Piece of advise: If you find that one of your deeply held beliefs is being promoted through dark arts, you may want to have a crisis of faith to determine whether your own reasons for holding the belief are valid.
I don't see these as dark arts. Self-affirmation doesn't make people more likely to believe just any old thing, it makes them feel less threatened so they're more willing to consider something that they would otherwise reject out of defensiveness.
This is a remarkable article. Is there a way to use this to overcome others' bias that passes ethical muster as not dark arts?
(HT +Tony Sidaway on G+.)