Mind games
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Mind games (also power games or head games) are actions performed for reasons of psychological
The first known use of the term "mind game" dates from 1963,[3] and "head game" from 1977.[4]
Conscious one-upmanship
In intimate relationships, mind games can be used to undermine one partner's belief in the validity of their own perceptions.[5] Personal experience may be denied and driven from memory,[6] and such abusive mind games may extend to the denial of the victim's reality, social undermining, and downplaying the importance of the other partner's concerns or perceptions.[7] Both sexes have equal opportunities for such verbal coercion[8] which may be carried out unconsciously as a result of the need to maintain one's own self-deception.[9]
Mind games in the struggle for prestige
Unconscious games
Between thirty and forty such games (as well as variations of each) were described and tabulated in Berne's best seller on the subject titled "
Psychological games vary widely in degrees of consequence, ranging from first-degree games where losing involves embarrassment or frustration, to third-degree games where consequences are life-threatening.[18] Berne recognized however that "since by definition games are based on ulterior transactions, they must all have some element of exploitation",[19] and the therapeutic ideal he offered was to stop playing games altogether.[20]
See also
- Abusive power and control
- Climate of fear
- Destabilisation
- Emotional blackmail
- Games People Play (book)
- Gaslighting
- Guilt trip
- Hypnosis
- The Imaginary (psychoanalysis)
- Isolation to facilitate abuse
- Let the Wookiee win
- Mind control
- Moving the goalposts
- Noisy investigation
- Obfuscation
- Presumption of guilt
- Psychological manipulation
- Setting up to fail
- Silent treatment
- Transactional analysis
- Triangulation (psychology)
- Victim blaming
- Victim playing
- Word salad
- Zersetzung
References
- ^ Gita Mammen, After Abuse (2006) p. 29
- ^ Berne (1966), p. 45.
- ^ "Mind game". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
- ^ "Head game". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
- ^ Kathleen J, Ferraro, Neither Angels nor Demons (2006) p. 82
- ^ R. D. Laing, The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise (Penguin 1984) p. 31
- ^ Laurie Maguire, Where there's a Will there's a Way (London 2007) p. 76
- ^ Kate Fillion, Lip Service (London 1997) p. 244
- ^ R. D. Laing, Self and Others (Penguin 1969) p. 143
- ^ Jacques Lacan, Ecrits: A Selection (London 1997) p. 68
- ^ A-M Quigg, Bullying in the Arts (2011) p. 201
- ^ David P. Snyder, How to Mind-Read your Customers (2001) p. 59
- ^ A. P. Sands, The Psychology of Gamesmanship (2010) p. 2
- ^ John McCleod, An Introduction to Counselling (2009) p. 255–6
- ^ Berne (1966), p. 32.
- ^ Berne (1966), pp. 64–147.
- ^ John Dusay (1976). "Transactional Analysis". In Eric Berne (ed.). A Layman's Guide to Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis. Penguin. pp. 309–310.
- ^ Eric Berne. "Rapo". Games People Play – via ericberne.com.
- ^ Berne (1966), p. 143.
- ^ Berne (1970), p. 223.
Sources
- Berne, Eric (1966). Games people play: the psychology of human relationships. Grove Press, Inc. OCLC 1244058516.
- Berne, Eric (1970). Sex in Human Loving. OCLC 107547.
- R.D. Laing, Self and Others(Penguin 1969)
External links
- Sarah Strudwick (Nov 16, 2010) Dark Souls – Mind Games, Manipulation and Gaslighting