68. Psychological persuasion techniques: Emphasizing unfavorable situations to highlight positive ones, utilizing psychological factors related to appearance and labels.

Emphasizing the disadvantages serves to highlight the positive outcome.

When the appointed time is approaching and there's a high possibility of being late, it's polite to call ahead to inform the other party. If you estimate being 20 minutes late, is it better to say you'll be 10 minutes late or 30 minutes late?

If you tell someone, "I will be 10 minutes late," they are more likely to accept it, thinking it's just 10 minutes. However, if you are 20 minutes late, they might blame you for breaking your promise twice and deem you insincere. If you are informed beforehand that you will be 30 minutes late, they might be unhappy at first, but if you arrive in 20 minutes, they will be very touched: "This person is great; they arrived in 20 minutes for a journey that would normally take 30 minutes." They will then quickly forgive you.

Although unintentional, many doctors use this psychological strategy consciously or unconsciously. For example, when a patient is first brought into the hospital, the family anxiously asks the doctor, "How is he?" The doctor might tell the family, "It's a bit late," prompting them to prepare for the worst. But then, the doctor adds, "However, I will do my best to treat him," giving the family a glimmer of hope and allowing them to wait for a miracle. Even if misfortune strikes, they will forgive the doctor because he initially said he was late, and his prediction came true. If the patient recovers, the family will undoubtedly appreciate the doctor's excellent medical skills.

There's a joke about a patient with a mild cold who went to the hospital and encountered a very worldly-wise doctor. After making a preliminary diagnosis, the doctor suddenly exclaimed "Ah!" with a serious expression. The patient, startled, hurriedly asked what was wrong. The doctor, feigning ignorance, thought for a moment and replied, "For an illness like yours, it's best to have a full checkup." The patient, filled with fear, went to the laboratory for a comprehensive examination. If everything was normal, the doctor would say, "Luckily, there's nothing wrong." If one test showed a problem, he would say, "Just as I suspected, there's a problem in [specific area]."

Exploiting people's psychological weakness of valuing appearance

Humans have a psychological weakness for valuing labels. Once an object or person is labeled or given a nickname, it leaves a deep impression that doesn't change for a long time. For example, if an actress successfully portrays a kind and gentle female character, even if the actress herself is not so kind and gentle, for a long time, many viewers will confuse the real-life actress with the character she plays in the movie, believing that the actress is kind and gentle.

Scammers understand this perfectly. They always focus on highlighting a specific aspect of a person or thing for a particular purpose, labeling it. This labeled area, like direct sunlight, becomes particularly eye-catching, while other areas remain hidden in darkness, making it difficult for people to see the true nature of the entity. For example, during World War II, the Japanese military government used various methods to label Britain and the United States as "devils," calling for a nationwide mobilization. At the time, the vast majority of Japanese believed this, thus uniting the nation in hatred against the enemy. This illustrates that people generally dislike confronting the complexities of things, preferring to believe the signs or labels attached to them.

Some foreign politicians also frequently use this tactic to incite the public and defeat their opponents. For example, during an election, when two candidates are fiercely competing, Candidate A cleverly labels their rival, Candidate B, as a "money politician." Voters, the targets of their efforts, generally accept this label unconsciously, without questioning its veracity. In this way, Candidate A not only tarnishes Candidate B's image in the eyes of voters but also achieves their goal of projecting an image of integrity and honesty. In other words, the public unknowingly accepts this false label, mistakenly believing a villain to be a saint.

Distract the other person

When deceived by someone they trust, almost everyone thinks, "I never expected that someone who is usually so good to me would lie to me." However, the brilliance of a con artist lies in making others feel "unexpected."

Some swindlers are adept at playing the "thief crying 'stop thief!'" trick. They emphasize the bad deeds of a third party while highlighting their own "uniqueness," creating the illusion that they are the only good person. For example, some extremely unethical real estate developers, in pursuit of exorbitant profits, do not hesitate to harm customer interests by cutting corners during construction. However, when promoting their products, they say things like, "Recently, I've seen some real estate developers who cut corners and use inferior materials during construction, yet shamelessly claim their buildings are first-class. These despicable merchants are truly harmful, causing great suffering to our fellow countrymen."

Hearing him say this, most people couldn't help but feel sympathy for the victim and were thankful that they hadn't suffered such a misfortune. However, precisely because of this, many people unknowingly fell into the trap, and by the time they realized it, it was too late.

Generally speaking, people who are easily deceived are mostly simple-minded and kind-hearted because their concepts of good and evil are very simple, making them easy to fool. Scammers cleverly exploit this psychology-evil people would never dare to openly commit wrongdoing and put themselves at a disadvantage. Therefore, they don't need to promote themselves; simply emphasizing the bad deeds of others can gain their trust and make them mistakenly believe they are good people.

In detective novels, we often encounter seemingly upright police officers who are actually wanted criminals, much like the example mentioned above. Similarly, some shops deliberately display signs warning of counterfeits to attract customers, but these shops may actually be selling counterfeit goods. And the stories of people we once considered friends turning out to be our enemies are countless and numerous.

To describe the impossible as absolutely possible

Messages that are clearly affirmative or negative are more persuasive and influential than those that are ambiguous or vague.

Among the various orators in society, politicians often stand out. In their view, there is no such thing as indistinguishable right and wrong, or even ambiguity. From their mouths, you can only get two simple conclusions: complete affirmation or complete negation. Their words are very clear and full of confidence. Strangely enough, these politicians' words are accepted with complete trust by tens of thousands of listeners, without any resistance, and they believe their messages and conclusions without question. Why is this?

From a psychological perspective, this is mainly because they frequently use explicit judgments such as "absolute," "certain," "complete," and "100%" when expressing their opinions. While listeners may initially be skeptical, over time, they become accustomed to hearing only clear affirmations or denials and unconsciously accept these simplistic conclusions. Therefore, if the information is uncertain or ambiguous, it's better to borrow the tactics of politicians and disseminate information using absolute affirmation or denial; this approach has greater impact and persuasiveness. Conversely, if information is disseminated using words like "maybe," "possibly," "unsure," or "probably," its impact and persuasiveness are significantly reduced.

This technique can also be used positively. For example, before an exam, it's best to tell a timid student, "I believe you have the ability to succeed. Don't be nervous, just do your best." Even if the student's ability isn't necessarily outstanding, saying this will greatly increase their courage. Of course, if this technique is used too excessively, people will become suspicious.