Defensive mechanisms
Please Read This First
People are easiest to manipulate when they DO NOT know you, but you DO know them. Therefore, you must forget who you are for manipulation purposes. You must create a new persona, and only rely on the Social Engineering techniques you have learned in your interaction with the manipulated. Keep this in mind.
What are defense mechanisms?
Defense mechanisms are, according to Sigmund Freud, subconscious reactions by a person in order to protect oneself from a threat by falsifying the threat. Although most Freudian ideas are controversial and mostly unproven, they are not hard to witness in everyday life. Understanding these mechanisms is not necessarily good for manipulating a person, but is great for analyzing them. I will provide a list of mechanisms with brief definitions, and then some practical uses/examples.
Mechanisms
Denial- An outright refusal to admit something.
Repression- Keeping information out of conscious awareness. (Unproven)
Displacement- Taking frustration or other emotions caused by a threat out on something or someone less threatening.
Sublimation- Acting out impulses in a more appropriate way.
Projection- Ascribing our own undesirable qualities onto someone else.
Rationalization- Attempting to justify a behavior in a logical manner.
Examples
Denial- You tell your girlfriend you read her emails saying she was cheating on you. She denies it. You then show them to her. She still denies it.
Repression- As a child, a burglar kills your parents in front of you, you are adopted by a couple. As an adult, you believe them to be your parents and have no conscious recollection of a burglary or your original parents. (Unproven)
Displacement- At work, you mess up a presentation and your boss chews you out, and docks your pay. You can't do anything about it or you may be fired. When you get home, you kick the dog, and yell at your wife and kids.
Sublimation- Your coworker in the office always implies that he is better than you. You have a strong desire to hurt him, but this would have consequences. Instead, you sign up for boxing classes in order to take out some aggression.
Projection- Your girlfriend has just cheated on you in the heat of the moment. The next day, she texts you and you don't respond because you are in the shower. She then gets worried and gets upset at you, accusing you of doing something wrong, and asking you what you were doing, while implying that you may have been cheating on her. You have not been, she is just paranoid because of her actions.
Rationalization- A homeless man begins walking up to you while you are alone in a bad part of town, you hit him in reaction, and he is unconscious. You run away, knowing that you shouldn't have hit him, but then think logically that he shouldn't have came at you so fast, and that he may have had a weapon. You tell yourself it was self-defense in order to justify your action.
Remember
Knowing these mechanisms may not help in the manipulation of others. This guide is meant to help you understand how people are expected to react in certain situations, allowing you to read them more easily. This could be used to know when a girlfriend is lying, or know when your friend has done something wrong. It is a good idea to try and catch yourself when performing these defense mechanisms in order to better recognize them, and to stay consciously in control of your own mind.
People are easiest to manipulate when they DO NOT know you, but you DO know them. Therefore, you must forget who you are for manipulation purposes. You must create a new persona, and only rely on the Social Engineering techniques you have learned in your interaction with the manipulated. Keep this in mind.
What are defense mechanisms?
Defense mechanisms are, according to Sigmund Freud, subconscious reactions by a person in order to protect oneself from a threat by falsifying the threat. Although most Freudian ideas are controversial and mostly unproven, they are not hard to witness in everyday life. Understanding these mechanisms is not necessarily good for manipulating a person, but is great for analyzing them. I will provide a list of mechanisms with brief definitions, and then some practical uses/examples.
Mechanisms
Denial- An outright refusal to admit something.
Repression- Keeping information out of conscious awareness. (Unproven)
Displacement- Taking frustration or other emotions caused by a threat out on something or someone less threatening.
Sublimation- Acting out impulses in a more appropriate way.
Projection- Ascribing our own undesirable qualities onto someone else.
Rationalization- Attempting to justify a behavior in a logical manner.
Examples
Denial- You tell your girlfriend you read her emails saying she was cheating on you. She denies it. You then show them to her. She still denies it.
Repression- As a child, a burglar kills your parents in front of you, you are adopted by a couple. As an adult, you believe them to be your parents and have no conscious recollection of a burglary or your original parents. (Unproven)
Displacement- At work, you mess up a presentation and your boss chews you out, and docks your pay. You can't do anything about it or you may be fired. When you get home, you kick the dog, and yell at your wife and kids.
Sublimation- Your coworker in the office always implies that he is better than you. You have a strong desire to hurt him, but this would have consequences. Instead, you sign up for boxing classes in order to take out some aggression.
Projection- Your girlfriend has just cheated on you in the heat of the moment. The next day, she texts you and you don't respond because you are in the shower. She then gets worried and gets upset at you, accusing you of doing something wrong, and asking you what you were doing, while implying that you may have been cheating on her. You have not been, she is just paranoid because of her actions.
Rationalization- A homeless man begins walking up to you while you are alone in a bad part of town, you hit him in reaction, and he is unconscious. You run away, knowing that you shouldn't have hit him, but then think logically that he shouldn't have came at you so fast, and that he may have had a weapon. You tell yourself it was self-defense in order to justify your action.
Remember
Knowing these mechanisms may not help in the manipulation of others. This guide is meant to help you understand how people are expected to react in certain situations, allowing you to read them more easily. This could be used to know when a girlfriend is lying, or know when your friend has done something wrong. It is a good idea to try and catch yourself when performing these defense mechanisms in order to better recognize them, and to stay consciously in control of your own mind.
Higher Level Defense Mechanisms
- The basic defense mechanisms are: Denial, Repression, Displacement,
Sublimation, Projection, and Rationalization. These are basic and usually
performed subconsciously, before you notice them. They were described in
Defensive Mechanisms thread.Understanding these can protect you from using them
at inappropriate times, prevent you from being so easy to read, and help you
understand others. The higher level defense mechanisms I will now explain are
known as Fallacies. These are used for more manipulative purposes than basis
mechanisms.
What Are Fallacies?
Fallacies are used to persuade emotionally or psychologically, and not rationally. They are are used less subconsciously than basic mechanisms. They can be intentionally used to intimidate, divert, or attack.
Fallacies
Ad Hominem- Attacking someone personally. Rather than argue the topic at hand, you take personal shots at your opponent.
Ex) Using sarcasm to belittle the opponent. This is an intimidation/attacking technique.
Straw Man- This is misrepresenting someone's argument. You may know exactly where they are coming from, but you twist their words to mean something else.
Ex) If someone claims that women should be able to CHOOSE abortion, you state that this person supports murder. This is a diversion/attacking technique.
Circular Reasoning- Using the premise of the argument to prove your side, assuming the premise is true.
Ex) You're teacher believes you to be a poor student and gives you a bad grade. You argue that the teacher can't give you a bad grade because you are a great student. This is a diversion technique.
Two Wrongs- Bringing up a past injustice to justify the one at hand. Ex) You cheat on your girlfriend, but justify it by bringing up the fact that she has broken up with you before. This is a diversion technique.
Slippery Slope- Objecting to something because you claim it will lead to undesirable effects.
Ex) Your friends pressure you to smoke marijuana, but you say no because it will lead to other drugs. This is a diversion technique.
Appealing to Authority- Arguing on the premise that most others agree with your side, a superior person in the subject agrees with you, or conventional wisdom states that you are right.
Ex) A fellow student argues that the right to secede from the union was the biggest issue of the civil war, but you argue that it was slavery because the teacher said so. This is an intimidation technique.
Guilt by Association- Making someone feel guilty for their point of view by associating it with something else.
Ex) Your peer believes that theUnited States China Tienanmen
Square
Red Herring- Defending a controversial issue by taking the offensive and bringing up and unrelated topic.
Ex) Someone states that your political party, which happens to be in office, is corrupt. In response, you state that this is the first time in years that the budget has been balanced. This is a diversion/attacking technique.
What Are Fallacies?
Fallacies are used to persuade emotionally or psychologically, and not rationally. They are are used less subconsciously than basic mechanisms. They can be intentionally used to intimidate, divert, or attack.
Fallacies
Ad Hominem- Attacking someone personally. Rather than argue the topic at hand, you take personal shots at your opponent.
Ex) Using sarcasm to belittle the opponent. This is an intimidation/attacking technique.
Straw Man- This is misrepresenting someone's argument. You may know exactly where they are coming from, but you twist their words to mean something else.
Ex) If someone claims that women should be able to CHOOSE abortion, you state that this person supports murder. This is a diversion/attacking technique.
Circular Reasoning- Using the premise of the argument to prove your side, assuming the premise is true.
Ex) You're teacher believes you to be a poor student and gives you a bad grade. You argue that the teacher can't give you a bad grade because you are a great student. This is a diversion technique.
Two Wrongs- Bringing up a past injustice to justify the one at hand. Ex) You cheat on your girlfriend, but justify it by bringing up the fact that she has broken up with you before. This is a diversion technique.
Slippery Slope- Objecting to something because you claim it will lead to undesirable effects.
Ex) Your friends pressure you to smoke marijuana, but you say no because it will lead to other drugs. This is a diversion technique.
Appealing to Authority- Arguing on the premise that most others agree with your side, a superior person in the subject agrees with you, or conventional wisdom states that you are right.
Ex) A fellow student argues that the right to secede from the union was the biggest issue of the civil war, but you argue that it was slavery because the teacher said so. This is an intimidation technique.
Guilt by Association- Making someone feel guilty for their point of view by associating it with something else.
Ex) Your peer believes that the
Red Herring- Defending a controversial issue by taking the offensive and bringing up and unrelated topic.
Ex) Someone states that your political party, which happens to be in office, is corrupt. In response, you state that this is the first time in years that the budget has been balanced. This is a diversion/attacking technique.
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