We see countless deceptive behavior in the world and majority of the time it is for personal gain. This can be taken to a large scale and can spread among a collective if they are not aware. There are very intelligent people in the world and this type of behavior has gone to different levels.

In modern psychology, Machiavellianism is one of the dark triad personalities, characterized by a duplicitous interpersonal style, a cynical disregard for morality and a focus on self-interest and personal gain.
-Wikipedia

Victim Or Hero?

There are many tactics can be used to appeal on a large scale even to the masses. To influence a thought or idea, and have an individual believe it is manifested on their own. The individual/s that is doing the manipulative act is not really forcing anyone to do or think a certain way. We let them do that to us as if it is our own thought by not asking questions and having the lack of information. Not knowing the truth and lack of having the correct information allows those that deceive us be able to do so.

You may see one to always play a victim and blame others to take responsibility, while demanding entitlement. When an issue or changes happen, they portray as them being the one that has taken the responsibility and that no one else is taking action. Portraying themselves as a hero to reinforce their belief of having personal gain.

We see this in politics, corporations, and other organizations across the world. We saw first hand of the latest American presidential election portraying candidates as heroes, enemies, and victims. Seeing the lies that unfold to feed us false information to deceive collective groups to gain support. Some will describe this as competition but it was not a healthy and cooporative one. Another example is the recent scandal involving South Korean President and Samsung corporation tied to corruption, doing favors to gain self-interest and neglect moral responsibilities.

The Confidence Art

Many of us have fallen victim to types of deception that thrives on our gullibility. In the video below, Dr. Maria Konnikova explains how "gullibility is a con artist's best friend." The psychology behind the thought's from not only a con, but from a victim as well.

There are people that can present us with great opportunities but when we are apart of them ourselves, we have difficulty being objective and not listen to reason because "nothing is too good for us, we deserve it." We fall into a false self-belief of making a morally good decision on our own when in fact, that is what the intention of a deceptive individual/s can do.

Human's are emotional beings and that is part of what helps develop our understanding of reality. We go through ups and downs through an emotional roller coaster (emo roller) and base a lot of our decisions off of emotions. The graph below depicts the relation to trading markets and the emotional thought process when traders make decisions on buying and selling. This also correlates into our economic understanding of how a thought process can be when an individual or group makes decisions on things in our society.

There are those out there that use this kind of information to their advantage. They will withhold important information, or spread false ones to influence others.