If someone won't stop talking
If someone won't stop talking, drop something (keys, pen). Reach down to pick them up and start talking. It's a way to interrupt without the other person realizing it.
How to find who likes who
When something funny happens and people or a person in a group laughs, they will look at the person they like or care about in the group the most to see if they're laughing too. When you notice this it's quite easy to tell who likes who. Keep in mind that you will be looking at those you like most to see if they are looking at you too.
The Socratic Method
The Socratic Method, the basic idea is to ask your opponent questions when you are arguing with them. Whereas normally you'd be building points to support your own argument or looking for flaws in their points, you can instead force them to start tearing it down themselves.
In a debate if someone is getting emotional, ask genuine detail and small questions related to the topic, because the more they have to stop and think rationally, the less emotional they'll be.
The Ben Franklin effect:
The Ben Franklin effect is a proposed psychological phenomenon: a person who has already performed a favor for another is more likely to do another favor for the other than if they had received a favor from that person. People reason that they help others because they like them, even if they do not, because their minds struggle to maintain logical consistency between their actions and perceptions.
A person who has already performed a favor for another is more likely to do another favor for the other than if they had received a favor from that person. If you give someone something or do them a favor, you're much more likely to do it again in the future. Being aware of it keeps people from taking advantage of you.
Every person develops a persona, and that persona persists because inconsistencies in one's personal narrative get rewritten, redacted, and misinterpreted.
The foot-in-the-door technique
The foot-in-the-door technique is when a small request is initially made in order to get a person to later agree to a bigger request. An example of this is when a friend asks to borrow a small amount of money, then later asks to borrow a larger amount. Simply, agreeing to a small request increases the likelihood of agreeing to a second, larger request.
If a smaller request is granted, then the person who is agreeing feels like they are obligated to keep agreeing to larger requests to stay consistent with the original decision of agreeing.
You Treat Someone like a Monster, They Become a Monster
People become what you call them. You treat someone like a monster, they become a monster. If you call them lazy, they become one. To ensure that someone maintains a certain positive trait, compliment them for it beforehand. People are more likely to follow you if they have your approval, rather than trying to win it.
In argument speak softly
In an argument speak softly. It forces active listening which leads to active thinking. When they are listening and thinking they are not yelling, arguing, or talking.
People most likely to choose the last option you give them
When purchasing additional things or services, people are most likely to choose the last option you give them. This trick is taught a lot in sales. You present the more expensive item last so that people buy the last option they heard.
At the End of Your Critique Tell Something Good
When you're criticizing someone, an employee or a friend or anyone, at the end of your critique tell something good with compliments about the person. It makes them feel better about your meeting, even though they received important feedback for performance improvement.
Avoid irritating people by not using the word "you"
If you work with clients or customers, prevent them from getting defensive and angry by not using the word "you". It's not "you didn't send the attachment", it's "the attachment didn't arrived". Don't blame them, blame the thing you're talking about. I don't see the attachment you sent. Could you please send it to me again?" No blame. Acknowledges their prior effort as an unquestioned truth.
While debating, avoid "you" statements. If your goal is to persuade a person, use neutral language to avoid that as best as possible.
Thank people for their time rather than apologize for wasting it.
When you need someone to wait a moment as you do something, or you have to finish something, say "Thank you for your patience" instead of "sorry for the wait". Stop apologizing unless you've actually hurt someone. Thank people for their time rather than apologize for wasting it. If you're apologizing then something's wrong. If you're thanking them something is right.
People More Likely Remember the First Item on a List
The Primacy Effect is a psychological trick that people more likely remember the first item on a list or speech and the Regency Effect is a psychological trick that people more likely to remember the last item on a list or speech.
The primacy effect describes the tendency to weigh information learned first more heavily than information learned later. When a person encounters a topic for the first time, the communication is perceived as novel and causes high activation. Any subsequent communication on the same topic produces less activation, and so the person will react according to the initial communication in an attempt to experience the higher activation.
Just Five Minutes
If you have trouble motivating yourself to do something like learn a skill (instrument, language etc.) tell yourself, "Ok, I'll sit down and do this for just five minutes now!"
A lot of the time you'll end up going for much longer than five minutes, but even if you don't it's still five minutes of practice in whatever the heck you wanted to learn in the first place.