Here’s how it’s done.

Check out our evil week tag page.

It’s ridiculously easy and it’s tough to avoid.

We’re going to take a look at some of the ways it can work.

Note: We’ve gotten a lot of emails about how to do this in specific situations.

Reverse Psychology Actually Works

Reverse psychology has become an enormous cliche.

I think this peaked in 1995 with the release of the filmJumanji.

(If you’ve seen it and remember it, you know what I’m talking about.)

The problem is that most people look at reverse psychology in a very simple way.

This isn’t reverse psychologyit’s passive-aggressive.

So let’s leave that all behind andstart from scratch.

If you’re going to use logic reversals in your favor, you should probably be subtle.

Let’s say you want your roommate to do the dishes because it’s his or her turn.

There’s always this approach:

Hey, would you mind doing the dishes?

It’s your turn.

So what do you do?

Is that cool with you?

If you want to give me some money, I can pick up extras for you, too.

What this does is present the crappy alternative to not doing the dishes without placing any blame.

Rather than being preoccupied with an accusation, your roommate is left to only consider the alternative.

This is how reverse psychology can be effective, so long as you say it like you mean it.

This is a common instruction, especially for salespeople, but it’s much easier said than done.

You have to look at planting ideas in the same way you’d look at solving a mystery.

If you take it slow, the idea will form naturally in their mind all by itself.

Let’s say you’re trying to get your friend to eat healthier food.

Out of concern you tell them to eat healthier.

If chicken is the target, you better make chicken seem really unappealing.

Next time you sneeze, make a joke about coming down with the avian flu.

This is another version of reverse psychology but at a less aggressive level.

Let’s say you’re trying to sell someone a hard drive.

They could buy a 250GB, 500GB, or 1TB hard drive.

You want to sell the largest hard drive possible because those cost more and mean more money for you.

Your buyer is coming in with the idea that they want to spend the least money possible.

Instead, you gotta cater to what they want: the cheap option.

Here’s a sample dialogue:

Buyer: Can you tell me about this 250GB hard drive?

I want to check that it will work for me.

You: What kind of computer do you have and what do you want to use it for?

Buyer: I have a 2-year old Windows laptop and I need it to store my photos.

I have about 30GB of photos.

This last sentence instills doubt in the buyer.