Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

arrow_back_ios_new
MENTAL MODEL · M0628

DARVO

DARVO
BehaviorHigh supportPsychology
Included
account_tree

Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

A common reaction pattern of perpetrators when confronted: Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Stay clear-headed in conflicts. When you accuse someone of wrongdoing and they instead fly into a rage, accusing you of being sensitive or crazy, making you doubt yourself, recognizing the DARVO pattern can help you stand firm and not be led astray by gaslighting.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

The psychological defense pattern of perpetrators when faced with accusations: Deny → Attack the accuser → Reverse Victim and Offender. The mechanism is to use offense as defense to shift shame, causing the accuser to doubt themselves, and it shares the same origin as gaslighting.

MINIMUM ACTION

In progress 0/5

Practice this model in one real situation:

Check to track your progress (stored locally)
Learning progress0%
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more

Source support: Explicit

RELATED MODELS

Related model

The Mom Test

If you ask your mother whether your idea is good, concern for your feelings may encourage praise rather than useful feedback.

arrow_forwardRelated model

Tritone Paradox

A sequential pair of Shepard tones a tritone apart can sound ascending to some listeners and descending to others: an auditory illusion involving specific pitch stimuli.

arrow_forwardRelated model

Rational Irrationality

Caplan’s explanatory framework: people may relax truth-seeking standards when appealing beliefs bring psychological benefits and the private marginal benefit of correcting errors is low.

arrow_forward