In my experience, the most susceptible people to psychological manipulation are the ones who believe they are immune to it. Carnival hucksters have done that for generations: tell someone they are smart, too smart to be fooled, then fool them. Con artistry comes from “confidence” after all.
Same deal with cults. The average cult member is smarter than the general population, at least when it comes to education and IQ measurements. But they are more likely to be convinced that they have come across special secret truths.
I know a guy who fits the latter category to a T. Well, used to. He was into holocaust denial in 2015 and started about half of his sentences with “Well, actually”. No idea what happened to him. He always felt like he got some social currency from being that guy that knows things, despite dropping out of uni multiple times.
In my experience, the most susceptible people to psychological manipulation are the ones who believe they are immune to it. Carnival hucksters have done that for generations: tell someone they are smart, too smart to be fooled, then fool them. Con artistry comes from “confidence” after all.
Same deal with cults. The average cult member is smarter than the general population, at least when it comes to education and IQ measurements. But they are more likely to be convinced that they have come across special secret truths.
I know a guy who fits the latter category to a T. Well, used to. He was into holocaust denial in 2015 and started about half of his sentences with “Well, actually”. No idea what happened to him. He always felt like he got some social currency from being that guy that knows things, despite dropping out of uni multiple times.
Not like us, we’re mega smrt