The Dark Side of Psychological Triggers:

in #steemit6 years ago (edited)

So, you have probably read my post on Psychological Triggers and how you can use them to improve your Steemit blog, Steem Blockchain presence and accelerate your growth.

I've talked about how the ones I approached were the positive ones and how there is a very powerful Dark Side on this topic... people wanted to know about it, and so I'm telling you some of what I know.

I'll go over each trigger and tell you how you can use it to benefit your Steem blockchain presence.

I was unsure of whether to publish this or not, since it is the Dark Side after all, and it's pretty manipulative.

LISTEN TO THIS:

The real danger of using these triggers is knowing where to set the line.

Not everyone should use these... only a person who is:

  • Emotionally Balanced;
  • Highly Disciplined;
  • With Good Base Values.

Cult Fighters, and those running sects are masters of these triggers, but they don't have good base values and are certainly not emotionally balanced.

On the other hand, if you're disciplined and a good person, these triggers can be used to further your goals, brand or in this case blog. Just be careful not to overdo it or fall into the Dark Side yourself... Steemit doesn't like Con Artists.

Lesson Number One: The 1st Dark Triad

So, as on the previous lessons, I'm going to share two triads.

The first Dark Side triggers to consider are these:

  • Vanity;
  • Laziness;
  • Inner Thief;

Now, I'm going to explain to you what these mean and how you can use them. You'll also learn how to detect when some people are tapping onto these triggers.

Note that, like last time, there are people who do it without being aware of them.

Vanity: The Hidden Power of Flattery

Flattery simply works... people love to be flattered and have their ego stroked.

In Marketing, we use a lot of Flattery in sales copy.

A big part of our job is to make people follow a certain "funnel" to arrive at an end that is convinient to us, being a sale, an email submission or whatever.

More often than not, you'll see a lot of flattery being done right before the funnel ends, so people can feel good and take that extra leap.

We are constantly taught that if we make someone feel superior to others for no good reason, they'll end up doing stupid things.

Well, vanity has its place here on Steemit as well. There are a lot of people who are constantly stroking the ego of Steemit Community Leaders and getting a lot out of the deal.

In another way, consider this:

  • Why is the best way to get an upvote from someone mentioning them in the article?

The answer is here...

Laziness: People Don't Want to Think

Why do people like everything to be automated? Why do people want passive residual income? Why do people avoid thinking on their own heads and decide to look elsewhere for answers?

Well, why do most people fail at Steemit?

The answer is... they are lazy!

In marketing, you only have to tell people you have a secret no one else knows about, a secret that allows them to solve stuff by simply pressing a button or something.

Granted, this is a bit of an exaggeration. But there's a reason guides on even the most basic of stuff work so well on Steemit... people want the information on a silver platter.

I could take advantage of this by making a guide and claiming something like:

Top 7 Things You Can Do to Increase Your Followers on Auto-Pilot!

Chances are you'd click it instantly! All thought...

The truth is the word "auto-pilot" is a click magnet, because it instantly taps this trigger.

Inner Thief: Almost Anyone Steals in the Internet

In real-life, people abhor stealing.

But when it comes to the internet, the Inner Thief is a trigger because things change.

It is impersonal, they won't get caught and so on... next thing you know you're downloading all kinds of stuff, copying images and using them in articles or voting on your 6 day old post with bots just to net some extra bucks.

This happens on a daily basis.

In Marketing, if you have a secret that will make people feel they can get things for free and nobody will ever know about it... it will be an instant hit.

What's the magic word here? Well, "loophole" is great.

If I was going to post a blog entry on Steemit named:

Top 7 Loopholes to Stealthily increase your Rewards

  • You'd click it!

I'm tapping on the psycho trigger by using Loophole and Stealthily... you won't get caught... nobody will be the wiser! :D

The Second Dark Triad: Continuing the Lesson

Ok, so once again I am not going to separate the lesson in order to earn more rewards... I'm going to lay it all here in this post.

I'm investing a lot of time on this, because I think this is valuable information. In fact, I urge you to read both articles twice or to read it once but stop and think about it.

Now, on to the second Dark Triad.

Guilt: Make People Feel Guilty, Capitalize on That

Marketing is huge on convencience these days, because people are lazy.

Here's the drill: People know they are lazy.

As Marketers, you should hide some observations on your sales copy or material that lets the customers know they are lazy and shame them for it.

This will make them feel guilty.

Let's say you've become a Guru on Steemit. You are getting a huge audience being built around you, and some of the people are becoming so close to you they are feeling like you have nothing more to teach them.

Well, remind them every once in a while that compared to you... they know nothing! And throw in guilt:

If they are getting too comfortable and think everything is easy and they don't need to learn more from you, that you know some guys who fail just because they think everything is easy and they have nothing left to learn.

You're not calling them out, you're apparently calling someone else out... but they'll feel guilty and get back on the right track of following your every word again.

Do you see how these triggers can be powerful and yet give you a bad image if you share them? That's why I was reticent of talking about them.

But I feel they add a lot of value, and so I felt my audience would love to read them.

Continuing with guilt, sometimes when you do this they will panic, thinking their "position" is in risk... this is when you can demand something from them or offer them a solution (that fits your needs) in order to get more out of them.

Tribe Member: People Want to Belong

This one can be a bit harder to understand, but I'll give it my best shot at trying to explain it to you.

If you ever saw one of those shitty salespages of "Make Money Online" Gurus, their salespage or salesvideo will always go like this:

Gurus or other experts teach this and that... but we...

Usually, they know you have a concern about them, and they address that concern by telling you they're in YOUR group... or rather yet, that they are together with you in fighting those guys.

People just love to belong to the Enlightened Minority.

Your job with this trigger is to let them know you two are allies against the bad guys in the majority.

There are a lot of people who use this trigger in Steemit. They'll claim:

You and me... we don't have the scarcity mindset the majority of people have.

And other observations that try to convey that feeling.

You can even invent some cool jargon only your tribe will use, so they'll all feel trendy for belonging to your tribe.

Not only that, if you really want to take some benefit from someone in your tribe, all you need to know is to mix in the trigger "Vanity" by flattering him or singling them out IN FRONT of the group.

Do this the right way and he'll fork up upvotes like no tomorrow...

(Again, don't be this guy, but try to notice when you're being played - you now know this, so consider it when you feel like you are being manipulated).

Greed: One of the Most Powerful Ones

Finally, our favorite Dark Side trigger of them all, the last entry of the second Dark Triad - GREED!

In marketing, we go on and on about how greed is a bad thing, and you aren't going to be a mature person if you're greedy... and that once you are mature, you'll attract all kinds of wealth, and you're going to teach them how to become mature in this special course of yours.

The perfect crime... they'll be so rolled up in it they'll even be tempted to join an anti-greed club out of greed.

In Steemit, you have communities being built around sharing, abundance and charity... and you can spot members working on the community who you clearly see are doing it out of greed.

Not only that, but the community leaders know this, heck if you now start paying attention you'll see that they even promote it... this is the greedy trigger in action.

Want someone to follow your advice? Show them your Steemit rewards screen and how you're banking ubber-duper hard. Or just find Photoshop and change the Bittrex numbers a bit to show them you're obviously a HUGE crypto guru.

But I digress.

In Conclusion:

Well, you now know the two Dark Triads I've took the time to talk about, along with the two Light Triads as well.

There are many more Triads, both Light and Dark, and by doing some in-depth research on Psychological triggers and whatnot you'll find out more about them.

I hope you still respect me, and value my courage at publishing this Dark Material - after all, I think I'm running some risks of appearing a manipulative prick.

There's no way I can convince you I'm not a trickster myself, it is up to you to decide that.

I can only tell you that I wouldn't have shared this info if I thought it would hinder my dark goals... which I don't have.

But it's my word... and I did write about manipulation.

Is it true?

Cheers


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This placed a smile on my face as I read it. Like the Force psychological triggers have Light and Dark attributes that can be used by its practitioners but although no longer canon but there are those in the Grey who is able to utilize a number of skills but does not tip to either side.

Not everyone should use these... only a person who is:

Emotionally Balanced;
Highly Disciplined;
With Good Base Values.

I agree to these because the pull of the dark side is very strong and addicting. So many charismatic leaders started their campaigns with good intentions but ended up doing bad things.

The lure of using these triggers again and again makes them turn dark. Cleverness becomes manipulation, charm becomes a seduction, speeches becomes manifestos that would change worlds.

Making a cult like following comes into mind as some of the leaders here can either use it for good or evil. For community service or for greed. They can go either way. The recent flag wars is a good example how people will blindly follow someone.

Humans are weak. We do not have fangs or claws, we do not have the strength and speed of animals but we have the power of being social beings.

There is strength in numbers because when we feel we belong to a group we are quicker to defend and help people we have in the group, we fill in their weakness with our strength and as one set out to reach a goal. Again this can be harnessed either way.

I think most people who I have seen successful has used these from time to time and as long as it doesn't burn the world I'm good with it. Humans have their light, grey and dark sides that they use as means to live. It is natural.

BOOM, you "get it" :D

Those trick are really incredible, but I think they should change in the future.
I mean, they sure are really powerful, but the new generations, more used to the internet and digital media, are starting to spot out some of them as a bad thing. I mean, they're very connected with all the "clickbait" thing, and all the sites that publish fake news use these kinds of tricks to drag people in. And they're starting to gain a really bad image.

On the other hand, I really loved the "Tribe Member" one, 'cause makes people feel good instead of making them feel guilty or stupid if they find out. People in some cases make themselves part of "the tribe" consciously. I think, for example, on Youtube. Most YouTubers call their fans with a specific name, like when Pewdiepie calls his fans the "bros" and is very powerful because they're consciously getting into his game, and they feel good by doing it, and embrace it proudly.
I can also think of artists. For example, with k-pop. Every time a new group makes its debut, their company gives a name to their fans. That way BTS' fans are called "Army" and Twice's fans are called "Once", and they -we- love it.
So, I don't know if that's the same kind of "tribe" you were talking about, but it seems pretty mindblowing to me...

Glad you liked it.

These will always be used, forever... only the ways in which we tap onto them will change.

Form will need adjustment, but the trigger will remain... you just have to find other ways to tick it.

Thank you for the lovely contribution.
Cheers

this is the theme that I was waiting for from you
Apparently written you're just a professional marketer
Manipulation takes place not only in the virtual world, but also in everyday life, so here the rule is: "Preempted - means armed"
Thanks to you, we will be warned of all possible manipulations.
The article is really informative and I advise many to reread it again, that it would be better to learn what has been read.
Thank you
Hooray

Thanks Franky.
Glad you liked it. Yeap, you're right, there's nothing better than to be informed.

This is the information age and information is power.

Nice to see you around.
Cheers

Funny thing about some of that is that I won't click an article that looks like a click bait headline anymore. Got tricked too many times already :)

But a small adjustment and you're back in business tugging on our emotional heart strings.

You are a smart guy, please follow me, I only let smart guys follow me.

I'm following you already :P
Nice implementation of the technique... well, it was too obvious but nice effort :D

Cheers!

Very insightful. Thanks for revealing these to us.

Interesting!

I don't think I could manipulate my way out of a soggy paper bag and I think it shows in my wallet!

:)

That said I know when I am getting played ~ I abhor folks who lap up genuine praise but give very little in return.

OK, OK ~ I know we shouldn't give to receive but reciprocating encouragement is rewarding in itself.

If people understood this more and practiced it our world would be a far more cheery place.

I digress!

(Off to read about 'The Light' now).

xox

Great to see you around Miss Laforge :D

Yeah, some people have it in them more than others, that's for sure.

Cheers

Here In My Garage, Just Bought This New Lamborghini Here...

Tai Lopez you sunovabitch :D

I think @neilstrauss might be able to throw in a few more. “The Game” is full of stuff like this.

By all means, he's at ease to do so :D

I wonder how many people, like me, read this before your first article. Must be that hidden knowledge trigger!

Extremely eye-opening! A must-read for anyone involved in a cult or politics! 5-out-of-5 cilia! (parameceum humor)

Hehehe
Glad you liked it, well you can always go back and read it now.
Cheers!

Honestly, this is nothing but the truth. That inner thief, auto pilot and more are things i must watch out for. You are a blessing to my life. Waiting for more

Glad you liked it.
Cheers

Yes. Please write more very soon. I definitely want to see your heart through your pen.

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