TLDR

Create a problem then provide the solution is the method behind many successful marketing campaigns. For the PUA (Pickup artist) community, the dread game is based on this principle. I will cover the theory of why this method works and then examples of how it is applied. When the theory is understood, it is possible to see why the technique can fail, how to decrease the changes of failure and to apply it to other areas. Ideally you should be able to come up with their own techniques and methods after reading this article. Before examing how the method works, we need to examine what is fear.

http://shadowsonthewall.info/2015/02/create-a-problem-then-provide-a-solution-or-advanced-dread-game/

cut and paste

Fear will cause a person to move away from a perceived threat.

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself.  – unknown 

Fear is the emotion caused by the anticipation of danger. Danger is something which can harm or destroy the individual, human being want to avoid being harmed or destroyed since it prevents them from sexually reproducing. Humans want to sexually reproduce like all organisms so they can pass on their genes.

The key behind fear is anticipation, for a person to anticipate something they have to be aware of it. If they are not aware of the danger, there is no anticipation. A group of people are standing outside, they are talking to each other, they are not experiencing fear. Someone yells at the people, “There is a bomb, it is going to blow, run”, all of a sudden the group of people experience fear, they might temporarily freeze for a moment, then they will start to run. The bomb itself did not cause the fear, the bomb could have exploded, and the group of people would have not experienced fear. What caused the fear is the people becoming aware of the bomb, in this case it was the person yelling “There is a bomb” that caused the fear. If the bomb did not exist, someone yelling “There is a bomb” would still cause the group of people to feel fear. The danger does not actually have to exist, it is the belief that causes fear.

History is full of examples where human beings where unaware they where in a dangerous situation therefore they did not experience fear. If a gun is pointed at a human, unless he knows what a gun is, he will not experience fear. Until human beings because became aware of the dangers of lead, they where using lead paint on children’s toys, they would use lead containers to store food. How humans react to fear

Human beings will either decide to fight the situation or flee from it. The human will subconsciously do a risk analysis, if he believes he can win he will attempt to fight otherwise he will decide to flee to a safer location. For the dread game to work, the person must believe they can not win the encounter. If they believe they can win the encounter, they will become angry and then attempt to fight and the dread game will not work. Hot to create a problem and then provide a solution

The generation of the problem is used to trigger fear in the target, fear is an emotional response which comes from the lizard brain, which means the target will cease to act rationally, they will naturally move towards the solution provided, if they perceive it as a safe place. If the target does not perceive the solution as a safe place, they may feel trapped, which can cause them to become hostile, this should be avoided.

Everything Is Bullshit: The greatest scams on Earth revealed in one of its examples explains how marketers invented body odor and provided a solution, their product. Human animals are unique in that their fears can be triggered by words alone, and most of their fears are not physically harmful. The product was initially marketed to women. The first advertisements told women they reason why they can not get a date is because they smell bad. It then stated that many people have body odor, but their friends are too embarrassed to tell them. The advertisement creates the fear of social rejection, the woman now wants to know how she can solve her problem. She becomes fearful that she is missing out on good dates coupled with the fear of social rejection, her friends think she smells bad and they gossiping about her. When people experience fear, they become less logical, and they will look for the simplest solution. The advertisement then tells the woman to use their product which will solve her dating problem and stop her friends from gossiping about her.

Ideally the problem should be designed to tap into the primary fears of the target. This requires an understanding of the targets mental map, and then the problem must be crafted to play on these fears. The best way to find out these fears is by observation and casual conversation. I will give an example scenario of how this can be done.

Scenario: You want to purchase a used luxury car, you contact a seller on crags list and setup an appointment to test drive the car. When talking to the target it is important to indirectly question,make yourself non confrontational and non judgemental. From the seller you learn the following things.

you are the first person to view the car. he is a teacher. Teachers like to be in control of situations and they dislike uncertainty. for the test drive he is insists that he goes with you. Before taking the car for a test driver, the teacher tells you he has to lock the door of his house. He engages the double cylinder dead bolt (a lock that requires a key on either side) and then activates his burglar alarm. When you drive too fast or erratically, he warns you to be more careful. The car is in good condition and he has kept all the receipts which show the car has received regular maintenance. The price he is asking is reasonable, it is close to the book value. 

Mental Map of target: When creating the mental map, do not fit the facts to your theory but instead fit the theory to your mental map. Nassim Nicholas Taleb refers to this as The Bed of Procrustes, where an inn keeper would cut off travelers legs to make them fit into his beds. Initially you discovered that the seller was a teacher, usually teachers like to be in control of situations and they dislike risk, but in rare cases there are teachers who are nonconformists. You then continue to make observations to see if they verify your initial assumption. In this case you have determined that the seller is an authoritarian who dislikes risks and he likes to be in control of situations and he is security conscious.

Creating the problem: You admit to the seller that his price is reasonable, this will appeal to his authoritarian nature. You then tell him you are willing to purchase the car right now, you reach into your pocket and pull out your cheque book, but you want a $1000 discount. The seller will tell you that he thinks he can sell the car at the price he is asking, you agree with him. You then tell the owner of the car you are the first person to see the car, and it will take a week for him to get the price he wants. Mention that he was already getting nervous about letting other people test drive the car, does he want countless people driving his car around and abusing it ? If the car gets into an accident ?, how much money will this cost him. What if the car gets stolen, it might never be recovered, if the car is recovered, probably it will be damaged and he will suffer a loose. He will get his asking price, but he is taking a great risk. If our mental map is correct, we will have generated fear in the target.

Creating the solution: the solution is that you purchase the car from him right this moment. The discount of $1000 is saving him time and money. If the car gets into an accident, he will lose more than $1000, with you he is actually saving money. You then suggest that you write a cheque for his price less $1000 right now, and since he is a better driver then you, he drive you to the bank right now and he can deposit the cheque. In this case you are offering him a safe solution, he gets the money right now without risk, you appealed to authoritarian nature by suggesting he drives. He will counter that his potential risk of the car getting damaged is less than $1000, this means he has conceded your point. You then counter with the question, how much is the risk of his car getting damaged worth to him ? Once he has mentioned a figure you can bargain.

In the above scenario, you create a problem to generate fear, then you offer the solution. The key is the person should naturally move towards the solution. Since you have provided a solution to your targets problem, both of you should be happy at the end of the transaction. Reasons why the dread game might not work

The main reason is you have not created an accurate mental map of the target. To create the problem, you have to ensure that it actually creates fear in the target. In the previous example when you where purchasing a car, it would not work against a person who likes to take risks and is not concerned about security. The second reason is the solution might not be attractive to the target, the solution must be a case of attraction not promotion. If you manage to create fear, but do not have a solution the target finds appealing, if can back fire. Fear is a strong emotion, it can cause anger or worse yet the target to strike out. If the target feels they are being pushed to the solution, again they might get angry or strike out. If you see this is happening, either you should withdraw from the situation, or propose a new solution, or ask the target to propose a solution.

The dread game used by PUA (pick up artists) is effective when used in the right situation. The dread game is a variant of distancing yourself from the woman, this then creates a fear that she will lose you. The solution is that she has to call you first. The first part where it can fail is the woman is not really that attracted to you, in that case you did not lose anything. But what if the woman believes that she should not be the one to initiate first contact with the man, this results in a predicament. The woman since she can not initiate first contact will start to feel angry and this will build, if you contact with her, that means you have lost your advantage. This is why the dread game can fail when applied blindly. If you use exactly the same technique repeatedly, it will become less effective, the reason is people can get accustomed to certain types of fear.

This is manipulation

Yes it is, but a scam is when the person later feels buyer remorse, he is unhappy with the decision he has made. If the person is happy after he is made his decision, that means you are both benefiting. For the woman who was originally buying deodorant, maybe using deodorant gave her more self-confidence, and that helped her get better dates and feel more comfortable around her friends. The manipulation scams in the book Everything Is Bullshit: The greatest scams on Earth revealed are not really scams, in every case the consumer has a choice, the products must bring value to the consumer. The book cites many cases which do not involve manipulation, but the consumer is being scammed, this is because of laws that benefit certain groups, but causes unhappiness for the rest of us.

Now that you understand the theory, you should be able to spot various forms of advertising or how people are using these techniques on you. Also if you choose you can use the techniques on other people, ultimately you should be able to create your own unique problems and solutions.