Manipulation is part of our life. There are few groups of mental shortcuts that make us vulnerable, and countless variations and combinations of them. People are willing to die for them - and this is not a metaphor. They would go to war, they would take poison, they would choose a career - the one they hate... They may even create a car accident - without realizing that they are repeating a scenario described in the yesterday's newspaper... But mostly they would spend time and money.YOUR life, your time and your money.This is when the knowlege turns into power, because when you know what can be used against you, you have a choice. Learn to recognize modern manipulation techniques and to resist them. Learn to use mental shortcuts to manipulate others. * * *The world is a very complex place. There is no way for us to always keep in mind all factors we need. Consider driving a car. Do you remember, when you were learning to operate this thing, you had to pay attention to everything? And now - you just do it. How? By using shortcuts. Instead of "when you see the green light, slow down, look around, restart your car and carefully pass the intersection" you are just doing "when you see green - go". A shortcut, that works most of the time - until someone drives on red and hits your car.Now, when you read an article in the newspaper, how do you decide, if it is true or not? Are you going to the library - every time - to research the subject? No, you are using shortcuts again.For example, if I see an article on the stock trading written by Warren Buffet himself, I will probably believe it more, then if the author is a chairman of the local folk music society. A shortcut.And now comes the important part - we usually do not realize that we are using shortcuts. We just do them. Automatically. No thinking involved. Of course it makes us vulnerable.Don't take me wrong. We need shortcuts. They are very valuable. They help us to make decisions fast, and with minimum efforts.Until the same shortcuts are used in the commercials, or by politicians...For example, you know what the word "sale" means, right? You place this sign in front of the store, and customers know that they came to the right place for a great bargain.Let's experiment. Let's place the sign (as they do in newspapers when selling life insurance) and INCREASE the price. People will still come! Try it. Shop around to get an idea of what life insurance costs and then compare it to the "great price limited time" offers in newspaper. You might find, that (as any dictionary would confirm) the true meaning of the word "great" is "very big"...But the trick still works...A friend of mine owns a store. Once he was selling shoes - quite mediocre shoes, to tell the truth. He wanted money, so he put the profit margine at 40 percent. It didn't work. Then he made it 400 percent. Guess what? He sold all shoes in one day (and then had to refund most of them, but it is a different story).Shortcuts are everywhere - that's why they are so important. Statistics shows that more nice-looking guy will get a less severe sentence in the court of law - so it is a good idea to know it and to shave, and to wear a nice suite. The judge doesn't have time to get to know you better, so - unconsciously - he/she is using a shortcut (nice looking people are nicer).The salesman will sell you much more (junk) if he presents it in a particular way and in particular order.A politician (a man) will be more successful if he is taller, as the matter of fact a taller candidates won 90 percent of president elections in USA since 1900...It is a whole new world - new for most people...