Pop Psychology and understanding HOW people think

I'm Joe Dirt

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How many of you guys read books on pop psychology and communication?

Now I know it sounds eerily like self-help books (which don't work usually) but its a little bit different. Pop Psychology books show you how to be a better person indirectly by teaching you some neat tricks and clueing you in on human thought processes.

Some books I've found interesting and adaptable to everyday life and women are:

1. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

This books is great! It talks about the Weapons of Influence, those are things that people are preprogrammed to have an automatic response to. Of course this stuff isn't bulletproof and 100% but very close if done right!

It shows you how you can tap into these "prerecorded tapes" in the human brain to get what you want. Basically when people are presented with a certain type of stimulus the brain cues up the appropriate "response" tape. For example, everytime you are approached by a sales person at a store you cue up the sales person approach tape which tells you to say "no thanks, im just looking"

(which is an automatic response for many people. as a retail employee I have approached people by saying "hello sir, how are you?" only to have them respond "no thanks, im just looking")

The book essentially goes over 7 such "tapes" and how they can be used in various situations to exploit people into doing what the person using the tapes wants them to do.

Some of the things are obvious, some are more tricky, and it also gives insight on how to use even obvious principles more creativley.

One of my favorites is the Reciprocity princple, which states that when a person has a favor done for them they feel indebted and obligated to return such favor. The trick is that the favor doesn't always have to be solicited first, for example people feel obligated to mail out checks to charities that send them free address labels and then ask for donations (I know my parents have done this several times!)

You can probably apply this principle to women as well. What if you were to do them a favor unsolicited? Lets say a girl is working on a paper for school, you could send her a few good sources if you know anything about her topic, or maybe a girl mentioned she sometimes skipped breakfast - so why not next time you see her in class or school or whatever bring her a snack?

This, if done correctly and in moderation, could have some uses. After you bringing her a few snacks and helping her out on a paper, ask her if she'd do you a big favor and help you find a "new look"? Then ask her if she could go shopping with you for clothes (for YOU) and help you pick stuff out.

The unsolicited favors you did for her might prompt her to accept your offer (if she wasnt willing or you dont think she wouldve been willing before). Sure doesnt hurt to have someone's goodwill before asking though.

Now you got yourself pretty much a date. If you know what you're doing you'll probably want to keep her with you for a while while buying a few clothing items you wanted anyway (or you'll return later) and of course afterwards claim you're hungry and ask her to join you for a meal.

Well anyways, this book talks about a lot of common uses and some advanced ones for the "Weapons of Influence" that every person is pre-programmed with. Tapping into them could be a goldmine.

I highly recommend this book!


2. The 48 Laws of Power

This book goes over 48 laws that are supposed to make you more powerful. While designed for social situations and organizations (like political, military, etc.) the examples in this book are just inspiring - and not in the corny way you think.

The examples for each law in this book come from military strategists, famous wars, and a lot of con artists. That's right folks, this is the book that will teach and inspire you to make devious plans and strategies that play on the weaknesses of human psyche!

After about 1/2 way through this book I was just shocked at what kinds of things where popping into my head. It will help you come up with clever and devious strategies and ways to get what you want that you had no clue your brain was capable of thinking of before!

Ethical questions aside, the techniques and stories in this book will help you understand the human thought process and how we commonly sort through stimuli in a common way that is just ripe for the exploiting if you know what you're doing. This can be used for evil, but also for good so you'll understand the games other people play better as well.

Another must read!!!


3. Communicating Effectivley for Dummies

Don't make fun of the book just cause it comes from the For Dummies set! This book is full of stuff you learn in Communications 101 in college if you ever take it, plus some more.

It teaches you techniques for how to be more articulate, how to be a better listener, how to argue and settle disputes better and more peacefully, and how to handle all kinds of communication issues.

Being a more effective communicator, that is getting your ideas accross clearly and being able to disagree without being disagreeable, are not only great skills for business (at which the book is aimed) but also at personal relationships, including those with girls (or guys if you are a girl).

This is the 3rd must read. Practicing these techniques will make you a better communicator, and thus easier to "click with" during conversations and more mature in settling disputes in a relationship.


So what do you guys think?


You read any of these books?

I know that the self-help genre is mostly b.s., and these books are often classified with them although they really arent. To me self-help books are the ones with titles like "how to feel better about yourself" or crap like that.

These books are no nonesense books. What makes them good, especially the first two, is that they give you a window into the human thought process and how the human thought process could be manipulated to your willing if you know how to.

I don't want to overdeliver, so please be aware that just cause you read these books doesnt mean you'll be the next Ponzi (one of the most successful scam artists ever) or anything, but you will definitley gain something from it. And if you take it seriously enough and take the time to really read these books and let them digest a little you will be better off for it.
 
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I'm Joe Dirt

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Wow, no one has any comments about this stuff?

I thought it'd be something that budding DJ's would love to read about since a lot of the tips and tricks found throughout these forums and website are based on the information in books like these (without even knowing it).
 

I'm Joe Dirt

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Yeah, its true.

These books will give you an insight into understand how people think and thus how you can tap into the thought process we all share and manipulate it for your purposes.

It provides the framework basically for generating strategies and tips on girls (and other stuff too) kind of like the tricks and stuff you find on this website. After reading this book you'll understand why some of these things really work.

Also with magic, I think its a good idea, and in fact as I was posting this I was looking up material on performing Cold Readings, which is how Tarot readers, Psychics, and other frauds use to "read minds". If I find anything good I'll post it here.
 

Black_Italian

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You sound like a f**king commercial Joe. In all that time you spent reading these books and writing this post ive probably picked up 48 girls. So while you are reading about your 48 laws that make you more "powerful" im f**king these 48 girls how’s that for Pop Psychology Joe? Also I have to ask my self what Psychological level is your brain working on when you compare your self to Joe Dirt and try to tell us how we can better communicate with, understand and manipulate women?.
 

undesputable

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Originally posted by Black_Italian
You sound like a f**king commercial Joe. In all that time you spent reading these books and writing this post ive probably picked up 48 girls. So while you are reading about your 48 laws that make you more "powerful" im f**king these 48 girls how’s that for Pop Psychology Joe? Also I have to ask my self what Psychological level is your brain working on when you compare your self to Joe Dirt and try to tell us how we can better communicate with, understand and manipulate women?.
wow you are quite stupid....if you want to let women take up every single aspect of your life, ok then, keep ****ing and being dumb. but if you actually want to get a hold in every area in your life and want to better yourself, then i suggest you start reading and start doing.
 

Peace and Quiet

If you currently have too many women chasing you, calling you, harassing you, knocking on your door at 2 o'clock in the morning... then I have the simple solution for you.

Just read my free ebook 22 Rules for Massive Success With Women and do the opposite of what I recommend.

This will quickly drive all women away from you.

And you will be able to relax and to live your life in peace and quiet.

AB500

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Books are great ideas, I've read a condensed version of The 48 Laws of Power online along with many articles on "pop psychology" and they have helped not only my power with women but also my social skills. Once you read enough of that stuff you'll start to see how you can better your own communication skills and win arguments in no time. I definately recommend checking these books out.
 

Black_Italian

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First of all from what i wrote you do not know me well enough to pass judgement on me. You are calling me stupid yet you are the one jumping to conclusions. I may or may not have control over every area in my life and for you to call me stupid without knowing for a fact if i do or dont makes you the stupid one. Are you following?
 

I'm Joe Dirt

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You sound like a f**king commercial Joe. In all that time you spent reading these books and writing this post ive probably picked up 48 girls. So while you are reading about your 48 laws that make you more "powerful" im f**king these 48 girls how’s that for Pop Psychology Joe? Also I have to ask my self what Psychological level is your brain working on when you compare your self to Joe Dirt and try to tell us how we can better communicate with, understand and manipulate women?.
It's not hard to pick up girls. So what if you picked up 48? How many of them are you still with now? How many of them have you had a fulfilling relationship with? Back to square one huh?

Anyone who tries hard enough or attempts enough times to pick up a girl will eventually succeed. If 99% of women reject you that still means you can pick up at least 1 for every 100, simple mathematical probability.

But to not screw it up with a woman in a relationship you gotta know how to communicate.

This stuff that I am posting about isn't about women, I just said it could be applied to women. It is so much more than that, it helps in working relationships, family relationships, and many other aspects of your life.

You look down on books like this, yet you use tips and tricks on this website derived from those same psychological principles. (you know the trick about not calling or making yourself look busy and unavailable to raise her interest? Yeah, we're talking about Law #16 in the 48 Laws of Power book).

Why not just go straight to the source and be in a position to understand stuff for yourself?
 

undesputable

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Originally posted by Black_Italian
First of all from what i wrote you do not know me well enough to pass judgement on me. You are calling me stupid yet you are the one jumping to conclusions. I may or may not have control over every area in my life and for you to call me stupid without knowing for a fact if i do or dont makes you the stupid one. Are you following?
from that and the other post post, i know enough about you to pass judgement
 

I'm Joe Dirt

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Let me ask you black_italian, whats wrong with reading some pop psychology to help you understand people including yourself better?

You are definitley over compensating for something if you think you are the sh1t and don't need any advice or knowledge ever to get what you want. And we all know thats not the case, otherwise you wouldn't be on this website.
 

Just because a woman listens to you and acts interested in what you say doesn't mean she really is. She might just be acting polite, while silently wishing that the date would hurry up and end, or that you would go away... and never come back.

Quote taken from The SoSuave Guide to Women and Dating, which you can read for FREE.

diceman

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Hey Joe. I've been getting more & more intersted in this kind of thing recently. Well, mainly philsopical ideas, but still the psychological realm is definatly something i'd like to know more about.
I may check out some of those books.

Oh, by the way, I know you mentioned that you're opposed to 'self help' books, but I've found a copy 'How to win friends & infulence people' in my attic. It's a very famous book & i was wondering if i should invest my time in it? Whats your view on this particular book?
 

undesputable

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Originally posted by diceman


Oh, by the way, I know you mentioned that you're opposed to 'self help' books, but I've found a copy 'How to win friends & infulence people' in my attic. It's a very famous book & i was wondering if i should invest my time in it? Whats your view on this particular book?
thats a good book....it has basic concepts, but concepts that not a lot of people practice and then the author tells lots of stories and examples of that stuff.
 

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Undesputable the sad fact is you don’t know enough yo pass judgement because if you did you wouldn’t say that. But I won’t sit here arguing I have more constructive things to do with my time.

As for you Joe what did I say to undesputable about jumping to conclusions:

"Yet you use tips and tricks on this website derived from those same psychological principles. (You know the trick about not calling or making yourself look busy and unavailable to raise her interest? Yeah, we're talking about Law #16 in the 48 Laws of Power book)". “Back to square one huh?”

It’s hard to believe that after reading all these books you have not learnt that jumping to conclusions when you don’t know for a fact is dangerous. You would think such a topic would be covered in how not to annoy people or how to not make yourself look like an idiot. Anyway like I said to your friend up there I don’t have time to argue with you. So I will let you two have the last word so you can feel all POWERFUL oh look and you didn’t even have to use the 48 laws.
 

I'm Joe Dirt

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How to Win Friends & Influence People is a classic, it was designed as a self help book but it does actually go over how people think and stuff, it is written almost along the same lines as Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, but less scientific (as the latter was written more scientifically with citing studies and all).

Black Italian, I made the conclusion that you are probably still not with anyone by your claiming that you've picked up 48 girls in the last month (obviously number is designed to coincide with 48 laws of power, but I assumed that you picked up a large number anyway and used the number for comedic value).

And quite frankly if anyone is picking up so many girls then obviously they are not attached to anyone or they're not with the right person and thus cheat on them. Maybe the 48th one was the one, who knows, but statistically speaking my assumptions were a safe bet. It's called inductive reasoning, try it out in a logic/philosophy class sometime.


Diceman, I'm glad you're getting interest in this genre of books and stuff, because it is a very interesting one indeed. When it comes to understanding people psychological books are the way to go. Philosophy is great when studying large amounts of people without paying attention to the details, but when it comes to understanding human behavior in every day settings Pop Psychology is the way to go.

The reason I say its Pop Psychology is because its designed around studies conducted in real world situations in the modern world and written to be understood by anyone who reads it, as opposed to traditional psychology which is often based on studies conducted in labs and written in incomprehensible language like Freud's books.

I would highly recommend Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion first. Its a very interesting read and will help you set the frame of mind for understanding how people think and how they can be duped into believing things.

Communicating Effectivley for Dummies would be a good book to also start out with (or read after Influence) and it will teach you all you need to know about successful communication.

The 48 Laws of Power, finally, would show you how psychological principles and communication principles could be manipulated and used for truley malicious purposes. As I've said earlier, lots of the examples in this book are of famous con artists, so you will learn some really neat ways to trick people and by seeing all the different ways people can be tricked it will inspire you to come up with your own cunning strategies for getting what you want.

Enjoy!
 

diablo

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AE...

Good reviews, however you might want to run a search - many of these books have already been discussed several times before.
 

Men frequently err by talking too much. They often monopolize conversations, droning on and on about topics that bore women to tears. They think they're impressing the women when, in reality, they're depressing the women.

Quote taken from The SoSuave Guide to Women and Dating, which you can read for FREE.

al77

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Originally posted by I'm Joe Dirt


1. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

You can probably apply this principle to women as well. What if you were to do them a favor unsolicited? Lets say a girl is working on a paper for school, you could send her a few good sources if you know anything about her topic, or maybe a girl mentioned she sometimes skipped breakfast - so why not next time you see her in class or school or whatever bring her a snack?

This, if done correctly and in moderation, could have some uses. After you bringing her a few snacks and helping her out on a paper, ask her if she'd do you a big favor and help you find a "new look"? Then ask her if she could go shopping with you for clothes (for YOU) and help you pick stuff out.
I have read this book, it is written really well - the auther has a wonderful style...

Although I do not think the principles there are applicable to women. Women "work" against any logic, the follow their own "women's" rules.

What is going to happen with a girl is: she'll accpet your help, sure, and next time she'll ask you directly for the help. She'll sponge your time and energy man.
Not sure if she'd accepts snacks: she is picky and probably on a diet.
Now she sees you as somebody she can use...and this is exctly drop her IL: she sees that as a sign of weakness. She knows that the man she wants is strong and will not allow to be manipulated.
Moreover how many time it was already discussed: no amounts of gifts would get you a woman. Why? She sees it as you are supplicating..."Please...go out with me... please... here is a gift for you... please...".

Women just do not posses the logic descibed in the book.
You gotta be selfish overconfident egoist who doesn't give a ****: then women would consider you as a man...
 

I'm Joe Dirt

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Well the thing is to disguise your intentions well by creating a totally belivable covery story (Law #3 in the 48 Laws of Power).

The favors you do shouldnt be often or many, or expensive for that matter. It wouldnt hurt you to take out a bag of cookies and offer some to her (if say they are individually wrapped) or if its hot and there is no A/C excuse yourself to get some water and bring her back a bottle of water or soda or something (this technique with bringing someone water unsolicited is a proven technique by a scientific study that the book mentions).

Do that two or three times over a few weeks and you should be fine.

Telling a girl that you want some help picking out clothes and you want her womanly opinion is a completley believable story as guys are known not to have a good fashion sense most of the time. It will be just an accident that you'll get hungry after or during shopping for clothing and invite her to join you. It will seem unplanned. Perhaps talk about food during looking for clothes to get her hungry too and make her suggest going to get something to eat (which she will at some point if you keep her shopping long enough and mentioning food once in a while).

Then she will for sure not know your original plan was to have a sit down meal with her and turn it into a date because she will be the one who suggested grabbing a bite to eat!

Also when asking her to go shopping with you don't do it right after you hand her a bottle of water or a bag of chips, do it a week later or a few days later. Heck, some girls don't need to be buttered up to go out with a guy to help him find clothes. But it never hurts to build some brownie points first, you never know when you are going to need them.

At the end of the date/get together you can suggest trying out another store next time if she is still up for it. Better yet talk about movies at some point and bring up some movies that aren't out yet that you want to see but are coming soon. Then you can say "hey looks like I got most of what I wanted, but I hear store x also has some cool stuff. You wanna check it out sometime? Maybe we can catch Movie Z afterwards!"

I'm sure a true DJ armed with knowledge of pop psychology and influence principles could think of ways to work them in for success.


Al77, you are absolutley right that none of the things in that book are about dating directly, but the principles of influence stay the same everywhere and thus with some creativity you can think of ways to apply them to dating or any other aspect that requires you to get some leverage.
 

al77

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Originally posted by I'm Joe Dirt

Al77, you are absolutley right that none of the things in that book are about dating directly, but the principles of influence stay the same everywhere and thus with some creativity you can think of ways to apply them to dating or any other aspect that requires you to get some leverage.
Those laws are powerfull - all right. But men rather make mistakes and lack creativity to use those influence principles correctly. Before I got to this forum I was a complete AFC - and therefore after reading the book I thought that supplicating with small gifts is a way to go...

I believe when it comes to women, there shuld be very specifc concept used, very different from the rest of the world...
 

Baseball05

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Hey, you know what Joe those books really are powerful. These last months or so after my freshman year in HS I have been intently reading on this subject. Though, I have yet to read the 48 Laws of Power. The power and manipulating dominance you can have over people is amazing, almost makes you feel bad. A lot of the authors use famous villians and whatnot, but it's amazing how genius they are, and how they implement these techniques. I think it is good to have a general understanding of this field, though taking it too far, I think can result in bad doings. Being so mentally ahead of your aquaintances can just become kind of sad. I think you need to be aware, but not over-use. Just by living an exciting full-filled life, that will help you attract women and improve your life altogether. Just my 2 cents.
 

I'm Joe Dirt

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Yeah baseball, I agree for the most part.

I've read some of these books (and a few others I didn't mention) over the last few years and they are powerful. Hence why I decided to post about them here.

The thing is that most people have the same though processes and process information in similar ways, and thats why such books that tell you what these processes are so powerful because if you know how to get in someone's head you can manipulate them to your advantage.

Good reads for people who want to get a leg up in picking up girls, and a must read for any aspiring con artist.
 

Peace and Quiet

If you currently have too many women chasing you, calling you, harassing you, knocking on your door at 2 o'clock in the morning... then I have the simple solution for you.

Just read my free ebook 22 Rules for Massive Success With Women and do the opposite of what I recommend.

This will quickly drive all women away from you.

And you will be able to relax and to live your life in peace and quiet.

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