To better understand everything that is to follow, make sure you have already covered my previous post The Art of Balancing Femininity and Masculinity so you can follow along. If you wish to start from the original article, check out my post The Roadmap to Overman.
In this article you will learn the following:
- Evolutionary psychology
- Fundamentals of communication
- Manipulation skills
- Negotiation skills
- Debating skills
This chapter will be structured into five main parts: understanding the psychology, communication fundamentals, manipulation, negotiation, and debating. A thing to note, before you start reading these summaries is that you should never use these skills unethically. Knowledge is power, and the reason you should understand things like manipulation tactics is so you can spot when other people use them. There is a time and place for everything, but your intentions should always remain good.
Understanding the psychology
Communication fundamentals
Manipulation
Negotiation
Debating
Two rules of debate:
- If I can’t argue convincingly from both sides of the debate, I won’t debate. (The idea of steel manning)
- If there isn’t anything that could ever convince me otherwise from my beliefs, I won’t debate.
Understanding logical fallacies and psychological biases is crucial to becoming a skilled debater. You should be familiar with all of the concepts listed on these posters.
Additional resources
To better understand human psychology, you should take the time to read the psychology books that I listed in the Best Classic Books post. These novels will help you get a new perspective and they are also fun to read, so they can help you break the monotony of reading only self-improvement books.
To become better at arguing and debating, one thing that is even more important than understanding human psychology is understanding arguments in general. That is why you should read the book “Understanding Arguments“. If anybody is interested in going even more in-depth, make sure to also check out the book Win Every Argument.
Conclusion
The main takeaway is that you should always seek understanding before all else. If you are quick to judge you will be slow to build trust. Don’t be looking if you agree or disagree but rather focus on the person you are talking to. Instead of stating that you agree or disagree, ask them more about their answer and their opinion.
Actionable step:
- Read all of the summaries.
- Read the books “Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind“, “What Every Body Is Saying” and “Understanding Arguments“.
- Check out the psychology-based Classic Books from Additional resources.
Once you have done all of the actionable steps, move on to the next post Becoming a Leader.