I don’t want to go so far as to say that we’re all manipulative, but I think it’s safe to say that most people out there have a few tricks up their sleeves when it comes to psychology…
And I bet you’re one of them!
AskReddit users admitted what psychological tricks they like to use.
Here’s what they had to say.
1. Picnic time.
“I tell my kids they can have picnic lunch or dinner. They happily eat the same food they would refuse at the table because they are on a blanket in the back yard.
Or snack lunch/dinner. Which is just a portion of each different food group in a divided plate but I get them to vote on which “snack” for each section.”
2. Just agree with them.
“If a customer is angry I just agree wth them until they calm down.
I’m really angry that delivery times are more than a week oh, thats a long time I would be angry too.
This is now my most upvoted comment, twice as many upvotes as my second most upvoted comment which was 4 years ago, this morning I woke up to 70 new inbox posts and thats the most I’ve ever had i think the most I had before that was about 14 at one time.”
3. Outta my way.
“Walking towards someone, look where you want to go and they’ll move away.
But more likely they will move to their right.”
4. Like a magic trick.
“The thing I love most is mirroring people. Whenever someone says something to you, take the last few words and just say them in a questioning tone.
Example:
Person 1: “oh I was with Emily today.”
Person 2′ “you were with Emily?”
THIS F**KING THING is like a magic trick. Whenever you do it, people elaborate on what they were talking about more and you can keep doing it over and over again like a broken record and most people still won’t notice. There have been times where I teach someone to mirror and they turn around, mirror me and I don’t notice.
It’s so godd**n easy and works like a charm. It makes people think of you as a good listener as you’re literally saying what they said back to them and they also get to keep talking about whatever it is they wanna say. You also get to know more about the situation without coming off as creepy or too curious.”
5. Pay attention.
“Paying close attention to the order of words allows you to get a difficult message across more constructively – summarised as “nothing before the ‘but’ matters”.
I don’t know the psychology behind it… something about not trying to get the last word?
For example, which apology would you rather receive:
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have lost my temper with you… but you DID irritate me”
“You DID irritate me, but I shouldn’t have lost my temper with you and I’m sorry”.”
6. Good idea.
“When you’re annoyed with someone just agree. Doesn’t matter what theyre saying, just agree.
They run out of steam quick when you don’t fuel the fire.”
7. I think it’ll work.
“You really don’t have to add much to be part of a conversation.
Just occasionally repeating part of the other person’s sentences as a question can be more than enough to continue their momentum.
I learned it in a negotiation masterclass.”
8. Romance 101.
“There was a girl at work I had a crush on, so every time we talked I would give her some of her favorite candies, did it for weeks, until she would seek me out and make excuses to come see me before leaving for the day.”
9. Here are your options.
“The best way to get someone to do what you think they should is give them options. So they have x problem.
List a bunch of dumba** solutions and the one you think is best.
End it with “I personally like this one and would do it, but it’s your choice” 99% of the time they go with the one you wanted but are convinced they made the decision themselves.”
10. Keeps the conversation going.
“If someone is talking about a subject that I am already well informed about, to come off as more humble and let the other person have enjoyment of expressing their knowledge I will express what I know in the form of a question.”
11. Backing down…
“When someone says something I don’t agree with/to, I repeat the last two or three words that they said back to them with a slight upward inflection and then look at them in silence until they backpeddle.”
12. Ha! That’s good.
“Playing any sport against anyone Casually ask at some point “what’s that thing you do with your elbow” they always say “what thing?”
“Oh nevermind” and just keep playing They’ll be thinking about it and he rest of the game.”
13. Works like a charm.
“A little trick I learned from the mental game side of tennis…
If you ever are in a competition (sport or other) that requires a lot of skill and your opponent is beating the hell out of you, ask them, “Man! You are playing great today! C’mon! Tell me. How are you doing that?”
If your opponent is playing great, they’re probably in “the zone” meaning muscle memory is taking over and they are not thinking about their performance at all. At that time, it’s automatic.
Asking them, “How are you doing that?” forces them out of the zone by having them actively think about what they are doing and in the process, screwing up their great performance.
Works like a charm…”
Now we want to hear from you.
In the comments, tell us what psychological tricks you like to use on people.
We sure do look forward to hearing from you!
