Social Engineering - Christopher Hadnagy [60]
Before you get into the meat of this chapter, the following section sets the stage for why and how these principles will work. You must understand the modes of thinking that exist. After you understand more clearly how people take in and process information you can begin to understand the emotional, psychological, and physical representations of that process.
Modes of Thinking
To alter someone’s way of thinking you must understand the way people think and in what modes they think. This seems a logical first step to even attempting this aspect of social engineering.
You might think you need to be a psychologist or a neurologist to understand the many aspects of how a person can think. Although that can help, it is not necessary. With a little research and some practical application you can delve into the inner workings of the human mind.
In August of 2001 the FBI put out a law enforcement bulletin (www.social-engineer.org/wiki/archives/ModesOfThinking/MOT_FBI_3of5.htm) that made a few very profound statements on the modes in which people think:
Simply confirming your nonverbal behavior to the client, using language from the client’s preferred representational system and matching speech volume, tone, and area of speech often overcomes client reluctance to communicate.
This simple statement has a lot of depth in it. Basically it is saying that if you can first figure out the target’s dominant mode of thinking and then confirm it in subtle ways, you can unlock the doors of the target’s mind and help him actually feel at ease when telling you even intimate details. Logically you may ask then, “How do I figure out a target’s dominant mode of thinking?”
Even asking people what their mode of thinking is will not offer a clear answer, because many people do not know what mode of thinking they often reside in. Due to that, as a social engineer you must have some tools to help you determine this mode and then quickly switch gears to match that mode. A clear and easy path exists to this answer but you need to know the basics first.
The Senses
For centuries philosophers have argued the value of perception. Some go so far as to say that reality is not “real” but just what our senses build into our perceptions. Personally, I do not subscribe to that idea, but I believe that the world is brought to our brain by our senses. People interpret those senses for their perception of reality. In the traditional classification we have five senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.
People tend to favor one of these senses and that is the one that is dominant. It is also the way people tend to remember things. As one exercise to determine your dominant sense, close your eyes and picture yourself waking up this morning—what is the very first thing you remember?
Was the feeling of the warm sun on your face? Or maybe you remember the sound of the voice of your spouse or children calling you? Do you remember clearly the smell of coffee downstairs? Or quite possibly the bad taste in your mouth, reminding you that you need to brush your teeth?
Of course, this science is not exact and realizing what your dominant sense is may take a few tries to figure out. I once talked to a couple about this concept and it was interesting to watch their expressions. The wife first remembered waking up and seeing the clock and then worrying that she was running late, whereas the husband first remembered rolling over and not feeling his wife next to him. After some more questions it became evident that the husband was a kinesthetic, or his dominant sense was his feeling, whereas his wife was very visual.
Of course, walking up to your target and saying, “Close your eyes and tell me the first thing you remember this morning,” doesn’t seem reasonable. Unless, of course, your pretext is the family shrink, you might meet with some opposition on this route.
How can you determine without going through an embarrassing interrogation about their morning rituals what a target’s dominant sense is?
The Three Main Modes of Thinking
Although we