When you're watching a film or TV show, it's easy to shout at the screen and urge characters to respond in a certain way, especially where someone is being manipulated.
But in real life, these cues are harder to react to... and that's if we can identify them in the first place.
Well, one behavioural expert has revealed two ways we can follow if we are engaging with a psychopath in any way (which, hopefully, we are not).
Chase Hughes, who is CEO and founder of Applied Behavior Research, was recently on the Brain Supreme podcast where he shared how to gain the upper hand when dealing with difficult and dangerous people.
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The best-selling author, who has written a book on persuasion, influence and behaviour profiling, also has a 20-year military background, with his research being used by intelligence agencies and professionals worldwide.
During the podcast appearance, he says: "With a psychopath, if you do just these two things, you'll be good to go. The first one is to be more calm than that person in every interaction and never escalate anything.
"The second thing is to be non-reactive, even if they say something shocking, my eyebrows won't go up, I'll say 'oh yeah? That makes sense'. I will be non-reactive as humanly possible".
Hughes went to say that this approach is also applicable to other situations, not just in conversation with psychopaths.
He continued: "When you're looking at any conversation, even if it's not with a sociopath, the person reacting the least to the other person is in charge."
On YouTube, the clip was shared on a number of channels, gaining a positive reaction to Hughes' advice.
One person wrote: "Learnt this naturally while growing up with an abusive narcissistic parent. If someone's goal is to hurt you, not reacting makes them lose most of their power over you."
Other people said it worked for them in a professional capacity: "I worked in a prison for 20 years, remaining calm will de-escalate the situation 9 out of 10 times."
Another said they also utilised this approach: "I use this EVERYDAY AT WORK…. It’s a game changer when dealing with irate people."
It also works as general life advice, said another: "Growing up my mom told me 'the more you let them know that something is bothering you, the more they're going to do it'. And man, not reacting or entertaining the situation has helped me not lose it."
Wise words.
Topics: US News, Mental Health
Faima Bakar