Stimulus–>Response 0
Robert Epstein, former Editor-in-Chief at Psychology Today among many other accomplishments, offers a construct for understanding why Donald Trump does and says what he does and says. The concept is “sympathetic audience control”; it does not refer to the individual’s controlling the audience, but rather to the audience’s affecting the individual.
Everyone, of course, is affected by this to some degree. We behave differently at the in-laws than at the neighborhood watering hole, differently in church than at a party or in a business meeting.
Epstein suggests that Trump manifests an extreme version of sympathetic audience control.
I find this completely consistent with Trump’s behavior as observed and reported daily; follow the link to determine whether or not you find his argument persuasive.
Here’s a bit (emphasis added):
Aside:
In a similar vein, Dick Polman mourns the death of truth.
