I've read about how to plant ideas in someone's head , but the whole idea of bald-faced manipulation makes me uneasy. Still, I'm not great at making a case for what I want, even though I know it's a skill that's incredibly useful. Can you offer any suggestions to help me better convince others to do what I want? Sincerely, Unconvincing Dear Unconvincing, TV shows and movies focus on characters who are impeccable at reading others, so it's not unusual to wonder if these sorts of tricks are based in reality. To some extent they are, as you can learn a lot from body language and sometimes get what you want through manipulation , but popular psychology works more effectively in the vacuum of fiction. In the real world you can't always get what you want, but you can make more convincing arguments. People are going to do what they want to do, and it's not a simple matter of saying a few magic words to convince them that your needs should be th...
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