better to find good points in the person or company
to praise than to 'invent' aspects to praise. To offer sincere compliments, it is
always better to congratulate someone for something small and truthful than
to try to dishonor him for a great reason.
 CHAPTER 14:

Case Studies on Dark Psychology

Joseph Stalin

S
talin was perhaps one of the most brutal and deadliest leaders of all
time. Although he was renowned for harsh and terror-filled
leadership, his tactics were not without some form of persuasion.
Unlike other leaders who employed brute force from the inception of
their rule like Idi Amin of Uganda, Stalin first reached out to the people
with twisted half-truths to convince a certain portion of the masses to
believe in his agenda.
Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror left the people of the Soviet Union in
debilitating fear. His form of mind control was almost unparalleled by any
other leader. His foot soldiers carried out his orders without question and
were even at liberty to kill, maim, and punish anyone at will irrespective of
whether they were guilty of any crime.
The citizens never knew when they would become guilty under any law
because there was no law. Anyone could receive a sentence to the GULAG
(forced labor camps) for any reason. Get out of GULAG alive held a slim
chance. Even those who didn’t suffer the ill-luck of being sentenced
indefinitely to the GULAG didn’t find living in society safe either. The
masses were dying in droves due to starvation, murder, or ill-treatment from
Stalin’s men.
How did the Soviet Union descend to this level of existence? What were the
tactics used? Rhetoric! The Soviet Union yearned for a change in
leadership. The people wanted leadership better than that under Vladimir
Lenin, the Soviet Union’s head of government between 1917 and 1922.
Stalin saw the gap and used the dark side of emotional intelligence to gain
prominence in people's hearts.
The people fell for his appealing talks, particularly the working-class
citizens. They saw a future full of bright hopes and possibilities. However,
what came after was far from the desires of the people. Stalin manipulated
the people easily because he knew how to take glaring issues that would
draw support from the people and combine it with well-timed emotionally-
laden words that would trigger the right type of emotional responses.
Stalin was masterful in his use of emotional control even though he later
abandoned it for a more direct tyrannical method.
Adolf Hitler
German political leader, Adolf Hitler, was a type of speaker who spoke
from the heart. He knew that to use reason would limit him to only a small
part of the population. He poured his heart out in his speeches, and that
caused the people to become awestruck.
Hitler mastered the art of persuasion and used it to negatively influence an
entire nation into suspending their ability to think. They simply changed
their perspective and acted without questioning Hitler’s motives.
Hitler spent several years studying the power of human emotions and how
body language can be used to effect intended emotional response. He would
practice and analyze several hand gestures, facial expressions and other
body movements. He used the power of body language to bypass the
reasoning of the human mind and convey his messages directly to people’s
hearts. He worked very hard on developing and perfecting this ability.
There is no doubting the fact that he mastered it.
When he finally began to deploy his skills, he would speak with so much
passion that his voice seemed to rise from the depths of his body and
penetrate the soul of his audience. His words fired up, even the lazy and
indolent. He could turn cowards and doubters into full believers in his ideas
and philosophies.
Hitler was not born into an influential family. His rise to power was through
sheer willpower, and focused determination driven by his detest for Jewish
people and the pain of his country’s recent defeat.
Fueled by a feeling of depression at the state of affairs in his country, Hitler
decided that the best course of action was to raise an army of people
through mind-control tactics to wipe out his perceived enemies and put his
country back on its feet again.
Using his masterful art of persuasion, Hitler didn’t find it difficult to make
his followers kill other people for the simple “crime” of being from another
race and religion. But if that wasn’t bad enough, the people executing his
dark agenda never felt they were doing anything wrong. That was the power
of influence Hitler wielded over his followers—he made his followers
believe in the rightness of their actions.
The result of all his indoctrination and propaganda through Nazi schools
was mindless war. The Holocaust and World War II claimed the lives of
over 40 million human beings.
Charles Manson
Charles Manson is not a politician or leader of a government. He was an
American citizen who, just like any other citizen, had the right to
association and belief. However, Manson took advantage of this right of
association to another level entirely. He had a following of approximately
100 people who were so devoted to him they believed he was both God and
Satan.
However, he didn’t gain notoriety by simply making his followers believe
that he was God and Satan. His power to negatively influence his followers
to commit heinous crimes made him infamous. They acted out his orders
without question.
Manson had strong control over his followers’ minds because he could
persuade his people using two powerful tools: sex and religion. Combining
these tools with his ability to use rhetoric, he appeared almost godlike to his
followers.
He convinced gullible people that they could use anything to feel good, and
it didn’t matter if it was sex, drugs, or any other means. Seeking out people
who were in search of meaning and purpose in their lives, Manson was able
to take advantage of vulnerability and made people fall for his prophecies
and strange songs. He thought of himself as a mentor and guru, positioning
himself in the perfect place to make his followers buy his ideas line, hook,
and sinker.
While Manson may not be as masterful as Stalin and Hitler in the art of
persuasion, he still was able to gather enough followers to carry out his
devious acts. To show how manipulative Manson was, he never actually
committed any murders himself. He simply used others to do his bidding.
This proves how strong his hold was on the minds of his followers. Mason
became best known for manipulating his so-called “family” to commit mass
murder.
 CHAPTER 15:

Covert Manipulation

C overt manipulation is perhaps one of the more dangerous methods

used in dark psychology. It involves systematically removing one
person's power in such a secretive, deniable fashion that the
individual typically never realizes it has happened. They may abruptly
realize that they do not know how they have gotten to a specific point in
their life, and feel so lost and confused, but unsure what to do. This is
typically considered rather unethical, but it is important to understand
nevertheless.
Defining Covert Manipulation
When you attempt covert manipulation, you are attempting to learn what
makes them tick so you can essentially dismantle them as a person and
rebuild them into something completely different. It usually involves toying
with insecurities so covertly, so secretly, that the other person never detects
anything is happening. These acts are done in ways that allow for the
manipulator to remain in control of the situation, but in a way that their
relation to the event is deniable. This is done slowly at first, building up
over time until the job is done.
To understand covert manipulation, you must understand what the words
themselves mean. Covert refers to the secretive nature of the act—it is done
entirely behind the scenes. The manipulator wants to remain the invisible
puppeteer, pulling all of the strings while remaining as innocent as possible
in the situation. This is done through hiding behind plausible deniability,
meaning they can say that they did not do it and have it seemed reasonable
and plausible that they did not. Secondly, you must understand what
manipulation means—the act of swaying someone to do something that is
not in their best interest and is not in line with their own free will.
Essentially, when you choose to covertly manipulate someone, you are
hijacking their mind; you are secretly destroying everything they thought
they knew and thought while doing so behind their back in a way that
leaves you innocent. You are turning them into little more than a puppet
with no free will, convincing them to go along with whatever you may be
desiring. You are essentially brainwashing someone else into obeying your
commands, into doing what you see as beneficial for yourself and no one
else.
It is necessary to note that you are essentially using them when you are
attempting to covertly manipulate someone else into obedience. You are
taking away their free will, their personality, and leaving behind a person
that will obey. This is not something that you do to someone you love or
value; it essentially dehumanizes someone.
Steps for Covert Manipulation
While quite insidious, the concept of covert manipulation is also quite
simple: It involves three steps. If you are attempting to manipulate
someone, you need to follow these three steps to ensure that it will be
effective and to your benefit. These three steps are the following:
With the steps followed, you will be left with such an insecure and worried
person about his/her own capacity to think and make decisions that he or
she will gladly defer to you out of ease. It is easier to follow along with
whatever you are requesting than it is to make decisions on his/her own,
and the person will do so. What is left at the end is the puppet that the
manipulator has been trying to create. At this point, the manipulator can
work on fine-tuning the target's actions, ensuring that bad behavior or not
following through with what is requested is punished.

Infiltrating the Target's Circle

The first step to covert manipulation is learning. You must learn all about
the target to begin developing a weapons arsenal that will allow you to
ultimately take full control over the other person. Start by attempting to be
welcomed into the person's inner circle. You must be able to be befriended
by the target if you hope to be close enough to manipulate.
This can be done by playacting to be interested—in a way you are. You are
interested in learning what you can use later rather than interested in
learning what makes the person tick simply for the purpose of learning
about the other person. When you are learning what they are interested in,
and what makes them function as a person, you are feigning a bond
between yourself and the other person. You want the other person to like, or
maybe even love you, while you remain in control of the situation at hand.
Once you are able to develop the trust necessary to be welcomed into the
inner circle of your target, you will start getting all the details you want and
need. This is when you will begin learning more about the other person, and
the more personal the details, the more likely you can use the details as
weapons in the future.
Gather Your Weapons
As your relationship with the person, or rather the other person's attachment
and trust to you, has grown, you will start to get the crucial details. You will
likely learn all about the other person's family life, as well as sensitivities,
beliefs, and other deep, personal thoughts that could be useful later.
At this point, you are learning all about the individual's weaknesses. You
want to know where all of the chips in his or her metaphorical armor are,
and exactly understand what you will need to do to turn that chip into a
crack, and what you will need to do to make that crack shatter the armor as
a whole.
In this, you are going to want to interact further with the target. You want to
learn how to read his or her particular body language and tell as effortlessly
as possible and what makes the person tick and work. This is when you
begin to understand the other person's fears, his or her thoughts, hopes,
desires for the future, and anything else that may be offered to you. At this
point, especially if you have been feigning interest in the relationship, or
possibly even love bombing to push it forward, the other person will feel
quite confident in the relationship. This is what you want—you want that
comfort, that attachment, to build up, because that attachment is what will
be your tether to keeping the person around, even through abuse and
manipulation. When the other person is deeply attached, he or she will have
a harder time separating out from the abuse, even if it is discovered.
Break Down the Target
The last step to covert manipulation involves breaking down the target. At
this point, you know the person as intimately as you may need to. You
know what makes their mind work, their fears, strengths, and generally who
they are. Then you are ready to begin chipping away at their self-esteem.
Think of their self-esteem as their armor—the stronger it is, the less likely
you will be able to install your strings to manipulate them. If you want an
easy target for manipulation, you must destroy his or her self-esteem. At
that time, he/she is not as likely to resist the manipulation or stand up to any
abusive behaviors. He or she will get to trust your own judgment; instead,
losing the confidence in his or her behaviors that would have allowed her to
stand up to you in an effective manner.
Remember, this process is gradual. If you start out too big too quickly, the
target will catch on and leave. Think of this as acclimating to water. If you
are want to take a hot shower, you start with the water at a tolerable
temperature and slowly work your way up to temperatures that would have
been painful had you gone straight into them, and you would have jumped
away from them. Your target will jump away from you if you attempt to go
too big too quickly.
You could start out with subtle jokes—things that you can innocently deny.
For example, if you seek to manipulate your girlfriend into losing weight,
you could comment about pregnant women shortly after poking her
stomach. She might feel a little insecure at the comment, and if she says
something to you about it, you can shrug it off, say she must have been
imagining the connection between the comment and the touch, and that she
should not be so sensitive, or if she is that sensitive, maybe she should do
something about it instead of sitting around and complaining.
This could then move on a step further—the next time your girlfriend goes
for a dish that is unhealthy or wants a snack that is fatty or sugary, you
could quirk a brow, almost in patronizing disgust and questioning her
decisions without saying a word. She may then call you out on that as well,
which again, you should deny, claiming you never looked at her like that.
Remind her that you are not in control of her body or what she is
consuming while speaking in a slightly disapproving voice. Considering she
is likely to be insecure about herself at this point, you are able to slowly
chip at her self-esteem without having to do anything extra. Even if you do
not actually care about her weight, this is one of the easiest ways to chip at
someone—people are typically the most insecure about their own
appearances, even if their appearances are perfectly fine in the first place.
Even further, the next time she orders something unhealthy at a restaurant,
you could be slightly more overt, such as sighing in disapproval. When
questioned, you continue to deny the action as being connected, instead of
blaming it on a long day at work or something else innocuous. You want her
to feel insecure enough about herself to instantly jump to conclusions, and
also insecure enough to untrust her gut reaction when you are doing
something that is intentionally meant to make her feel that way.
The last step toward degrading her further and shattering her self-esteem
would be through actually saying something. You could make a comment
about how she always complains about her weight, but she never does
anything to fix it, and that clearly, she does not care about the extra weight
she carries if she never made an effort to work it off. This last step is likely
to be far more damaging than the rest, but the entire point here is to degrade
her self-esteem slowly down to nothing. Once it is at nothing, you can begin
to put her back together again, installing all of the strings and buttons you
need her to have in order to control and manipulate her yourself fully.
Because this has been happening gradually for so long and you have
repeatedly denied any involvement with the negative comments or dirty
looks, your girlfriend is not likely to associate you with the changes in
personality that may be noticed. She may decide that she should be losing
weight. She is also likely to be far more responsive when you do show
subtle signs of displeasure. Even the slightest smirk or scowl, even if only
for a split second, will be enough to instantly trigger that insecurity in your
girlfriend, allowing for you to superimpose your own desires and beliefs in
place of her gut reaction.
 CHAPTER 16:

How to Analyze People

S
ome skills that are important in analyzing people. The first and
perhaps most important skill is having an understanding of human
nature and normal human behavior. Suppose you do not have a sense
of how humans behave under normal circumstances or what motivates most
people. In that case, you are unlikely to interpret the actions and intentions
of others correctly. Just as a judge relies on their sense of how people
typically behave and what motivates them in their judgments, so too must
you develop an understanding of the normal spectrum of human behavior in
order to analyze someone properly.
Of course, human beings can behave in highly original ways, which makes
the process of analyzing them difficult at times. Although human beings
frequently behave in typically human ways – like being jealous of others'
success or envious of a colleague who just married a beautiful wife –
sometimes people can surprise you. Indeed, some people never feel jealous
or envious of others. Most poor people do not steal even though they may
need this or that because it is not part of their character. Indeed, frequently
the greatest, most flamboyant thief is the person who already has all that
they need.
That being said, in order to analyze people, you are going to have to start
with knowing how humans are generally. This includes understanding the
spectrum of human emotion, the behaviors linked to these emotions, and the
things that motivate people to do this or that. Everyone wears a mask,
which means that sometimes the intentions of others are not always clear.
But even with this mask, people can reveal to you their emotional state, the
things that make them happy, the things that make them sad.
We all wear a mask, but perhaps only FBI agents are so skilled that they
never give you some sort of clue. A spontaneous laugh, a twinkle in the eye,
a giddy tapping of the foot: these are unconscious signs that men and
women give of how they feel. Appropriate analysis of men and women will
require taking a basic understanding of human behavior and using it to
interpret the things that people say and do.
Non-verbal Communication
Non-verbal communication refers to the little clues that others give us that
convey important information to us outside of language. Human beings are
social animals, which means that we evolved in settings where we were
generally in close proximity to one another rather than alone. For this
reason, we developed the ability to perceive and to interpret the signals that
others send us that indicate their emotional state, thoughts, and
motivations.
It is easy to pay attention to words when we are attempting to analyze
others, but because language is not always an accurate indication of how
people feel, it is important to also pay attention to the non-verbal cues that
others send. These cues can include facial expression, body distance, the
position of hands, quick movements of the hands or the feet, and the like.
These non-verbal cues are not specific to human beings. Non-human
primates are excellent examples of how animal societies can be built
without speech. From bearing of the teeth to the tail position, apes have a
language comprised entirely of non-verbal cues.
Differentiating Fake from Real Emotion
Analyzing others with accuracy will require developing the ability to
distinguish true sentiment from a false one. Human beings know that others
observe and interpret them, at least the intelligent ones do, so they have
become adept at hiding how they feel. A usual example of this is someone
who smiles even though they are not happy, but this hiding of emotion can
mean appearing to be angry when one is really hurt or vulnerable. Human
beings wear masks to protect themselves, as you must if you plan on
defending yourself from practitioners of dark psychology. But protecting
yourself also means analyzing people appropriately, and this means
determining which emotions are real and which are not.
The practitioner of dark psychological tactics perceives you as prey, so they
pay very close attention to your words, actions, and non-verbal cues.
Essentially anything that indicates what's going on inside. You may put up a
wall to make your emotions more difficult for the predator to access, but
you will most likely say or do something to reveal the truth. This is just as
true of the predator as it is of you, the prey. They can put on a façade of
smiles and pleasantries, but sometimes all it takes is one fierce look to
reveal that their intentions are not so friendly.
We see this every time in films and television shows. The new neighbor
seems nice, but just when your back is turned, the camera shot reveals their
subtle change in expression. They are not so neighborly. Their goal is to
steal your husband and wreak havoc in your life (in the case of the standard
Lifetime Original Movie). To protect yourself, you need to use your
understanding of human nature and your ability to analyze to figure out
what is really going on. Is there a discrepancy between the surface emotion
and the events taking place? Perhaps the other person is smiling, but you
heard that they lost their house and are short of funds. Would most people
be so giddy in this situation?
An important part of distinguishing real from fake emotion is deciding
whether the surface or "fake" emotion makes sense, given what you know.
Also, there is a useful expression here. "When people show you who they
are, trust them." Human beings are good at being emotionally aware by dint
of being so communal. A person can hide what they feel, but it may only
take a brief glimmer of real emotion for you to establish the rule of what is
real in this person and what is not. When the other person drops their mask
for a second, note what the real person beneath looks like.
Tips to Identify a Liar
Anyone who has spent time around a pathological liar knows that little
tricks can be used to tell when they are fibbing. Pathological liars are often
highly sociable people who love to talk and always have something to say.
It always has something to say that gets them into trouble. If you are
doubtful that the person you are speaking to is a pathological liar, pay
attention to the factual aspects of the things they say. This will become
natural in time as you become aware the person is lying. You will simply
make a mental note about facts like a specific monetary amount of
something, a date, or a restaurant's name because you know these things
may potentially be false.
Focusing attention on the details is the first step in identifying a liar, and the
second is knowing when to face the liar with the facts. It may be a bad idea
to confront them pointedly as you may decide it is better that they did not
know that you are onto them. If they said they went to a particular
restaurant, ask them what they had to eat—baked chicken and mixed
vegetable stir fry. Later or the next day, asks them how the steak was. If
they say it was wonderful when you have caught them. They did not go to
the restaurant at all. A pathological liar tells so many lies that they cannot
keep track of them.
 CHAPTER 17:

Dark Persuasion

W
henever folks try to provide meaning to the notion of demeanor,
their responses always come in various forms. Even though
some could put their thoughts on the ads and advertisements
which are everywhere in contemporary society, advocating you to patronize
a specific product or service over the other others' heads fall back into the
politicians. They attempt to modify the minds of Republicans simply to get
yet another vote in the polls. Both instances are right since they are
messages targeted at altering the understanding of this topic. The purpose of
diversion between ordinary persuasion and dim persuasion is the dark
persuasion doesn't necessarily have a moral rationale.
Even though a standard persuader might attempt to convince someone for
this individual's own great, a dim persuader does so together with motives
that are not always great for another individual. They attempt to obtain a
total grasp of comprehension of the individual they would like to convince,
and they take pains to do this since they exactly understand what the
greatest motivation is.
While persuasion consistently has ethical consequences, a dim persuader
doesn't concern themselves with those consequences. In reality, they are
mindful of these but decide to put their eyes in their goal (s) rather than
persuasion is a mental phenomenon in an individual's regular life. It's either
that you're the person attempting to convince someone else or you're being
persuaded. What makes the distinction between dark and ordinary is that
the motivation for this. In mass media, politics, legal and advertising
conclusions, persuasion comes to play with all of the time. The results of
instructing it in such areas are set by means of persuasion that will help
determine the topic of persuasion.
There are a few clear and crucial differences between behavioral and other
brain control varieties, like brainwashing and hypnosis. Even though these
two demands that the topic ought to be isolated as a way to modify their
thoughts and individuality, persuasion doesn't require isolation. To be able
to reach the target, manipulation is utilized on a single individual. Although
persuasion may also be performed on a single topic so as to make them
change their thoughts, there's also a chance of using it on a huge scale to
alter the heads of a complete group or a whole society.
Because of this, persuasion is a much better mind control procedure and
maybe more harmful since it can alter the minds of lots of people at
precisely the exact same time rather than the head of only one individual at
one time. There are many people who produce the error of believing that
they have immunity to the consequences of persuasion since they have the
opinion that they will always have the ability to observe every sales pitch
that comes in their way.
They think they'll always have the ability to use logic to acquire a grasp of
what's happening and find a logical decision for this. As a result of how
people aren't always likely to fall for whatever they hear if they utilize
logic, so this might be accurate. It's likewise feasible to steer clear of
persuasion since the debate doesn't augur well with the individual's beliefs,
whatever the strength of this debate. But, some individuals understand how
to use convincing messages to inspire people to market the newest gadgets
or goods in the industry. This information action is quite delicate, so the
topic won't always recognize it; therefore, it's going to be rather difficult for
them to constantly have the ability to make an opinion regarding the
information they will get.
Every time is said, it's extremely probable that you think about it in a
terrible light. That is because they are inclined to automatically consider a
conman or salesman who's always attempting to make them modify their
view, and that will finally push them till this shift is reached. While black
persuasion is notable in earnings and conning clinics, in addition, there are
ways that persuasion may be used permanently, such as in diplomatic
relationships between global bodies or at public service attempts. The
difference only lies in the method by which in which the practice of
persuasion is attracted to perform.
Dark Persuasion Methods
When an individual is prepared to modify the head of the topic by devoting
them to do anything that's against their first frame of mind, the persuader
will get some nicely laid out methods to assist them in reaching their
targets. Every day that passes, the goal will face various kinds of
persuasion. For food manufacturers, their aim is to receive their goal to test
the recipes that are new or have them adhere to the past ones, even while
studios may flaunt their most recent blockbuster films about the faces of the
aims. In any situation may be whatever merchandise they're promoting,
their principal intent is to generate more revenue, and that's the reason
they're attempting to convince you. They couldn't care less about how this
may affect you, and that is why they need to be quite careful and proficient
in the art of subtle persuasion to make sure they don't deceive you off or
make you plump.
As there are also lots of different brands attempting to convince you, they
need to locate an exceptional approach to impress their perspectives on you.
As a result of the effect of info on a vast selection of individuals, the
methods used in it's been a topic of research for several decades, dating
back to early times. That is only because influence is a really helpful
instrument at the control of a large assortment of individuals. Beginning in
the early 20th century, the proper analysis of those techniques started to
grow. Bear in mind that the objective of attempting to convince people
would be to push a compelling debate in an audience and have the positive.
They'll then internalize this information and embrace it as their fresh
mindset or even means of life. Because of this, there's a fantastic need to
find the very prosperous persuasion methods. Three dark persuasion
methods have been shown to be of fantastic value through recent years.
Create a Need
This really is only one of the most profitable methods of obtaining an
individual to change their perspective or lifestyle. The individual that's
hoping to convince a goal will create demand or concentrate on a demand
that the topic already has. If that is achieved in a suitable manner, it's the
capacity of enticing a fantastic deal to your goal. This signifies that to be
able to become prosperous, the persuader should interest the demands
which are far more significant to the goal.
This could be their requirement to fulfill their own fantasies of fostering
their self-esteem. It might also function as a desire for love, food, or shelter.
This method will work out nicely since there's absolutely not anyway the
topic isn't likely to require one or more of these items or need anything at
all. As there's absolutely not anyway, the goal is not likely to get dreams
and ambitions. The persuader will probably and simply find strategies to
produce the sufferer understand how they can easily help the sufferer attain
those dreams. The persuader can also tell their goal the goal will probably
recognize their visions if they make precise adjustments to their faith or
outlook.
As stated by the persuader, doing this will provide the target a greater
prospect of attaining success. For example, a young guy who wishes to get
romantic with a woman may inform her that he'll help her boost her grades
and eventually make her parents happy by obtaining by obtaining A. Still,
only when she's friends with him. However, this woman may believe she
has finally discovered the salvation she desires. The simple truth is that the
young guy is not very curious about how she plays in college; for the
teenagers is just a lure for obtaining access to sexual activity.
Appealing to Social Needs
Another technique the persuader may utilize is identifying the goal of social
demands. Even though this might not yield as many outcomes and the
goal's main requirements will, it's still a significant instrument at the
persuader's hands. There are those that are naturally attracted to audiences
and want to feel desired. They always wish certain things, not because they
want them but since it includes certain prestige. That makes them feel like
they belong to a bigger course. The idea of appealing to your target's
societal needs is what's accessible through several TV advertisements where
audiences are invited to purchase a product. So, they won't be "left behind"
When they could recognize and allure to the societal needs of their goal, the
outcome is that they can achieve a new field of the goal's interest.
Making Use of Loaded Words and Images
When an individual is hoping to convince someone else, then they need to
be cautious with their selection of words because words could make all of
the difference. When there are lots of means to say something, one way of
stating it might be more powerful than another. When it's related to
persuasion, among the essential things is understanding how to say the ideal
thing at the ideal moment. Words are the most significant tools in
communicating and understanding the ideal call-to-action phrases.
Dark persuasion is just one of the most effective dim psychology theories,
but regrettably, it's always overlooked and suppressed. This might be
because, unlike many different head control procedures, persuasion renders
the goal using a selection. At another mind control procedure, the aim is
forced to enter. Occasionally this is achieved by placing them into isolation
to ensure in conclusion. They don't have any say in the results of the
procedure. In regards to persuasion, the chips have been laid bare (though
with the ulterior purpose in dim persuasion), so the goal is made to make
the choice they think will fit them best.
 CHAPTER 18:

Body Language and How We Communicate Even

Without Speaking

B ody language involves how we use our physical behavior,

expressions, and manners to reveal nonverbal information about
ourselves, which is usually done unconsciously. Many people are
not aware of it, but in all your interactions, you are constantly giving out
body cues and wordless signals that serve either to reinforce/solidify the
interaction or to contradict what you are trying to say.
Your entire nonverbal behaviors transmit a loud and strong message that
continues even after you stop talking. There are instances when what
someone says might differ from what their body language is
communicating. Hence, in this case, it will be easy for the person you are
interacting with to pass you off as a liar. If someone asked for a favor and
gave a frown after giving a no, you have ended up confusing the person.
With this kind of mixed-signal, the person might be confused about what to
believe. However, if the person understands the concept of body language,
he would probably just walk away since the body language is unconscious
and gives someone out by revealing true intention.
Positive Body Language
A positive body language is welcoming, attractive, and full of confidence.
Here are some body language cues that signal positivity:
Smile
A genuine, real, and appropriate smile carries a lot of power. It lifts the
mood and is welcoming. It makes people feel better and lightens up the
atmosphere. It is surely attractive as well. You have been eyeing a lady and
stealing glances at her. Suddenly you made eye contact, and she smiled.
That is a cue for you to know that you are accepted.
Eye Contact
I sometimes remember a rift I had with my girlfriend. In a bid to resolve it,
we had a face-to-face conversation. Throughout the conversation, she
avoided my gaze. This was understandable and expected as she was mad at
me. However, what I tried to do was get her to make eye contact with me.
Eye contact creates some form of connection between two people. This is
how important eye contact is.
Talking with someone and looking them in the eye makes them feel
important and valued. This is because eye contact signifies attention. If you
are with somebody and the person keeps glancing around or looking at their
watch or their phone, it is a sure sign of lack of interest in the interaction.
The Right Posture
The posture of the person you are interacting with also carries a lot of
meaning. A person standing or sitting straight, for instance, sends a positive
message. This is different from a slouch, tensed, or unrelaxed posture.
Someone who looks confident and relaxed will surely attract others to them.
In any interaction, pay attention to where the person leans. A person who
leans toward you is definitely interested in the interaction and subject of
discussion.
The head direction matters as well. A slight move of the head is a positive
indication that the other party is curious and interested in the conversation.
The Right Touch
Touching makes people feel good as it releases endorphins. It should,
however, be used appropriately and in the right context. A firm and warm
handshake, for instance, indicates that you are accepted. The same is true
with a pat on the shoulder. A pat on the shoulder from your boss, for
instance, is an indication that you have scored some good points.
The Direction of the Body
Pay attention to the direction the other person’s body is facing. This signals
whether you have their attention or not. A body or feet angled away gives
the impression that the person wants to go away.
Personal Space
The distance and space between people is an indication of the level of
relation between them. People in close proximity, say two to four feet are
close friends or in a relationship. While a distance of about four to ten feet
is for social interaction between people you are not very familiar with.
Nodding
Pay attention to the rate and frequency of nodding. A slow nod is a sign that
someone is paying attention to you and is interested in the conversation.
Mirroring
When a person is copying your body language, vocal speech, gestures, or
body movement pattern, there is a big chance you have established rapport.
Open Body Language
Pay attention to the arms and legs. As long as neither of them is crossed, the
conversation or interaction is likely going in the right direction, and your
partner is open to what you are saying.
Negative Body Language
There are negative body signals that show discomfort, hostility, anxiety, or a
pure lack of interest. Pay attention to the following:
Tense
A tense person is uncomfortable, which could be because of many things.
You might have said something that turned them off, or perhaps you are
standing too close to them. And better still, it could have nothing to do with
you.
Fast Anxious Movements
If you are uncomfortable, the body is programmed to trigger you to flee the
environment and situation. Hence, the pattern of speech, rate of movement,
etc. of the other person indicate they are uncomfortable with you.
Desperately Trying to Be Still
Think about it. In a normal, relaxed setting, you are free. You move any part
of your body unconsciously and without any resistance since there is
nothing to worry about. However, watch out if the person sits still or is not
gesticulating, especially if this is something they would normally do. It
could point out to nervousness and discomfort that they are desperately
trying to hide.
Lack of Eye Contact
If you are interested in something, your eyes will be fixed on that thing. It’s
not necessarily fixed, but much of your gaze will be directed at that thing.
Hence, pay attention to the eyes of the person you are with. Looking away,
lack of eye contact, looking at the floor, or glancing on the watch are all
negative body signals that show a lack of interest in the interaction.
Crossed Arms and Legs
While crossed arms and legs are a sign of defensiveness, they could also
mean that the person feels cold, or perhaps they just find this position
comfortable. However, it could also be that the person you are with is not
interested in the interaction.
The same thing applies to cross the legs. Watch out for legs crossed with the
knees pointing toward you. It is a pure negative sign.
These are the classic sign of a closed body language. Also, pay attention to
where the other person is facing. Is it toward or away from you?
Body Pointing Away from You
Give attention to the direction in which the torso, feet, and overall body are
pointing. If any of this is away from you, the person has lost interest in the
interaction. You might or might not be the cause of this body signal. For
instance, in a board meeting, someone who keeps glancing at the door with
the legs pointed toward the exit is bored and wants to leave.
Position of the Arms
Arms in the pocket or hands clasped in front of you, give an impression that
something is wrong.
Slouching
Your posture could also give out a positive or negative vibe, depending on
what posture you put forth. Slouching, for instance, is a classic sign of lack
of confidence.
Rubbing Any Body Part
People often do this when they are not comfortable. They could rub their
fingers, neck, face, hair, or leg. It is a classic sign of discomfort when a
person is not comfortable with the topic of discussion or is super nervous. It
could also be someone hiding information, hence trying to keep themselves
calm by such self-soothing behavior.
Barriers
When we are uncomfortable with the person we are talking to or the subject
of discussion, there is a chance that we create a barrier between us. This
barrier could be body parts, like the arms, legs, or objects. Someone who
holds a briefcase tightly against their chest when communicating is clearly
showing a blocking behavior.
Fidgeting
This is a classic sign of negative energy. Fidgeting is the body involuntarily
trying to escape an uncomfortable situation. Examples are tapping of the
feet and drumming of the hands. People could do this consciously or
unconsciously when bored. It is also a sign of impatience with the person or
conversation.
 CHAPTER 19:

Hypnosis Facts, Fiction, and the Psychology That

Powers It

H
ypnosis is the subject of much skepticism, but the modern practices
of hypnotherapy and the use of altered psychological states in the
interrogation of prisoners would belie the number of raised
eyebrows that hypnosis receives. The theory of hypnosis actually has its
origins in ancient Egypt and India, where people were encouraged to heal
themselves through spiritual journeys and altered states. Through “temple
sleep,” a practice that encouraged people to rest in religious places to
rejuvenate their minds and bodies.
Hypnosis has taken on several different iterations in more modern times,
but they are all based on the theory that the mind can be controlled through
a state of trance or altered state of consciousness. We’re going to pick up
the history of hypnosis shortly before it became popularized by Franz
Mesmer.
How Mesmer Began Mesmerizing
When Franz Mesmer was a young medical student, he studied under a
Jesuit monk named Father Maximillian Hell. Hell was an astronomer and
researcher who was fascinated with the natural world and with the workings
of the solar system, the polar regions of the earth, and the human body. Hell
developed an interest in using magnets for the power of healing and
introduced his student Mesmer to the technique of magnet therapy.
Mesmer took Hell’s magnet therapy methods, which basically involved
using magnetized rocks to improve the flow of fluids through the body and
adapted and expanded their uses. Mesmer would often have patients
swallow iron shavings, and then use a magnet to draw those shavings
through the intestinal tract. Mesmer believed that people could be cured of
what ailed them should he be able to get their “vital fluid” back on track.
Mesmer called this early technique ‘animal magnetism’, and he truly was
convinced that he could heal people through this magnetic laying on of
hands. He later developed a technique that we more closely associate with
hypnosis; this method involved sitting very closely with a patient while
holding their hands and occasionally rubbing their shoulders, arms, and
torsos while maintaining eye contact. After a while, the patients would
convulse, and all their evil or poor feelings or illness would be relieved.
Skeptical yet? So were a lot of people at the time, and in 1784 a committee
was formed to investigate not Mesmer himself, but one of his protégés, a
doctor named d’Eslon, who had to perform Mesmer’s treatments to mixed
results. Why is all this important? Because the investigating committee
discovered that the treatments were complete pseudoscience and that they
were rooted in ‘imagination.’ But they worked, sometimes, so the real
question is why?
On to the Next Theory
After Mesmer’s works were largely downplayed and discounted, Mesmer
himself retreated from medical practice, traveling Europe and living in
relative obscurity until his death in 1815. A few decades later, Scottish
surgeon James Braid would be the one to give some credence to Mesmer’s
practices finally.
Braid was a highly acclaimed physician and surgeon who pioneered a
breakthrough way to treat clubfoot and other orthopedic issues of the
extremities. In 1841, Braid was invited to a healing performance by one of
Mesmer’s former disciples, and a Frenchman named Charles Lafontaine.
Lafontaine allowed doctors to come onto his stage while he was using
magnetic treatments and examine his patients.
Braid was among the doctors to do so, and he observed that they all seemed
to be in some sort of altered mental state. While Braid had been previously
completely unconvinced that magnetism was a valid medical treatment, he
was so intrigued he continued to attend Lafontaine’s healing demonstrations
until he could formulate a working theory as to why the treatments
appeared to be successful. One thing he consistently observed was that the
patients all seemed to be “awake while sleeping.”
After some consideration, Braid concluded that the patients’ altered states
were a result of Lafontaine’s magnets and his demeanor. The magnetism
behavior is what prompted the altered state, which Braid dubbed Neuro-
hypnosis, from the Greek for ‘nervous sleep.’ Braid began experimenting
with the technique at home to see if he could induce the state by himself
and deduced that a hypnotic state could be produced by visual or ocular
fixation. The conclusion also completely debunked the use of magnets in
Lafontaine’s treatments.
Braid debuted his hypnotism theory as a psycho-physiological phenomenon
late in 1841, to mixed reviews from the scientific community. In his first
lecture, Braid demonstrated that he could induce the same somnolent state
as Lafontaine, but without the use of magnets. Although Braid had many
opponents, who refused to believe that people could be healed through the
power of suggestion, he would go on to integrate hypnotism into his
medical practice as an alternative or complementary treatment for the relief
of pain and other physical and psychological ailments.
The Power of Belief
The early origins of medical treatments using altered states to the modern
hypnotherapies we see used today, the underlying power of these methods
is that the subject must believe that they work. A human brain is an
amazing machine, skilled of higher thought and reasoning, and responsible
for making sure our heartbeats and our lungs breathe.
But the brain is also a biochemical mass of electrical activity and multi-
layered function. While we are usually in a state of full consciousness when
we are awake, our brains are constantly working on a subconscious level,
which usually manifests while we sleep. Hypnosis taps into a state of mind
that is somewhere between waking and sleeping, but it does not work if the
subject does not believe that it will. We’ve all seen performances where
audience volunteers are put into a trance and asked to complete ridiculous
tasks. Movie tropes center on a character behaving a certain way when
triggered by a hypnotic keyword. How accurate are these portrayals?
Fact and Fiction in Modern Hypnosis
Let’s examine some of the present-day hypnosis applications and see what’s
true and what’s not. Once we’ve done that, you’ll have a clearer picture of
how hypnosis plays into psychology as a whole, and how it can be applied
to dark psychology, as well.
Once Braid established a baseline for modern hypnotic techniques, it
became a practice that was studied by physicians and psychologists
worldwide, who wanted to figure out the biology and the psychology
behind the method and determine how best to use it in their practices.
Hypnosis and altered states have also been studied and adopted as military
usage techniques and prisoner interrogation, including inducing trance-like
states through sleep deprivation and other methods.
In contemporary medicine, hypnosis is used for pain management and
anesthetic purposes in patients who may not react well to heavy
pharmaceutical treatments. It is also used as an effective complementary
therapy for patients with side effects from chemotherapy, those suffering
from potential rejection after organ transplant, and people with autoimmune
disorders such as fibromyalgia or irritable bowel syndrome.
Modern hypnotherapy is used for a wide variety of applications, the most
common being to change or break a habit, or to explore thoughts that
cannot be explored in a normal state of consciousness. People use
hypnotherapy to quit smoking, lose weight or stop overeating, or to aid in
overcoming other addictions, like gambling.
When used to access traumatic memories or examine the underlying causes
of poor behaviors, hypnotherapy must be approached with great care by a
skillful practitioner. Studies have shown that mishandling hypnosis in this
application can lead to false memories, distortion of perception, and
implantation of the therapist’s own thoughts. Here is where dark
psychology can come into heavy play.
A therapist with dark intentions or anyone wishing to affect someone’s
brain and perceptions adversely can take a subject in a state of hypnosis and
wreak psychological havoc. Therapists can willingly destroy a person’s
psyche by planting false memories, undermining someone’s sense of self
and character, and creating illusions of reality that persist once someone has
roused from their hypnotic state.
It’s a fact, though, that not everyone can turn hypnotized, and so using
hypnosis as a dark psychology technique may only be effective on a certain
chunk of people. But people who are highly suggestible, who are not likely
to be strong-willed enough to resist, or who are already using hypnotherapy
for other applications may be the perfect subjects for dark psychological
uses of hypnosis.
One of the significant examples of this is Adolf Hitler. Hitler was a young,
highly insecure World War I veteran when he received hypnotherapy
treatment for hysterical blindness stemming from post-traumatic stress from
combat. While in an altered state, Hitler’s therapist told him that only he
could cure his own blindness and that he was very special and destined for
great things. Hitler’s therapist unwittingly conditioned him to believe that
he would be a ruler of men and save the world from unseen evils, while in
reality, he had become the evil.
Stage hypnotists, as we see in dinner theater, are not practicing safe
hypnosis, either. Although these shows are meant to be funny, these
entertainers are tapping into one of the darker sides of the hypnotic effect—
the ability to induce hallucinations and psychosis. Hallucinations are the
perception that something is there that is not; commonly, this manifests as
seeing or hearing things that are not present. Psychosis is a full-blown
altered mental state, which causes people to act in a manner completely out
of character for their regular behavior or personality.
A common theme of hypnosis stage shows is having people cluck like a
chicken.
Hypnosis can have lasting psychological impacts on those it is practiced on.
Whether those impacts are good or bad is completely dependent on the skill
and the intent of the hypnotist. If you wished to learn hypnosis as a skill for
implementing dark psychology, you’d have a serious weapon in your
mental arsenal. It’s practicality, however, is something to be considered.
Because many people are not susceptible to hypnotic suggestion, its use in
dark psychology has limited real-life applications.
 CHAPTER 20:

Deception Tactics

I
t is the method of causing someone to believe something that is untrue.
We all practice deception in one form or another. Some lies are bigger
than others. Telling your partner that you could never cheat on them is a
big one, for example. Telling your friend that she looks great in those jeans
could just be a way of sparing her feelings.
We do not practice deception on other people all the time. We can often
self-deceive to preserve our self-esteem. Telling ourselves that we can
achieve certain goals when all the evidence points to the fact that we can't is
a healthy form of deception, but self-deception can lead to serious
delusions.
Deception is an art employed by an agent to spread beliefs in the subject
either untrue or truths coated with lies. Deception involves numerous
things, for example, dissimulation, sleight of mind, suppression, cover-up,
propaganda, etc. The agents win the favor of the subjects; they trust him
and are unsuspecting of his propensity to be dubious. He is able to control
the subject's mind having won their confidence and trust. The subjects have
no doubts about the agent's words; in fact, the subjects trust the agent
completely and possibly plan their affairs based on the agent's statements.
The deception practiced by the agent can have grave consequential effects if
discovered by the subjects. How? The subjects will not be disposed to
hearing his words; neither will they accept them anymore; no wonder the
agent must be skilled at the deception technique. He must create an escape
route to cover up if things boomerang and still retain the trust his subjects
have in him.
Deception breaks the laws that govern relationships, and it negatively
affects the hopes that come with relationships. Deception does occur every
now and then, which could result in feelings of doubt and disloyalty among
the two people in the relationship. Nearly everyone desires to have an
honest discussion with their partner; if they find out that their partner has
however been dishonest, they, in turn, need to find out how to make use of
confusion and distraction so as to get the dependable and honest
information that they are in need of. On the other hand, the trust would be
lost in the relationship, making it hard to restore the relationship to its
former glory.
The individual on the receiving end of both dishonesty and betrayal would
always wonder about the things their partner was telling them, thinking
about whether the story was true or false. As a result of this new doubt,
most relationships will be brought to an end once the agent realizes their
partner's dishonesty.
While it is an accepted fact that we all use deception, it is a personal choice
as to your lies' nature. The trick is to be able to recognize deception in
others. This means that if we know the giveaway signs that tell us we are
being lied to, we can avoid displaying them if we choose to practice
deception.
Deception is another key aspect that comes with dark psychology. Like
many other tactics that come with dark psychology, it is sometimes difficult
to tell whether one instance of deception is considered dark or not. But
before we explore more into this, we need first to understand what
deception is all about in our world.
Deception is going to be any word or action that is capable of making
someone believe something that is not true. Fraudulently providing
evidence for something that is false, implying falsehood, omitting the truth,
and lying are all examples of deception.
Types of Deception
Exists
This is when the representative comprises details or offers details that are
totally various from what is the fact. They will certainly provide these
details to the victim as reality, as well as the topic will certainly see it as the
fact. This can be unsafe because the victim will certainly not recognize that
receives incorrect info; if the subject recognized the details were incorrect,
they would certainly not agree to be speaking with the representative as
well as no deceptiveness would certainly take place.
Misrepresentations
This is when the representative will certainly make inconsistent, unclear, or
indirect declarations. This is done to lead them based on obtaining
overwhelmed and not comprehend what is taking place. Likewise, it can
assist the representative in preserving one's honor if the topic returns later
on and also attempts to respond to them for the incorrect details.
Camouflages
This is just one of the most typical sorts of deceptiveness that are utilized.
Cover-ups are when the representative leaves out info that matters or
essential to the context, deliberately, or they take part in any kind of actions
that would certainly conceal details that relates to the topic for that specific
context. The representative will certainly not have actually straight existed
to the topic; however, they will certainly have seen to it that the essential
details that are never required ever make it to the topic.
Lies
This occurs when the agent manufactures information or provides
information that is not similar to the truth. They will give this information
to the unsuspecting individual as the truth, and the individual will then see
this lie to be fact indeed. However, this can be unsafe as the person being
given this false information would have no idea about the falsehood; most
likely, if the subject understood that they were being given information that
was not true, they would not be on talking terms with the agent and no
deception would have occurred.
Equivocations
This is the point at which the agent will make statements that are differing,
unclear, or not direct, such that the subject becomes confused and does not
understand what is going on. It can also help the agent preserve their
reputation, saving face if the subject later returns to blame them for the
falsehood.
Concealments
It is the most frequently used form of deception. It relates to when the agent
leaves out information that is related or critical to the situation on purpose
or displays any such behavior that would cover up information that is
important to the subject for that exact situation. The agent won't have lied
straightforwardly to the subject. They will, however, have ensured that the
vital information required never gets to the subject.
Exaggeration
Exaggeration occurs when the agent emphasizes too much on a fact or
stretch the truth just a little so as to twist the story to suit them. Although
the agent may not directly be lying to the subject, they will manipulate the
situation such that it appears as though it is a bigger deal than it actually is,
or they may twist the truth to make the subject do whatever they need them
to do.
Understatements
This is the inverse of the exaggeration tool in the sense that the agent will
present part of the fact as less important, telling the subject that an event is
less of a deal than it actually is when it really could be what decides
whether the subject gets the opportunity to graduate or gets a huge
promotion. As such, the agent will be able to return to the subject, saying
they had no idea how huge a deal their omission was. They get to keep their
reputation, leaving the subject to look petty if they protest.
Disguise
Camouflage is an additional element that can be located in the procedure of
deceptiveness. When this happens, the representative is functioning to
develop the impact of being something or someone else. When the
representative is concealing something regarding themselves from the
subject, such as their actual name, what they provide for work, that they
have actually been with, and also what they depend on when they head out.
This goes better than simply transforming the attire that somebody uses in a
play or a film; when camouflage is utilized in the procedure of
deceptiveness, the representative is attempting to alter their entire character
to the method as trick the topic.
Simulation
Simulation involves presenting false information to the subject. Three
methods that can be used in simulation include mimicry, fabrication, and
distraction.
In mimicry, otherwise defined as copying another model, the agent will,
without thinking, be giving a picture of something that is like themselves.
They may have a plan like another person's, rather than giving credit to the
other person. They will say that the plan is all their doing. This type of
simulation can happen regularly through sound-related, visual, and other
methods.
Fabrication is yet another means of deception. Here, the agent takes
something found in reality and changes it until it becomes different. They
may tell a tale that did not take place or add to a true story to make it better
or worse.
While the heart of the story might be true, agreed they got a poor score on a
test, it will have some additional things put in, for example, the teacher
gave them a poor score intentionally. While in reality, the agent got a poor
score because they failed to read.
Lastly, distraction is another type of simulation in deception. In this case,
the agent makes an effort to get the subject to concentrate on other things,
but not the truth, usually done by offering the subject with something that
may be more tempting than the truth that has been hidden from them. For
instance, if a cheating spouse thinks the wife is beginning to suspect, he
may bring home a precious stone ring to distract her from the matter even
for a short while.
The problem with this act is that it is not usually long-lasting, and as such,
the agent has to look for a new way to trick the subject if they are to keep
the process going.
Overestimation
This is when the representative will certainly overemphasize a truth or
extend the fact a little in order to transform the tale the manner in which
they would do certainly such as. While the representative might not be
straight existing to the topic, they are most likely to make the circumstance
appear like a larger offer than it truly is, or they might alter the fact a bit to
make sure that the topic will certainly do what they desire.
Exaggerations
An exaggeration is the overestimation device's specific reverse because the
representative is most likely to minimize or lessen facets of the reality. He
will certainly inform the subject that an offer is not that huge when maybe
he hides the important things established if the subject reaches, finishes, or
obtains that huge promo.
The representative will certainly have the capability to return later on and a
state just how they did not recognize just how huge a bargain it was, leaving
them to look great. The based-on look virtually minor if they grumble.
 CHAPTER 21:

Learning Psychology to Recognize and Maintain

Our Identity
Examples of Real vs. Perceived Realities

W
ho are we? The challenges of self-identity in a world fixated on
labels and categories can be significant. Often, we are shaped by
how we have raised and the extent to which we are shaped into a
socially acceptable version of ourselves. Sometimes, we identify
by our career, marital, and our parental status, our talents (artist, musician),
or something easy to affix to ourselves. We often use simple labels because
they are easy to identify with us. Stereotypes, as damaging and harmful as
they are in reality, have been used as labels in society, often discrimination
and mistreatment will result. In a world eager to judge and categorize
people, it can be a challenge to know and understand who we are as
individuals truly. We become comfortable with what or who we are,
whether we identify with our political views, profession, or other quick one
or two-word descriptions that have a preconceived idea or view of
themselves. In labeling people this way, we cover over the real personality
within. How do people identify themselves? What is the response when
someone asks you who you are or explains a bit about yourself? Consider
the two lists of definitions that can be used to describe yourself. Imagine
you are in an interview, and you have the option of expressing anything and
everything about you, without any restrictions or specifications; which
types of characteristics or traits would you choose:

Labels (close-ended descriptions) Open descriptions that can be expanded upon

Career: lawyer, accountant, chef, customer Compassionate and determined (this leaves an
service representative, sales clerk, etc. opening to explore the subjects you are
compassionate about and what determination
you have to make the world a better place, for
example.)

Husband/wife/partner, parent (mother/father, Nurturing, caring, and non-judgmental. These

grandparent), or another familial role descriptions can lead to more information on
why and how you resemble these attributes.

Political party affiliation or registration Activist for social justice and community
organizations—this can lead to more
information and description about the type of
causes you feel strongly about, shedding light on
 how you view them and how/why you feel
strongly.

Artist, musician, writer Creative, innovative, free-spirited.

Reality vs. Perceived Reality
In a world where we are continually linked to online posts, news media, and
second-hand reports, often differing from one source to another, it becomes
difficult to determine what to believe and how we should view or assess
information that we read or see. Unless we witness an incident unfold in
front of us directly, we may not receive the same report from someone who
witnessed it. This is often due to the variance in perception from one person
to another. This can occur where two people witness the exact same
occurrence, though based on their past experience and ideas of what was
seen, their accounts will differ, at least slightly. Consider the following
example:
Mandy is a cyclist who takes all the necessary precautions when traveling
in the city to and from work. On the way to her office one morning, she
witnesses cars suddenly impacting one another, resulting in serious injuries
and damages. As she begins to see the event unfold, she is simultaneously
watching the road and traffic lights to heed any warnings or change inflow.
This event comes at a complete shock and causes her to pull over and take a
few minutes. She remains on the scene, to see the outcome and answer any
questions as a witness to the incident, to be of any help that she can.
Another witness to the incident is Jack, a former racecar driver, and has
suffered some injuries in the past, though minor compared to other drivers.
He's never nervous on the road and always remains calm, even when there
is a traffic jam or accident. On the same day as the incident, Jack happened
to be parked at an intersection where Mandy rode across on her bicycle, and
just on the other side, he saw the collision. It happened quickly, and
although he viewed the incident from a different angle than Mandy, he had
a full and unobstructed view of the scene.
When Mandy and Jack are questioned about their experience with the
accident, and what they witnessed, they may recount the event in different
ways: Mandy might relate the incident as a traumatic event, as it occurred
suddenly and without warning, while Jack may describe it in a less serious
fashion, considering he is used to these occurrences and doesn't view this
incident as earth-shattering and traumatic in the same way as Mandy does.
Overall, both witnesses have the same story to tell, though if each of them
was to relate their version to someone who wasn't present at the scene, the
story would be slightly different. This is due to their change in perception
and perspective. Suppose you have a fear or phobia of a specific item or
situation that plays a role in an incident. In that case, your reaction and
explanation of the event may be far more severe and dramatic than someone
with a significantly different view.
Reality is above all other levels of illusion, fantasy, and perception of
reality. Real experience can be altered from one person to another, though
overall, we know that what we see is a real event. Therefore it transcends
any version or account that deviates from the accurate details. When
someone asserts a perception of reality as a real danger, for example, then it
can cause alarm when none is warranted. Consider a situation where a
person has a fear of heights, and when they peek over the balcony of a tall
high rise, they think they might fall. They may even forbid other people to
venture near the balcony, stating the possibility of falling, even where safety
devices and structures in place would prevent an accident. In this situation,
fear is the culprit that skews a reality (safe balcony) into an unsafe situation,
based on the perception of danger.
Before you consider differentiating between reality and perception, consider
that everything we view and experience is filtered through our own
thoughts, emotions, and past experience. In knowing this, we can take a
step back and understand how one's mind can cloud or fog a standard,
uneventful experience into something exhilarating or dangerous. Imagine if
someone else viewed the same event on video, would they see what we
describe exactly, or something different or less concerning? These steps can
help separate our perception from reality, and allow us to remove the filter
or fog that changes our vision:
1. Consider a part of your life or a situation that you want or need
to change, and determine why it is important to do so.
2. Figure out the causes(s) of this matter, and how deep the issue
goes, as there may be a number of factors that contribute to this
problem. For example, if you have financial struggles, you
 might attribute this to a lack of income, though if the problem
persists after you have begun a new job with better pay, there
may be other factors involved, such as financial commitments,
loan payments, unforeseen expenses and/or poor spending and
saving habits.
3. When you delve into the contributing factors that may play a
role in your situation, consider your thoughts during this
process. Do any of these factors cause grief or anxiety? Is there
an outstanding situation you need to face, but prefer to avoid it
due to its unpleasantness?
4. Once you've thoroughly assessed your own thoughts and ideas,
consider feedback from other people, and determine how they
can help you find what might be contributing to a difficult
situation. Often, while it might not be accurate, another
person's perception will be unbiased and focus on the situation
and its causes, and without attaching your fears and/or
emotions.
5. Once you have a compilation of factors and ideas from
yourself and others with whom you've talked about the
situation, take a careful look through them, and write or record
them on a list for easy tracking. Make sure you take them
seriously and understand the importance of each item. Don't
discount or dismiss any of the points; consider them equally, as
part of a puzzle that will develop into a solution.
6. After you have given each point equal consideration, review
them again to eliminate any items that are not relevant or least
likely to be problematic or a contributing force to your issue.
For example, if you find yourself struggling with someone at
work due to a personality conflict, you may simply blame them
for their behavior, without taking into consideration you and
others may know. In an effort to improve the relationship, you
might assess various factors, which may point to specific
conditions or experiences the person is having that they are
 struggling with, and they do not have the emotional control to
withhold their expressions around you and/or others. However,
there may be no easy solution, though often we can find some
factors that could be part of the root, and work on improving
them as best as possible.
7. Once you have refined the items that have the most impact on
the situation, determine what next steps you need to take to
minimize them and their impact on your life or the situation.
Taking these steps in order, and repeating some of the assessments and
process of elimination, is a valuable tool in stripping away the cloud of
perception that can lead to incorrect ideas and ineffective attempts to
resolve matters.
 CHAPTER 22:

Dark Seduction Techniques

W
hether it's to seduce a woman, to convince your Prof. that you
deserve a 30 and praise for your university exam, or to be able to
conclude a sale with a tough customer, persuasion is a
fundamental tool, which you should always keep handy in your toolbox.
I immediately want to clear the field of doubts: I am not interested, and I
despise the petty techniques often used by companies and advertisers to sell
us products or services of little value; this is not persuasion; it is a beautiful
and good scam. In my view, persuasion is the ability to convince our
interlocutors of the real value of our ideas, our positions, and our work.
In short, persuading is not convincing who is in front of you what is false,
but rather making it clear and evident what is true: You may have studied
months for your exam and memorized every page of the book, but at the
same time, you cannot convince the professor about your real preparation.
You may have in mind the brightest idea of this planet for your work, yet
you may not be able to present it in the correct way to your colleagues or
leaders.
You can have a product or service that can truly revolutionize the life of
your customers, and at the same time, not be able to sell it because you are
not able to transmit its real value. Here, in all these cases, learning effective
persuasion techniques can be useful to achieve the results you deserve. I
will tell you about three techniques that have proved particularly useful for
me, in the study, at work, and beyond.
Technique 1: Why Not?
A question can make you rich, and a question can give you back your lost
motivation, a question can help you turn a "No" into a "Yes." A study has
shown that asking the simple question, "Why not?" Has a high success rate
in transforming a dry waste into a more accommodating "Yes." The goal of
the "Why not?" is to transform a definitive answer ("No") into a simple
obstacle to overcome. Ask the question "Why not?" it forces the
interlocutor to have to provide more or less logical objections, which we
can handle much more simply than a direct refusal. Furthermore, the
weaker the objections, the more cognitive dissonance is created in the mind
of our interlocutor, who, in the desperate search for coherence, will end up
meeting us. In short: if there is no valid reason not to do something, why
not do it?
Technique 2: Bring it to your face!
The door technique... in the face! When we want to obtain a certain result
from our interlocutor, we should make a request that we ourselves consider
too high and not very reasonable: this request will undoubtedly be followed
by a metaphorical door in the face of a refusal; at this point, we should
immediately follow the real request that we had in mind: compared with the
first, in fact, the new request will appear more modest and reasonable. This
technique bases its effectiveness on the natural tendency of our mind to
make comparisons. If we provide the right comparison, no request will
appear excessive. Don't you feel like asking your boss for a
disproportionate salary increase?! Then use the door-to-face technique on
yourself when setting a goal: "Aim for the moon, and badly you go, you
will find yourself among the stars."
Technique 3: One foot in the door
The third persuasion technique we are talking about and which always takes
inspiration from our "nice" door-to-door salesmen, is the "foot in the door"
technique. Unlike the "door to face" technique, the goal of this third
technique is to make a request so trivial and obvious that it is able to snatch
a first, but very important "Yes" from our interlocutor. I am sure you have
seen this technique applied dozens of times: have you ever met those guys
on the street who ask you if you have ever read a book?! Or to answer yet
another call from a call center operator asking if you use the phone?! The
goal of these idiotic questions is precisely to snatch a "Yes" from us: it has,
in fact, been shown that people who accept a first small request tend to
accept even more demanding subsequent requests. In my experience, I have
seen this technique often misused and abused: but do you want to put the
fun of neutralizing these babies with their own weapons?! The next time
they ask you if you've ever read a book, ask them if they've ever seen a
movie! The ability to persuade is of considerable importance in daily life,
both in the personal sphere and in the professional sphere, often
determining the success of our initiatives. Who among us does not know at
least one person with a great persuasive spirit? Persuasive subjects are those
who are able to win the consent of others in any circumstance, gaining their
total approval and convincing them to act in a certain way. A question
spontaneously arises: are you born or made persuasive? Both options are
correct. This dowry can be innate or learned through specific training
courses. Almost every day, we feel the need to convince those around us to
accept our point of view without hesitation or to welcome a request from
us. We started to experiment in this activity since we were children, refining
the most effective techniques "by hand," and still today, we try to orient the
judgment of others in our favor, although aware of the growing difficulties.
Below you will find four secrets that will allow you to attract, fascinate, and
convince your interlocutors in a truly effective way.
Use the Explosive Empathy + Sincerity Mix
Empathy + Assertivity = Persuasion. Do you know this winning equation?
The famous Aristotelian pathos theorized more than 2000 years ago and is
known in the modern name of empathy, and today represents a crucial
factor in social relations. Being empathetic means putting yourself on the
same level as the interlocutor in order to understand how he sees and
experiences a given situation, or, more generally, the world around him.
To exercise empathy, you need to listen with your heart as well as with your
mind, learn to read the emotions of others, put yourself in their shoes. Some
people are naturally inclined to feel empathy and, therefore, able to use it
effectively; they predict how others will behave in a certain circumstance
by placing themselves on their wavelength, and consequently, they know
how to express themselves.
When there is empathy, a spontaneous feeling of trust will inevitably make
its way. The ability to transmit trust is a factor not to be underestimated for
its great importance on a psychological level. Whoever proves truly sincere,
showing that he has the problems of his neighbor at heart, gives a different
tone to the conversation, stimulates the receptivity of the interlocutor, and
induces him to open up. That's why the mix of empathy and sincerity will
help you develop your persuasive communication in the best way.
Listen Carefully to Those Who Surround You
The good listener is a sort of magnet that magically calls others to himself."
We generally prefer to speak rather than listen, convinced that the people
predisposed to listening are those who have nothing interesting to say.
Wrong observation! Think of a friend who pays no attention to what you
say. It's really frustrating, isn't it? Active listening is one of the most
important aspects of communication. Effective persuasion arises precisely
from the ability to listen, which obviously does not mean remaining silent
while others speak. Active listening generates good private and working
relationships, improving them over time, helps us understand the thoughts
and emotions of our interlocutors, and keeps mutual attention high. What
can you do to show your interlocutor that you are really listening to him?
Here are some tips:
Don't interrupt it
Don't complete his sentences
Don't offer too hasty advice
Take action at the most appropriate time
Keep the Attitude of Your Interlocutor High
Attention can only be gained when there is interest. Lack of attention >
ineffective communication > zero results. If you want your message to be
heard, you need to arouse enough interest in people to keep your attention
alive. Obtaining a constant level of interest is very difficult for one simple
reason. Several studies have shown that the time frame in which we manage
to stay focused on a certain topic is quite limited.
How can you move to encourage others to listen to you? What can you do
to keep your interlocutor's attention awake? You have to make sure they are
interested in what you're saying, to prevent boredom from taking over. If
you have to make a request or give a speech, it is essential that you manage
to get your message understood on the first attempt. The preliminary phase,
in fact, lays the foundations for the good or bad outcome of the
communication.
When you notice that your interlocutor's attention has dropped, try to find
out the reason. Is your speech boring? Did you miss something important?
Did you use too sectorial and, therefore, incomprehensible language? Here
are some good moves that I tested first in the field:
Start the discussion with a particular anecdote
Ask provocative questions
Propose a brainstorming session
Tell us about your personal experiences
Help yourself by showing pictures
Pay Attention to Body Language
Make your body express the right message. Why is non-verbal
communication so important? The interactions between human beings do
not occur exclusively through speech and listening. Even when we speak
and listen, we express feelings and emotions through body language, taking
postures, and making gestures that convey a strong meaning.
It is important to learn to read these signals to communicate persuasively
and give your speech the right strength. Non-verbal behavior determines in
a decisive way the impression we have of others and what they have of us.
All experts in the sector agree that the interpretation of human attitudes is
based primarily on visual factors, followed by vocal factors and only the
content of the messages. If the interlocutor finds consistency between your
facial expressions and the words you pronounce, he will be led to feel a
greater feeling of trust towards you, allowing himself to be influenced more
easily. If, on the other hand, your expressions contradict your words, it will
tend to close and move away from you.
What are the negative signs of body language to avoid?
Don't cross your arms and don't cross your legs when
you're sitting, because it will seem that you want to be
defensive.
Smile to the people you talk to because a positive gesture
will help you achieve equally positive results.
Maintain direct eye contact with your partner because you
will show interest and attention.
 CHAPTER 23:

Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Learning your Mind’s Language Neuro-Linguistic

Programming or NLP

N
LP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a method that changes a
person’s way of thinking and behaving, with the promise of
helping people to achieve more in life. Richard Bandier and John
Grinder developed this technique and quickly became popular in
different marketing, political, and other movements beginning in the 1970s.
Today, NLP continues to be used as a treatment aimed at changing people’s
thinking and behavioral patterns for a variety of reasons, including the
treatment of certain types of anxiety and phobias. This program or series of
techniques is often promoted with the promise of improving
communication, performance at home, work, and overall better enjoyment
of life.
What is NLP and How Does It Work
Neuro-Linguistic Programming was developed based on the belief that
people’s thoughts and behaviors could be detected by observing non-verbal
cues and movements. It was further believed that these non-verbal signs of
communication formed specific patterns to coincide with specific thoughts
or feelings, making it easier to “read” people and their intentions, even
when they are not expressed verbally.
Furthermore, NLP aims to understand these patterns of non-verbal
communication as a means of learning how to form an individual’s internal
“map” or experience in life through these expressions, making it possible to
respond in a similar way, then by changing those “patterns” of behavior as a
way to gain trust and connection with them.
Therapists and consultants use this method as a way to establish a sense of
familiarity and build a rapport. When NLP is applied for the benefit of
treating a specific disorder or condition, there are several techniques used:
Physical behaviors, such as gestures and facial expressions
used by the person being treated may also be used by a
therapist to facilitate a sense of connection and display
empathy to improve communication
Changing behavioral actions to provoke a different response, or
as a means to help someone change a behavior pattern that is
seen as destructive or harmful.
Sensory techniques, such as visual and auditory cues, may be
used to stimulate certain reactions and feelings about certain
events or experiences.
This may be used to promote coping while removing certain negative
characteristics associated with these experiences.
While NLP has been regarded as useful and helpful for many people
suffering from anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorders, it
has also been equally scrutinized by the scientific community, citing a lack
of study and evidence of its effects. Although there are limited studies,
some have shown promising results, while others were not conclusive.
Like other disputed practices, such as hypnotherapy, many people support
NLP and the various methods used, which continue to be applied today in
many practices.
For people who support the results of NLP use in therapy, they reported
improved psychological well-being and a better quality of life.
How is NLP used to Manipulate or Control the Way People
Think and Behave?
While the NLP technique can be used as a method to change people’s
behavior and thought processes for positive results, the same or similar
techniques could be used to manipulate and control other people by
applying the same observation and use of non-verbal communication.
While some forms of control through the use of therapeutic techniques may
seem necessary and beneficial to change harmful habits and behaviors into
more positive patterns, it can signal a prime opportunity for control and
manipulation in the process.
In some cases, overt control over someone else’s behaviors and actions may
not be done with ill intentions, if the practitioner or therapist believes the
NLP methods used are going to achieve improved results.
The danger of this method arises due to the imbalance of control from one
party to another, and the idea of placing a great deal of trust or confidence
in someone else and trusting a process that may or may not work for the
best interests of the recipient.
When we communicate with various non-verbal cues, such as head
movements, eye motions, and hand gestures, to name a few, we
inadvertently influence others to communicate or reciprocate similar cues in
response. This is an example of how NLP is used in communication; one
person responds in kind or with similar gestures or movements and
establishing familiarity and building a comfort zone where the other person
may feel more at ease in disclosing more personal information and letting
their guard down. When NLP is used for the purpose of manipulation, it can
be very effective in getting results, especially when people respond by
changing or varying the pattern of non-verbal communication, which can
alter or change how the other person behaves.
This switching or patterns or behaviors can occur without the other person’s
knowledge, and although it is a conscious technique, it may appear to
influence people on a subconscious level as well strongly. Strong
development and experienced application of NLP can have an equally
effective change or influence on many people, such as motivational
speakers or successful salespeople who appear so convincing in their tactics
that they can easily sway or persuade others to join their organization or
invest in them. NLP techniques used in marketing and for other political or
commercial influences include using subtle verbal cues in conjunction with
strong non-verbal signs or gestures, having the effect of layering both to
simultaneously affect a person’s behavior through the conscious and
subconscious at once. This strong impact on a person can impact their
behavior almost immediately, though it may not always last for a long
period of time. When these techniques are used, their aim is to produce
results quickly and for the benefit of the manipulator, though their long-
term effect may dwindle over time, once the techniques used are discovered
and recognized.
Recognizing NLP as a Method of Control
NLP is a complex layer of behavioral and communicative techniques that
can be detected in larger-than-life personalities and “gurus” or self-help
celebrities making appearances at various conventions or promotional
events. While on the surface, their advice and presence may be positive and
seem helpful, many of these speakers use NLP techniques to provoke
engagement with their audience on a deeper level. On a smaller scale, a
manipulator not familiar with NLP may still use similar techniques to
persuade or gain your trust. They may mimic or copy certain terms or
words you use, to show agreement, or “reach out” to you with a
congratulatory pat on the shoulder or similar approving non-verbal cue as a
way to gain your approval and influence your actions.
 CHAPTER 24:

Seduction Techniques

I
t all depends on the victim of your seduction. Analyze your prey
extensively, and select only those that will prove vulnerable to your
enchantments. The right targets are the ones you can fill in a void for,
who see something unusual in you. They are mostly isolated or miserable,
or they can be quickly made so—because it's almost impossible to seduce
an entirely contented person. The right target has a certain quality that
triggers intense emotions within you, making your seductive moves seem
more normal and fluid. A perfect target allows ideal pursuit.
Seduction Tool Kit
Generate a Greater Sense of Safety
If you're too plain forward early on, you risk building up a resentment that's
never going to be extinguished. At first, nothing of the seducer has to be in
your form. The seduction should start at an angle, not directed straight so
that the target only becomes aware of you slowly. Haunt the outskirts of the
existence of your target—approach via a third party, or appear to develop a
fairly neutral connection, progressively moving from colleague to lover.
Lure the target into feeling safe, then strike.
Appear to Be a Desired Object-Create Triangles
Few are drawn to the individual evaded and neglected by others; crowds
gather around those that have already lured interest. In order to attract your
victims to make them desperate to have you, you need to create an illusion
of desirability—of being needed by many. Being the favored object of your
interest will make them happy, to win your heart in an audience of admirers.
Make a reputation that precedes you. There must be a reason if many have
failed to resist your charms.
Sending Out Mixed Signals
Once individuals are conscious of your presence, and maybe slightly
fascinated, you ought to spice up the curiosity before it falls on another
person. Most of us are way too obvious—be difficult to sort out, instead.
Send confusing messages. Harsh and delicate, both religious and worldly,
harmless as well as devious. A mixture of characteristics suggests depth,
which also fascinates as much as it confuses. A mysterious, mystical
atmosphere can make people crave more knowledge and pull them towards
you. Generate such authority by suggesting something conflicting within
you.
Creating Need
It is almost impossible to seduce a person who is perfectly satisfied. You
need to instill tension and disharmony in your target's mind. Stir up feelings
of dissatisfaction within them, resentment with their conditions, and with
themselves. The sense you create of inferiority will give you the space to
assert yourself, to start making them see you as the solution to their issues.
Pain and fear are the right predecessors of satisfaction. Learn how to
produce the need you can fill up.
Step Into Their Minds
Most individuals are locked into their own realms, which makes them
stubborn and difficult to persuade. Moving into their soul is the way to draw
them out of their isolation and set up the seduction. Live by their guidelines,
have fun doing what they love, adjust to their feelings. You will massage
their deep-rooted narcissism and reduce their defenses in doing so. Take
part in every move and whim of your targets, offering them nothing at all to
react against or resist.
Master the Technique of Conceit
It's important to make your targets feel frustrated and require your help, but
if you're too clear, they'll see through you and become defensive. However,
there is no established protection against insinuation—the art of injecting
ideas in the heads of individuals by dropping hints which take hold days
later, sometimes looking to them as their real concept. Develop a
sublanguage — big claim accompanied by discharge and apology, vague
comments, banal conversation combined with seductive glances—that
enters the unconscious of the target to express your true meaning. Get it all
provocative.
Generate Temptation
Tempt the victim deep into your seduction by building the perfect
temptation. A glance of the delights to arrive. As the serpent persuaded Eve
with the guarantee of prohibited knowledge, you must generate an urge in
your targets that they cannot govern. Discover their weak spot, that fantasy
that has yet to be understood, and indicate that you can lead them toward it.
Use the Devilish Power of Words to Generate Confusion
Convincing people to listen is hard; they are filled by their own opinions
and needs, so they have no patience for yours. The way to make them care
is to suggest whatever they want to know, flooding their ears with anything
they want. This is the core of seductive words. Use loaded words to stir up
feelings, flatter them, comfort their anxieties, envelop them with lovely
words and promises, they will pay attention to you, and they will also end
up losing their will to oppose you.
Holding Them In Anticipation—Wondering What's Next.
The moment people believe they know what to anticipate from you, the
hold over them is shattered. More. You have lost power over them. The best
way to control the seduced and retain the advantage is to build anticipation,
a measured shock. Attempting something they don't anticipate from you
would offer them a wonderful feeling of spontaneity—they won't be able to
predict what's next.
Look Out for Information
Lofty expressions of affection and nice movements may be suspicious. Why
are you striving so hard to impress? The nuances of a seduction—the
discreet movements, the offhand stuff you do — are much more enticing
and surprising. You have to learn to confuse your victims with a multitude
of fun little routines—personalized presents suited to them, clothing, and
accessories crafted to satisfy them, actions that demonstrate the time and
energy you are giving them.
Make Your Presence Felt
Significant stuff happens when the victims are alone. The faintest sense of
relief in your absence and the whole plan goes in vain. Predictability and
over-exposure will trigger this response. Stay mysterious, then. Intrigue
your victims by varying a thrilling existence with a nice distance, joyful
instances accompanied by computed absences.
Relate yourself with romantic pictures and items, so they continue to see
you as a charming person. The more you figure out what's in their minds,
the greater the seductive illusions they wrap you in.
Confuse Need and Reality
People spend more of their time imagining, envisioning a future full of
wonder, achievement, and romance to accommodate the challenges in their
lives. If you are able to develop the illusion that they can live their fantasies
out via you, you will get them at your grace. Target at secret desires that
have been thwarted or silenced, inflame inexplicable emotions, cloud their
reasoning powers. Lead the seduced to a stage of confusion where they can't
distinguish between illusion and reality anymore.
Disarm Through Tactical Weakness and Insecurity
Far too much maneuvering on your aspect can give rise to distrust. The
finest way to hide your paths is to make the person look special and
powerful. If you seem to be feeble, vulnerable, enthusiastic about the other
individual, and unable to regulate yourself, you will make your conduct
look quite natural, less orchestrated. Lack of strength—crying, bashfulness,
pale skin—will help to build the influence.
Victim Isolation
A lonely individual becomes fragile. Through gradually isolating the
victims, you render them more prone to your power. Bring them apart from
their usual life, peers, families, and house. Give them the feeling of
becoming oppressed, in limbo—they leave one world behind and join
another. When alienated like this, they have little outside help, so they
become easily deceived in their uncertainty.
Generate a Desire
People who have had some form of enjoyment in the past will try to
replicate it or revisit it. The most deep-rooted and pleasurable experiences
are typically from early childhood, which is sometimes unintentionally
aligned with parental figures. Bring your victim back to that point by
putting yourself in the triangle of the Oedipus and branding them as the
needy kid. Unconscious of the reason for their emotional reaction, they will
be in love with you.
Prove Yourself
Many people like to be seduced. If they oppose your efforts, it's certainly
because you haven't gone that far to alleviate their suspicions—about your
intentions, the intensity of your emotions, etc. A prompt intervention
demonstrating how much you are able to go to prevail over them will
dissipate the suspicions. Do not think about looking stupid or getting it
wrong—any type of deed that is self-sacrificing will overwhelm your
target's emotions. They will not realize anything else.
Mix the Taboo and the Transgression
Whatever one can do, there have always been cultural limits. A few of
those, the most basic taboos, travel back decades; others are shallower,
identifying appropriate, polite behavior, for example. It's immensely
seductive to make your victims feel that you are guiding them ahead of
either type of boundaries. People are anxious to explore the dark side. If the
impulse to violate attracts the victim to you, they would have trouble
avoiding it. Bringing them further than they might imagine — the common
sense of guilt and obligation generates a strong connection.
Pleasure and Discomfort Blend Together
In seduction, the main error is being too sweet. Maybe your generosity is
sweet at first, but it quickly becomes tedious; you're trying too much to
please, so you seem nervous. Try to inflict some discomfort rather than
overwhelming your victims with friendliness. Let them feel nervous and
guilty. Incite a breakup—now a negotiated settlement, a switch to your
previous kindness, will bring them down to their knees. The lower lows you
build, the higher the ups. Create the anticipation of terror to heighten the
sexual effect.
Use the Lures of Spirit
Everyone seems to have suspicions and anxieties—of their own looks, self-
worth, and gender identity. If your seduction caters solely to the looks, you
will stir up those concerns and make your victims self-aware. Rather, by
attempting to make them concentrate on something exquisite and spiritual,
tempt them out of their anxieties, a spiritual experience, a noble piece of art,
the occult. The target, lost in a divine mist, will feel refreshed and carefree.
Reinforce the impact of your seduction by attempting to make its sexual
culmination appear as the two souls' true partnership.
Give Them Room to Fall
If your victims get used to your aggression, they will offer less of their own
energy, and the pressure will slacken. You ought to get them up and switch
the tables around. Pause for a moment when they are under your trap, and
they'll start coming after you. Give a hint that you're getting bored. Show
interest in someone else. They would eventually try to literally control you,
and modesty would fly out of the window. Build the impression that they
are seducing the seducer.
 CHAPTER 25:

Provide Knowledge Ethically Dealing with Other

People's Emotions

O ne of the most challenging aspects of life is handling other people's

emotions. Emotions are diverse, and for this context, emotions are
a form of energy created by the body to communicate to you how
your overall body status is, and you should allow this energy to dissipate.
When body status is composed, you will feel energized, happy, and excited.
The positive energy will be expressed by tears of joy, eagerness, and
lengthened the period of patience. On the other hand, when your body
status is feeling threatened and uneasy, you are going to express that energy
in the form of fear, anger, and impatience. In this manner, emotional
intelligence is about learning to acknowledge your emotions and finding a
way to release them rather than blocking them safely. Most people wrongly
think that negative emotions are unwanted when, in the real sense, they are
part of the human experience, and what is required is to find a safe way to
release that energy without harming others.
Notably, emotional intelligence influences your thoughts and actions to
enable you to have control over your behavior as well as develop to handle
it more effectively. With good levels of emotional intelligence, you will
increase the way you identify and handle your emotions and how you react
to others' feelings. By becoming more emotionally stable, it allows us to
grow and gain a comprehensive understanding of which we are, and this
allows us to communicate better with others and sustain stronger
relationships. The following suggestions will give a good beginning point to
discover the pillars of your emotional intelligence.
First, start by practicing noting how you feel. Your individual feelings will
affect how you process and react to the feelings of the other person. Let us
take a case where you have a loan to service, and the business you invested
in the loan is struggling. You are now working with more than 10 hours a
day to make extra income to sustain your lifestyle and also save some to
service the loan. Due to frequent burnouts, you sometimes shout at your
children when they play music at full volume. At the grocery store, you are
easily irritated when the seller mixes up the groceries you selected. When
driving home, you tend to experience road rage, wondering how some
drivers got their driving license. When online, you easily pick up arguments
with people who seem ignorant of what is being discussed. In this manner,
you are highly emotional and may have issues processing the emotions of
others.
Secondly, take note of how you react when processing others' emotions to
determine weak points and improve. You noticed right that we are focusing
on you rather than the other person, and the reason is that you can control
your emotions and associated reactions but cannot fully manage those of the
other person. When you know how you react to different emotions
manifested by different people, you can target to manage your reactions to
attain predictability. Dealing with the emotions of other people requires first
understanding how you react to negative and positive emotions. Emotions
are largely a function of experience, and society defined expectations.
Thirdly, interrogate your opinions. In most cases, we form emotions
because of the process that we have been given against an established
history and spectra of meaning. For instance, if I make faces at you, there is
a chance that you will feel that I am taking you casually or mocking you.
You interpreted by gestures by tapping into a stored knowledge and
experience of established meaning of certain behaviors. Sometimes we
would have acted differently if we paused and interrogated our opinions.
We tend to react impulsively because that is what produces the best feeling,
but it is not the best way to navigate emotions thrown at us.
Fourthly, become accountable to your feelings. A common weakness that
most people make is to provide excuses for their behaviors. For instance,
you probably heard your colleague justify their behavior because the other
person provoked. Justifying your reactions to others' emotions will never
help you accept that you erred and need to fix your emotional intelligence
competencies. Start by being accountable to your feelings, and you will
realize that you have significant space to improve on your weaknesses. Just
because another person provoked you does not imply that you fall for it.
One should develop the resilience that enables you to navigate emotive
issues.
Additionally, practice deep breathing. Most people read and know what
deep breathing is but rarely practice it. The logic behind urging deep
breathing is to help convert the emotional energy into physical energy and
thus defuse the intense reaction. When feeling agitated or targeted by the
other person's emotions, stand upright or sit upright and draw in a lot of air
and expel it slowly, letting you feel relieved. Repeat the exercise of relaxing
the chest muscles and drawing in large gulps of air and expelling the air
slowly by ensuring that your body feels the breath being expelled from the
body. Even though this exercise may seem trivial, it is highly critical in
helping navigate intense reactions.
In an attempt to improve, maintain a diary of your emotions and the
matching reactions. Most people wrongly assume that they understand their
emotions, but they do not understand their emotions in reality. An effective
and simple way to understand your emotions is to maintain a diary of
emotions. For instance, capture the day, describe the emotion, and react to
the said emotion. You will see a pattern in the manner that you react to
certain situations, which implies such situations, and associated emotions
can be predicted. Armed with this knowledge, one can prepare in a safe way
of expressing emotions.
Correspondingly, let the emotions flow through you by taking it easy. When
interacting with another person, view the situation as that of a call center
agent handling an emotive customer. As a call center agent, if you absorb
the emotions thrown at you, there are chances that you will end up feeling
frustrated and overwhelmed by the job. The safest bet when handling
another person's emotions is to allow those emotions to flow through you,
like the case of a customer care desk at the fictitious company. If a dejected
customer shows up and shouts at you, you will not take the reaction as
directed you but rather the organization you present. If your friend
expresses intense negative emotions, you should treat the emotion as
directed as someone else that the friend wants you to represent because you
will understand the situation.
Relatedly, accept when your emotions are triggered and safely express
them. A common mistake most people make is to think that masking
emotions equate to maturity and stability. Most individuals consider
expressing negative emotions as something to be ashamed of as it
contradicts the perfect image that people want. However, all emotions,
including the negative ones, should be expressed. What matters is how
safely one expresses these emotions. For instance, if your friends feel upset
and shout at you, there is a likelihood that you may also respond similarly.
If one cannot absorb a friend's emotions, you must manifest your response,
including negative emotions.
As earlier on, you suggested to define your limits and exert your position.
Most people fear to exert their position because of being labeled as
hardliners or inconsiderate. However, this is a fallacy. Exerting your views
enables you to define boundaries and makes your friends understand your
limits. When confronted with friends' emotions, you should make it clear
that your limits are to enable the friend to understand when you can snap or
walk away from social interaction. Think of a situation where you are
arguing with a colleague, and the colleague decides to start discussing your
weaknesses. You should make it clear that your personal should be
respected and that you will not allow further discussion of your personal
life.
While empathizing, remember that it does amount to shouldering the
burden of others. A person who is entangled with a friend and wants to
absorb the burdens in that friend's life is bound to feel used and exhausted
shortly. When handling emotions from a friend, ensure that you do not
transfer them to your personal life. You should only empathize as opposed
to making those challenges part of your responsibility.
Learn to extricate oneself from emotions. Even though our lives and
emotions are intricate, we can still extricate ourselves from emotions to
realize a situation's objective view. When confronted with a friend's
emotions, we should try to view the situation devoid of our individual and
the friend's emotions. Assessing a situation devoid of emotions can help
you see the underlying issues and confront them for a lasting solution. For
instance, a suddenly moody friend could be having difficulties servicing
mortgage or having marital issues. Without dropping emotions, you would
be stuck on your friend's personality rather than probing the underlying
causes of the sudden transformation.
You must listen to actively. In most cases, we get emotional because we fail
to listen and understand our friends' struggles to communicate. Since our
friends have high expectations of us, they easily get frustrated when we fail
to relate to their feelings. In this context, active listening involves exuding
the appropriate body language to denote affirmation, refuting, and attention.
A keen listener may read a lot from the choice of words used by another
person and the body language to profile the individual's current emotional
status. Overall navigating emotions of a friend requires exuding emotional
intelligence competencies.
 CHAPTER 26:

The Internet and Dark Psychology

I t is an established fact that psychology is a scientific study that

encompasses the study of human thoughts, behavior, emotions, mind,
and so on. The beautiful thing is when one gets a deeper understanding
of how psychology operates, it can be of great benefit not only to oneself
but also in our everyday interactions with others. Man is a social being,
therefore must process social behaviors which psychology seeks to
understand, most time explains and sometimes predict.
Despite having many branches, a large part of psychology is aimed at the
diagnosis and treatment of mentally derailed individuals who possess a
threat to the general public, but depending on the perspective, Psychologists
are versatile and cuts across many other areas.
Also, note that psychology is all around you, your everyday activity, your
interaction with others, that TV commercial you saw recently, the print ads,
the website you are most frequent on, and so on. All of these are either
trying to persuade or convince you to bulge to whatever they are trying to
offer.
Interestingly, there is psychology for any human problem, no matter the age
or gender, which is why a psychologist is bent on making life better and
improving human behavior. As constructive, educative, and informative as
psychology, maybe, there is a dark side to it.
This aspect focuses on human consciousness as it relates to the nature of
people prey on or victimizing others.
Dark psychology aims to understand the various thoughts, reasoning,
perception, or feelings that often lead to human predatory behavior because
it entails the inhumane and brutal victimization of others without any
reasonable human comprehension. Predators commit theft, abuse, and
violence upon their victims, and they appear in any form of personality.
They are most times less compassionate and suspicious-looking.
Trolls generally can be annoying and irritating and can also be an agent of
destruction/destruction. An internet troll starts quarrel and offends people
on the internet. According to psychology, such people sometimes might
have dark personality traits to them. They live such a life that is based on
their sadistic nature, and others must suffer the same fate, and they naturally
make you feel bad. Most times, there is a psychological disorder triggered
by past experience or an ongoing occurrence. The best thing to do when
you encounter one is completely ignoring them as they feed on your
suffering, which gives them great pleasure.
These internet trolls can be called a predator, according to Michael
Nuccitelli of predator.co. These people are first-class cyberbullies, stalkers,
criminals, sexual predators, and the likes. These set of people use the power
of the internet to gather useful information about their victims or targets.
A predator can be a group of people or persons that one way or the other,
directly or indirectly, enjoy stalking, exploring, and victimizing
unsuspecting individuals by using the power of information communication
technology (ICT). They are most times consumed with their desire for
power, imaginable fantasies, or just suffering from loneliness and searching
for acceptance. Age or gender is not a barrier as a predator can be of any
age, gender, or economic status. Initially, all we had was the human
predator, but with the rise of the technology age, things are now even more
complicated as predators harness the power of ICT and use it to their
advantage, create profiles and stay almost untraceable.
Dark Traits and Online Activities
The internet is a world on its own, it is a chain of network communicating
with other billion networks out there as long as you are connected and the
other party also, no matter where you are, you would definitely be
connected. With the internet, a lot can be done. You have access to almost
anything you can think of. Once you stay connected and it has also made
communication way easier, information is just a click away. Despite having
wonderful advantages, the disadvantages are life-threatening. One of the
common disadvantages is that people work online 24/7 and spend a lot of
time sitting while working in front of a computer often get ill. They get
weaker, develop eye issues, back pain, and the likes. Some people get
addicted, some fall into depression and isolation, and other serious health
issues, while many end up with serious social issues or psychological
disorders.
The internet often encourages the use of different behaviors and activities
that have done offline to be practicalized online. Imagine someone addicted
to sex, games, or shopping. When such a person gets online, it becomes
unlimited, which later turns into a habit. If, as a normal being, the internet
has such an effect, imagine what it would pose in the hands of a predator.
Narcissism is proud and lacks empathy. Machiavellianism is manipulative
and lacks morals, while the psychopathy is selfish and remorseless. Above
all, traits, according to research, has some things in common such as the
lack of empathy.
Categorically, the dark personality triad is a big influence in the behaviors
of predators that trolls online. The online behavior of a Psychopathy can be
a remorseless behavior while a Machiavellianism manipulates and
Narcissism preoccupied with getting attention because of their self-
behavior. All of these traits, one can easily work to pinpoint an internet troll
that possesses a dark personality. From several researchers, it was
discovered that the personality triad behaviors are mostly found on social
media platforms like Facebook, and most trolls have a psychopathic
tendency, unlike the Narcissist who promotes themselves or social status by
the same social media platform.
The online activity of a Narcissist since he has pride would be a display of
superiority by uploading images that shouts expensive. They can be
materialistic and display a sense of superiority; they can be domineering
and a thirst for power and status. Machiavellianism, on the other hand, even
though they can have self-interest, but theirs is to manipulate and deceive
unknowing victims to achieve their own goals. The Psychopath, in their
own way, is the destructive one of all the three personalities.
The Psychopath has no conscience, is violent in nature, and very
aggressive. The psychopathy is attracted to people that catch their attention
either by social life or social status and so on. Hypothetically speaking,
Psychopathic is most likely associated with trolling and are more attracted
to popular people on Facebook. Narcissism, on the other hand, might not be
a troll but see themselves as being superior to everyone. They look down on
people, and they believe that they are special. Above all, Psychopathic traits
can be sadistic and may find pleasure in harming others for fun's sake
because they derive pleasure from it. So it is acceptable to say that
abnormal online behavior is mostly Psychopathic traits.
How the Internet Promotes Different Vices and Negative Traits

The majority don't know that the internet is like an onion bulb consisting of
different layers; we have the surface, which is the aspect accessible to
everyone, like your Google or Yahoo, where we can buy things online or
access our social media handles and the likes. Surprisingly, this surface web
does not even make up for 10% of the internet we use. The remaining 90%
is the real deal. They are what we call Deep Web and Darknet, respectively.
The deep web is only accessible to authorized persons as this is where
private data such as legal documentation belonging to the government are
stored. Also, medicals and academic information and not left out.
Authorized and special services oversee the Deep Web.
Moving deeper is the Darknet, which is the most dangerous of them all; it
uses the Onion Router (TOR). To have access, one would have to download
the app. With just a click, one can end up in dangerous sites like the
uncensored hidden wiki and many more.
A site such as these provides information on drugs, weapons, pornography,
and so on. Various transactions can take place on the Darknet using our
everyday services, such as FedEx. A significant thing to note is that the
Darknet users can be anonymous; every personal data can be concealed,
secure, and untraceable.
In regards to psychology, Psychologists have come to an understanding that
there is a big relationship between the Dark personality traits, which is the
dark side of the human mind, and the dark side of the internet. Some
researchers even claimed that the amount of time spent online could
increase or lead people to develop dark traits.
The question now is, is it the various online activities that attract individuals
who already exhibit a good percentage of dark personality traits? Or can we
say it is a long period spent on the internet that has increased these traits in
individuals? There is a probability that both assumptions might be correct
either way. The internet has, over time, become a sort for humans to explore
their dark side. The internet has bred addicts because some negative traits
seem to have been nurtured and encouraged by the internet, which now
possesses negative consequences when offline. The internet's negative
effect on personality is a functional part of online Psychology. With the help
of the internet-related digital lifestyle, its effect on gambling or shopping is
clear evidence of impulse control disorder.
Another negative trait is the rise of suicidal persons; it is no news that the
suicide rate has risen over the years. One cannot commit suicide online, but
the increase in suicide definitely can be linked to an internet effect. The
internet has also promoted online shaming, cyberbullying, name-calling,
and so on, which is regarded as a violent online discourse that can lead to a
less cohesive offline society.
What about violent online games? Research has shown that offline
aggressive traits can trigger exposure to violent games online.
 CHAPTER 27:

Brainwashing

B rainwashing is another one of those concepts that come up in sci-fi

and horror films, in which someone has their personality scrubbed
away and replaced with something else simply to control them and
create an alternative person. It is often used in cults, convincing people of a
truth that is built upon subversion and abuse to gain absolute obedience.
Fequently, these are people who are isolated with nothing but what the
authority figure is starting to go off of, and over time, they begin to defer to
that authority figure rather than admitting that they would rather resist.
What Is Brainwashing
Brainwashing is defined as the pressuring of other people into developing
and adopting beliefs that are radically different than their own, oftentimes
using systematic and coercive or forcible methods. Simplified down, it
means that people were essentially coerced into adopting a brand-new
worldview due to having no other choice.
It often used to force prisoners of war into adopting the culture of the
people who imprisoned them, systematically erasing their identity and
creating a new one. There are several ways this can be done, but almost all
of them involve coercion.
Using Brainwashing
When utilizing brainwashing, several steps must be followed to some
degree for it to happen. These steps should happen in a similar order,
particularly when used by those seeking to subversively change someone
else, such as in a cult or a prison.
Assaulting the Identity
The first step of brainwashing involves challenging and assaulting the
individual’s identity. In this stage, people are oftentimes subjected to
serious physical or psychological abuse. The entire purpose of this is to
create a fear associated with their true identities by asking personal
questions and punishing truthful answers.
If they are asked what their religion is, for example, and they answer the
wrong way, they are then beaten and told the proper answer. This repeat
until they begin to feel as though everything they knew about themselves
was false.
Instilling Guilt
Next, as people are constantly punished for their own identities, they are
told that they deserve everything that is happening.
They are told that everything is the one being brainwasher’s fault and those
they can make it all stop if they submit. Any time something does not go
exactly according to plan, they are told it is their fault.
If it happens to rain that day, it is their fault.
Every single thing is assigned as the fault of the individual to create as
much guilt as possible.
Creating Self-betrayal
Soon, under threat of torture, if they do not do so, people are forced to
denounce every part of their past lives systematically. Anything that is
being erased must be denounced, and resistance is met with abuse. The
people being beaten oftentimes go along with it out of a sheer instinct for
self-preservation, instead choosing to care for themselves and ensuring that
they survive. To satisfy the need for survival, they do things exactly as they
are told.
Breaking the Person
Once everything has been denounced, the individual is hit with the crushing
realization that this is it. This is permanent, and they lose hope. They accept
that this is their life, and they are quickly consumed by fear of death. This is
the scenario in which the individuals give up.
Showing Leniency to Build Trust
When it is clear that the people being brainwashed cannot take much more
of the abuse, there is a beacon of hope. One of the guards may offer a
cigarette or an extra sip of water to create trust. The manipulator tells the
individual that if the individual simply complies, everything will end, and
they will be able to move on with life. The individual being brainwashed
sees this as a new chance at life, and to stay alive, he agrees to do so.
Confession and Channeling of Guilt
At this point, it is natural to see prisoners confessing, even to crimes they
did not commit. Because the guards seem to encourage and praise this, they
can channel all of their guilt and redirect it into the confessions. They can
release their guilt.
Reeducation
This stage involves indoctrinating the individual into the culture that is
brainwashing. At this point, the group’s ideas will be installed into the mind
of the individual, teaching him to have the same values. Because the
victims are terrified of returning to the past of abuse and subjugation, they
are receptive to the reeducation, seeing is as a second chance.
Over time, they develop more and more of their captors’ perspectives,
taking on their beliefs willingly and attempting to be welcomed into the
society that has, until then, beating them into submission. This stage ends
with one last chance to wash away the sins of their past and their
transgressions they had at home and in their past lives.
Rebirth
This is the end of the process—the prisoners are no longer prisoners. Fully
indoctrinated, they are allowed to reenter the world and interact with their
new home.
Of course, they oftentimes find themselves met with resistance and
judgment from those who do not recognize them as legitimately part of
their group.
Brainwashing in Real Life
In Cults
Cults utilize brainwashing to thoroughly indoctrinate members to their
group. They want people to be as isolated as possible, particularly in the
case of violent, negative cults. They seek to create individuals that are
wholly willing to obey the commands of the leader, no matter how
destructive or harmful they may be.
One example of this is Jim Jones, a cult leader who convinced his cult to
commit suicide by consuming a flavored drink that had been poisoned.
Those who would not drink it were forced to do so, and it created one of the
most well-known group suicides and has even coined a colloquial phrase
that is meant to refer to the act of behaving in a suspicious way that
suggests brainwashing “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.”
In Politics and Media
In politics and media, people use mind control by creating ideas or views of
the world that are possibly truthful but are likely stretched in some fashion.
They are designed to trick people into believing them simply because
people trust their leaders and want to believe in what their leaders are
saying.
Because people do not want to believe that their leaders could be wrong,
manipulative, misguided, or generally awful people, they will believe
whatever is said. This can create radically charged groups of people that are
willing to follow behind their leader, even into danger or war, simply
because they want to trust their leader. When the leader has won over the
trust, he can begin to establish all sorts of new thoughts and beliefs into the
people. Through wording things just right and repeating them in ways that
come across as authoritative, correct, and motivating, people will feel the
desire to follow their leaders.
The leader oftentimes encourages people that things will not be the same if
they do not fight the current status quo, even if whatever the leader is
advocating for in that particular moment will set things back a few decades
in terms of social progress.
In Prisoners
Prisoners of war are frequently subjected to brainwashing in an attempt to
mind control them, particularly when they are sent home. The prisoners are
willing to submit after the process dictated above, and they are oftentimes
either used as poster children to show that even the enemy is willingly
choosing to live the way the brainwashers have chosen to live, though the
ones who were brainwashed are only going along with everything out of
sheer necessity.
Overcoming Brainwashing
Luckily, unlike mind control, brainwashing is relatively simple to
overcome. Of course, this means it is simple in terms of the theoretical
process-actually overcoming the traumas associated with brainwashing is
oftentimes far more difficult. In healing from brainwashing, an individual
will follow three distinct steps, oftentimes with a therapist. The therapist is
highly recommended, as people who are overcoming brainwashing have
been battered and broken as they were forced to give up their past are likely
to be subjected to several painful emotions that can take a toll on the
individual.
Ending Isolation
The first step to everything is escaping the isolation. Those who have been
brainwashed overseas would need to return home, or at the very least,
escape from their captors. People brainwashed in relationships are
encouraged to break free and begin to speak to others, especially about their
experiences.
At this stage, those who were brainwashed want to open up to others. They
are going to see the most benefit opening up to therapists that are trained in
this sort of abuse and need for recovery, and in the process, they will be
able to begin unpacking all of the suppressed emotions finally.
Remember, submitting to brainwashing is done when you know the one
controlling you is the enemy-you recognize that they are doing so to hurt
you, and you ultimately give in simply to survive, not because you truly
believe what you are saying. You are doing what you must to survive when
you give in to brainwashing, and that sort of survival is not easy.
Education About the Abuse
The next step is education about the process of brainwashing, why the
individual did what he or she did, and how things escalated the way they
did. In learning about how it all happened, the victim can begin to fight it
off.
When there is guilt building up over a thought that was had, the victim will
be able to point to that guilt and say that the guilt is a result of the abuse,
not the victim’s actual thought processes, and that recognition is enough for
the victim to begin to fight off the effects. Again, this is a drawn-out
process, but it is possible. At this stage, the victim can recognize that he or
she was victimized.
The brainwashing was not due to weakness and was not due to some beliefs
that he or she did not know were there. At this point, the individual can
acknowledge that what happened was not his or her fault.
Acceptance and Forgiveness
The last step to overcoming the brainwashing involves acceptance and
forgiveness for what happened-the individual must accept that reality is
what it is and that he was, unfortunately, the victim of a heinous crime. He
must also be willing to forgive himself for being brainwashed—it is easy
for people to say after the fact that these sorts of abuse were their fault, and
that they need to forgive themselves.
This also involves accepting the negative emotions that are along for the
ride now that the individual has begun to recover from brainwashing. The
individual is likely to feel fear and has symptoms of PTSD.
There will be periods of stress, anxiety, and anger, and all of that is normal.
This stage is all about accepting the emotions that will follow.
 CHAPTER 28:

Acceptable Influence vs
Toxic Manipulation

Y
ou must remember that the use of dark psychology is spread over a
wide spectrum of behaviors and intentions, not all of which are
insidious and to inflict harm or exploit other people's
vulnerabilities to an unethical level. The point at which this line can be
drawn might differ from person to person, how to discern between an
abusive manipulator and someone who is employing a low level of
manipulation with much less malicious intentions.
There is no perfect formula for deciphering what a person's intentions are
or knowingly employing dark psychology tactics. It is up to you to make
decisions regarding how you will proceed with interaction when something
feels amiss, and it is important that you follow your gut instincts when it
comes to feeling like this. Often, the subconscious mind knows things that
it cannot communicate directly to the conscious mind. So, if you feel red
flags going up and your nerves are standing on end, even if you're not sure
why it is probably a good idea to remove yourself from the interaction or
take steps to make sure things do not progress.
Tolerable Manipulation and Influence
Low-level manipulation tactics are those strategies that are involved in
things like sales pitches and political speeches. These forms of persuasion
are employed using certain information about the human psyche but are not
intended to hurt the person or explicitly misguide them directly. Even in the
realm of politics, where the lines between ethical use and unethical use of
persuasion tactics can be blurry, the facts can be sorted from the nonfacts,
and people are left to their own devices when it comes to the ultimate
decision of whether to vote for a particular individual or not. However, the
use of such tactics like disseminating hateful ads or intentionally divisive
ads throughout social media is one tactic that has come under fire in recent
days.
Though you are not directly forcing a person to make a personal decision
with these tactics, you are substantially altering the psychological
environment that will ultimately make the decision under the stress of
having been influenced in a visually staggering way. Again, the line here
can be blurry, as typical political ads often try to trigger those emotional
responses that we talked about during our discussion of the three modes of
persuasion.
Additionally, everyone is probably going to have a different opinion about
where that line actually is. Should we not allow social media to throw
targeted ads at us based on our data? Should we report someone in a store
trying to get us to feel bad about not donating to such a cause?
The greatest we can all do as individuals is to safeguard ourselves by being
in control of the type of situations we put ourselves into and being always
aware of the possibilities. Just like in our example with a salesman in a
store, when a customer voluntarily walks in there, she knows that, at some
point, she is probably going to be approached by someone trying to sell her
something. She walks into the store even though she knows this and makes
the decision that she is willing to tolerate this interaction for the sake of
picking up whatever she needs. When you listen to a news show or a pair of
talking heads in a debate, you know that each of them is going to try to
throw arguments and facts at you in an effort to convince you of their way
of seeing things, but it is up to you to actually research and make sure that
what these people are saying is accurate and to make judgments and
decisions for yourself. Protecting yourself means being aware of the
possibilities while not outright turning yourself into a totally cynical person
who never trusts anyone in any capacity.
There may be an honest, young gentleman who crosses your path today
needing help with a flat tire. The decision is yours as to what you will do
following this event. Do you let down your guard a little to help the man?
Or do you refuse based on the fear of the unknown? Well, the answers are
different for each of us. It is for us to take into account the circumstances
surrounding the situation.
Play the detective's role to help you discern whether a situation is
reasonably safe or if there is some risk involved. Look for the signs that
someone is not completely honest with you during an interaction. In
addition to this, remember to take a step back and be aware of your
environment at all times. Are you in a place where it might be easy for
someone to catch you off guard? Next time you have to go somewhere for
whatever reason at night, consider taking along a friend to ensure safety in
numbers. Never offer your trust willingly when you are in a situation that
feels unsafe or not completely comfortable. Listen to your instinct in
situations like these where it could be up in the air as to what a stranger's
intentions are for talking to you.
This mindfulness about your surroundings and the circumstances of
interaction should extend to online interactions as well. Never give out
personal information to someone you've never met in person. Do not trust
that everyone you talk to online is exactly who they say they are. Many
people use dating sites and have successfully found partners online, which
is a wonderful thing. However, it might be wise to stick to those most
reputable sites if you decide you want to try this route for whatever reason.
Signing and participating in a site that charges a monthly fee or another
kind of financial commitment helps them weed out and avoid those who are
just trying to get somewhere to meet someone and manipulate them off the
cuff. Those who take their time with a profile and are willing to pay a fee
for the dating site's services are more likely to be genuinely invested in the
endeavor. Don't ever agree to meet someone in person for the first time at a
private residence or otherwise non-public place. Always assume the worst
when it comes to such interactions until you have had a chance to see
otherwise. Make sure that you are meeting at public places, and consider
taking along a friend if you are feeling especially nervous about meeting
someone for the first time. As an additional test, make sure to pay attention
to the information exchanged online, though it shouldn't be personal
information at this stage. Remember the likes and dislikes and the more
mundane things included in the profile so that you can quiz the individual in
subtle ways when you meet in person. If the person you are meeting seems
to be familiar with the subject matter and immediately recognizes when you
mention something from their profile, this is a good sign that they are real
with you. If you mention these things, but the person seems to struggle to
maintain composure and make things up to fill in the gaps, then this could
be a red flag that the information shared on his profile is not genuine and
simply rehashed from another profile or made up entirely. You cannot be
too careful in this arena, so do what you can to stay aware. Make sure you
can trust the person through in-person interaction.
Not All Intentions Are Malicious
With all of these said, it is also important to remember that people
sometimes utilize subtle and minor forms of manipulation, which are not
malicious in nature, as a way to present the best of themselves to someone
new. It is something that is pretty universal across the young dating world.
People going on their first dates are always pretty mindful of themselves
and the person they are presenting, either because they are afraid to show
their true selves just yet, or they want to make sure they don't do something
silly out of nervousness. Different personalities deal with this kind of
anxiety in different ways, so don't completely discount a person for
fumbling over a few words or talking about something that is not openly
talked about on their profile in the case of an online to in-person interaction.
It is best not to live in complete fear of every person you meet in person and
online as a potential threat to your physical and mental well-being. It is very
necessary to realize that living life itself is always going to involve risk, and
sometimes, it is necessary to accept risks for the sake of what you might
gain or the fact that you gain fulfillment and satisfaction on a very personal
level from whatever activity or endeavor you are thinking of embarking on.
There is no way to safeguard yourself against danger in every aspect of
your life completely. If you tried to do this, you would probably end up
locking yourself in a room and never venturing to experience anything else
in your life. This is no way to live, so try to maintain a mental balance
between being careful in your day-to-day interactions and activities while
also being brave enough to live your life.
 CHAPTER 29:

How to Detect Victims Dark

Psychology Manipulation

V ictimhood is the strongest, surest, and most profound evidence of

manipulation. Thus, it is extremely important that you master the
art of detecting victims of dark psychology manipulation.
This way, you can be not only able to help them out but also be able to
detect you are sinking into the ground of a dark psychology manipulator.
We will explore the following victims:
Victims of indoctrination
Victims of brainwashing
Victims of hypnotization
Victims of psychological manipulation
Victims of perspective
How to Detect Victims of Indoctrination
Victims of indoctrination exhibit certain behavioral attributes. These are
some of the characteristics of indoctrinated persons:
Lacks self-awareness: The persons lack self-awareness such
that they cannot perceive alternative sources of information that
are necessary to trigger introspection. In some sort of away,
they are subconsciously aware that they have been
brainwashed. But, there is a strong inertial that resist their
awakening. It is like you are in the depth of a dream, you
would like to wake up and take action such as walk, wave,
grab, etc., but your limbs are still immobilized. Unfortunately,
this inertia is characterized by a strong force of ignorance,
which, to the extreme, can be exhibited by arrogance. This
arrogance actively seeks to dismiss and degrade any factual
information that is important to lift them from their trapped
state of indoctrination.
Abhors critical inquiry: Indoctrinated persons cannot afford
to make a critical inquiry. Internally, they fear the consequences
of finding out the truth and establishing facts. This fear
emanates from the cost of change. It is like someone who has
walked 50 miles towards a certain destination and then is told.
You made a wrong turn. Go back and make a left turn. There
will be a lot of anguish—this lack of critical inquiry results in a
fallacy that holds beliefs to be truth or facts. Thus, most
indoctrinated persons are strong believers.
Detests critical thinking: Indoctrinated persons become lazy
mentally. They enter into a comfort zone—a zone of less effort
and lower energy. They are not willing to give more energy and
more effort to get out of this comfortable stagnancy. They'd
rather decay in it than unfurl their sails to refresh their beings in
the blowing winds of change. Any critical thought becomes a
threat to their comfort. They'd rather expend emotional and
physical energy to confront any external effort that seeks to
push them away from this stagnancy.
Blind obedience: Without critical inquiry, without critical
thinking, and with a lack of self-awareness, the ultimate
outcome is blind obedience to that source that keeps them
replenished in their comfort zone of mediocrity. Sometimes,
and a lot of times, the comfort zone of mediocrity is so warm
such that a few would dare approach the blowing wind of cold
truth outside it. Thus, indoctrinated persons surround
themselves with a strong fortress of beliefs. Any attack on their
beliefs is like an attempt to demolish their fortress. Strong
resistance is the only reaction one can get from them. As such,
objectivity is frowned upon, and further indoctrination is
welcomed for so long as they perceive it as improving their
comfort within that zone.
Viciously ferocious defense: Indoctrinated persons viciously
and ferociously defend the system or institution that
indoctrinates them. This system can be cultic, cultural,
political, national, and even professional.
How to Detect Victims of Brainwashing
Most of the time, a person is brainwashed prior to being indoctrinated. The
converse can also be the case. As such, brainwashing and indoctrination are
two techniques that are symbiotic. They can also be used concurrently.
Just as indoctrination, brainwashed persons exhibit certain common patterns
of behavioral traits.
The following are some of the behavioral traits that can be easily exhibited
by a brainwashed person:
Unquestioning loyalty and obedience: Brainwashed persons
are extremely loyal and obedient to those responsible for
brainwashing them. They are the "yes" persons who feel that
they are obligated to be agreeable to every statement and
instruction from their brainwashing master.
Codependency: Brainwashed persons exhibit a high level of
codependency. They are the ever needy persons who seek their
brainwashing master for problem-fixing, solution-provision,
opinion-shaping, etc. They lack the ability to think
independently. They cannot afford to gear up their minds
towards thinking. As such, they exhibit a unique form of
mental laziness and thought paralysis. Without their master, no
decision can be thought of or made.
Withdrawal from personal life: Brainwashed persons
withdraw from their personal lives. A brainwashed person has
no independent life of their own. This is why you will find
cultic followers leaving their homes, spouses, families,
communities, etc., to go and live with their brainwasher. Those
extremely brainwashed become incapable of living
independently. Unfortunately, this withdrawal from life is not
triggered by the brainwasher but rather exploited and
augmented by the brainwasher. Brainwasher always seeks
people who have mental and psychological troubles. As such,
people with low self-esteem, poor self-image, lack confidence,
and deem themselves as having failed in life are potential
victims of brainwasher. The brainwasher simply takes
advantage of their withdrawal from their own lives by creating
a place, whether they can withdraw to—his fold.
Fanatism: Most brainwashed persons are highly fanatic. They
follow and worship their brainwasher with religious zeal. They
focus the might of their energy towards that adventure. This
fanatism can cause them to fight anyone who dares challenge
the position of their brainwasher. They are ready to fight and
die while sacrificing their own interest to protect their
brainwasher's selfish interests.
Obsessive: Brainwashed persons are highly obsessive about
their brainwashers. They form some kind of a buttress around
their brainwasher and become jealous of any person desiring to
intrude into their master's domain. They are like the soldiers
guarding a king, or the drones guarding the Queen bee.
Self-Isolation: As a form of physical withdrawal from life,
brainwashed persons withdraw from their family, friends, and
loved ones. They lose interest in their former occupation,
profession, or trade. They are ready to physically isolate
themselves from anyone who does not profess the edicts of
their brainwasher. This is the journey that most terrorists do the
trek.
How to Detect Victims of Hypnotization
Hypnotized victims exhibit some of the most overt symptoms. As such, it is
much easier to identify a victim of hypnotization than it is to identify a
victim of indoctrination and brainwashing.
The following are telling signs that can help you quickly detect a victim of
hypnotization:
Eye fixation: Focusing is the first suggestion that a hypnotist
grants to the victim. Without this, then, hypnotism can hardly
work.
Pupil dilation: Due to long periods of eye fixation, pupil
dilation becomes its side effect.
Change in blink reflexes: Due to long periods of eye fixation,
blinking starts wearing of its reflexes. Most of the time, the
blinking rate abnormally slows down.
Rapid eye movement: Rapid eye movement is a sign that
hypnotic induction has reached an advanced stage. The rapid
eye movement is characteristic of dreaming. When this
happens, the victim has already lost perspective awareness of
the environment, save for the suggestions being issued by the
hypnotist.
Eyelid flutter
Smoothing of facial muscles
Slowing of respiration
Reduction of the swallow reflexes
Body immobility
Inner absorption
Response attentiveness
How to Detect Victims of Psychological Manipulation
The following are telling signs of victims of psychological manipulation:
Bamboozled by information overload
Submissive to raised voice and anger outbursts
Blame themselves for poor relationships
Harbor self-doubt about their ability to confront their situation
Have a high sense of self-guilt
Quick to follow orders without questioning
Indecisive, cannot make decisions independent of the
manipulator
Accept being undermined
Shunned or avoided by long-term friends as a result of the
relationship
Prefer being alone
How to Detect Victims of Perspecticide
Perspecticide refers to a condition in which one loses their own perspective
about reality. Instead, the person acquires a perspective of the manipulator.
In this case, the manipulator is often the narcissist who desires to exploit the
victim for selfish gains.
Due to the loss of their own perspective about reality, the victim sees reality
in accordance with the mental image created by the narcissist.
The following are telling signs that you are suffering from perspecticide:
Your thoughts, feelings, and perspectives are erased: The
narcissist achieves this by disrupting your thought pattern. This
disruption can take the physical, emotional, and/or emotional
form. For example, the narcissist will seek to completely
disrupt your daily routines such as sleep, work, and leisure
patterns; gaslight you to make you have self-doubt; respond to
your thoughts, feelings, and actions with violence; ignore your
feelings, and twist you into submission.
You are isolated from family, friends, and loved ones:
Isolation is the narcissist weapon of control. In order to have
complete dominion over your mind, the narcissist ensures that
he cuts you from sources that can help shape your independent
perspective. Once you are isolated from these sources, you
have no one else except the narcissist as the source of
validating your perspective. Through induced self-doubt, you
eventually surrender your own perspective.
You lose self-worth: The narcissist denigrates your self-worth
through gaslighting and erasing or muting your feelings,
thoughts, and emotions. Eventually, you feel incapable of being
your own person. Without the narcissist, you feel you are
worthless. The narcissist can keeps on conditioning you to this
state through emotional blackmail, unwarranted negative
criticism, and even violent abuse. Eventually, you lose the trust
 of your very own opinions, thoughts, interests, beliefs, and
talents. You feel ashamed and unworthy. This drives you into
more submission to the selfish interest of the narcissist.
You are micromanaged: The narcissist micromanages
everything that you do. How you sleep, when you sleep, how
you wake up, when you wake up, what you do, how and where
you work, when to access the kitchen, dining room, bathroom,
and even bedroom become controlled. You have to seek
express permission to be allowed access to these rooms.
You can be violently woken up in the depth of your sleep:
What you shop, where you shop, and how much you spend on
shopping must be approved and monitored. How you feel has
to be validated by the narcissist through unsolicited comments
and advice. All this means that there is nothing you can do on
your own.
You are defined by the narcissist. You have no self-identity except that
defined by the narcissist. The narcissist will fabricate all sorts of negativity
about your appearance, your personality, demeanor, posture, etc., just to
make sure that you have lost that sense of self-identity. The narcissist is left
crafting the kind of identity that he/she would like to impose on you. This is
achieved by planting his crafted image of you into your mind. Your true
self-image is obfuscated. Instead, you are relying on the narcissist image of
you to define yourself.
 Conclusion

T his book has powerful psychological techniques that can be used to

influence anyone at the manipulator’s will. It provides an extensive
definition of some of the general terminology used to define the
traits of different people in society while disintegrating the value of
understanding why people should know more about the dark secrets of
psychology.
The persuasion technique is known as the strategy people use in coercing
others to do as they will. For instance, are you always in a position to get
everything you want from others at the expense of their happiness? If you
don’t, then perhaps it’s time to begin to work on yourself in order to harness
the power within and persuade your friends or relatives to delve into some
of the projects you believe in.
Using those techniques, you can easily convince your teammates or any
other acquaintances to join you in the walk towards “greatness’’ as you may
define it at the moment of need. With that said, being an excellent strategist
and persuader will help you in accomplishing life’s most important
objectives in the long run. It’s clear that persuasion is a requirement when it
comes to handling different tasks not only at home but work too. Even
when forming friendships, this is a requirement.
Persuasion is a vital skill that someone can develop using the right tips as
well as garnered information. In this book, the initial step lies in taking the
required action in order to improve a person’s persuasion skills. It all starts
with the important basic steps of persuasion, coupled with the ability to
assess how useful you are. The second strategy lies in getting several
actionable tips that can be used in enhancing your techniques and ability to
get others to join you.
You’ll see how useful manipulation is when it comes to learning more about
the techniques of manipulation and how to use them to your advantage. The
hypnosis of the book helps you to learn more about how to apply those
skills to common use. It’s an element that can assist you in acquiring more
of what you may need from life.
Other than that, this book introduces you to the neuro-linguistic system that
can be used in knowing how to garner advanced persuasion skills. It’s
usually followed by wanting to learn more about deception, including what
should be done to improve your learning skills. You also need to master the
art of administering mind games when exploring the minds of your
colleagues or friends. By learning, you’ll have avoided falling victim to
manipulative characters in society. Eventually, you’ll also get to learn more
about the ability to persuade your victims to join your caliber in search of
greener pastures. The techniques described in this book should provide
guidance to you and anyone you consider special in your life.