The ability to recognise psychological ploys (which become manipulation techniques when used negatively) is extremely valuable in negotiation. Kahneman explains that the brain works as though we have two systems. ‘System 1’ generates impressions, feelings and...
One example is the phenomenon of anchors, already mentioned briefly in the discussion of Bottom Lines. Our brains cannot, it seems, ignore reference points that are presented to them, no matter how crazy they are. Kahneman gives the example of an experiment where,...
As mentioned, anchoring, like all psychological ploys, exploits a blind spot in System 1. In a context where there are few references, any new one will have a huge biasing effect—we seem to need an anchor, any anchor, to cling on to. Hence, when my client says, “We...
I’ll give a couple more examples of blindspots that can be exploited by manipulators. Our brains find statistics confusing. Let’s take a study of indidence of kidney cancer in the 3,141 US counties The counties in which the rates are lowest are in rural, sparsely...
Another commonly-exploited blindspot is called “Availability”. When something comes easily to mind, that type of thing seems more likely. For example, after a big plane crash, people get nervous about flying … though it’s no more or less risky than before the crash....
