Chapter 1: Delving into Dark Psychology

Suspicion grows around a teacher whose wife goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary. The missing case of his wife, a children's book author, becomes sensational news all over the media. Ill-concealed evidence of struggle around the house, cleaned bloodstains, an apathetic husband who’s also known to be an unfaithful partner, allege him as the prime suspect in the murder of his wife. The case takes a dramatic shift when the truth is unearthed...(read more)

In dog-whistle terms, dark psychology is the human mind's dark side. While psychology believes that behaviors and personality types are inherently central to thoughts and actions, Dark psychology studies an emotionally unhealthy psychological strategy with manipulative tactics people use to get what they want.

Over the past decades, research and several studies have gone into understanding individuals’ mental processes, whether good or bad. Some experiments on the brain look at the physical aspects of how you store or interpret data. Sometimes the response to our emotions is purely out of instinct. People are at times persuaded to bring out their darker side; these are triggered responses to external factors that might not harm anybody in most cases. But a few others willfully unleash the darkness within them. Unfortunately, this category of people thrives off it and could be vicious.

Now there are predisposing, or precipitating factors mainly manifested from our childhood. They are biological markers or traumatic experiences in different stages of our life. The extent to which this individual might go is difficult to deter, yet analyzing their actions, and thought processes can prevent future consequences.

Analyzing Dark Psychological Concepts

The idea of Dark Psychology has been around for several years now. People are terrified and fascinated by what it could do to their minds against their will. Conspiracy theorists have several explanations for the misuse of power by the government to control small groups of people. Studies are conducted on serial killers and criminals to understand why they do what they do. Despite everything, certain aspects of Dark Psychology and mind control are overlooked or seen from a broader perspective.

Let me break down the different forms of mind control to understand their similarities and differences. There’s a lot of information on mind control tactics. While Brainwashing will require a lot of time and effort, techniques like Deception, Manipulation, and Persuasion influence people now and then.

Brainwashing

In 1950 during the communist regime in North Korea, South Korea was invaded, which led to the US rallying American troops. The United States, which at that time occupied South Korea, sent over 300,000 troops. Soon after the Cold War broke out, the US noticed something unusual with the released American troops who were held captive by the communist. Upon their release from war camps, many American troops preached the virtue of communism and its superiority rather than telling the horrific tales of the Soviet Union. This left the Americans dumbfounded about how the government could change the ideologies of their men.

Brainwashing is nothing but altering and controlling a human mind using specific psychological techniques. While subjects are brainwashed, they will be convinced to change their beliefs and ideologies. It begins with separating them from what they know and breaking them into a state of vulnerability. From there on, new ideas are fed into their brains, and when the subject reciprocates, they are rewarded. The reward is what reinforces them into being brainwashed. First off, this isn’t something that can be easily acquired and needs constant effort and persuasion. Most importantly, the subject must be isolated because social interaction and influences could disrupt the technique.

Hypnosis

Many people question Hypnosis - what is it? How does it work? Why does it work? When we hear the word hypnosis, we all have an image of a pendulum swinging left to right. Far from this idea, Hypnosis is a much more careful mind control technique that only professionals in psychology can administer. The subject falls into an altered state of mind which is now susceptible to suggestions. Hypnosis is a relaxed state of mind close to when we are about to fall asleep.

During this state of mind, our brain activates the Neocortex and Limbic part. In comparison, one helps us in reasoning and decision-making, and the other acts as a storehouse of emotional memories. According to neuroscientists, our decision-making depends on the emotional component. When our brain receives a stimulus, it tries to decode it based on past experiences. Hypnosis activates the limbic brain, which covers long-forgotten memories; this enables the conscious part of our brain to override these patterns, allowing us to develop a new perspective on our deeply rooted behavior patterns. Hypnosis assists subjects in aspects of self-esteem, irrational fears, or stress.

Persuasion

Communication that intends to influence the receiver in some way is persuasion. It’s a form of mind control that lets you alter attitude, opinion, perception, emotion, or behavior. The reality is that we’re all influencing and being influenced by someone. Think about the election campaigns; what makes you vote for an election candidate? When you talk politics, you might persuade someone to think the way you do. When someone’s giving you a sales pitch, you fall for their marketing tactics rather than looking at the product’s credibility. This form of mind control is so prevalent that they are all bent on changing our minds, and most of us live without realizing it.

Deception and Manipulation

While they both seem the same, they stand out as slightly different from each other. As humans, we are exposed to stimuli and influences and prone to being socially manipulated; on the other hand, we also use social manipulation to connect with others in our daily lives. In simple terms, Deception is making someone believe in something that isn’t true, and Manipulation is attempting to influence someone’s belief and controlling it to your advantage.

Imagine this - you walk into an electronic store fully aware of the features of a product you’re looking to purchase. A salesperson approaches you and talks about non-existent features of the product to convince you to buy it. Here, he’s deceptive and untruthful. And then, you approach a different salesperson who highlights the product's best specifications, overlooking all the flaws. Here, while he’s only trying not to disappoint a potential buyer, he’s also manipulating you. Both Deception and Manipulation have the same motive but different approaches.

The Bizarre Case of Gypsy Rose Blanchard

Born in 1991, Gypsy Rose Blanchard was the only daughter of Dee Dee Blanchard. At a very young age, Dee Dee claimed her daughter had several illnesses ranging from sleep apnea, leukemia, and muscular dystrophy, which could develop into her having seizures, asthma, hearing, and visual impairments. But the truth over all the lies was revealed when Gypsy’s boyfriend murdered Dee Dee in 2015.

Gypsy Rose, as it’s obvious, didn’t have a normal childhood. She wasn’t allowed to go to school, make friends in her neighborhood, or even speak unless asked. Due to the actions of Dee Dee, Gypsy had to undergo several surgeries and years of unnecessary treatments.

Since Dee Dee had some nurse training, people blindly believed her and thought she accurately prescribed medications to Gypsy. Sometimes Gypsy was offered drugs to mimic certain conditions to acquire records of her medical history.

Behind the lies, Gypsy was normal; she could walk and eat like every kid. But her hair was shaved off to make it seem like she had cancer. The primary motive of all the fabricated medical records was to gain sympathy and attention from the public. They even lived off charity funds.

Experts believe that Dee Dee had Munchausen Syndrome by proxy, which can also be called a fictitious disorder imposed on another. These manipulative tactics continued even when Gypsy grew older. Dee Dee forged her birth certificates to make her seem younger than she was. They received benefits and charity-sponsored funds from a devoted caretaker. Although suspicion arose about Gypsy’s condition, Dee Dee was smart enough to convince them away.

In 2015, Gypsy met a stranger on an online dating app, and they soon fell in love. However, Gypsy manipulated him to kill her mother so they could be together. On an ordinary day, Godejohn visited Gypsy’s house and stabbed her mother several times. Gypsy and Godejohn fled the crime scene as Dee Dee succumbed to death.

The news of Dee Dee’s death left people perplexed. They wondered why Gypsy didn’t stand up in public if she wanted to expose Dee Dee’s lies and why she went to the extent of killing her. Despite the accusations, Gypsy had just one explanation - she was conditioned to think that no one would believe her.

The fact that her entire life was under a mask, living the life of a hostage, made it challenging to come out of the wormhole of her mother’s Deception. This, in turn, persuaded her to manipulate Godejohn into killing Dee Dee. The case was closed when Gypsy Rose Blanchard pled guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to prison for ten years.

In the case study of Gypsy Rose, we see that her vulnerability crushed her from standing up for herself (well, literally). The methods her perpetrator (Dee Dee) used were innocent, primarily in the eyes of people. The emotional needs and desires of Dee Dee allowed her to twist facts in her favor, which eventually turned against her.

Manipulation isn’t a one-sided technique; while there’s a manipulator on the one hand, there’s an equally vulnerable individual on the other.

Now, this isn’t necessarily the kind of vulnerability you feel standing at gunpoint. Instead, it could be anything you see, hear, or think that instead seems trivial and goes unnoticed. Manipulators may range from your local grocery stores or a pushy salesman at your doorstep to an abusive relationship or a toxic workspace. Some of these are easier to spot, while others take time and possibly an emotional trauma.

According to experts, Manipulation involves three factors: fear, obligation, and guilt. Fear of putting your relationship at risk, being obligated to keep everything afloat, and feeling guilty for even the slightest inconvenience is all on your checklist of Manipulation.

History of Psychological Studies on Manipulation and Persuasion

In the section on Brainwashing, we read about a historical event when the communist of North Korea brainwashed the American troops. Let me walk you through some of the studies after that and how the history turned out to be covertly scandalous.

In the 1950s to 60s, during the Cold War, the US highly doubted the mind control techniques used on their soldiers held captive in North Korea. And so, in 1953, the Director of Central Intelligence - Allen W Dulles - made a breakthrough with the MK- Ultra Project.

The goal was to develop an experiment that would enable them to control an enemy’s mind using a range of psychedelics like LSD, Ecstasy, Heroin, and stimulants like Methamphetamine combined with psychological tactics.

The experiments were barbaric, wherein the participants were exposed to electroconvulsive therapy and sensory deprivation using the antipsychotic drug Thorazine and Anaesthesia. These participants ranged from prisoners to students and patients across the US and Canada. The worst part? Most of them never knew that they were participating.

Studies within MK-Ultra conducted in the later years from 1953-1960 were nothing less brutal. Operation Midnight Climax (San Francisco & New York 1954-1963) and The Montreal Experiments (McGill University, Canada 1957-1964) promoted controversial methods used on over 300 subjects. Some of them were predisposed to Schizophrenia, Anxiety, and Depression, so they signed up for this experiment hoping to rehabilitate themselves. Instead, most of them regressed to retrograde amnesia and a child-like stage, leaving them impaired for a lifetime.

The MK-Ultra was abruptly shut down in 1966 by the then CIA Director - Richard Helms, who ordered the destruction of all related documents. Over time, this was known to be the government’s worst abuse of power by disregarding human rights.

Although these experiments are history, it’s not hard to notice that coercive tactics are still prevalent in commercials, sales, working environments, or even our households. Sometimes, people are even trained to Manipulate under certain sales and marketing programs. Many of these programs glorify these tactics in the name of revenue and bonus. 

Continue Reading: 

Chapter 2: The Dark Triad: Dark Personality Traits