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⬅️ Previous: Identification Persuasion/Manipulation

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Description

• Fact persuasion is the simple change in facts to make them more attractive. Numbers, dates, or any other fact;
• When facts are twisted in an extreme manner, giving people a completely wrong impression, it becomes fact manipulation;
• Usually, facts can either be twisted (slight changes), replaced (radical changes), or simply omitted;

How It Works

• By changing the facts which are presented, you can easily draw the wrong conclusion from something;
• The person may just tell you the wrong facts and get you to draw your own conclusion, or they can also suggest a wrong conclusion themselves;

How to Protect Yourself from It

• The basic - but effective manner - to fight this type of manipulation is to fact-check something. In short, you want to search for other facts that either verify, complement, or contradict these facts;
• A frequent type - which is also a type of context manipulation - is using limited timeframes that give a specific impression (such as saying that sales are 25% this quarter, but, taking a longer view, they have been down for years).
  • In those cases, the solution is the same for fact manipulation and context manipulation - it’s to actively seek longer timeframes, or just more facts that put these in perspective, and help you realise how accurate these facts really are, in that longer view;

Techniques That Cause It

• Using attractive or specific numbers
• Omitting/filtering facts
• Twisting facts
• Lying about facts
• Baseline manipulation
• Disengaging critical thinking
• Quantification Misdirects
• Contrast Misdirects
• Something “never” happening to a series

Examples

In How Manipulation Works

All Other Examples

Persuasionverse Relationships

Executive Presence

How Manipulation Works

Fundamentals of Story Selling

Ultimate Persuasion Psychology

Present in Courses

• How Manipulation Works (9-in-1 Course Bundle);

Additional Materials

• Manipulating Baselines and Timelines (PDF file in *How Manipulation Works* Course Companion DLC);
• The Epidemic of “Confidently Incorrect” (PDF file in *How Manipulation Works* Course Companion DLC);

Best Entertainment Representation

Billions S03E05: Flaw in the Death Star

Billions S03 Analysis

00:32:00, Spyros complaining to Wags about Dollar Bill

• Summary: Trader Dollar Bill wants to get a dirty trade to pass compliance. Instead of going short on a stock, which is blocked, he tries to go long on CDSs, which is “the opposite of the opposite”, but ends up being pretty much the same trade. He changes the facts to try and get it to pass compliance;
• Here we see a very fun example of fact manipulation;
• So, Dollar Bill wanted to short the stock of a company (bet against it), because he has inside information that it will go down. He asked for permission from Compliance (Spyros) and was refused;
• So what he did was, he technically didn’t short the company. But instead, he went long on CDS (Credit Default Swaps), which are instruments that have a payoff if the company defaults on its credit;
• So he essentially did the same exact thing, but in a different way;
• But the facts are, he didn’t short the company, technically;
• He still got caught anyway, and it got ugly, but it’s a great example;
• (Could also be considered Standard Manipulation, because it’s arbitrage within the rules of compliance. He’s “technically” not shorting the stock, but doing everything he can within that rule);