INCEPTION: How to Plant an Idea in Someone’s Mind

For someone to do something willingly, they need to believe it was their own decision or idea. Some people are experts at this, and thanks to them, your home fills up with strange and unnecessary items, and your closet contains clothes you’d never normally wear. We end up doing things we never planned to do.

After watching the movie “Inception,” you might think planting your idea in someone else’s mind so it feels like their own is extremely difficult. In reality, it’s much easier than it seems—you just have to be more subtle than you’re used to!

If you’ve noticed a new frying pan in your kitchen, even though you rarely cook, signed up for some random courses, or suddenly support an idea you would have never agreed with yesterday, someone has already worked their magic on you.

Reverse Psychology

The art of planting your ideas in someone else’s mind is called reverse psychology.

Reverse psychology is a term describing a psychological phenomenon where upbringing, propaganda, or persuasion to do something actually causes the opposite reaction (opposition or resistance).

This approach became especially popular in the 1990s, but the main problem was that many people oversimplified it, confusing reverse psychology with passive-aggressive behavior. It’s like telling someone you want to convince not to go skydiving that you don’t care at all if they risk their life. Sure, let them break their neck—it’s their problem, and you warned them, right?

This is a very crude approach! If you truly want to persuade someone or get them to do something that benefits you more than them, you need to use a diamond cutter, not an ax. This requires a much more delicate touch.

For example, if you want your roommate to wash the dishes, you might usually ask directly or start washing them yourself with lots of sighing and clattering. This only causes irritation and implies that someone is lazy or messy.

How do you make someone want to do it themselves? Try saying, “I’m so tired of washing dishes that I’m thinking of switching to disposable plates and heading to the store! Cool, right? If you want some too, give me some money and I’ll get you a set.”

This way, you avoid accusations and make your roommate consider alternatives. If they don’t like disposable plates, they’ll have to wash the regular ones.

Circling Around the Idea

To get someone to do something they don’t like, you need to make them think it was their own idea. This is the main rule, especially used by salespeople. But it’s easier said than done. You have to approach planting the idea as if you’re solving a mystery. Slowly but surely, you drop a series of hints until the solution you want becomes obvious.

The key is not to rush, be careful, and stay consistent. Otherwise, your attempt to push your idea will become too obvious.

Selling the Idea Cheap

“Selling” your idea cheap is another way to plant it in someone’s mind. This is a less aggressive version of reverse psychology. Let’s say you’re a salesperson. You’re selling hard drives: 250 GB, 500 GB, and 1 TB. A customer comes in wanting to buy what they need while spending as little as possible. Everyone wants the perfect option for next to nothing. Of course, you know this and can’t just offer them the 1 TB drive right away. How do you guide the customer to the option that benefits you?

Your conversation might go like this:

• Customer: Can you tell me about this 250 GB drive? I want to make sure it’s right for me.
• Salesperson: What kind of computer do you have, and what do you want to use it for?
• Customer: I have a two-year-old laptop with Windows, and I want to store my photos. I have about 30 GB of photos.
• Salesperson: I think 250 GB will be more than enough for your photos—as long as you use your laptop only for storing photos. So, as long as you only keep photos on it, you’ll be fine.

In that last sentence, you emphasize that 250 GB is enough only for photos, but if they want to store anything else… Then you can add that to be sure the drive will be enough for other files in the future, they might want a larger option. You’re just looking out for the customer’s best interests, not trying to upsell them.

Conclusion

Planting an idea in someone’s mind isn’t as hard as it seems. With a subtle approach and a bit of reverse psychology, you can guide people to decisions that benefit both them and you—without them ever realizing it wasn’t their idea in the first place.