The practice of obtaining information shows that psychological factors play a decisive role in this process. In most cases, success here depends on the ability to establish psychological contact with the interlocutor and, in the process of communication, influence his conscious and unconscious spheres of the psyche. This impact is for different purposes. One of them is to get certain information that he would not like to share with anyone. Based on practical experience, there are two main ways to obtain the necessary information.
The practice of obtaining information shows that psychological factors play a decisive role in this process. In most cases, success here depends on the ability to establish psychological contact with the interlocutor and, in the process of communication, influence his conscious and unconscious spheres of the psyche. This impact is for different purposes. One of them is to get certain information that he would not like to share with anyone.
The general psychological basis, on the basis of which it is possible to obtain information of interest, is the theory of the unconscious. The term "unconscious" is used to refer to such phenomena that occur in the human psyche, but are not realized by him. The meaning of obtaining information by elicitation is to, based on the general laws of the mental activity of the subject, induce him to transmit information in one form or another. Since this subject, as a rule, does not want to consciously convey this information, he must be encouraged to transmit it unconsciously.
Unconscious mental processes are a direct necessity for the normal functioning of the organism. This is another function of the unconscious: it provides "unloading" of consciousness, which is reflected in the development of the so-called "defense mechanisms" of consciousness. The meaning of defense mechanisms lies in the fact that they displace or suppress all that information from consciousness that interferes or contradicts the activity and behavior of a person in a particular situation.
If we turn to the psychological structure of the personality, then in its various substructures one can find many elements that are unconscious mental phenomena. For example, the main elements of biologically determined qualities - the properties of temperament, inclinations, innate drives, etc., as a rule, are not recognized by a person. Many mental phenomena have elements of the unconscious. The stable elements of professional and life experience, as a rule, are not realized by the subject. These are automated skills, abilities and especially habits. Many actions performed by a person repeatedly and of vital importance also remain outside his consciousness.
Finally, certain character traits inherent in a person, his inherent abilities, are also not always recognized by him. Often, in order to realize these traits, the subject needs certain circumstances that will reveal these traits as elements of personality. Sometimes a person is not aware of his abilities and they are revealed as his self-awareness develops in the process of practical activity. Consequently, unconscious phenomena are not the realm of something mysterious; these are ordinary mental phenomena, but not reached the level of consciousness.
Based on the general theoretical provisions and practical experience, we can distinguish two the main ways to obtain the necessary information:
First- this is the motivation of the subject to involuntary statements of facts that are of interest to you.
Second- prompting the person of interest to involuntary physical and expressive actions containing relevant information. Within these methods, a number of specific methods can be distinguished, with the help of which the necessary information is obtained.
Demonstration of specific items,“reviving” in the memory of the person concerned, the corresponding images and prompting him to involuntary statements. For example, to find out some aspects of the life of a person of interest or to start a conversation on a political topic, you can use the appropriate newspapers or magazines.
In general, it should be said that personal belongings of this person (toilet items, books, etc.) can be used as specific objects that encourage an interested person to make involuntary statements; items belonging to relatives of this person, or other items available for perception. The presence of such specific objects produces a double psychological result.
It goes without saying that the revival of images of the past in memory is a fairly conscious process. As for statements, they are usually unintentional, in the sense that the person of interest to us, talking about his life, does not realize that by doing so he communicates information that interests you.
Necessary conditions for the successful application of this technique:
the subject chosen for demonstration should be associated with the subject, which would resurrect in the memory of the person of interest the events to be clarified;
demonstration should always be natural and justified by a specific situation;
your actions and deeds when demonstrating the subject must be expressively justified.
It should be noted that the main rule for applying this technique is as follows: the inducement to involuntary utterance when demonstrating objects achieves its specific goal only if the person of interest does not realize that this object serves as a reason for utterance.
Use of a related topic of conversation. This technique makes it possible in general to conduct a focused conversation without resorting to asking questions. Such a theme revives a number of images in a person's memory, inevitably capturing images from the area of forbidden, that is, information known only to him, into his orbit. Here it is not the list of possibilities that should be taken into account, but the very way to put the topic, that is, the ability to ask the main question with leading questions and get an answer to it. Switching to a related topic can be done using a variety of neutral questions.
The essence of this phenomenon lies in the fact that almost identical reactions occur in a person to all words that are similar in meaning, that is, belong to the same logical group, and almost do not depend on their sound or spelling.
The main conditions for the successful application of this technique are as follows:
the topic of conversation used as a related one should be known to the person of interest and have a certain personal significance and value for him;
a related topic should follow logically from a particular situation;
the actions and deeds of the person who receives the information must be psychologically justified and expressively confirmed, that is, correspond to the professional and individual characteristics of the individual.
Methodological conditions for using this technique:
the related topic should not be too close to the main question to be investigated, otherwise it takes on the character of a poorly disguised direct question;
the topic should not be too far from the main question being clarified, because this causes a lot of other images to be remembered and leads to statements that do not contain information of interest.
Thus, using a related topic of conversation to obtain information of interest to you is to revive the impressions stored in the memory of the person of interest, mask the actual meaning of the related topic, and as a result induce him to inadvertently convey relevant information.
Using a sense of significance of a particular person. People, as a rule, try to maintain and increase their self-esteem. By touching on this feeling, you can get the person of interest, defending his prestige, to speak out on an issue that is of interest to you. In purposeful conversations, one can use the desire of a person to defend his point of view at all costs, to increase personal significance in the eyes of others. At the same time, one should take into account the existing stakeholder relationships. Given how this person treats you, certain prerequisites are created for obtaining information. These prerequisites include the following:
the desire of the interlocutor sincerely and disinterestedly to help the partner. This desire is usually expressed in attempts to give specific advice, to convince, etc.;
a feeling of gratitude experienced in response to the actions and statements of a partner. Therefore, the interlocutor can provide information of interest to us, considering his actions as a kind of return of "debt";
the desire to surprise the opponent, to cause confusion in him. This factor is clearly manifested in the process of a dispute that affects the interests of both interlocutors;
the need to get a response from the interlocutor to their statements. This factor is of particular importance when the partner enjoys authority with the interlocutor. Sometimes, when they say something, they want to get advice or a favorable response from a person they appreciate.
All this gives grounds to use specific methods of this method when obtaining information of interest, such as appealing to self-esteem, showing indifference, “playing” on the self-esteem of the interlocutor and showing participation. Let us briefly dwell on these designated methods.
1. Appeal to self-esteem. This technique involves praise, flattery, an emphasized expression of respect, great interest and attention in relation to the interlocutor. The technique is especially effective when dealing with vain and ambitious people. Appeal to self-esteem allows you to establish close relationships with such people and contributes to the manifestation of sincerity on their part.
a compliment should always be given before praise;
when handling praise, one should adopt an appropriate facial expression and posture;
it is better to emphasize the “merits” of the person of interest by comparing it with opponents. At the same time, you should know that everything is good in moderation, and this should not be forgotten.
2. The manifestation of indifference. This technique is used when the interlocutor has a great desire to discuss the information that he has, to touch upon the news known only to him, to which he attaches great importance The manifestation of indifference to information that is important from the point of view of the interlocutor, the neglect of it hurts his vanity and thereby stimulates him to express additional data emphasizing the significance of this information.
you need to feel in time that the person of interest is “overwhelmed” with information. This is certainly noticeable in the behavior of this person: he throws frequent glances in the direction of the person to whom he wants to say something, cannot sit quietly in one place, and begins to gesticulate vigorously.
it is impossible at this time to impose your topic of conversation on the person you are interested in;
a manifestation of indifference on your part can induce this person to speak out only in conditions of confidentiality. This is fixed by the desire of the person of interest to retire with you. In the absence of trust, an indifferent attitude towards this person will cause responses of this kind in him.
3. Using emotional stress. Emotional stress in this case refers to a state of mental stress. In this state, a person loses control over his behavior and statements. There are several stages in the development of such a state. Emotional stress occurs as a result of any sharp and strong impact on a person that excites his psyche and disrupts the normal orientation in the environment. The main stage is a period of turbulent experiences, poorly controlled actions and speech reactions. Emotional stress ends with a gradual transition to calmness.
It is possible to introduce the person of interest into a state of emotional stress by asking an unexpected question, by making an inaccurate or false statement; communicate supposedly “important” information, show one’s knowledge of something.
4. Asking an unexpected question. This approach has two varieties. By posing an unexpected question, you can confuse the person of interest, convict him of something, for example, of deception. In the first case, this person may not be aware of the interlocutor's intentions, in the second, these intentions are recognized by him.
Conditions for the successful application of this technique:
an unexpected question should not be related to the topic of this conversation;
The basic rule for applying this technique is: if the task is to expose or convict the interlocutor, an unexpected question should confuse the person of interest; if it is necessary to lead him into confusion, then it is necessary to provide for this person a way out of this situation.
5. Inaccurate or false statement. By deliberately making a false statement or speaking incorrectly on any issue, we expect that the interlocutor will want to clarify or supplement our statement. This technique is especially effective when dealing with emotional and impulsive natures, which the distortion of facts easily unbalances. This technique is no less effective in relation to people who consider themselves "experts" or great erudites.
Conditions for the successful application of this technique:
the inaccurate or false statement must be in the realm of ideas that are currently on the mind of the person concerned;
such an action should create a certain difficulty in the person of interest in the form of a struggle of motives: to say - not to say, etc.;
the person using this technique must convince the interlocutor of the sincerity of his behavior.
The basic rule for applying the technique: the falsity of the statement must be outlined in the main correctly, only some specific detail of our information can be distorted.
6. Communication of "important" information. Using information that can change a person's mood helps steer the conversation in the right direction and get the information you're interested in.
Conditions necessary for the successful application of this technique:
when selecting “important” information, it is necessary to take into account the dominant needs of a person and his individual psychological characteristics;
it is required to be in a state of trust with the interested person;
the source of information must have the necessary respect and authority in the eyes of the person of interest.
7. Show awareness. This technique is used when some details of the issue and events are already known and additional information is needed. Skillful handling of even a few known details can give the person the impression that the interlocutor is fully informed and encourage him to reciprocity and frankness.
8. Planting false evidence. It has long been known that a person has much more confidence in the ideas that arise in his own head than in those presented to him by other people. Therefore, people experienced in psychology try to avoid direct pressure on a person, but prefer an indirect effect on his way of thinking. To do this, they seem to inadvertently toss him certain information, the conclusions from which he must draw himself. The art of obtaining information lies precisely in the fact that with the correct presentation of certain facts, the object of your interest should draw exactly those unambiguous conclusions that you are counting on.
9. Creating the image of a "simpleton". The essence of this technique lies in the fact that, deliberately belittling one's own mental abilities, to create a feeling of intellectual superiority in the object. As a result, a person loses his vigilance, because he does not expect any trick from the "simpleton" with whom he communicates. In fact, he himself turns out to be a simpleton, and not you.
Methodology for obtaining information of interest
Preliminary study of the interlocutor, of course, is one of the most important tasks of the method of obtaining information. In practical terms, one should take into account those norms that regulate the behavior and attitudes of people in the process of communication and significantly affect the process of obtaining information. Some of these norms are also determined by the national psychological characteristics of a person. These are the character traits of the person we are interested in. You must correctly imagine which character traits of the person you are interested in can facilitate and which make it difficult to obtain information in a conversation. First of all, attention should be paid to the degree of his suggestibility and conformity, as well as to such a weakness of character as talkativeness. There are people who cannot keep in themselves a single thought that has arisen in their head, not a single piece of news heard from others. Until these people tell what they have to several people, each one individually, they cannot be calm. This trait is often used and should be used in purposeful conversations: people with similar traits are deliberately involved in them. Knowing the traits of a person's character makes it possible to use the vanity and ambition of people. Under certain circumstances, people with such character traits can go to rash acts and statements only in order to attract attention to themselves and earn a positive assessment of another person.
It must also be borne in mind that for most people it is always easier to tell the truth than to lie. Therefore, in situations where one has to tell a lie or hide the truth, many get lost and allow the so-called "spells", involuntarily express the truth, which must always be taken into account.
It is important to note the intellectual and speech abilities of the interlocutor, especially his memory and powers of observation. This helps to form a correct idea about a person and more objectively evaluate the data reported by him. It is also important to know the degree of sociability of a person: how easy it is to start a conversation with him, what position he usually takes in a conversation. The mood of the person during the conversation should also be taken into account. The events preceding the conversation can significantly affect the state of the interlocutor, his feelings, his readiness to start a conversation and maintain it. Thus, various aspects of the personality of the subject of interest to us can lead to involuntary statements.
In the final assessment of the personal qualities of the interlocutor, prejudice and haste in forming an opinion should be avoided. Prejudice interferes with the objective perception of a person and leads to erroneous conclusions. In addition, there are times when people who seemed closed at first turn out to be very pleasant interlocutors later.
In order for a purposeful conversation to be successful, you must have sufficient general preparation to easily and naturally support the conversation and develop it in the right direction. The presence of erudition helps in conversations with people of various professions and interests, different social and age groups. General training and erudition should also include deep knowledge in the area of interest to the interlocutor.
Psychological preparation for purposeful conversations includes several components. One of them is the creation of an optimal psychological mood, allowing you to start a conversation without significant effort.
In order to get rid of tension, to maintain readiness for communication in the interlocutor, you should be distracted from the upcoming action, remember the situations in which you successfully solved similar problems. It is important to mobilize yourself for the upcoming action and constantly support it.
Another important aspect of psychological preparation is the development of the optimal line of conduct in the upcoming conversation. To successfully obtain information, one should keep oneself free, confident and even somewhat condescending in a conversation. The choice of a line of behavior depends on the individual qualities, character and temperament of the person you are interested in.
An independent component of psychological preparation for receiving information is the prediction of specific situations that can complicate the task: changes in the mood of the interlocutor, alertness, resentment, adverse emotional reactions. Good preparation for a conversation gives confidence and calmness in a situation where there is almost no time to think about a decision.
Practice shows that the conditions of the conversation significantly affect its process. "Informal atmosphere", a quiet place conducive to a relaxed conversation, enough time for a detailed conversation, help to solve problems of obtaining information. Purposeful conversations are best conducted in an informal setting, when the person you are interested in is free from professional duties.
When entering into a conversation, you should try to create a relaxed atmosphere. The initial topic should help to establish psychological contact as much as possible and allow you to further transfer the conversation in the direction you are interested in.
Attempts to obtain information without previously established contact usually do not lead to the desired result. However, do not overtighten initial stage conversations to the detriment of solving the main tasks of obtaining information. Dragging out the conversation when discussing general topics can also lead to undesirable results. After receiving the necessary information, you should gradually reduce the conversation to a neutral topic and continue the conversation for some more time.
Yuri Chufarovsky,
Doctor of Law, PhD in Psychology, Professor of the Department of Criminal Law Disciplines of the Law Faculty of the Moscow Academy of Finance and Law.
In fact, the million mark is now available more than ever, and it is very important. To live comfortably in old age, most people need to carry at least $1 million.
David Fernandez Wealth Engineering Specialist, Scottsdale, Arizona The general rule is that by retirement, you need to save $1 million for every $40,000 in annual income, not counting Social Security, retirement income, or any other payment.
Fortunately, there are many ways to do this. Every millionaire has his own tactics for "making" money. Someone starts their own business, someone invests in stock market or in real estate. And some just put aside every paycheck.
Before you make a million, you should plunge into the rumors hovering around him. Below are six common myths about millionaires that turned out to be just fiction.
Myth #1: Millionaires are smarter.
People tend to put millionaires on a pedestal. They seem smarter or better than others because they were able to achieve such a high goal. But actually it is not. Millionaires are ordinary people who have been able to achieve something more, but they also make mistakes. Their spelling may suffer, or they may be difficult to learn at all. Millionaires get into debt and then go out of my way to get out of it. Their business burns out, and ideas remain ideas. Most rich people often stumble on the stairs leading up.
Millionaires are distinguished by the ability to set goals for themselves and achieve them without making excuses for their failures. They, too, deal with unexpected expenses, whether it be a failed business, an increase health insurance or car breakdown. They just keep moving forward despite the inevitable obstacles.
Myth #2: Millionaires are luckier.
Millionaires are often lucky, right? They win the lottery, they open the first time successful business and find jobs with huge salaries. And again, not true: pure luck is not a factor in achieving success. Quite the contrary: really successful people make their own luck. After all, an unrealized millionth idea is worth nothing.
Bobby Casey, founder of asset protection firm Global Wealth Protection, once told the story of how he started his first bike business for stores like Wal-Mart. This company ultimately made over $6 million.
I went to at least 60 stores before I finally found one that agreed to do business with me.
At that time, Casey did not have money, as he put it, "the negative value of capital."
I took on a bunch of loans, went shopping for weeks, and all I heard was “no, no, no.”
When asked what he would do if he left his search before he drove 60 stores, he replied: "I would not stop even if I drove around 300 of them."
Casey said it was hard work, not luck, that got him past the $1 million mark. After he got hold of the shop, he began working 12-hour shifts, sometimes consecutively, to assemble thousands of bikes for the New Year holidays. Assembling bikes for Walmart became assembling grills and lawn equipment for Home Depot and Lowe's, and assembling pool tables and other sports equipment for Dick's Sporting Goods and other chain companies. 12 years later, in 2008, Casey sold his assembly and installation company.
Myth #3: Millionaires are wealthy.
When you think of millionaires, you probably imagine people living in luxurious mansions and driving expensive sports cars. Reality? Millionaires often turn out to be people in the neighborhood who drive Hondas and Volvos. They often only buy the essentials and the few things they really need.
Just think, Warren Buffett, the famous multi-billionaire, still lives in Omaha, Nebraska, in the house he bought in 1958 for $31,500.
In most cases, millionaires have become millionaires because they have a habit of saving and saving. They know how to make smart choices and don't stop just because they made $1 million.
Myth #4: Most millionaires are “born that way.”
Another common myth is that millionaires are born into wealthy families or receive huge inheritances. But that doesn't happen often. In a recent poll Fidelity Investments it turned out that 86% of millionaires made themselves.
Take Dani Johnson. Speaker, bestselling author of First Steps to Wealth and Preparing the Next Generation for Success, and host of popular success seminars, started from the bottom. She grew up in a family where violence reigned, at the age of 17 Johnson was alone and in a position. After a brief marriage at the age of 21, Johnson was left homeless and in debt. But she wanted a better life.
Two years earlier, she entered the multi-level trading business and decided this was her chance to make a difference. After attending a meeting where four millionaires talked about how they made money from their business, Johnson decided to give it a try.
All my life I've been told that I can't do anything. I just said to myself: “If I am the dumbest person in the room and it takes me 20 years to figure this out and learn to do what they do, and if my income is 90% lower than theirs, then I still get more than if I stay at my job at the mall.
For Johnson, the key to success wasn't in the money, it was in the desire to give yourself a chance. She started her first business in the trunk of her car at the payphones. In the first four days, she managed to sell $4,000 worth of merchandise, earning $2,000 in net profit. The next month, while still working as a part-time waitress, she sold for $6,500 and her income "continued to skyrocket." Today, she teaches others how to succeed, no matter where they start from.
Myth #5: Millionaires have to be fearless.
It seems like the only way to become a millionaire is to take a lot of risks, but fear is completely normal, even for the ultra-successful.
More than half of millionaires openly admit that they were afraid to start their own business, they were afraid of burning out, disappointing family members, losing everything they have.
Anita Crook, the founder of Pouchee, a beauty organizer company, started her business with no experience behind her.
Everyone who knows me is well aware that I am not a salesperson. I was scared to death to go into my first store and sell, especially something I make myself. I don’t take rejection well, so I was afraid that I would run away from the store with tears in my eyes if they didn’t like something.
But Crook knew that she had to try, the only way she could sell her product. When she heard "yes" from several stores, she had the confidence to keep moving forward.
Success comes with some risk, but smart millionaires don't jump into the water. They study the opportunity and analyze the risk. Small experiments are often done to see if an idea will work. They try to get as much information as possible and not make dubious investments.
Most millionaires are somewhere between an optimist and a pessimist, they always weigh their real opportunities. They recognize the amazing potential but work tirelessly to look at the situation from all angles and make sure their investment pays off.
Myth #6: They make a million dollar salary.
Many millionaires have made their fortunes by starting (or selling) their own businesses or finding high-paying jobs. But this, of course, is not the only way to accumulate $1 million.
In his book The Millionaire Teacher, Andrew Hallam recounts how he saved over $1 million as a teacher long before retirement age.
In doing so, he used low-cost index funds and a disciplined approach to saving, investing, and living within his means, thus saving a tidy sum.
In addition to investing in the stock market, millionaires increase their income through a second job or passive income. For example, investing in real estate can allow a middle-income person to rent out their home as a second reliable source of income. Those who do not receive huge salaries can still earn a million, it is a matter of discipline, creativity and determination.
A comprehensively developed person cannot be imagined without critical thinking - an element that allows him to form his own view of things and not depend on the opinions of others. It promotes personal growth and pushes a person to development. Analysis of the situation and the choice of a solution is the ability of a person, without which it is impossible to have an opinion. How to develop critical thinking?
To learn how to think critically, you need to practice all the time. You can start developing at any age. By training thinking, a person is able to reach a new level of development and get closer to the realization of goals.
Training the mind and following the intended path is not as easy as it seems. But by defining life goals and developing a plan for their implementation with the help of critical thinking, a person is able to achieve success.
How to start developing thinking
For training thinking, you need to set aside time that a person usually wastes. To do this, you need to analyze the daily routine. For the development of thinking, time that was previously spent on:
- watching TV;
- computer games;
- social media.
The first step to develop critical thinking is daily analysis. At the end of the day, it is necessary to weigh and study the achievements made during the day. The number of misses must also be taken into account. The analysis should consist in identifying the actions during the execution of which errors were made. Having identified the shortcomings over the past day, you should think about how they can be eliminated. In the end, it is necessary to draw a conclusion whether what happened brought closer to the goal or moved away from it. Based on these simple actions, thinking will develop, which later develops into critical thinking. Records can be kept to identify recurring activities.
It is necessary to solve 1 task per day. Hurrying to work, on the way you need to outline some main problem and try to solve it during the day. A person should strive to obtain as much information as possible, contributing to the solution of the corresponding problem. To solve a problem, you need to analyze various options and choose the best one. Having determined the action plan, you need to stick to the strategy. If in the course of solving the problem circumstances change, it is necessary to promptly make changes to the plan. In the process of solving problems, one should develop intelligence, attentiveness, logic.
Development of critical thinking skills
Thinking skills should be approached critically. It is worth reviewing them if they lead to undesirable consequences. Try to think positively and avoid negative thoughts. For, a person must learn:
Having decided to develop critical thinking, a person must draw a line between conclusions and observation. You can't argue without checking the information. Only having accurate information, you can draw conclusions. At the same time, during training, you should ensure that the sense of humor does not disappear. The ability to play pranks on oneself and see humor in situations helps to keep a clear mind and unobtrusively express one's opinion about an issue. But care must be taken if laughter is used as a psychological defense.
Self Improvement Skills
To learn to think critically, a person must care about everything. There are many unexplored things in life. 
Curiosity develops the mind. Through curiosity, discoveries happen, adventures happen. The one who has developed the ability to be interested in what is happening will not only develop a critical mindset, but will also make his life richer and more diverse.
Every inhabitant of the modern world must develop an objective perception of information. You can not completely trust everything that is said in the media, television advertising. It is necessary to take a sober look at reality and check the information that causes mistrust. The truth is established in the course of thinking, and not under the influence of public opinion. Not everything that is supposed to be true is true. It is necessary to learn to resist violent emotions. When they manifest, a person's mind can be obscured.
Developing a critical mindset and modern society
A person living in modern society, constantly trying to impose someone else's opinion. Be critical of information obtained from:
- advertising;
- the mouth of the agitators.
Information disseminated among people is not always true. It is necessary to learn to distinguish truth from lies and not to trust everything blindly.
A person must be mindful of perspectives. Any situation should be evaluated critically, and the action plan should be thought out soberly. Do not overestimate or underestimate self-esteem. It is required to soberly understand your capabilities and act on them. At the same time, self-improvement should be practiced. Reading books, playing sports, getting new information and learning skills can take a person to the next level. It happens that human behavior is dictated unspoken rules. Their knowledge leads to correct decision and behavior. In an unfamiliar situation or being in a foreign culture, it is necessary to be observant or ask those who are closer 
familiar with the situation. The unspoken rules the modern world needs to be studied.
The conversation is only integral part communication that occurs daily communication between people. There is an exchange of non-verbal signs. It is necessary to know and be able to apply a variety of communication in practice. If a person smiles sweetly and behaves friendly, but at the same time seeks to cause pain to the interlocutor when shaking hands, one should question the sincerity of this person. If the listener claims that he is interested in the story, but at the same time openly yawns and shows boredom with his whole appearance, the speaker has a good reason to doubt the words.
If a person is under pressure, then in order not to make a mistake in making a decision, one should stop and think, weighing all the pros and cons. A quick decision under someone else's pressure is not always the right one. By learning to analyze before trusting, a person will take a big step towards the development of critical thinking.
Feelings and ability to think critically
To learn to think critically, a person must strive not to succumb to feelings and public opinion. Labels and stereotypes can be confusing and lead to wrong conclusions. Before making an important decision, you should learn as much as possible about all its aspects.
Negativity is a feeling that can confuse anyone. Often a person is too critical of himself. We must try to replace the negative with the positive. This will not only have a beneficial effect on the decision, but also increase self-esteem.
Having embarked on the path of self-development, one should not forget about universal feelings. It is impossible to condemn others without understanding the specific situation and actions of another person in certain conditions. With empathy, you can make the right decision. Having condemned a person without understanding the situation, you can later regret it very much. When deciding someone's fate, you should put yourself in his place. Trying to understand the 
behavior of other people, you can learn to think and make decisions correctly.
The facts influencing the decision made must be repeatedly verified. There should be many points for analysis. If there are not enough facts, the decision can be made incorrectly. Get as much information as possible from reliable sources.
An important skill is the ability to listen. Often a person asks a question and the other simply skips over his words. Preoccupation with thoughts does not allow you to concentrate and delve into important things. This simple skill is very difficult to develop. If you listen carefully, you can get more useful and important information.
Learning to think illogically
Books on philosophy describe logical thinking and give an example of its distortion. IN modern world creativity and originality are valued. It is necessary to understand this and soberly evaluate life examples.
During the development of a critical train of thought, the 6th sense can come to the rescue. Guesses about things, events, actions exist on subconscious level. Intuition is not subject to logic, but it is valuable as an adjunct to decision making.
Benefits of being able to think critically
It is believed that critical thinking is a natural process, a normal train of thought. However, in life situations people deviate from this 
. To educate and develop thinking means to improve the quality of life, make the right decisions and achieve success in life. The course of thought forms the correct view of the world and develops logic.
The development of thinking provides many benefits. These include:
- the ability to draw correct conclusions;
- the ability to collect the necessary information;
- the ability to justify and reason;
- the ability to clearly understand the problem;
- ability to use ideas;
- interaction with people;
- ability to use alternative thinking.
Having developed a critical mindset, a person begins to think in a direction, correcting his conclusions. This thinking is different from the standards and allows you to solve complex problems.
Not everyone is ready to have a frank conversation, this applies to best friends, and even husband and wife. But this does not mean that there are no ways to talk a person and find out the necessary information from him. It is very difficult to find those strings by pulling which you can make a person speak.
How to quietly talk to a person
Sincerity can be called the main tool. For example, if you entrust some small secret to your interlocutor in order to talk a person, then he will begin to feel significant, and this is natural, because he was entrusted with a secret, his self-esteem increases in his eyes.
And at this moment the person becomes talkative. It should be noted that quite often this method is used by bosses, manipulating their subordinates.
To do this, they invite their subordinate for tea or coffee, in a conversation they share some little secret. An employee who is initiated into the secret of his boss becomes inspired by such success.
At the same time, the bearer of the secret believes that he is obliged to help his boss in every way, to help him out and not demand anything in return for this, because he is the chosen one.
At moments of such revelation, you can easily manipulate your interlocutor, because for the first few minutes he is in shock, at this moment the opponent’s mental processes slow down, therefore, he becomes easily suggestible and at this moment it’s easier just to impose your own point of view on your interlocutor. At the same time, a frank, sincere conversation causes the opponent to reciprocate frankness.
In other words, a person who knows the art of frank conversation can easily manipulate others, if desired, he can build communications that are beneficial for himself, direct the actions of his interlocutors in the direction he needs. Sometimes this is done unconsciously, but sometimes on purpose.
How to understand that another person is trying to talk to you
As a rule, frankness and trust implies intimacy between people and in general people do not try to control their frankness in such cases. If you notice that you are being deliberately summoned to a frank conversation, take a good look at the interlocutor, try his intentions. And if you're in doubt, just listen more and say less.
Well, if a person is sincere, he will first tell you about the reasons for his frankness, the words: “you open your soul to a person, but he doesn’t even want to listen” should strain you a little, because in this way the majority tries to manipulate the interlocutor for selfish purposes.
You should learn how to ask questions correctly, so as not only to talk a person, but also not to become a victim of someone else's curiosity. To do this, it is necessary to properly build an internal dialogue and study the main types of questions.
We will teach you how to get information in a conversation in this article, but first we need to understand how the internal dialogue differs from the external one.
So, with the help of internal dialogue, we organize our own thinking and formulate our thoughts. And thanks to how well, accurately, consistently and appropriately we have formed questions, the result of communication with the interlocutor also depends.
External dialogue is communication. Your emotional condition it greatly influences the course of the external dialogue, so if you are a little disappointed or tired, you should reschedule the communication to another time convenient for you.
If you want to talk a person and get information in a conversation with a person, take it seriously, plan a meeting in advance, think about what you want to hear from your interlocutor, how can he be frank with you. In order to get as much information as possible, you must remember the following rules.
How to extract information from a person
Rule number 1. Be kinder. Try to communicate on a calm note, do everything possible so that your interlocutor feels your desire to communicate, your friendliness.
Rule number 2. To talk a person and find out the necessary information from him, do not press on your interlocutor, it is better to be frank with him a little, tell some story about your life. Let it be your secret, emphasize this point. Then your interlocutor will understand that you are sincere to him, and perhaps he will also reach out to you with a frank conversation.
Rule #3. Start a conversation about something casual. Any start of a conversation about business will cause both parties to start to worry, and you will lose that thread of pleasant communication. Try to sit comfortably, preferably with a cup of tea or coffee.
Rule number 4. Let your interlocutor feel that you are communicating on the same level. That is, you should not communicate with a child as with an adult, and vice versa. Very often, husbands talk to their wives like children, although in fact these women can not only be a good wife and not badly cope with some of the duties of a man. And such a beginning of the conversation can lead to irritation, and, therefore, no result.
Using the above simple rules, you can talk to a person and find out the necessary information from him.
- recovery mode
We constantly meet new people in our lives, and it is worth stating that in addition to good friends, we come across muddy comrades, and sometimes notorious scammers. The love of our fellow citizens to leave their mark on the Internet and the efforts of our IT companies to automate everything and everything allow us to quickly collect information of interest about specific persons by open sources. To do this quickly and efficiently, we need to master a simple methodology of intelligence work and know where and what information about a person can be obtained on the Internet.
How does intelligence work?
The available model for any intelligence service is the so-called intelligence cycle. Below is an illustration of the cycle, taken from the FBI website.We can creatively translate and group a bit in our own way and get the following steps:
- Statement of the problem / formulation of the problem;
- Planning;
- Data collection;
- Data processing;
- Information analysis;
- Report preparation and presentation of results.
Step 1. Statement of the problem
Usually the task of checking a person is set something like this: “We need to collect all the information about this person!” In fact, most often we are interested in knowing his biography, psychological portrait, circle of acquaintances.Step 2. Planning
Without a data search and analysis plan, we will stare at the screen for a long time and send various queries to search engines containing bits of data about our goal known to us. If we are lucky, then we will be able to catch something, if not, then we will waste time trying to shake up the entire Internet.How to plan our actions?
1) We need to collect everything that is known at the moment: name, photo, phone, field of activity, friends, etc. and so on. As a rule, the most valuable information is the nickname used by a person on the Internet (most often it can be obtained by knowing a personal email address).
2) We need to formulate working hypotheses for data mining based on the available information. For example:
Comment. Knowing the nickname, you can quickly see in which social networks the corresponding pages exist. To do this, there are special services for checking the availability of pages, for example, namechk.com Accounts forgotten by the user are sometimes much more interesting than current ones.
A search engine can become a powerful source of information, but in order to get the most out of it, a novice scout needs to master the so-called advanced search operators, among which some of the most useful are: “”, -, cache, site:, filetype:, but this is a topic for a separate article.
Step 3. Data collection
In the case under consideration, data collection will consist in the formation of queries to the considered sources and saving the results for current and subsequent comparison and analysis. It can be very useful during such an exercise to open a text editor and sequentially save the detected data (screenshots, text, photos, etc.) into it.Step 4. Data processing
Sometimes, to get valuable information, you need to dig into raw data. Processing examples are:- Extracting metadata from documents (authorship, GPS coordinates).
- Bringing the unloading of data from social networks to a form that you can work with, for example, in the same Excel.
- and so on.
Step 5. Information analysis
1. Testing hypotheses. Collecting bit by bit information, we immediately analyze it, and here again hypotheses and their testing for viability can be useful. Comparing with them the revealed facts, indirect signs, logical conclusions from the facts, it is possible to determine the most probable hypothesis.| Facts / Judgments | Hypothesis 1 | Hypothesis 2 | Hypothesis 3 | Hypothesis 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fact 1 | + | + | + | + |
| Fact 2 | - | + | + | + |
| Judgment 1 | - | - | + | + |
| Fact 3 | - | - | - | + |
2. Elementary operations with data: sorting, matching elements, etc.. can reveal a lot of interesting things. For example, you can download the lists of friends of friends of a person of interest and, by comparing them, determine the communities, structures that the person of interest to us may also have. In this difficult task, Excel can help us with its ability to conditionally format in case of matching elements.
3. Analysis of photo and video images. From the experienced eye of a novice Internet intelligence officer, not only will they accidentally fall into the frame: a view from the window, part of the name of a geographical point or a spicy reflection in the mirror in the background, but also various non-verbal signals that will make it possible to judge a person:
- folds on the face, revealing the prevailing emotion of a person;
- favorite gestures;
- the nature of relationships with other people, etc.
