History Main / BeatItByCompulsion

* Japanese {{kappa}} traditionally have a depression on the top of the head, which must contain water for them to have any power. Fortunately, they are compulsively polite and so if you bow to them, they will bow back - spilling the water and rendering them helpless.

* ''VideoGame/NelsonTethersPuzzleAgent'' has Agent Nelson Tethers run into this situation in the first game. Realizing Scoggins' residents were more or less addicted to puzzles, [[spoiler:Nelson throws a crossword puzzle at Sheriff Bahg when held a gunpoint. True to form, the compulsion has Bahg immediately going to do the crossword puzzle, allowing Nelson to escape]].

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* A character called ''Fatman'' had the power to morph himself into any size and shape, but his WeaksauceWeakness was that he would irresistibly turn back if he ever saw something tasty to eat.

* ComicBook/LilIPut plays with this trope. All vampires are shown to be obsessed with counting seeds tossed on the ground, however, it's an activity that they enjoy to the point it works on them like catnip and is even their favorite party game.

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobSquarepantsMovie'', the head thug of the Thug Tug tries to get the "Bubble Blowing Baby" to reveal themselves by playing the Goofy Goober Theme song, which apparently no baby can resist. Spongebob and Patrick come ''very'' close to caving, which would have gotten them "beaten senseless by every able-bodied patron in the bar", but another thug sings first, getting beaten up instead and allowing Spongebob and Patrick to escape.

* While the eponymous Mr. {{Series/Monk}} has several compulsive tendencies, the perps-of-the-week rarely, if ever, use them against the detective. However, Monk himself once used this to his advantage--a method actor, tasked with "becoming" Monk for a movie, sets out to murder the man he thinks is responsible for killing Mrs. Monk. The real man distracts him with an off-center car decal, just long enough to talk him down and prevent a murder.

* In ''Literature/TheSanguineChronicles'' almost all of the traditional vampire weaknesses are due to OCD, though the symptoms vary from vampire to vampire. Marko has a compulsion to count.

* Inverted in ''{{ComicBook/Preacher}}'': Jesse gets rid of Hoover (an ordinary human working for Starr) to count sand with the [[CompellingVoice Voice of God]], forcing the poor guy to go and count a few million grains of sand. Several story arcs later, we find him still on the beach (having since learned to dig the sand into a dam so fish would get caught in it at high tide) and finishing counting. Understandably unstabilized by the experience, he goes to find Jesse to kill him... only for Jesse to not remember him at all. After some exposition, Jesse removes his mental state by telling him to forget about it (with the Voice of God). This in turn causes Tulip to remark on a guy with the initials J.C. is going around healing the (mentally) ill, where has she heard that before…

Compare {{Idiosyncrazy}} and PolitenessJudo. Subtrope of BatmanGambit. Often a subtrope of SanityHasAdvantages. Not to be confused with [[ADateWithRosiePalms acting on a compulsion to beat it]].

* Pythagoras was killed by an angry mob because he refused to escape from them by running across a field of beans[[note]] Apparently it was one of the sacred rules of his namesake religion as beans were thought to carry the souls of the dead.[[/note]]

* Played with a fair bit in Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', where methods to defeat vampires included mixing up their sock drawer (they would then have to pair and sort the socks), and forcing other obsessive-compulsive type behaviour. Another example would be the werewolves in ''Literature/TheFifthElephant. Saying the word 'bath' actually gets them to wince, and throwing something has them automatically run over and grab it in a doggy-esque manner.[[note]]Creator/TerryPratchett's reasoning for this behavior is that werewolves, like dogs, are caught halfway between wolf and man. [[InsaneTrollLogic Therefore]], they would have the same mannerisms.[[/note]]

Compare {{Idiosyncrazy}} and PolitenessJudo. Subtrope of BatmanGambit. Often a subtrope of SanityHasAdvantages.

* [[LeftHanging Had it ever been continued past chapter three,]] ''Webcomic/HannaIsNotABoysName'' would've featured this tactic with the SuperOCD VampireHunter, Abner. According to the author's sketches, he would somehow be defeated by the [[TrashOfTheTitans masterfully disgusting]] [[BackAlleyDoctor Doc Worth]]; using Worth's repulsiveness to drive the mysophobic (that's 'fear of germs') hunter away.

* Pythagoras was killed by an angry mob because he refused to escape from them by running across a field of beans.

* In ''Literature/TheLaundrySeries'' novel ''The Nightmare Stacks'', the [[OurElvesAreDifferent alfar]] use salt traps to contain and control vampires. However Laundry [[FunWithAcronyms PHANG]] agent Alex, being a mathematical genius, has already worked out an algorithm that helps him count the grains much faster than they expect.

This is when there is either something magical that forces them to act compulsively, or some magical consequences for not doing so. Examples include a MagicallyBindingContract or [[RestrainingBolt geas]] that is in some way related to the nature of that creature.

* Part of containment procedures for Wiki/{{SCP|Foundation}}-[[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-578-arc 578-ARC-3]] is covering the containment area with sand and painting a labyrinth on the floor, since the undead wight in question compulsively counts salt grains and traces labyrinth lines, slowing it down when it inevitably manifests. There was apparently some resistance to this kind of "folkloric strategy" at first among the scientifically-minded SCP researchers.

* In ''Film/AustinPowersTheSpyWhoShaggedMe'', Mustafa feels compelled to answer any question that he's asked three times in a row. Though he's an amazing RulesLawyer with regard to the questions.