Mind game
Encyclopedia
The term mind games refers to three main categories:
one of the major fields of human interaction. Such 'competiveness...a lot of rivalry about' is perhaps most prevalent in Type A personalities, so that for example the wary salesman will know that 'selling to the highly driven person means facing some of the most challenging mind games you'll ever encounter..arrogance, impatience, or condescension'.
However, in all office politics
'envy, rivalry, power conflicts...discord and intigues, are a matter of course'; and the 'passive aggressive...[who] took secret revenge, often quite unconsciously' may well be quite as dangerous a game-player as the 'driven...[who] might pull a few overly aggressive mind tricks'.
(denial of the victim's reality), diverting...trivializing, undermining, threatening...and - most important - anger'.
It is clear however that 'verbal coercion is truly an equal-opportunity behavior' - open to each or both sexes. 'This may be done unintentionally as a by-product of each person's self-deception...It is impossible for me to maintain a false picture of myself unless I falsify your picture of yourself and of me'. With straight talk at one end of a scale, 'at the other end of a theoretical scale, conversations can be characterized by the presence of numerous disclaimed, unavowed, contradictory, and paradoxical implications, or "insinuendoes"'.
game, "Now I've Got You, You Son of a Bitch", with its motto, 'I've been watching you, hoping you'd make a slip': in therapy, the protagonist might have 'recalled that ever since early childhood he had looked for similar injustices, received them with delight and exploited them with the same vigour'. NIGYSOB is however only one in a (far from exhaustive) set of around thirty-five games explicated in Berne's bestseller on the subject.
'Games are so predominant and deep-rooted in society that they tend to become institutionalized, that is, played according to rules that everybody knows about and more or less agrees to' - as with the game of "Alcoholic" and its associated 'organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous...there is also a formal organization known as Alanon for wives and families of alcoholics'.
Psychological games vary widely in degrees of pleasantness. Berne himself may have been speaking from personal experience when he recommended that, when faced at parties with 'an attempt to exploit professional knowledge' in a game of "Why Don't You - Yes But", 'the best policy under those circumstances is to flee from the opening move and look for a stimulating game of first-degree "Rapo"' - flirtation
.
Berne recognised however that 'since by definition games are based on ulterior transactions, they must all have some element of exploitation'. The therapeutic ideal he offered was to stop playing games altogether: 'try not playing long enough so that your favourite players will realize you have stopped and they may stop too....If things go well, you'll get your reward in good pay-offs instead of bad ones'.
song "Mind Games
") might ultimately be seen as a New Age
outgrowth of Yoga
, as 'a technique of self-development...consist[ing] of physical and mental disciplines'.
- a largely conscious struggle for psychological one-upmanshipOne-upmanshipOne-upmanship is the art or practice of successively outdoing a competitor.The term originated as the title of a book by Stephen Potter, published in 1952 as a follow-up to The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship and Lifemanship titles in his series of tongue-in-cheek self-help books, and film ...
, often employing passive–aggressive behavior to specifically demoralize or empower the thinking subject, making the aggressor look superior - 'mind games or power games'. - 'the unconscious games played by innocent people engaged in duplex transactions of which they are not fully aware, and which form the most important aspect of social life all over the world' - the psychological field of transactional analysisTransactional analysisTransactional analysis, commonly known as TA to its adherents, is an integrative approach to the theory of psychology and psychotherapy. It is described as integrative because it has elements of psychoanalytic, humanist and cognitive approaches...
, and in particular the Karpman drama triangleKarpman drama triangleThe drama triangle is a psychological and social model of human interaction in transactional analysis first described by Stephen Karpman, in his 1968 article Fairy Tales and Script Drama Analysis... - mental exercises designed to improve the functioning of mind and/or personality.
The struggle for prestige
'The struggle for prestige...in the imaginary' formed for Jacques LacanJacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy, and has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's...
one of the major fields of human interaction. Such 'competiveness...a lot of rivalry about' is perhaps most prevalent in Type A personalities, so that for example the wary salesman will know that 'selling to the highly driven person means facing some of the most challenging mind games you'll ever encounter..arrogance, impatience, or condescension'.
However, in all office politics
Office politics
Workplace politics, sometimes referred to as Office politics is "the use of one's individual or assigned power within an employing organization for the purpose of obtaining advantages beyond one's legitimate authority...
'envy, rivalry, power conflicts...discord and intigues, are a matter of course'; and the 'passive aggressive...[who] took secret revenge, often quite unconsciously' may well be quite as dangerous a game-player as the 'driven...[who] might pull a few overly aggressive mind tricks'.
Intimate relationships
'Women use the term mind games to refer to the ways their partners undermine their confidence in their own perceptions'. Thus 'Jack may act upon Jill in many ways...He may invalidate her experience...invalidate not only the significance, modality, and content, but her very capacity to remember at all, and make her feel guilty for doing so into the bargain'. Such abusive mind games may extend to 'discountingMinimisation (psychology)
Minimisation is a type of deception involving denial coupled with rationalisation in situations where complete denial is implausible. It is the opposite of exaggeration....
(denial of the victim's reality), diverting...trivializing, undermining, threatening...and - most important - anger'.
It is clear however that 'verbal coercion is truly an equal-opportunity behavior' - open to each or both sexes. 'This may be done unintentionally as a by-product of each person's self-deception...It is impossible for me to maintain a false picture of myself unless I falsify your picture of yourself and of me'. With straight talk at one end of a scale, 'at the other end of a theoretical scale, conversations can be characterized by the presence of numerous disclaimed, unavowed, contradictory, and paradoxical implications, or "insinuendoes"'.
Berne's games
A great deal of such competitive mind games would seem to fall into the category of Berne'sEric Berne
Eric Berne was a Canadian-born psychiatrist best known as the creator of transactional analysis and the author of Games People Play.-Background and education:...
game, "Now I've Got You, You Son of a Bitch", with its motto, 'I've been watching you, hoping you'd make a slip': in therapy, the protagonist might have 'recalled that ever since early childhood he had looked for similar injustices, received them with delight and exploited them with the same vigour'. NIGYSOB is however only one in a (far from exhaustive) set of around thirty-five games explicated in Berne's bestseller on the subject.
'Games are so predominant and deep-rooted in society that they tend to become institutionalized, that is, played according to rules that everybody knows about and more or less agrees to' - as with the game of "Alcoholic" and its associated 'organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous...there is also a formal organization known as Alanon for wives and families of alcoholics'.
Psychological games vary widely in degrees of pleasantness. Berne himself may have been speaking from personal experience when he recommended that, when faced at parties with 'an attempt to exploit professional knowledge' in a game of "Why Don't You - Yes But", 'the best policy under those circumstances is to flee from the opening move and look for a stimulating game of first-degree "Rapo"' - flirtation
Flirting
Flirting is a playful, romantic, or sexual overture by one person to another subtly indicating an interest in a deeper relationship with the other person, and can involve verbal communication as well as body language...
.
Berne recognised however that 'since by definition games are based on ulterior transactions, they must all have some element of exploitation'. The therapeutic ideal he offered was to stop playing games altogether: 'try not playing long enough so that your favourite players will realize you have stopped and they may stop too....If things go well, you'll get your reward in good pay-offs instead of bad ones'.
Self-empowerment
There is also the category of the self-empowering 'mind game: mental exercises...in the context of therapy: mind games, socio and psycho dramas, fantasy workshops and the like'. These (like the LennonJohn Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
song "Mind Games
Mind Games (song)
"Mind Games" is a song written by John Lennon, released as a single in 1973 on Apple Records, catalogue Apple 1868 in the US and Apple R5994 in the UK. It peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #26 on the British singles chart...
") might ultimately be seen as a New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
outgrowth of Yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
, as 'a technique of self-development...consist[ing] of physical and mental disciplines'.
Cultural examples
- In The Taming of The ShrewThe Taming of the ShrewThe Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...
, 'Petruchio combined physical abuse with mind games'. - That Hideous StrengthThat Hideous StrengthThat Hideous Strength is a 1945 novel by C. S. Lewis, the final book in Lewis's theological science fiction Space Trilogy. The events of this novel follow those of Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra and once again feature the philologist Elwin Ransom...
anticipates the theory of the double-bindDouble bindA double bind is an emotionally distressing dilemma in communication in which an individual receives two or more conflicting messages, in which one message negates the other. This creates a situation in which a successful response to one message results in a failed response to the other , so that...
with its account of organisational 'modes of oblique discipline...the elasticity stunt': as the Deputy Director of N.I.C.E. generously informs an underling, 'My dear young friend...There are only two errors which would be fatal....On the one hand, anything like a lack of initiative or enterprise would be disastrous. On the other, the slightest approach to unauthorised action...might have consequences from which even I could not protect you'.