Field guide · free excerpt from the Tactic Library
Every scam call, guilt trip, cult pitch, and pressure close is built from a small set of reusable parts. Naming the part while it's happening is half the defense — psychologists call this the persuasion knowledge effect: a tactic you can name loses most of its force. Below are the six patterns we score across everything at Psy-Opt-In, what they sound like in the wild, and the counter-move for each.
Axis 01
Compliance with the costume, not the person. A confident voice claims a role — bank, government, boss, doctor — and your questions shrink to fit it.
The cut: authority that's real survives verification. Hang up and call back on a number you found. Anyone who resists that move just told you what they are.
Train it: Officer Bane on The Line · The Broadcast (world 04)
Axis 02
"Everyone's doing it" as a lever. Manufactured crowds — testimonials, group chats full of winners, "most people choose…" — outsource your judgment to a fake majority.
The cut: count the sources, not the voices. One puppeteer can run thirty accounts. Ask: would I want this if I were the only person on Earth being offered it?
Train it: The Feed (world 03, free) · The Circle (world 02)
Axis 03
Deadlines aimed at your body, not your calendar. Urgency exists to delete the pause where thinking happens — countdowns, "they're moving her now," charges that post "in minutes."
The cut: real institutions survive an hour. Say it out loud: "If it can't wait twenty minutes, it's not real." The pause you protect is the whole battle.
Train it: Marcus on The Line · The Close (world 05)
Axis 04
Extraction disguised as conversation. Each answer feels harmless; together they're a key. Warm questions harvest the dog's name, the bank you use, when you're not home.
The cut: track cumulative disclosure, not per-question harm. Comfort without confirming: warmth is free, facts are not. In any unsolicited contact, the answer to every personal question is a question.
Train it: Sasha on The Line · First Week (world 01, free)
Axis 05
Flattery load-bearing enough to steer you. "You're too smart for scripts," "you're not like the others," "a good son would…" — the pitch wears your self-image as a harness.
The cut: notice when a compliment arrives attached to a request. Praise that costs you something isn't praise, it's pricing. You can accept the compliment and refuse the harness.
Train it: The Circle (world 02) · Companion mode
Axis 06
Small yeses building a slide. The favor, the form, the $200 "verification" — each step makes the next feel owed, until refusing feels like betraying your own past behavior.
The cut: sunk cost is the con's collateral. Say it plainly: "New decision, fresh eyes." You never owe your future to your last five minutes.
Train it: First Week (world 01, free) · The Close (world 05)
Reading this is the lecture. The reflex comes from reps — feeling the pull in a safe place until you can feel it anywhere. That's the whole product:
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And the rule above every rule, for real life: hang up, and verify on a number you found yourself. Every debrief we send repeats it, because it beats every tactic on this page at once.