A behavioural expert has shared two key strategies that can help people protect themselves when dealing with manipulative or dangerous individuals — including psychopaths.
Chase Hughes, founder and CEO of Applied Behavior Research, discussed the techniques during an appearance on the Brain Supreme podcast.
Drawing on his 20 years of military experience and work with intelligence agencies, Hughes explained how staying calm and non-reactive are the most effective ways to handle such encounters.
“With a psychopath, if you do just these two things, you’ll be good to go,” Hughes said. “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.”
Hughes added that maintaining emotional control takes away a manipulator’s power. “When you’re looking at any conversation, even if it’s not with a sociopath, the person reacting the least is in charge,” he explained.
The clip from the podcast has since been shared widely on YouTube, where many viewers praised Hughes’ advice. Some noted that they had naturally learned similar techniques from personal experiences with difficult people, while others said staying calm had helped them in professional settings such as law enforcement or customer service.
One commenter wrote, “Remaining calm will de-escalate the situation nine out of ten times,” while another said, “Not reacting makes them lose most of their power over you.”
Hughes’ advice underscores the value of emotional control — not just when dealing with manipulative individuals, but in everyday interactions where staying calm can help maintain authority and composure.
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