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

Chapter 20 Start with Side Branches, Detour to Find Holes——FBI’s Detour Attacking the Opponent’s Psychological Strategy (2)
(1) Explore the common intention between the two parties from the living habits of others.

Explore the common intentions between the two parties from the living habits of others.This sentence makes people seem a little puzzled-in the process of fierce competition, how can we find the common intention of both parties from the living habits of others?In fact, this is not as "indifferent" as everyone imagines.Youdley, a criminal psychology expert of the FBI, said: "There are many inner codes in a person's living habits, and we need to analyze and interpret their inner codes from their living habits, which will help us discover what they do. motives of the matter."

In the fierce competition, we should pay attention to the living habits of our competitors, dig out their "inner code" from their living habits such as dressing and eating, and interpret the common intention between them and us, so as to use the mutual understanding of both sides The common intention is the basic point, and finally the cooperation is successfully completed to maximize the interests of both parties.

(2) Common intentions often equate to common interests.

There is a saying that goes well: "There are no permanent friends in the world, only permanent interests." In every competition, the purpose of the fierce battle between the two sides is to obtain the interests they want.In other words, without interests, there would be no competition in the world at all.

In the course of a competition, both competitors have a mutually acceptable bottom line for the realization of interests, and this bottom line is the "common interests" of both parties, that is, the common intention between the two parties.Therefore, when we face the competition we face in our daily work, we must not fight alone, but should learn to "compete and cooperate" - on the basis of finding a common intention to cooperate with competitors , Cooperate while competing, so as to minimize risks and maximize benefits.

(3) Capture information about common intentions from the other party's conversation.

Every conversation between people is the expression of inner thoughts, and the depth of the conversation is also the depth of inner thoughts.Generally speaking, the more in-depth the conversation between two people is, the easier it is for both parties to capture information about mutual intentions between them.

Tom Norwich, a senior police officer with the FBI, said: "Every interrogation is a conversation process with criminals. The deeper you talk to them, the more information you can get. If you can start from the beginning Just find the common intention between the two parties, and then you can get more information."

In our actual life and work, if we want to have a "competition and cooperation" competition mode with our competitors, then we can choose to negotiate with our competitors, and find out the mutual agreement between the two parties from each other's words at the negotiating table. Intention information, so as to successfully find the basis of cooperation between the two parties, and reach a cooperation intention on this basis.

3. Disturb the opponent's mind and distract the opponent's attention
Stuart Mendello, a psychologist with the FBI, said: "After every confrontation with criminals, the best way is to distract them and not let them concentrate, because then they usually resist more attacks." For a long time, and distracting their attention, you can get more truth from their mouths in a short time."

Everyone living in this world cannot live without competition. We have competitors when we do business, and when we get promoted... It can be said that competition is everywhere in our lives.Therefore, if we want to win the competition, we must do what Stuart Mendello said - distract the opponent's attention, disturb their mind, and know more things in the shortest time —Only in this way can we win.

Pennsylvania in the afternoon is immersed in the golden sunshine, and the breeze gently blowing over the face feels very comfortable.In a room with only one table and one headlight sat three men, two of whom were FBI officers Falzon Stevenson and George Morris, and the remaining one was under interrogation The suspect Duchik Farmer.

Farmer was involved in a theft in which he was suspected to be involved in a bank vault theft.However, the evidence in the hands of the police is really pitiful. Farmer, who has multiple criminal records, did it very cleanly this time. He almost destroyed all the evidence, except for the one he left at the scene and his shoe size. The shoe print was the same size (the police did not find the shoe at Farmer's residence), and the police never found any valuable clues.It can be said that just relying on the size of the shoe size, it is impossible to determine that the criminal is Farmar, because there are thousands of people with the same shoe size.The reason Farmer was considered a suspect in the theft was because he was known for stealing bank vaults and was known as the "Golden Key Farmer". Drinks at a nearby bar.

"Just a shoe print, you can be sure it's me? There are a lot of people drinking nearby, why aren't they suspects?" Before Stevenson and Morris could ask questions, Farmer had already asked.Obviously, his anti-client focus is to take the initiative in the interrogation, so that he can win the interrogation.

"You're the most cunning person I've ever met, Farmer, but I heard that your dog has gone crazy lately and keeps biting the sofa," Stevenson said in an irrelevant answer.

"Oh, are you going to let me go after talking with me for two hours? Well, what do you want to hear, my dog ​​is having an affair? Haha."

"No, I heard that your dog likes to eat the dog food sold on AG67 Street, and is just as picky as my dog," Stevenson said.

"Yes, yes, Hani is very picky. He likes to eat the dog food sold in that dog food store." When Farmer talked about his pet dog, he immediately relaxed his vigilance and became more talkative.

"I buy red boots for my dog, and I also pair them with blue sneakers, blue and red, it's a nice color," Stevenson said, throwing Farmer a A cigarette, the atmosphere further eased.

"Really? Me too, I like to put Haney on the cloth shoes and me on the work boots."

"Evan's work boots? I wear them too sometimes."

"Yeah, oh no no, I don't wear 'Evan' work boots, I don't have a penchant for brands." Farmar realized he had slipped, but it was too late.

"Don't worry, we've already found the pair of work boots with your fingerprints on them, and the shoe prints are exactly the same as those at the scene of the crime." Stevenson said urgently.

"Impossible, how could you find it? I left those damn work boots far away." Farmar said angrily.

"Oh thanks, now we're finally sure you've committed the crime, you just said 'I left it far away', right?"

In this story, the cunning Farmer is difficult to deal with. He was able to ask questions at the beginning of the interrogation, which shows that his psychological quality is very strong.Coupled with his experience of being interrogated, it shows that he is not a simple small character.However, the presiding police officer Stevenson did not let Farmar succeed.He knew that conventional interrogation methods might not be effective for a tough character like Farmer, so he chose unconventional interrogation methods—disturbing the other party's mind, distracting the other party's attention, and inadvertently extracting the key points. information.

It can be said that Stevenson did a great job. After Farmer asked questions actively, he did not let his thinking follow the direction designed by Farmer, but resolutely followed his own thinking direction.In order to allow Farmer to follow his own thinking to answer questions, Stevenson chose Farmer's most unexpected "breakthrough" - talking about Farmer's dog.In fact, the reason why Stevenson chose this breakthrough was that he had done very meticulous work before the interrogation started, and he had thoroughly understood Farmar.

In order to distract Farmar's attention, Stevenson deliberately took on a homely tone, and slowly dispelled Farmar's sense of resistance by means of small talk, and gradually found out the way through his own thinking. The flaw in Mal's speech finally successfully cracked the case-Stevenson has been paying attention to distracting Farmer's attention throughout the conversation. something to learn.

Disturb the opponent's mind and distract the opponent's attention.This method is a very common method in the interrogation of the FBI, and it can receive good results.In our daily life and work, the method of disturbing the opponent's mind and forcing his attention to gradually disperse is also a method we must master, because it can help us more effectively break down the opponent's psychological defense and thus successfully win the opponent , to achieve their own competitive goals.

It can be said that the method of achieving one's own goals by distracting others' attention is very important in our life and work, but this seemingly simple method is not very useful.Let's learn from the FBI and see how the US federal police use this method:
(1) Talk about some digressions that the other party is interested in, and let the other party's attention gradually disperse as the conversation progresses.

Falson Stevenson, a senior police officer of the FBI, said: "No matter how silent a suspect is, he has interests, and those interests are often the source of their crimes, because many Few people are willing to do stupid things for things that don't interest them." From this point of view, everyone has interests, and interests happen to be the most distracting things.

American psychologist Paul Ekman found in a study: Those who can't calm down and think about one thing are usually extroverted and have a wide range of personal interests. There are a lot of things, and I am affected by many things in the process of thinking, so it is difficult to calm down and think about one thing.

In our daily work, once we encounter fierce competition, we can consider distracting our competitors with things that they are interested in, so as to effectively control our opponents and achieve our goals.

(2) Insinuating, don't talk too much about specific things.

To distract the opponent's attention, it is necessary to grasp the opponent's psychology, and usually the specific things in the competition are the focus of both parties' attention, so not talking too much about specific things is an effective way to distract the opponent's attention .During the FBI's handling of the case, they seldom directly interrogate the criminal's criminal history, but learn from different aspects, because this is much more useful than forced interrogation.

You can't talk about specific things too much, but you want to know the specific situation of the matter. The best way is to insinuate, ask ingeniously from many aspects, and collect the information you need during the conversation.For example, sometimes doctors can't directly talk to patients about their condition, so they often use indirect ways to understand.

(3) Raising objections can also effectively distract others.

No one wants to listen to objections, because no matter how good the objection is, it will cause psychological discomfort to the objected.FBI agent George Morris said: "I like to provoke suspects, and then let them vent their anger in the process of explaining the crime clearly."

It is undeniable that many people have had this experience. What they think is a very good idea is criticized for being worthless. This time is usually very annoying.Therefore, in the process of competing with our opponents, we consciously irritate our competitors, that is, we successfully distract our opponents.For example, in the American men's professional basketball game, many players will spray trash talk to each other, in order to provoke the opponent to distract the opponent, let the opponent make a misjudgment, so that he can defeat the opponent.In the American men's professional basketball game, Michael Jordan, known as "Basketball God", is an out-and-out "trash talker", because he can always use trash talk to make his opponent angry and make him act Misjudgment, let him become the master on the court.

4. Comply with the opponent's wishes and follow the tactics

In the early 20s, the Soviet Union made a request to the U.S. government—the Soviet embassy in Washington was too old, and the space was getting smaller and smaller, which could no longer meet normal use. Therefore, the Soviet Union hoped that the U.S. government would allow the Soviet Union to build a new embassy.

Immediately after the Soviet Union made this request, the U.S. Congress exploded. The anti-Soviet faction demanded that the request of the Soviets not be granted, while the pro-Soviet faction demanded that the request of the Soviets be granted.Just when the two sides were struggling to resolve, the FBI proposed to allow the Soviets to build a new embassy, ​​but it must be built on the "Alto Mountain" requested by the Soviets.Because the FBI found that this place on Wisconsin Avenue is very suitable for doing some "little hands and feet" for the Soviets.

In fact, the purpose of the FBI is very clear, that is to give the Soviets a trick.In the end, the U.S. government adopted the opinion of the FBI and agreed with the Soviets to build a new embassy in its designated "Mount Alto".

A few months later, the Soviets began to build a new embassy, ​​and the FBI and the US National Security Agency began the most expensive project in the history of US intelligence-digging a wiretapping tunnel under the new Soviet embassy.As a result, the Soviets were constructing on it, and the FBI and the US National Security Agency dug holes below. After the new Soviet embassy was built, the Americans successfully dug their wiretapping tunnels.Finally, it was this hidden eavesdropping tunnel that allowed the Americans to obtain a large amount of intelligence during the 70s and 80s, and the value of this information was much higher than this expensive tunnel project.

The strategy of counting tricks has always been a trick with a very high usage rate, whether it is in war or psychological confrontation, this trick has been used extensively.Carlos Mayo, a psychological expert of the FBI, said: "Criminals have a specific psychology when they confess. They hope that their thinking will not be influenced, so they pay great attention to every question asked by the police. If the police can It should be easy to solve the case by asking criminals to speak and ask questions according to their psychological intentions, and guiding them to show their flaws while sticking to their own thinking.” In fact, the FBI has always been best at using this method of tricks. It allows criminals to tell the truth about their crimes inadvertently.

In our daily life and work, if we want to achieve a certain project, then we might as well use the method of calculating to achieve it.For example, if you are a business manager, in the process of negotiating with customers, it is naturally impossible for you to directly brush off the customer's face, so at this time, you might as well adopt the method of doing things according to the customer's wishes first, and wait until the time comes. When the customers are gradually satisfied, they start to see the needles, and write their opinions into the cooperation agreement little by little, and finally achieve the goal of successfully capturing customers.It is actually a process of psychological guidance-to first find out the opponent's intentions, and then make arrangements according to the opponent's intentions, and finally successfully achieve your own goals.

In daily life and work, we all set many goals for ourselves. Some goals can be achieved directly by ourselves, but some goals need the cooperation of others to achieve.And those goals that can only be achieved with the cooperation of others are often not so easy to achieve, so we can use the method of tricks to get the cooperation of others-find a common point of interest among those who can cooperate, and then take this common point of interest as the goal. "Bait", let others step into the situation that you have set up in advance step by step, so as to achieve your goals.

(End of this chapter)