Reverse Psychology: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|"If somebody put a big red lever in a hidden cave with 'End Of The World Lever - Do Not Touch' on it, the paint wouldn't have time to dry."|'''Terry Pratchett,''' in several ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' novels.}}

[[Self Demonstrating Article|Don't read this article.]]

[[Self-Demonstrating Article|Don't read this article.]]

Fine, don't take our advice.

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Is a [[Sub Trope]] of [[Batman Gambit]].

Don't even bother seeing [[Too Dumb to Live]] and [[Genre Blindness]]. It's not worth comparing to [[Could Say It But]]. And do not, under any circumstances, take this trope to an extreme, as it may approach [[Mind Screw]].

Don't even bother seeing [[Too Dumb to Live]] and [[Genre Blindness]]. It's not worth comparing to [[Could Say It, But...]]. And do not, under any circumstances, take this trope to an extreme, as it may approach [[Mind Screw]].

Feel free to check out [[Reverse Psychology Backfire]], though.

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=== You could see these examples, but I'm telling you [[TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|it's a waste of time]]: ===

=== You could see these examples, but I'm telling you [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|it's a waste of time]]: ===

== Anime And Manga ==

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* In ''[[Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince]]'', Dumbledore tries to recruit a recalcitrant Slughorn. Just after the latter's interest is finally raised, the headmaster wryly says "I think I know a lost cause when I see it." It works.

* Used on the protagonist in the second ''[[Alex Rider (Literature)|Alex Rider]]'' book, Point Blanc. After escaping the titular boarding school using an improvised snowboard (while being shot at by men on snowmobiles), Alex has no desire whatsoever to take part in the imminent raid, but no-one else knows the building's layout. Cue one of the men he trained with in the first book coming to tell him that he's [[Just a Kid]] and can't take part. Alex figures it out a few seconds too late.

* Used by [[Satan]] in the ''[[Incarnations of Immortality]]'' series. He's grown fond of Jehovah (not to be confused with God), and wants to stop the Holocaust that is killing his followers. So he invites [[Time Travel|Chronos]] and gloats about how the Nazis are all his plan. Chronos went back in time and [[~~Hitlers~~ Time Travel Exemption Act|prevents Hitler's rise to power]], thus saving Jehovah.

* Used by [[Satan]] in the ''[[Incarnations of Immortality]]'' series. He's grown fond of Jehovah (not to be confused with God), and wants to stop the Holocaust that is killing his followers. So he invites [[Time Travel|Chronos]] and gloats about how the Nazis are all his plan. Chronos went back in time and [[Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act|prevents Hitler's rise to power]], thus saving Jehovah.

* In [[John C Wright]]'s ''[[Hermetic Millenium (Literature)|Count to a Trillion]]'', one character argues with Menelaus not to try his mad experiment as if he really wants him to do it.

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"Do you think I'm trying to trick you with... reverse psychology? I mean, seriously now."|'''GLaDOS''', doing just that. [[Mind Screw|Or not.]]}}

* ''[[Portal 2 (Video Game)|Portal 2]]'' contains a segment in which the [[Big Bad]] offers you a chance to voluntarily [[Better to Die Than Be Killed|kill yourself rather than face certain doom in his lair]]. He even goes so far as to point out that you dying now would be his "just desserts", as he would be properly furious that he'd gone to all the trouble to set up his deadly lair only to have you die anticlimactically twenty feet from the door. In fact, he ''does'' want you dead by any means possible, but by this point he's so frustrated with your ability to survive his [[Death Trap|Death Traps]] that he'll try anything. For bonus laughs, he is very pleasantly surprised if you actually take him up on the offer.

** It's not the first time he tries that either. After his first outright assassination, if you come back to the area, he tries to get you to jump into a pit with suitably ridiculous "incentives" including [[Arson Murder and Jaywalking|your parents, a boy band, and a pony.]]

** It's not the first time he tries that either. After his first outright assassination, if you come back to the area, he tries to get you to jump into a pit with suitably ridiculous "incentives" including [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|your parents, a boy band, and a pony.]]

{{quote| '''GLaDOS:''' You really do have brain damage, don't you?!}}

* In [[Ever 17]], You says that her mother believes that her father died years ago and searching for clues in LeMU would be a waste of time. {{spoiler|1=Yuubisei''haru''kana's mother really believed it and really felt it was a waste of time. Yuubisei''aki''kana's mother is Yuubiseiharukana, and she both knows for a fact that her father is dead and that telling her daughter not to bother investigating is the perfect way to get her to go to LeMU. Who would know better than her how to motivate herself?}}

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Usually involves second party figuring it out, and either doing [[Exact Words|exactly what they're told]], or pretending to "fall" for it and [[Bothering By the Book|being totally obnoxious in the other direction]].

== Film ==

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* [http://www.bash.org/?16682 This bash quote].

* One person pointed out how some widely hated stuff like ''[[Ctrl Alt Del (Webcomic)|Ctrl Alt Del]]'''', ''[[Twilight (Literature)|Twilight]]'', [[Justin Bieber (Music)|Justin Bieber]], and [[~~Its~~ Popular Now It Sucks|anything popular]] became so popular despite such a huge [[Hatedom]] because it was unintentionally invoked ''by the [[Hatedom]] itself''. The quote "The more you hate it, the stronger it gets" refers to this action in practice where someone hears about a work from the [[Hatedom]] or [[Hate Dumb]], then decides to [[Bile Fascination|try it out]], only to experience [[Critical Backlash]] or find it's just as bad as they say. The publisher still wins in the end because they either earned a new customer or still got someone to buy something when they didn't even fall into the target demographic.

* One person pointed out how some widely hated stuff like ''[[Ctrl Alt Del (Webcomic)|Ctrl Alt Del]]'''', ''[[Twilight (Literature)|Twilight]]'', [[Justin Bieber (Music)|Justin Bieber]], and [[It's Popular, Now It Sucks|anything popular]] became so popular despite such a huge [[Hatedom]] because it was unintentionally invoked ''by the [[Hatedom]] itself''. The quote "The more you hate it, the stronger it gets" refers to this action in practice where someone hears about a work from the [[Hatedom]] or [[Hate Dumb]], then decides to [[Bile Fascination|try it out]], only to experience [[Critical Backlash]] or find it's just as bad as they say. The publisher still wins in the end because they either earned a new customer or still got someone to buy something when they didn't even fall into the target demographic.

* When the [[Hatedom]] is even louder than the fandom, it can actually be the ''cause'' of its popularity. For example, if it weren't for all the parodies mocking "Friday", no one would have ever heard of Rebecca Black.