Definition
Regression is the deliberate return of an adult to an earlier, childlike emotional state — one marked by dependency, uncritical trust, and a hunger for protection or approval. Greene describes the seducer evoking the comforts of childhood: being cared for, indulged, scolded, forgiven.
In that softened state a person is more pliable. The adult faculties that weigh evidence and set boundaries recede, and an older pattern of looking up to a caretaker takes their place.
Why it matters
How it works
The seducer offers a relationship that feels like total care — anticipating needs, soothing distress, alternating indulgence with mild reproach. The target relaxes into being looked after and gradually surrenders the habit of self-direction. Decisions migrate to the seducer; the target's world narrows to the relationship that now supplies their security.
The tell is asymmetry: one person increasingly small and dependent, the other increasingly the parent.