How to Coach Yourself and Others Beware of Manipulation | Page 32

Wikipedia recognizes the following types of suggestive questions:
Direct suggestive questions
Direct questions lead to one word answers when explanations are sometimes needed. This could
include questions like “Do you get it?” and “Where did it happen?” According to Dr. Kathy
Kellermann, an expert in persuasion and communication, direct questions force exact responses
through carefully worded questions.
Repeated suggestive questions
Repeated questions elicit certain types of answers. Repeated questions make people think their first
answer was wrong, lead them to change their answer, or cause people to keep answering until the
interrogator gets the exact response that they desire. Elizabeth Loftus states that errors in answers are
dramatically reduced if a question is only asked once
Forced choice suggestive questions
Yes/no or forced choice questions like “is this yellow or green?” force people to choose between two
choices when the answer could be neither of the choices or needs more explanation. This generates
more “interviewer-talks” moments, where the interviewer is talking and controlling most of the
interview. This type of question is also known as a false dilemma.
Forced choice is often used in sales relations:
“should I call you Monday or Wednesday (assumes that you want to talk again)
“the first meeting will be next Tuesday” (assumes you will participate)
“do you prefer the blue one or the red one?” (assumes you want the article)
Presumptuous suggestive questions
Presumptuous questions can either be balanced or unbalanced. Unbalanced questions ask questions
only from the point of view of one side of an argument. For example, an interrogator might ask “’Do
you favor the death penalty for persons convicted of murder?”’ This question assumes that the person’s
only point of view in the situation is that a person who is convicted must either get the death penalty or
not. The second type of presumptuous question is balanced question. This is when the interrogator uses
opposite questions to make the witness believe that the question is balanced when the reality is that it is
not. For example, the interrogator would ask, “’Do you favor life in prison, without the possibility of
parole?”’ This type of question may seem balanced when in reality it is still influencing the person to
discuss life in prison and no other choice.
Confirmatory suggestive questions
Confirmatory questioning leads to answers that can only support a certain point. Here, the interviewer
forces the person to make sure his or her answers make them out to be extroverted or introverted. If
they want them to look extroverted they would ask questions like “How do you make a party more
fun?” and “When are you talkative?” If they want the person to look introverted they ask questions like
“Have you ever been left out of a group?” or “Can you be more hyper sometimes?”.

31