Current Articles | Categories | Search | Syndication

Psychology

How to Know if Someone is Going to Break a Deal

By Ehsan Honary - Monday, August 20, 2007
:: 2 Comments ::

Have you ever wondered how can you protect yourself against a new player who may choose to break a deal with you in the current game? If you have never played with this player before, how can you discover what type of a player he is? What if you agree over something with him, and he comes back denying it later on? You could end up in trouble. Is there a technique that you can use to know if he has a tendency to stab you in the back? It turns out that there is indeed an effective method.

Are You an Opportunist or a Moderate?

By Ehsan Honary - Friday, July 13, 2007
:: 1 Comments ::

:: Psychology, Strategy

I came across an interesting article which discussed Iceberg Slim's writings. The world was divided between two types of people which I call, the opportunist and the moderate, defined as follows:

Opportunist. They approach every task with multiple potential solutions.

Moderate. They see the world in steps. They make one move at a time. They are to the point.

Using Risk as the pretext of examples, the following, which is loosely based on Iceberg Slim, makes this more clear.

How to Say No and Stay Friends

By Ehsan Honary - Tuesday, June 26, 2007
:: 1 Comments ::

:: Psychology, Diplomacy, Negotiation

Sometimes it can be incredibly difficult to say ‘no’. It is a simple word, but it just feels wrong to say ‘no’ when someone asks for a favour. Of course saying ‘no’ is easy if you don’t care about the person. What if you did care about the person, but you still wanted to say ‘no’ without hurting his feelings.

An example of a Risk game may clarify this. Suppose you are playing Risk online and your strategy is to conquer a continent such as South America. You also have some armies in Europe. A player approaches you and asks you to move your armies out of Europe. You want to say ‘no’. However, you want to say it in such a way that your opponent doesn't become hostile to you. There is no point in making enemies in the process. How do you do this?

How to Win in Risk or Any Competition - Part 2

By Ehsan Honary - Tuesday, June 05, 2007
:: 0 Comments ::

:: Psychology, Diplomacy, Strategy, Series

This article is part of a series of articles that show you how to win in any competition, including Risk. In the previous article you were shown how to be in command of your own mind. Control the mind and you can control everything. Here, the focus is on your opponent's mind. You will learn how to control it or even break it.

How to Win in Risk or Any Competition - Part 1

By Ehsan Honary - Thursday, May 31, 2007
:: 1 Comments ::

:: Psychology, Diplomacy, Strategy, Series

When it comes to competitions, everyone wants to win. The problem is that there can be only one winner. If you want to win, you have to stand out from the competition. Is there a secret behind this? It turns out that there is. After all, not everyone can win.

This series of articles provide a number of techniques that enable you to compete effectively in any competitive environment. Winning in Risk is no exception and examples are provided to demonstrate the key concepts.

How to Make Sure Your Opponent will Follow Through with the Deal

By Ehsan Honary - Saturday, May 19, 2007
:: 3 Comments ::

:: Psychology, Diplomacy, Strategy, Negotiation

My father said: "You must never try to make all the money that's in a deal. Let the other fellow make some money too, because if you have a reputation for always making all the money, you won't have many deals."

Jean Paul Getty

After a lot of diplomacy and propaganda, you manage to get your opponent to the negotiation table. You make fantastic moves in the negotiation and manage to convince him to make a deal with you. So far you are very happy with the results. However, there is one issue left. How do you make sure that your Risk opponent will commit to what he just promised? Surely, after all the hard work, you don't want to see all your efforts going to waste. What should you say or do to put him under pressure, so that even the thought of quitting on you does not occur to him?

How to Influence Others and Get Them to do What you Want

By Ehsan Honary - Wednesday, May 16, 2007
:: 1 Comments ::

:: Psychology, Diplomacy

There always comes a time when you want to influence others. You may need to use a variety of psychological tactics depending on the situation and the person you are dealing with. In this article, a number of scenarios are presented and for each a course of action is suggested. Remember, what matters is always the end game. If you want someone to do something for you, you need to keep focusing on the outcome. You need to make it easier for the other person to make the right choice, the choice that you desire. Here are a number of scenarios and solutions to help you get what you want.

How to Spot an Ally?

By Ehsan Honary - Sunday, May 06, 2007
:: 7 Comments ::

:: Psychology, Diplomacy, Strategy

It is sometimes desired to have allies in Risk. Having an ally has many benefits. You will have one less enemy to deal with. In addition, your ally is likely to fight with your enemies reducing their power even further. You may also get him to help you on strategies and initiate a campaign together as part of a global plan.

All in all this sounds great. However, as always there is a catch. The most fundamental problem is that there can only be one winner. As a result, you and your ally will inevitably need to face each other at some point in the game. Therefore, alliances are short term solutions. An alliance is there to benefit the two parties for a while and when the circumstances have changed, the alliance is terminated, expired or broken.

How to Know if Someone is Bluffing?

By Ehsan Honary - Thursday, May 03, 2007
:: 1 Comments ::

:: Psychology, Diplomacy

There are many times that you may be confronted with a situation that you like to instantly discover if someone is trying to deceive you. Is there a way to know for certain? Well, it turns out that there is indeed a technique you can use to know if someone is bluffing.

How to Get People to Like You?

By Ehsan Honary - Saturday, April 21, 2007
:: 0 Comments ::

:: Psychology, Diplomacy

Ever wondered how can you get people to like you. If they like you, the chances are that they will be on your side. There are a number of techniques you can use such as being with positive people, not trying to be too perfect, getting them to do favours and so on. Here, I will explore these and provide a number of examples in the context of Risk.