Definition
Obsession is a fixated, intrusive preoccupation — a person or idea that occupies the mind involuntarily and crowds out other thoughts. In Greene's framework it is not an accident of seduction but a goal: the seducer aims to become the thing the target cannot stop thinking about.
An obsessed target is, by definition, no longer thinking freely about anything else. Attention has narrowed to a single point, and that narrowing is precisely what makes obsession useful as an influence outcome.
Why it matters
How it works
Obsession is built, not stumbled into. Mystery leaves gaps the mind keeps trying to fill; frustration keeps a desire unresolved so it keeps recurring; unpredictable reward keeps the target alert for the next signal. Each technique works by preventing closure — the mind returns to an open loop far more than to a closed one. The intensity that results feels meaningful, but intensity is not the same as judgment; a narrowed mind is an impaired one. The defense is deliberate widening: other people, other interests, other inputs, and honest information that closes the open loops the seduction kept open.