Interpersonal Persuasion Techniques
Techniques used in face-to-face interactions, relationships, and personal communication. These leverage rapport, body language, and conversational dynamics.
20 techniques in this category
DARVO
Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender — a reaction pattern used by those accused of wrongdoing to deflect accountability.
Stonewalling
Refusing to engage in communication or negotiation, shutting down dialogue entirely.
Isolation Tactics
Systematically cutting someone off from their support network to increase dependence and control.
Financial Control
Using money and economic resources as a tool to dominate, restrict, or punish another person.
Coercive Control
A sustained pattern of domination through monitoring, intimidation, and restriction of autonomy.
Intermittent Reinforcement
Alternating unpredictably between reward and punishment to create intense emotional attachment.
Double Bind
Creating a situation where someone is punished no matter which option they choose.
Emotional Blackmail
Using fear, obligation, and guilt (FOG) to control another person's behavior.
Parentification
Forcing a child or subordinate into an inappropriate caretaking role, reversing the natural hierarchy of care.
Projection
Attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or behaviors to someone else.
Playing the Victim
Falsely positioning oneself as the aggrieved party to gain sympathy and deflect accountability.
Boundary Violation Testing
Gradually pushing past someone's stated limits to see how much they will tolerate.
Hot Cold Cycling
Alternating between intense warmth and sudden coldness to keep someone emotionally destabilized.
Information Withholding
Deliberately keeping someone in the dark to maintain a power advantage.
Weaponized Incompetence
Deliberately performing tasks poorly so that others stop asking you to do them.
Passive Aggression
Expressing hostility indirectly through subtle actions, backhanded compliments, or deliberate inefficiency.
Trauma Bonding
Forming a powerful emotional attachment to an abuser through cycles of abuse and intermittent kindness.
Smear Campaigns
Systematically spreading false or misleading information about someone to damage their reputation and isolate them.
Flying Monkeys
Recruiting third parties to do your bidding in pressuring, monitoring, or harassing a target.
Future Faking
Making elaborate promises about the future with no intention or ability to follow through.