Identity Hijacking: https://t.co/Hf6o4uZaBo
— MJ Murphy (@hothingsgirlsay) October 29, 2026
All right, breaking the spell: identity hijacking. So one of the most powerful persuasion techniques isn't changing your argument, it's changing your identity because once your identity changes you're thinking often follows. I call this identity hijacking.
Here's how it works.
Instead of asking, "Is this idea true?" the conversation quietly shifts to "What kind of person believes this?"
Notice the difference. Notice a difference. We are no longer debating evidence, we're debating identity.
Suddenly you're told "a good person believes this."
"A compassionate person says this."
"An educated person knows this."
"Only hateful people question this."
Do you see what happened? The argument disappeared. Now your reputation is on trial. This is incredibly powerful because human beings don't just want to be right, we want to be good. We want to be good. We want to belong. We want other people to think well of us. So when an idea becomes attached to a desirable identity, many people stop evaluating whether it's true. They start asking what do people like me believe? This happens everywhere. Politics, religion, marketing, corporate culture, families, social media, even friendships. Companies don't just sell shoes, they sell identity. Political movements don't just sell policies, they sell belonging. Activists don't simply argue ideas, many also invite you into a moral community where agreement becomes part of who you are. Once that happens, disagreeing doesn't just feel like changing your mind, it feels like betraying yourself. That's identity hijacking. Instead of asking people to examine an idea, you teach them to become the kind of person who would never question it. And once identity is attached, evidence becomes much less persuasive because facts threaten conclusions. Identity threatens belonging. That's why identity is often the strongest force.
The antidote is surprisingly simple. Separate the person from the proposition.
Ask yourself, "If someone I admired believed the opposite, would I at least examine their evidence?"
Or, "if this idea came from someone outside my tribe, would I evaluate it differently?"
Those questions break the spell because your identity should never become a prison. You are not your political party. You are not your ideology. You are not your hashtags. You are not your social media bio. You are a person that is capable of changing your mind when the evidence changes, and that's a strength not a weakness. And that's exactly why I wrote Breaking the Spell. It's about recognizing the psychological patterns that quietly shape how we think before we even realize they're happening.
