Alright, let's just cut-to-the-chase here, shall we? These dark psychology tricks are usable for everyday MANIPULATION. I don't technically recommend that you actually use these, however, I can confidently say these tricks do work as have been proven in studies (and used in everyday life). Whether you use these to educate yourself for better protection against other people using them on you, or you use them yourself is completely up to you. That's my little disclaimer so I don't get sued or some wacko shit.
These are partly tricks I have picked up in my everyday life and then searched up to find out what they actually were, and have learned other's in school as I do have my bachelor's degree in psychology (humble brag I know). Anyways, enjoy and if you do use these, use them with caution as they can really mess with people's minds.
The Push & Pull Method
This can also be referred to as "love bombing", which I've seen numerous times on social media. I can tell you right now this method works almost 100% of the time.
To give a dumbed-down definition of this, the push and pull method is when you change your own behaviour to manipulate someone else's behaviour to be in your favour.
To give a dumbed-down example of this, let's just say you're in a relationship. Your issue is that your bf/gf isn't showing you enough affection, what you would do is pull away a little bit and stop doing things you were regularly doing before (texting good morning, kissing them on the cheek every night, etc.). This will elicit fear (one of the strongest human emotions btw) and make them come to you. Once they have and you've seen the behaviour change, you push a little or give a little back to them (start texting good morning again 3 times a week). Pretty much at this point, you would just keep flip-flopping back and forth between the push and pull until the desired behaviour is permanent.
To make things even more simple, remember it like this:
Push = you make them feel loved so they'll become addicted
Pull = you make them feel insecure so they'll chase you (the addiction)
*then repeat*
I know, I told you this shit is lowkey scary af.
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Cognitive Dissonance
This one is straight-up evil, so please, only use this one to educate yourself in case this is happening to you so you can get out of it. Don't use this to actually cause cognitive dissonance.
A dumbed-down definition of someone with cognitive dissonance is when the person holds two opposite beliefs of someone or something and because of that, it causes confusion and mental discomfort. This leads the person to feel vulnerable and seeks comfort.
Now for the dumbed-down example of how this is used in a manipulative situation. You're in a relationship with your gf/bf and they start to show signs that they're annoyed with you by ignoring you and rolling their eyes. You start to ask what's wrong and may start to get a little "clingy". They then start to crank things up a notch and start cussing you out and listing things that you do "wrong" or "bad". You then start to feel emotions like sadness, insecurity, and fear. Once your gf/bf notices this, they prey on those feelings and do a 180 switch to then showing you love, and affection, and making you feel secure. This will then cause a cycle of conscious and subconscious mental confusion so that you then become dependent on them no matter what.
To make this even simpler:
They make you feel bad + they make you feel good + doing this repeatedly = they can treat you as bad as they want because you know that when the bad comes, the good always follows after == confusion as fawk and vulnerability.
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The Halo Effect
Have you ever heard the saying "beauty's in the eye of the beholder"? Or have you ever been attracted to someone but their completely NOT your type and you have no idea why you're so attracted to them? Well, my friends, that is the halo effect.
The dumbed-down definition of the halo effect is that we will take one positive characteristic that stands out about someone and then will relate them with all other positive attributes. The same thing goes with negative characteristics too.
A dumbed-down example of this is pretty privilege. You're hot asf (look-wise lol) and are in class writing a paper. The person beside you (who you have never talked to) asks you for an extra pen since you "seem responsible" and then proceeds to ask you for help on the paper since you "seem smart". Jokes on them because the pen you're using is also borrowed and you have no idea how to write your paper so you're just "going with the flow". The person beside you subconsciously assumed you must be responsible and smart since you're attractive.
Simple ways of using this to rewire people's brains into thinking more positively about you are:
1. Speaking/looking confident = If you're confident in one aspect of yourself, people will subconsciously assume other aspects about you secrete confidence too.
2. Appearing friendly and warm = This is probably the best one because your personality can completely switch up how people subconsciously think about you. You could be ugly asf (but obviously you're not lol), and can still change someone's perception of your physical appearance. Just think about that one time you thought someone was attractive, but you don't know why. Were they really smart? Were they really funny? Were they really nice? Just something to think about...
There's lots of scholarly articles or even just sciency articles online with more proof and examples of the halo effect specifically because it's so world known. If you want more in-depth information on this I'd check out:
The Articles
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Anchoring
Anchoring is one of those cool psychology tricks that can be used successfully in different aspects of life. The most common ways anchoring is used is to manipulate emotion, time, and price.
The dumbed-down definition of anchoring is when people heavily rely on the first thing seen, heard, or piece of information they receive when trying to make a decision. This can be anything that influences the person's perception of all the other information that comes after it.
I'm going to give you 3 dumbed-down examples of this as these are most commonly used in strategic everyday manipulation tactics.
1. Emotion: Your best friend is confessing to you that they cheated on their bf/gf. To make you favour their side (even though they're in the wrong) over the bf/gf, they start the confession with an emotional anchor that favours them. They tell you how lonely they've felt because the bf/gf works all the time and how they felt unwanted, trapped, and confused, which was causing depression; and so that's when they decided to cheat. They worded it like this to influence your emotions so you could remember their side first as a point of reference.
2. Time: Your boss needs all the papers signed today by 5 and you know this, but they want to get out early for the weekend. They start a conversation with you about how their child is sick and they're stressing out because they need to get home as fast as possible to care for them; then your boss continues on their day. You now subconsciously have this shortened timeframe on your shoulders that you feel like you need to reach even though it wasn't asked of you.
3. Price: This can happen in 2 ways. First, you go car shopping and the first car you see is $25k and the next one you see is $9k. You now think that a car can't possibly be as well made as the first one since the first one was more expensive. Second, you go car shopping and the first car you see is $9k and the second one is $25k. You now think the second car is way too expensive compared to the first one, which was better priced.
All-in-all, this is probably the one dark psychology trick that isn't extremely manipulative and scary af, but can actually be used to have people take favour in your side and opinion.
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Insinuations
This dark psychology trick can kinda be seen in different ways because it can be used in different ways. There are 3 specific types of insinuations that I will list at the end. The most important thing to note about this is that it's always used subtly and not blatantly obvious. I'll be explaining a more general overview of the term instead of explaining each of the 3.
Let's dumb-down the definition of this. Insinuations in dark psychology are when someone implies that they are thinking of something or know something, but they never actually tell you. The point of it is to keep having you rely on them and to control your thoughts and emotions.
Now let me tell you our last dumbed-down example. Your best friend turns to you while you're in class and mentions how they have a serious question to ask you, but they don't know how you're gonna take it. You then tell them to just ask you, but then they brush it off and tell you to forget about it. Well, now you're hella curious and ask them to ask you because now you really wanna know, but they just tell you that it probably wasn't that important anyways and that they shouldn't ask. That one conversation you had will now be stuck in your head for god-knows how long and you will forever be wondering what it could have been.
This is a very simple way to get inside people's heads or for them to get inside yours. If you did want to know the other types of insinuations that are more specific and darker, then you can research: gaslighting, implied threats, and character assassination.
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Congrats on Now Becoming Evil or Educated
You've probably clicked off of this by now, but I cannot stress enough how god dayum manipulative this stuff is and can really fuck with someone's head. Please use them with caution. However, knowing all of this to protect yourself against them and to use them in ways to positively help yourself is super important. It gives you an advantage of having more emotional intelligence compared to the average human.
See ya!