Reverse psychology is an effective tool in helping you get what you want by making other people acquiesce to your needs and wants. It’s about being subtly ruthless without upsetting anyone or leaving them feeling put taken advantage of, confused or abused. This means reverse psychology is a skill you need to learn and to master. Obviously you aren’t going to achieve this from one article but here’s some tips on how to get started:
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Learn to Be a Good Judge of Character
It is a fact that people who are over confident, emotional and prone to irritability are most likely to be susceptible to reverse psychology. There is something in the make up of people that possess these personality traits that leaves them unable to ignore the kinds of things that you might say when you are trying to work the reverse psychology magic. Expressing doubt that somebody can do a particular thing, for example, is a sure fire way for an over confident person to fall in to your trap!
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Make the Person Think They Are Making Their Own Decisions
When you get in to an argument with somebody that you think you can win through reverse psychology, the trick is to start saying things that are counterproductive to your end goal. It sounds counterintuitive but the argumentative nature of the person you are dealing with will automatically take the opposite side to the one you are taking. In a roundabout way, they will arrive at the opinion or decision that you wanted from the start!
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Always Remember to Keep Calm
Staying calm is one of the key strategies for reverse psychology. The more relaxed and calm you remain, the power over your own attitude and faculties you will have, which will stand you in better stead to be able to pick up emotional cues from the other person and work to manipulate them!
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Try Not to Get Side Tracked
Reverse psychology can be a tricky business to master, but the main thing is to not let the intricacies of your strategy lead you to lose sight of the bigger picture and end goal. If you always keep your key objective in mind, then you will be successful in bringing every line of the conversation back to the point that you are trying to get across.
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Bring out the Classic ‘Challenge’ Technique
I mentioned it briefly before, but the easiest and quickest form of reverse psychology is the challenge method. If somebody doesn’t want to do something, a lot of the time all you have to do is express the opinion that they can’t do it anyway and in no time they will be up and doing that very thing in order to try to prove you wrong!
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To give oneself earnestly to the duties due to men, and, while respecting spiritual beings, to keep aloof from them, may be called wisdom.
Practice Your Methods Beforehand
If you do it badly, an attempt at reverse psychology can be as transparent as a glass window! If you are thinking about using the challenge method or the method where you switch up your argument stance, then be sure to practice in the mirror or with someone beforehand, because if you get caught out, it will be even worse!
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Pick Your ‘Target’ Carefully
Be sure to pick on someone your own size, as it were, as there are plenty of skilled reverse psychology masters out there, and if you end up in a situation with somebody who can play the game even better than you can, then you never know what kinds of things you end up doing or saying!
There are big rewards in using reverse psychology when you get it right. Practice, practice, practice.
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