Improve your relationships with people in your inner and outer circles.
To learn how to de-escalate situations, we first need to understand why they escalate in the first place. Conflict between two parties occurs when there’s a clash of interests. The parties’ needs and wants differ; one party’s needs and wants interfere with the other’s. Escalation means that a conflict has intensified or is beginning to …
Neuroticism is one of the dimensions of the Big Five personality assessment, one of psychology’s most reliable personality assessments. The meaning of ‘being neurotic’ has evolved. In simple terms, it means to be emotionally unstable. A neurotic person has a greater tendency to experience ‘negative’ emotions like: They’re prone to getting stressed and, when stressed, …
Why are you looking to manipulate someone? The desire to manipulate stems from an unhealthy desire to control. It stems from weakness and insecurity. Whenever you feel compelled to manipulate, look within first and try to figure out where it’s stemming from. People manipulate because they don’t believe they can meet their needs by asking …
A compliment is like a greeting. When you greet someone, you acknowledge their existence and expect them to do the same. You communicate that you value them and want them to value you, too. The same reciprocity lies underneath the dynamics of compliments. When someone compliments you, they’re giving you a status boost. They’re raising …
If you badly need to put someone in their place, you’ve probably been a victim of verbal aggression. Examples of verbal aggression include: All these rude behaviors make you feel attacked. Since humans are wired to maintain their status and respect, you feel the need to defend yourself. You feel the need to put the …
Before you learn how to talk to someone who turns things around, you must thoroughly understand the phenomenon of ‘turning things around’. There are a lot of things going on in this dynamic that need to be well understood. In this article, I’ll break down what happens when someone turns everything around on you and …
To manipulate someone means to make them do something that’s not in their best interests. Manipulations always incur some cost on the manipulated and a benefit to the manipulator. Manipulation is different from influence. You can influence someone to do something that is in their best interests. For instance, a marketing campaign that influences you …
Human societies are unequal. This is a natural consequence of some people being more valuable to society than others. Like any group, society values members who contribute to the group’s success. You’ll be valuable and of high status, if you contribute greatly to society. If you don’t, your status will be low. What do I …
Projection in psychology means projecting your own mental states and traits onto others- traits that they don’t possess. Just as a movie projector projects moving images from a reel onto a screen, people project what’s going in their minds (reel) onto others (screen). The screen itself is blank. Projection is of two types: A) Positive …
It’s frustrating when every conversation with your loved one turns into an argument. When you’re done arguing and finally get the time to reflect on what happened, you’re like: “We fight over such minor and silly things!” Arguing once in a while is typical for relationships, but when every conversation turns into an argument- when …