PsychoTech has arrived. But, is it a real Super-Power?

It's 8 PM on a Thursday. Michael King (friends call him Mike, and we are friends) is seated in a lavish fine-dine restaurant, listening to the live band playing in the background. He reads through the menu as he considers what to order. The first page has a single listing: The Heavenly Cuisses de Requin - $100. Mike gives it a thought, but finding it too expensive, moves on.

While reading through the menu, his eyes land on Grandma's Ailes de Poulet Rôties for 49, and almost instantly decides on it. While still expensive, it is much cheaper than the $100 dish and seems special! But has he made the right choice? Or, well, has he even made the choice?

If you’ve seen the X-Men series, you’d know Professor X (Charles Xavier) can control minds and make people do whatever he wants them to. You might also have fantasized about stuff you could do if you had that superpower – haven’t you? Do you know it is indeed possible to make humans do what you want them to, without them knowing?


Over the course of the past century, research in psychology has unearthed several secrets about how humans think. And, practitioners have invented techniques based on this information to alter human behaviour at will. PsychoTech is the overarching term I’ve coined for these techniques of ‘Psychological Engineering’. It gives those who know it, the power to influence what you do, without you knowing.

These techniques have been around in some shape or the other for decades (or even centuries) influencing your opinions and behaviours about eating (un)healthy, paying bills on time, shopping groceries, making financial decisions, donating organs, voting for a politician, and even becoming a fundamentalist.

And, just like Cerebro amplified the powers of Professor X enabling him to reach the world at once, Information and Communications Technology enables PsychoTech to influence millions of people in one go (so the Tech refers to both techniques and technology.) And, this is what makes it a true Super-Power!

Now that we know about the super-power, let’s come back to Mike. He is a well-educated man working for a reputed organisation, earning enough to fund a normal healthy lifestyle – life-expenses, vacations and hobbies. He is much like an average person on LinkedIn - we all are Mike. And, do we normally splurge $50 on a single dish when dining alone (that too roasted chicken wings!)?

Assuming, its on our personal tab - NO!!! Then why did Mike?

Because Mike was ‘influenced’ by multiple subtle psychological hacks – a super-expensive decoy dish to make the expensive chicken ‘feel’ cheap, the French name to make it ‘feel’ sophisticated, the missing $ sign to ‘feel’ reduced pain of loss, the odd pricing to make the dish ‘feel’ cheaper, the prefix ‘Grandma’s’ to make it ‘feel’ special, and yes, the French music in the background – which created the ‘feel’ in the first place drawing him to the French named dish.

You might have noticed the use of the word ‘feel’ – one of the core principles that PsychoTech relies on is making use of your intuitive decision making which uses heuristics and is thus, prone to biases. As a consolation to Mike, while this was the least sold dish on the menu due to the exorbitant price earlier, after the restaurant made the above changes it is a major profit earner – so, Mike is just one of the many to be ‘influenced’!


This is the first part of a series of articles about PsychoTech. Here I’ve introduced you to the 'super-power', and shared a short snippet of how it is impacting the lives of humans - subtly, yet significantly. In the following parts, based on response and feedback, I will get deeper into the details about these including the implications for various audiences and the underlying ethical concerns. So, if you have any reactions or suggestions - please share them through comments below - this will help me in making the sequels more relevant and useful.

Disclaimer: Any views or statements expressed are mine and not those of my employer. The content of this article is based completely on my personal knowledge and research, and not on any work my employer may be engaged in.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn in May 2018.