FBI mind attack: the super psychological tactics of the US federal police

Chapter 10 Knowing what is reasonable and knowing what is beneficial - FBI's shrewd "humanity tactics" (1)
Usually, when we help others, our vanity and self-esteem can often be greatly satisfied; but when we accept favors or help from others, there will be a sense of guilt and guilt in our hearts. The FBI is using this "sense of guilt" to fight "humanity tactics" in order to control the suspects in some cases.

In interpersonal communication, in fact, people can also use this characteristic of human nature to get along with others and deal with conflicts.This requires people to learn to observe carefully, pay attention to other people's hobbies and needs, cater to other people's habits from the details, and offer some little courtesy from time to time-this will not only make you more popular among friends and colleagues, but also make you more popular when you meet. It is also easier to get help from others in times of difficulty.So people have to keep in mind one thing, that is to learn to use "humanity tactics" to control the psychology of others, so as to gain the approval and support of others.

1. Take retreat as an advance and break down the opponent's psychological barriers

I believe most of you have seen some videos about wild animals.In these videos, people often see such a scene - when a lion approaches the cheetah's den, if it is spotted by a female cheetah not far away, it will generally not rush back to the den to protect its offspring, but will hiss on the spot Bark and provoke constantly to get the lion's attention and then act as if it is about to run away.

This is because the female cheetah knows that she is no match for the lion, and it is meaningless to fight recklessly, so she can only retreat to draw the lion's attention, so that her offspring can escape safely.

There are also many birds in the animal kingdom. When humans approach their nests, they will fall from the nests to the ground, pretending to be injured with broken wings, and attract people to approach them, but when people really approach them, They will fly from the ground to the sky and escape.

In fact, these are the instinctive strategies of the animal kingdom to retreat from the enemy—to advance by retreating.

The same phenomenon exists in the human world, because people often have such a mentality: the more things that are not allowed, the more they want to do; the more things they can’t get, the more precious they feel; The more you tell me, the more you want to explore and understand.Therefore, the FBI’s mind attack theory believes that this kind of psychological game actually exists in the process of people’s communication, so sometimes if we can change our aggressive attitude and switch to a psychological strategy of playing hard to get and retreating, we can If you put a long line to catch big fish, you can often achieve surprising results in the end.

The following is a case of bilateral negotiations between China and the United States on China's accession to the WTO. You may be inspired after reading it.

At that time, the United States announced to the outside world a list of negotiations that my country did not agree with, which aroused huge repercussions in the American business community. They all congratulated each other, thinking that this was a very perfect negotiation ending, and American negotiators also believed that Such a result is something to be proud of.

The President of the United States at the time was Clinton. He was not sure about the agreement and process of the Sino-US negotiations.He originally thought that the case he proposed would not win the support of Congress, but when he knew that the entire American business community and Congress supported the negotiation result, he immediately regretted it and wanted to use this as a bargaining chip to gain more benefits.

Therefore, before the Chinese delegation was ready to end the negotiations and leave the United States, Clinton hurriedly sent someone to call the Chinese representative, hoping that the Chinese negotiating delegation could stay for a few more days to discuss some specific details and make some small details on some agreements. Amendment, and then an agreement can be reached with the Chinese side.

At this time, the Chinese delegation showed a very tough attitude, and responded to the US side on the phone, saying that when you Americans want to reach an agreement, you must reach an agreement. When you don’t want to reach an agreement, we will go home?How could we blindly let you at the mercy of the United States?Now the Chinese side has other things to deal with. After going to other countries for negotiations, we have to rush back to Beijing. Time is very tight. If we want to negotiate, we should wait until we return to Beijing.Subsequently, the Chinese negotiating delegation entered Canada.

As a result, American personnel also entered Canada with the Chinese delegation, and called the Chinese side again before China concluded the Canadian negotiations, wanting to determine the start time of the Beijing negotiations so that they could go back and prepare.The U.S. side emphasized that time is running out. After the U.S. delegation enters China, the members of the delegation have to adjust the time difference.In this regard, the Chinese delegation did not answer further, and returned directly to Beijing.On the second day, the negotiating delegation from the United States followed closely and came to Beijing to prepare for negotiations.

In the game of China-U.S. WTO accession negotiations, China has cleverly used the strategy of retreating to advance and playing hard to get.In fact, at that time, the Chinese representative was also very eager to reach an agreement with the US on the details of joining the alliance as soon as possible. Unanimity, which won the initiative for China in the negotiations, and made the Americans more urgent and pragmatic about the negotiations.This has greatly accelerated the negotiation process for China's accession to the WTO.

The FBI often uses this "retreat as advance" strategy to break through the suspect's psychological defenses, and sometimes even "does the opposite" of this strategy, that is, "facade effect leads to obedience."

American psychologist Cialdini once conducted an experiment aimed at this effect - he made a request to 20 college students: let them spend two years as volunteer counselors in a juvenile correctional center This job is very difficult and time-consuming, delaying courses and part-time jobs, so college students flatly refused.After that, Cialdini made another request, asking these college students to take the teenagers from the juvenile detention center to the zoo for a day.As a result, more than 50% of the people accepted the request this time and expressed their willingness to implement it.However, when he did not ask college students to be counselors, but directly asked to take teenagers to play, only 16.7% of them agreed.

Further investigation and inquiries later showed that because the college students rejected the first request, they felt that their image of kindness, integrity, and selflessness had been lost. the second requirement.

In fact, it is time-consuming and labor-intensive to lead teenagers to the zoo. Therefore, when this request was made directly, most college students expressed their unwillingness to accept it. The second requirement was not so difficult, so more than 50% of the people accepted the second requirement.

That is to say, if someone wants to make a relatively large request that is easily rejected by others, he can then make a request that is easier to be accepted by others. At this time, the possibility of others accepting this smaller request It is higher.This phenomenon is called "facade effect leads to obedience" in psychology, which is also called "advancing through retreat".

This psychological effect is actually very common in life.For example, when you want to borrow money from a friend, you directly say to others: "Old friend, I'm a little tight these days, lend me 100 yuan to spend?" At this time, your friend will probably say: "What? What are you borrowing money for? I am also short of money.” However, if your request at that time was: “Old friend, I am a little tight recently, please lend me 1000 yuan first, and I will pay you back when I have it, that’s fine.” Is it?” At this time, your friend will probably say, “So much money? I don’t have that much, and I can only lend you 100 yuan at most.” In this way, the 100 yuan you originally wanted to borrow will be Got it, and sometimes you can even borrow more money than you want this way.

The FBI often uses this method and strategy to influence criminal suspects.When they want to obtain certain information, they often put forward a request that the criminal suspect cannot achieve or meet at all, and then put pressure on him, and wait until the other party can't bear this kind of trouble, then start a little bit Reduce the demands a little bit until the other party can actually do what the FBI wants them to do.

Therefore, the FBI believes that being able to learn to "advance through retreat" is actually a powerful way to reverse the unfavorable situation and regain the initiative in matters when interacting with others.In other words, retreating strategically is actually a better way to advance and move forward, which can lure the opponent to "take advantage of the victory" and then fall into the "trap" that one has prepared.This kind of "pause" or even "retreat" can often give people new opportunities, and it is even possible to use this to launch a new round of dominant attacks.

2. Talk about the truth first, then show the interests, and fight favorably
The FBI believes that if you want to win the goodwill and trust of your enemy to facilitate cooperation, then you must understand that everyone has different preferences in their hearts.Therefore, as an FBI agent, you must carefully observe and keep in mind the likes and dislikes of others in subtle things, give certain benefits and temptations at the right time, eliminate the psychological hostility of the other party, and then seek the required information from their mouths.

Famous FBI agent John Douglas retired and decided to renovate the family home.At that time, most of their furniture and almost all their belongings were stored in the garage, and because the house was crowded with various decoration facilities, John and his family had to sleep on the lawn outside the house, and in the end When the floor was being refinished, I had to move out of the residential area and live temporarily in a nearby motel.

On the second night after the family moved to the motel, the FBI received a call from the local police to talk to John Douglas.When the police contacted John, they told John: "During the mission, some of your property was found." John was very surprised and rushed to the police station.In the police station, he saw the wooden box that was originally stored in the garage of his home. The box had an FBI seal on it. The police should have judged it was John's property based on that seal.It turned out that John's house was stolen during the maintenance period, and many properties in the garage were moved out by the thieves. Because he didn't go home for several days, John didn't know about it.

At this time, the police told John that since the thieves were not caught on the spot, the thieves did not admit that they stole the things, only that someone sold them to them and they wanted to ship them home.John opened the wooden box and took a look. Everything inside was still there, except for the pistol he carried when he retired.After seeing it, John was startled. It’s okay to lose other things. If the pistol falls into the hands of others, it may cause riots.So, John decided to personally interrogate the captured thieves.The thieves were just three teenage kids, and John observed that one of the leaders was a 19-year-old boy.He first learned about the boy's information and family background from the police in detail.Surprisingly, this boy was not a bad boy, but a good student with excellent character and learning. He had just graduated from high school and had already been recommended to a public university for further studies, and his parents were university professors.How could such a child commit the act of stealing?John tried to interrogate the boy, but the boy insisted that he hadn't stolen anything, that someone had sold it to them, and that they hadn't even opened the box.But when John asked about the pistol in the box, the boy hesitated visibly, and John concluded that he knew where the pistol was.

John thought for a while, and decided to conduct interrogation in another way.John said: "Even buying is illegal, and it will leave a stain on your life, especially when you are facing such an important moment as entering a higher school. If you just did something wrong in a moment of confusion, tell the truth now, I can guarantee No one will know about it, not even your parents. Just tell me if it is true that the box was not stolen, let alone the pistol in the box, okay?"

The boy wavered, and after a while he finally told John the truth.They said that the box was indeed stolen by them, but they saw it in the old garage for fun, so they moved it out, opened it and saw the pistol inside, felt that they had caused a catastrophe, and ran away quickly.John asked him where the pistol was, and the boy said, "It was thrown into the lake." So John asked the local police to salvage it in the lake, and he found the pistol.With John's participation, the case was declared solved within half an hour.

In the above case, FBI agent John took advantage of the boy’s fear of leaving a criminal record, told him the seriousness of the matter, and then promised not to let the incident affect his life, dispelling the boy’s worries , thus quickly causing the boy to tell the truth.

Carnegie, the master of human relations, once wrote this sentence in his book "The Nature of Influence": "Anyone, whether a king, a baker or a butcher, likes those who appreciate and care about them." Therefore, When you show concern for others, or give them certain benefits to show your respect and recognition, this kind of positive emotion can infect others, making them like to get close to you quickly, eliminating the hostility and estrangement between the two parties, and making things easier. went well.This is a principle of "emotional reciprocity" in psychology.When you get close to the other party, not only will it make the other party feel close, but also there will be a sense of debt. Under the influence of these two emotions, the other party is likely to do something for you that you didn't want to do.

The famous Dr. Howard George was just a poor boy when he was a child, selling small commodities from door to door in order to earn money to go to school.One evening, Howard felt very tired and hungry, so he decided to beg a meal from the next family.The door was opened by a beautiful young lady, which made Howard feel a little embarrassed, so he just begged for a sip of water.

The lady saw Howard was very hungry and very tired, so she brought him a large glass of milk.Howard drank the milk and said, "Thank you, how much should I pay?" The young woman looked at him strangely and said, "It's free. Mommy taught us that love is never expected in return." Howard listened, bowed lightly to the woman, and said: "Then please accept my thanks." This incident gave the young Howard unlimited strength, making him feel that he can persevere and continue to work part-time Earn tuition.

Many years later, the lady suffered from a rare disease. The local doctors were helpless, so she was transferred to a higher-level hospital for expert consultation.Coincidentally, Howard George also participated in the discussion of the treatment plan.When he saw the patient's file, he immediately got up and went straight to the ward. He stood outside the door and saw the lady lying on the bed through the glass. He can be sure that it was the one who helped him and changed his life. Benefactor of fate.So Howard concentrated his energy and went all out to cure his benefactor's illness.After several twists and turns, the lady's condition was under control, and the patient can basically return to normal life.Dr. George notified the hospital to send the patient's medical bill to his office, and he signed his name on it.

(End of this chapter)