[HN Gopher] An ex-FBI agent's guide to winning people over
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       An ex-FBI agent's guide to winning people over
        
       Author : blindboysnoozes
       Score  : 61 points
       Date   : 2021-10-06 17:24 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (memod.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (memod.com)
        
       | jazzyjackson wrote:
       | It would be nice if the FBI would win fewer people over as far as
       | kidnapping and bomb plots go.
        
         | actusual wrote:
         | Is the FBI missing a lot of bomb plots?
        
           | alisonkisk wrote:
           | No, because they create most of them.
        
           | rcurry wrote:
           | Only the real ones.
        
         | rcurry wrote:
         | FBI Agent: "Who wants to be a firetruck?"
         | 
         | Mentally Impaired Guy: "Oh! Me! Me! Me!"
         | 
         | FBI Agent: (into secret wristwatch radio) "Get HQ on the line,
         | I've got another major terror plot candidate on the hook!"
        
       | slowhand09 wrote:
       | https://tenor.com/view/how-do-you-do-fellow-kids-steve-busce...
        
       | gvv wrote:
       | Thanks Mr FBI man
        
       | Loughla wrote:
       | Every time I see one of these 'how to make friends and influence
       | people' sort of lists, I can't help but fear for the young people
       | who will take them as gospel and act like a robot, moving through
       | them as a checklist.
       | 
       | Also, this one is summed up as - pay attention to non-verbal
       | communication (body language), pay attention to group dynamics,
       | be available and in proximity when appropriate and available
       | fluidly, get people to talk about themselves, and be interested
       | in other people.
       | 
       | In other words, act like a person who is trying to make friends
       | with another person.
        
         | go_prodev wrote:
         | > Every time I see one of these 'how to make friends and
         | influence people' sort of lists, I can't help but fear for the
         | young people who will take them as gospel and act like a robot,
         | moving through them as a checklist.
         | 
         | Not a "young person" anymore, but with all of the recent
         | isolation, I think this will be helpful for me and presumably
         | others who are reemerging into society and hoping to find
         | people to spend time with.
         | 
         | Thanks for the tip though...must remember it's not a checklist!
        
         | tartoran wrote:
         | It seems like charming psychopaths are using most of these
         | checklists to further their goals and fly under the radar. One
         | must admit that these checklists are just common sense and not
         | bad in themselves, what is bad is the goal of winning people
         | over for attaining some nefarious goal or gain some advantage.
        
         | d23 wrote:
         | And yet it seems so rare. I can get people talking about
         | themselves for an endless amount of time. Rarely do I come
         | across anyone who actually seems to do the same for others.
        
         | wayneftw wrote:
         | So, giving out good advice is bad because people might follow
         | it robotically or get it wrong in some other way?
         | 
         | I'm not sure what my conclusion should be. I don't see a
         | problem with this list.
        
         | Dove wrote:
         | My favorite theme of the referenced book is that the best way
         | to get people to like you is to act like you care about them,
         | and the best way to act like you care about them is to
         | _actually care about them_. Tactics are worth knowing, but
         | nothing replaces authenticity.
        
         | agumonkey wrote:
         | I concur.
         | 
         | Also I'm fascinated how in those days, in the US, anything was
         | a business. Any microscopic hurdle can be turned into profit by
         | selling your experience and whatever little trick you found to
         | gain whatever little edge.
         | 
         | We're people, stop trying to have skills to win a spot in
         | society.
         | 
         | This is all fear induced, because we all feel like we need a
         | spot in the social tissue. But playing that game makes you
         | often very shallow.
         | 
         | There's a lot to say about social dynamics and these are only
         | the beginning and in the end it doesn't provide real value:
         | long term quality bonds.
        
         | parthdesai wrote:
         | yeah, basically it's these two rules:
         | 
         | 1) Be nice
         | 
         | 2) Don't be an asshole
        
         | throw3849 wrote:
         | You assume all people are well socialised and already
         | understand non-verbal communication. Some people do not
         | recognise different faces, let alone facial expressions. This
         | sort of checklists are very helpfull.
        
         | ashtonkem wrote:
         | Turns out the fastest way to make someone like you is to
         | actually pay attention to them. Most people are so focused on
         | what they're going to say next that they don't listen fully,
         | and people really like feeling like they've been heard.
        
           | agumonkey wrote:
           | I have a little theory. The best way is to pay attention to
           | the group. Not a person, not you, the group.
        
       | decebalus1 wrote:
       | - weak bullshit self-help content
       | 
       | - account created an hour ago
       | 
       | why is this on HNs frontpage?
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | _jal wrote:
       | "I'm going to improve myself by aping methods used by insincere
       | LEOs to manipulate marks" might not be the best approach to
       | improving one's social life.
        
       | coenhyde wrote:
       | Good. But it's not hard to spot people who deliberately apply
       | these techniques and it always makes me suspicious. Or maybe the
       | ones I spot are just bad at their craft.
        
         | Loughla wrote:
         | You probably spot the ones who are deliberately applying it
         | every time. The ones who do it fluidly you think of as nice
         | people.
         | 
         | The problem is, even the people who do this stuff deliberately
         | still get you to talk about yourself, so you can't help but
         | like them a little.
         | 
         | Therapists/Counselors are maybe the only people who can do this
         | deliberately and not have it seem like they're moving through a
         | checklist like a lizard wearing a people suit.
        
           | cassepipe wrote:
           | I like to think of myself as someone nice, I apply those
           | techniques without thinking much about it. Still I regularly
           | encounter people who don't like nice people, and seem to
           | think they are somewhat suspect.
        
       | vernie wrote:
       | Never let your guard down for narcs.
        
         | potatoman22 wrote:
         | You got the real guide right here
        
       | 35fbe7d3d5b9 wrote:
       | Warmed over pop sci laundered through social media and veneered
       | with dubious expertise.
       | 
       | If you don't have the unlimited might and funds of the federal
       | government to "win people over" by being a phony, try being
       | sincere. Most people seem to like that.
        
         | ashtonkem wrote:
         | Kind of funny that a FBI agent is being floated as a charm
         | expert. Aren't FBI agents notoriously stiff and awkward?
        
           | dragonwriter wrote:
           | > Kind of funny that a FBI agent is being floated as a charm
           | expert
           | 
           | Not really, given the way the FBI engages in infiltration as
           | a key investigative tactic.
           | 
           | > Aren't FBI agents notoriously stiff and awkward?
           | 
           | That's a stereotype that exists, sure.
        
           | d23 wrote:
           | I'm gonna guess that an expert FBI interrogator probably
           | isn't.
        
           | tingletech wrote:
           | Not the FBI agent who lived in my building for awhile. He was
           | very slickly smoozy.
        
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       (page generated 2021-10-06 23:01 UTC)