I'm from the Portland neighborhood of Louisville, KY. To those of you unfamiliar with it, it's the bad side of town where tourists don't want to go. So growing up I was more used to physical face-to-face confrontation, as I got older and entered the professional world I was very unfamiliar with psychological tactics.
They're a little tips and tricks that I've learned throughout the years, incorporating the way I am with the way I have to be at work. One thing that will dissuade people right off the gate, is violating their personal space, staring them dead in the eye, stand too close make them move around you. Do not be polite which is what society tells us to do, I'll use the "stale face" and just stare at them. I think this applies to what your talking about but I'm not 100 percent sure.