You're Being Conditioned to Obey - Future IQ

You’re being persuaded every day — by ads, by experts, by friends, by strangers in suits — and most of the time, you don’t even realize it. Nearly half of all human activity is persuasion. It’s happening in conversations, in headlines, in the way choices are framed. And unless you know how it works, you’re not deciding — you’re being directed. In this episode of Future IQ, we go deep into the science of persuasion — not just how it works, but why it works on you. Drawing from the psychological “Bible” of influence, we break down two of its most powerful principles: Authority and Scarcity. You’ll hear how a man in a suit can make a crowd jaywalk, how actors in lab coats influence your medical choices, and why a nearly empty cookie jar messes with your brain. From the shocking obedience revealed in the Milgram experiments to luxury cars getting VIP treatment at green lights, this episode exposes just how easily our minds surrender to signals of power and urgency. The scariest part? These tactics work even when we think they don’t. Especially when we think they don’t. This isn’t just a breakdown of manipulation techniques. It’s a cognitive self-defense class. If you don’t understand persuasion, you're not protected from it. This is Part Two of our deep dive on persuasion. If you haven’t already, check out Part One now live on the channel — then come back and level up your mental Armor.