More on Power:
Something that might add up to Greene´s Laws
There are four controlling personality types:
1. Cool Heads.
Some people are completely aware of using power plays; just as conscious as the person who flicks a switch in order to turn on a light. To certain teachers, psychotherapists, salesmen, doctors, politicians, political organizers, and bosses, the manipulation of human beings is second nature; a straightforward process applied to further their aims with only their own conscience as their guide. When conscious manipulators meet resistance, their response is deliberate and systematic: they either escalate or withdraw to a safe position to wait for a better opportunity, which they eventually use to advantage. They are not passionate and do not get angry or particularly involved. They operate to remain unnoticed; softly and good-naturedly. They are cold-blooded and they are in a powerful minority because they are effective.
2. Hot Heads.
A second group of people are instinctive power players. They grow up in an environment in which power plays are used frequently and freely, and they learn to use them accordingly. Their use of power plays is semiconscious, not necessarily deliberate. They are hotheaded power players, who, when met with resistance, often lose control and escalate and tend to wind up getting less of what they want rather than more. When they raise children, they teach them how to power-play and then proceed to practice their skill with them. More often than not, the children of hotheaded parents can't wait to get away from them. But when they eventually do, they can't help continuing the hothead pattern with their spouses, friends, or their own children.
3. Innocents.
The third category of people are basically naive. Due to their upbringing, they do not have power-playing skills and do not seem particularly aware that power plays even exist. They try to get things by innocently asking for them, expect to get them, and often do. They are surprised when they discover the extent to which some people power-play to control others.
4. Cooperators.
The fourth type reject the use of power plays and believe that it is better to cooperate than to compete to achieve what they want. They know power plays exist, know how to use them, and how to stop them, and also know how to respond cooperatively. They too are a powerful, effective minority and often are defectors from the ranks of conscious power players.
Conversational Control
Another way in which people control others is through their conversational behavior. Presumably, the actual purpose of any conversation is an exchange of points of view. We can disagree, work toward an agreement, or agree. But very often conversations do not have that aim at all, and are in fact attempts to control others with words. Under those circumstances, if I have a point of view, and see that yours differs, I will do everything I can to change your point of view to mine, with you presumably doing the same, so that our conversation goes from being an exchange of ideas to being a battleground for thought control. Unfortunately conversations between people are often a struggle for control, rather than a cooperative exchange of ideas.
