Yu states in his article that his main argument is “that fear aroused by the paranoiac perception of sexual perversity begets a curious kind of work ethic in the imperial subject.” Yu’s article goes on to incorporate the “betrayal of reason” that is aroused in the characters by their fear of Dracula and his “reverse colonization” and metaphorical sexual perversity. At the same time, Yu recognizes earlier critics’ focus on Dracula’s “otherness,” but instead decides to focus on Dracula’s outstanding intellect and nature as a scholar. Dracula, Yu says, is not only “able to modernize himself, familiarizing himself with modern-day legal and commercial transactions, but also able to move freely around England like an English gentleman without attracting public attention.” This ability adds to society’s fear of Dracula as an “other” or as a foreign invader because the inability to discern an outsider within one’s own midst is psychologically troubling to the individual. One is reminded of the “Red Scare” within the United States that stemmed from the irrational fear of soviet agents living among American citizens during the Cold War era. In fact, Dracula may be considered an early form of the psychological thriller, a genre which has become quite pervasive in modern cinema. This is likely due to the fact that the relatively new field of psychology has revealed much about the nature of fear in the past century or so, leading writers (of both fiction and film) to incorporate realistic factors into their work. However, because the main characters’ fears are somewhat irrational, they lead these characters to write quite scathingly about Dracula in their journals and letters to one another. 
Carrol L. Fry and Carla Edwards explain that “the behavioral sciences have long been a fertile seed ground for literary-critical approaches”. More specifically, they explain, “the tale of terror, a type of literature long recognized to evoke strong response at the unconscious level, offers an excellent example for analysis”. The character of Renfield is one of the only characters in the novel outside of the main group who is, for various reasons, incapable of irrational fear. To begin with, Renfield is a patient in a mental hospital, described by Dr. Seward as a man of “sanguine temperament” who goes through “periods of gloom ending in some fixed idea which I cannot make out.” As primitive as the field of psychology and psychiatry were during this period of time, Renfield is the only character through which the audience sees the direct influence of Count Dracula. Adding to the already fearsome mental acuity of Dracula is his superlative influence over the minds of others, which is perceived by many of the characters as a sort of supernatural power. However, Renfield’s mind is already in a fragile state, and he is likely open to suggestion by those with the proper capability. Hypnosis is a real technique that has been practiced by medical professionals for a plethora of reasons; its main purpose is to open its subjects to suggestion rather than to control them outright. Hypnotists, mentalists, and purported “psychics” and “magicians” who perform onstage are particularly skilled with the power of suggestion, leading those in the audience to believe that they are truly witnessing some form of magic or supernatural phenomenon. While most people in the 19th century were incapable even of fathoming this type of ability, Dracula had the benefit of being both extremely intelligent and quite old. During the centuries that Dracula lived, he could have easily developed the ability to control and manipulate others to help achieve his goals. The ability to manipulate others in itself does not make a person bad or evil; how one chooses to practice control over others depends entirely on the individual. 
