Machiavellians: Gulling the Rubes

How to Handle Master Manipulators

Dale Hartley MBA, Ph.D.

Criminal Malingering: Defendants Who Fake Mental Illness

Malingering is faking illness to gain a benefit or avoid responsibility. Two brazen criminal malingering cases are presented along with the clever ways by which they were exposed.

Forosophobia: Fear of Taxes and the IRS

Tax-time dread and IRS aversion are very real. When it comes to taxes, some people have a full-blown phobia. There has never been a name for this phenomenon, until now.

Mark Twain, President Grant, and the Con Man

A Ponzi scheme bankrupted President Grant and brought down a major New York Bank. With Mark Twain's help, Grant recovered some of his fortune. Who was this consummate swindler?

The Wolfman's Lament: People Who Believe They Are Animals

Clinical zoanthropy or lycanthropy is a type of psychosis in which people believe they have become animals. Cases date back to antiquity. Several modern cases are presented.

Insurrection and the "No True Scotsman" Fallacy

The “no true Scotsman” fallacy may be used to gain an unfair advantage in arguments. It affected 2020 electoral politics and may feature prominently in this week's horrific events.

Polyembolokoilamania: Putting It Where the Sun Don’t Shine

Polyembolokoilamania is insertion of foreign objects into one's orifices. A government database tracks cases that require emergency medical extraction. Several cases are presented.

Don't Fall in Love With a Schemer

When someone habitually schemes and deceives, that person is probably a Machiavellian. But you don't need to label them. Their persistent duplicity is your flashing warning sign.

Stalking Spielberg: A Close Encounter of the Gun Kind

When told by police that a stalker tried to purchase a gun to kill him, Stephen Spielberg obtained a restraining order. Do such orders deter or inflame stalkers?

From Anomie to Zozobra: Words That Explain Our Dystopia

Understanding the dystopian world that confronts us requires having words and ideas that accurately express what is happening.

Delirium or Psychosis? The Strange Death of Edgar Allan Poe

Poe was found semi-conscious in a Baltimore tavern wearing someone else's clothes. Delirious and hallucinating, he died four days later. Strange clues point to what happened.

Positive Psychology: Is It "Saccharine Terrorism"?

When positive psychology is used as a means of gaslighting and manipulating people, it is rendered into something saccharine, superficial, abusive, and distorted.

Psychologist, Mother, and Family Annihilator

A mother who was also a psychologist practicing marriage and family counseling reportedly killed her children and then herself rather than share custody. What led to this tragedy?

A True Tale of Necrophilia for Halloween

Here is a true tale that could have been penned by Edgar Allen Poe. The setting: a sepulchre late at night, where beauty and untimely death meet psychotic love and necrophilia.

The Porcupine Dilemma: What Sigmund Freud Knew

Freud kept a small metal porcupine on his desk as a reminder of "the porcupine dilemma," which he considered essential for understanding relationships.

Is QAnon a Shared Psychotic Disorder?

The disease model is helpful in understanding how QAnon's outlandish and unverifiable claims gained wide acceptance. Three cases illustrate the viral spread of QAnon.

The Cobra Effect: No Loophole Goes Unexploited

If a plasma center offers double payment to donors with Covid-19, would people deliberately infect themselves just to score a few dollars more?

Compartmentalization: The Mindset of Authoritarian Voters

To avoid cognitive dissonance, some people suppress awareness of contradictory beliefs. See a man assert contradictory political opinions twice within 30 seconds.

The 7 Types of Celebrity Stalkers

Recent research has identified 7 types of stalkers who target public figures, based on their motivations.

2020: Double, Double Toil and Trouble

The plague came to England the same year Shakespeare was born. Compare the reaction of 16th century Europeans to 21st century Americans.

The Psychopaths of Flannery O'Connor

She set her stories in "the Christ-haunted South." Her characters are from a place and an era of segregationist Baptists, tent revival Pentecostals, and itinerant Bible salesmen.

Refuse to Be Constrained

All complex systems, including humans, have limitations or "constraints." The theory of constraints offers a process for eliminating or improving them.

Refuse to Be Resilient

Resilience is coping with and enduring adversity. Why not gain strength and thrive?

Stump the Psychologist: An Encounter with Machiavellians

This case study of my encounter with a manipulative couple illustrates how confusion, puzzlement, and sense of "having been had” are typical of encounters with High Machs.

Brandolini’s Law: Why Bullshooters Outperform Bull Refuters

"The amount of energy needed to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."

Can Psychology Help Solve a Murder Mystery? Analysis

An elderly couple is killed in their gated community. He is decapitated. She is dumped in a lake 6 miles away. No forced entry, and nothing is taken. Now the case has gone cold.

Can Psychology Help Solve a Murder Mystery? Cold Case

An elderly couple is killed in their gated community. He is decapitated. She is dumped in a lake 6 miles away. No forced entry, and nothing is taken. Now the case has gone cold.

The Abilene Paradox: Why People Go Along to Get Along

Going along to get along can minimize conflict and dispel cognitive dissonance. It can also produce dire consequences.

Who Knows What Psychopathology Lurks Behind Closed Doors?

Salespeople and service technicians who make house calls know what lurks behind the closed doors of suburbia. And what tales they can tell!

Most Family Annihilators Are White Males—But Not This Time

In this case, the alleged killers are female, African-American, and one is a family member who was not slain, but who allegedly participated in the crime.

How Do Serial Child Molesters Hope to Get Away with It?

Just as he (or she) cons victims before abusing them, the predatory pedophile cons himself or herself as well. This leads to a sense of power and invulnerability.

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