Dear Traitor,

So, you’ve been chosen as a Traitor. You’ve survived Claudia’s long walk around the table and remembered to breathe. You’ve (hopefully) avoided immediately giving yourself away the second Claudia addresses the Traitors – looking at you Linda! 

Now you want to win. 

Yes, you could try winging it with a chaotic giggle to get you through (Alan…), but I’ve got a better suggestion. Use psychology to your advantage to manipulate your way to victory! By taking a moment to consider the science of human behaviour instead of rushing straight in, you’ll be setting yourself up for traitorous success. 

As a cognitive psychologist, my first piece of advice would be to remember that lying and keeping up with your own stories is cognitively exhausting. To tell a lie you’ll need to inhibit your first response to tell the truth, make up a plausible lie, be prepared to defend it, and then remember it to avoid contradicting yourself later on. Wrapping yourself up in elaborate lies will tire you out and potentially result in you slipping up and ruining your own game. Keep your story as close to the truth as you can, which will give you less to try and remember.

The next thing to look out for? Cognitive biases. These are predictable errors that our mental shortcuts can make when we’re making decisions, and they can be quite unhelpful in a game like The Traitors. By making yourself aware of some key biases, you’ll be able to exploit them in the Faithful and avoid falling victim to them yourself. 

One of the easiest forms of cognitive bias to manipulate in your game is the confirmation bias. This is when people look for things that support the beliefs they already have, and discount things that don’t agree with those beliefs. 

Now that you’re aware of the confirmation bias, you’ll see it everywhere… and this means you’ll be able to encourage it. Listen out for the names of players that the Faithful think are suspicious, and then really pay attention to what that person is doing to find an innocuous moment that you can spin as traitorous. Acting concerned, carefully drop it into conversation with the suspicious Faithful and watch them run with it! That should keep you safe for a few days.

Another bias to exploit is about confidence. When someone states something confidently, there’s an assumption that the information is accurate, meaning they’re perceived to be credible even if the information isn’t. Find the player susceptible to confirmation biases and who likes to talk at the round table, and keep gently encouraging them – when they bring your points up at the round table and confidently assert their beliefs backing them up with biased evidence, they’ll start to be believed. When they’re seen to be constantly leading the charge against other Faithful, they’ll eventually be seen as suspicious themselves. There’s the added bonus that when they’re discredited for being consistently wrong, you’ve got an easy defence if they ever bring up your name!

A word of warning though – if you go down this route, be subtle in your nudging. Being seen to be a game player directing the game can be a dangerous position! You want to be the composer writing the tune, not the conductor leading the performance.

Whilst you’re thinking about exploiting biases, be careful to avoid getting caught up in your own. You need to play the game in front of you, not your assumptions. Whether you’d admit it or not, some of your decisions and judgements will be based on biases (potentially unconscious) and stereotypes. When you’re choosing who to target for banishment, who to choose as allies, and who to murder each night, remember to keep it focused on the gameplay to ensure you’re making sensible decisions. As soon as you start making decisions based on what someone did before the game started, their occupation, or their age, you’re falling into a stereotyping trap, and that’s when you’ll start making mistakes. 

Finally, remember that it’s just a game, and you’re not really banishing or murdering anyone. Beware that some of your fellow players may be upset at first if they feel like you’ve lied to or manipulated them to progress through the game. This is understandable though, nobody likes hearing their new friend has been plotting their murder or banishment over dinner. But if you’ve played well then in time they’ll see it’s nothing personal. 

Best wishes,

A Cognitive Psychologist

P.S. You might also want to practice saying ‘I’m a Faithful’ – yes, I’m talking to you Richard.

Dr Ashleigh Johnstone is a Chartered Psychologist, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and Senior Lecturer (Research Methods Lead) at Arden University.

See the ‘My letter to…’ collection.