10 “DARK Psychology” Tricks That Always Works
“Unlock the secrets of ‘Dark Psychology’ with these 10 potent tricks guaranteed to influence behavior. From Gaslighting to Guilt Tripping, learn how manipulators wield fear, love, and silence to control and coerce. Understand the power of social proofing and forced teaming. Beware the subtle manipulation of slightly wrong information.”
Gaslighting:
Gaslighting is a manipulation trick where the person in front of you messes with your mind and your memories, creating self-doubt within you. They want you to perceive the situation exactly as they do, how you should see it, how you should feel. You start doing exactly that. Understand it with an example, suppose someone did something wrong with you, and when you went to tell them, in no time, they turned the whole situation around as if it wasn’t their fault but yours. That person challenges your understanding, how you are misunderstanding things, how you made a mistake in listening, how you are overreacting, how you have set your expectations too high, which is causing you harm because if in the past they did something wrong with you, then it wasn’t their mistake, it was yours because you misunderstood things. You should stay away from such people because those who talk like this will appear most around you.
Fearmongering:
Fearmongering is spreading fear among people to get your work done. This is a very common dark psychological trick that has been going on since Hitler’s time, like how he used media and propaganda to make Jews the biggest threat to Germany, spread fear of Jews among people, and bring them under his control, and as he kept saying, people kept believing. This thing is still very common today. Politicians use it, big companies spread fear of one thing to sell their product, a boss keeps his employees in fear that their job can go anytime, people keep fear of losing the person in front of them in a relationship where people are trying to get you to do something by scaring you, then understand that the fear is a lie and they are only benefiting from it.
Love Bombing:
Love bombing is a trick used most in romantic relationships where one person starts showing so much love that he bombards the other person with affection through his words, gifts, and surprises, so much so that the recipient starts loving him too. And when he realizes that the victim is now under his control, he reduces the love bombing. This makes the other person yearn for the same level of affection as before. A sense of rejection starts growing within them, and they start believing many unwarranted things about the manipulator and become prey to manipulation. So whenever someone is overly sweet to you in the beginning, understand that there might be something fishy.
Social Proofing:
Social proofing, The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert, tells us that when we’re confused, we automatically look at our surroundings — people, celebrities, or influencers — to decide what’s right. Social proofing is a very common psychological trick where when you see people around you doing the same thing, you automatically start leaning towards those things. The trick that makes it dark is that people often try to create fake social proof. For example, watching positive movie reviews makes us go to watch the movie, even though it’s not that good. Someone who doesn’t seem that great to you, but your family and friends say it’s so good, you start changing your perception, and many times your perception is being manipulated, and you don’t even realize it.
Silent Treatment:
Silent treatment is also a very dark psychological hack that is entirely dependent on one line. Silence speaks louder than words. Sometimes not saying anything gets better results than saying something, or doing some real-life things or drama. Because silence triggers multiple emotions in the other person, they get confused, start self-doubting, get angry, and at the same time, their attachment to you also increases. Using this in a relationship is very evil.
Lets move ahead to next section.
Guilt Tripping:
A guilt trip is when the other person repeatedly reminds you of some past mistake or mistake, making you feel guilty, putting you in a vulnerable state, and making you do what they want you to do. For example, your partner is convincing you to go somewhere, but you don’t want to go there. Instead of explaining, they use words like, “You never go anywhere with me. Last time also we couldn’t go anywhere. I don’t like you because you don’t like going anywhere with me.” By saying such things, they trap you in guilt so that even if you don’t want to agree to their request, at least you agree out of guilt.
Forced Teaming:
Forced teaming is a manipulation tactic where the other person joins hands with you and you can’t do anything. You can easily notice this in professional life. Your boss comes and gives a long speech about how our company is stuck in a big problem and brought an opportunity with it in which we are all together, right? Just as you say yes, your boss will say that’s why we will all work together even this Sunday, no off. This way, you become a victim of forced teaming. This trick can be used by your friend, partner, colleague, anyone, where they present their problem as if it’s your problem too.
Restriction of Choices:
Restriction of choices is a way to bring people’s distance closer to your direction. It’s not easy to work directly with people, but when you put limits on their choices, their decision-making power also becomes limited. For example, suppose you want your younger brother or sister to go study. If you start directly telling someone to sit down and study, they might resist. But if you tell them to go out and get some items from outside or start doing some household chores because studying isn’t happening, then they might end up studying instead of doing those tasks.
Amplifying Problems:
Amplifying problems simply means creating confusion. Looking at two people arguing on the road over a scratch, you might think it’s pointless. But when you’re in that situation, you feel the urgency and pressure, which puts you in a vulnerable state. For example, you were supposed to meet your partner at 5:00, but you arrived at 5:30. Now, you might think it’s just half an hour late, but your partner will create a big scene, saying they’ve been standing on the road in the sun for half an hour, feeling hungry and dizzy, and you didn’t care about the time. You don’t want to go now. Now you’re vulnerable, and there’s a high chance that you’ll spend the whole day quietly accepting your partner’s words.
Shall we continue with the remaining sections?
Slightly Wrong Information:
Slightly wrong people hide things from you by not saying anything or by deflecting conversations. But when you say something different from what they’re expecting, they feel a natural urge to correct you. For example, suppose your colleague has just resigned from their job. Now you want to know which company they’ve applied to. If you ask directly, they might not answer. So, you ask indirectly, “I heard you’re going out of India. No, not out of India. Will you work here? Where? Delhi? No, Bangalore. Which startup have you joined? No, it’s not a startup. Which company?” This kind of person uses self-abasement many times to get what they want. Mostly, it’s used to gain trust, ask for forgiveness, or strengthen relationships. When we insult ourselves or show ourselves in a negative light in front of someone else, they start feeling superior, which makes them feel good. For example, if your partner is angry with you and not agreeing to anything, self-abasement will work. “I’m very bad. He doesnt know how he made this mitake. No matter how hard I try, I always mess things up. Just a few lines like these are enough for manipulation. Females also downgrade themselves slightly to get many complaints in return.
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“Empower yourself against manipulation by recognizing these ‘Dark Psychology’ tricks. Arm yourself with awareness to navigate relationships and situations. Remember, knowledge is your shield against gaslighting, fearmongering, and guilt tripping. Stay vigilant, stay empowered, and stay in control of your own mind.”