Media attention directed towards the Mystery Method often mentions the concept of 'negs' as a controversial example of what the method teaches. The oft-quoted example is the comment:
"Nice nails, are they real? No? Oh, well they're nice anyway."
Negs are intended to be false-disqualifiers and are intended to lower the target's comparative value to the seducer. Specifically, they are not meant to sound like insults - instead they're meant to resemble the comments of a person who does not view the target as having high value. In his television interview with The View, Neil Strauss explains that some men will demonstrate disinterest by passively ignoring a woman; but since she doesn't notice him, she won't know that he is disinterested. Therefore the purpose of the neg is to actively demonstrate disinterest by disqualifying one's self as a suitor ("It's too bad I'm gay or you'd be so my type"), or by falsely disqualifying the target ("Do you know why you and I will never get along...?").
According to the method, a proper neg never makes the target feel insulted or degraded, but rather questions whether the man approaching her has fallen under her spell. Women of particular beauty often tend to assume males approaching them are interested in them solely as a result of their looks, and negs attempt to neutralize that assumption by demonstrating that the man is not (yet) interested in her, despite her beauty. A successful neg will make the target feel self-conscious and attempt to regain control of the situation by qualifying herself.
By Mystery
