Manipulation (psychology)

Short description: Exploitative type of social influence

Manipulation or emotional manipulation is the use of devious means to exploit, control, or otherwise influence others to one’s advantage.[1][2] In the extreme it is a stratagem of tricksters, swindlers, and impostors who disrespect moral principles, deceive and take advantage of others’ frailty and gullibility.[3] At the very least, manipulation is forced influence used to gain control, benefits, and/or privileges at the expense of the others.[2]

Manipulation differs from general influence and persuasion. Influence is generally perceived to be harmless as it respects the right of the influenced to accept or reject it, and is not unduly coercive.[4] Persuasion is the ability to move a person or persons to a desired action, usually within the context of a specific goal. Influence and persuasion are neither positive nor negative.[5]

## Contents

* 1 Motivations
* 2 Forms
* 3 Mental illness
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 Further reading

## Motivations

There are various possible motivations for being manipulative such as to advance purposes and personal gain,[6] to attain feelings of power and superiority in relationships with others,[7] to feel in control,[6] to boost self-esteem,[6] boredom, or growing tired of one's surroundings; seeing manipulation as a game,[6] and covert agendas, criminal or otherwise, including financial manipulation.[6]

Studies of the predictors of emotional manipulation indicate that the mechanisms behind emotional manipulation differ as a function of gender:

> For males, higher levels of emotional intelligence, social information processing, indirect aggression, and self-serving cognitive distortions significantly predicted emotional manipulation. For females, being younger, higher levels of emotional intelligence, indirect aggression, primary psychopathic traits, and lower levels of social awareness significantly predicted emotional manipulation. However for females, emotional intelligence acted as a suppressor.[8]

## Forms

Common means of manipulation can be understood through methods of conditioning.[6] Reinforcement is used to increase the frequency of a behavior. Positive reinforcement presents rewards like praise, superficial charm, superficial sympathy (crocodile tears), excessive apologizing, money, approval, gifts, attention, facial expressions such as a forced laugh or smile, and public recognition. Intermittent reinforcement can create an effective climate of fear and doubt, which can encourage the victim to persist in acting to the manipulator's benefit. On the flip side, punishment is used to decrease the frequency of a behavior. Positive punishments presents aversive stimuli, which can include nagging, yelling, intimidation, threats, swearing, emotional blackmail, guilt trips, sulking, crying, and playing the victim. Negative punishments remove rewards, like the removal of social interactions with the silent treatment. Punishments can establish the manipulator's dominance or superiority, as even one incident of such behavior can condition victims to avoid upsetting the manipulator.

Manipulators typically exploit various vulnerabilities. Those who suffer from low self-esteem or self-doubts, lacking in confidence and assertiveness, and who are likely to go on the defensive too easily. Additionally, the more emotionally dependent a person is, the more vulnerable they are to being exploited and manipulated.[9] Naïve or immature individuals can be in denial that they are being taken advantage of, finding it hard to accept that some people utilize manipulation.[9][10] Many intellectualize the manipulator's behavior, leading them to believe that they have some understandable or acceptable reason to be manipulative.[9] People who are greedy and dishonest may be easily enticed to act in an immoral way.[10] Over-agreeable or submissive individuals are often too willing to give another the benefit of the doubt.[9]

## Mental illness

While manipulation is a common human behavior, individuals with the following mental health issues are prone to manipulate:

* Antisocial personality disorder,[11]
* Borderline personality disorder,[11]
* Conduct Disorder,[11]
* Factitious disorder,[11]
* Histrionic personality disorder,[11]
* Narcissistic personality disorder.[11]

Borderline Personality Disorder is unique in the grouping as "borderline" manipulation is characterized as unintentional and dysfunctional manipulation.[12] Marsha M. Linehan has stated that people with borderline personality disorder often exhibit behaviors which are not truly manipulative, but are erroneously interpreted as such.[13] According to Linehan, these behaviors often appear as unthinking manifestations of intense pain, and are often not deliberate as to be considered truly manipulative. In the DSM-V, manipulation was removed as a defining characteristic of borderline personality disorder.[12]

## See also

* Crowd manipulation – use of crowd psychology
* Confidence trick – using trust to defraud
* Gaslighting – making someone doubt reality
* Internet manipulation – co-opting of digital technology
* Market manipulation – interfering with financial markets
* Media manipulation – news that favors partisan interests

## References

1. ↑ "Manipulation". APA Dictionary of Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. n.d.. https://dictionary.apa.org/manipulation. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Brennan, MD, Dan. "Signs of Emotional Manipulation". WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/signs-emotional-manipulation.
3. ↑ Bereczkei, Tamás (2017). Machiavellianism The Psychology of Manipulation (First ed.). London: Taylor and Francis Group. ISBN 9781315106922. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315106922/machiavellianism-tamás-bereczkei.
4. ↑ Nichols, Shaun. "The Ethics of Manipulation". Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/board.html.
5. ↑ Duncan, Rodger Dean. "Influence Versus Manipulation: Understand The Difference". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/rodgerdeanduncan/2018/12/21/influence-vs-manipulation-understand-the-difference/?sh=303899ad470c.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Braiker, Harriet B. (2004). Who's Pulling Your Strings ? How to Break The Cycle of Manipulation. ISBN 978-0-07-144672-3.
7. ↑ Giovacchini, Peter L. (1996). Treatment of Primitive Mental States. Master work series. Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson. p. 24. ISBN 9781568218083. https://books.google.com/books?id=xRMpAAAAYAAJ. Retrieved 24 July 2021. "These are early ego states that are characterized by megalomanic feelings. Freud's (1914a) description of 'his majesty, the baby' well illustrates this situation of omnipotent manipulation."
8. ↑ Grieve, Rachel; Panebianco, Laura (13 September 2012). "Assessing the role of aggression, empathy, and self-serving cognitive distortions in trait emotional manipulation". Australian Journal of Psychology. doi:10.1111/j.1742-9536.2012.00059.x. https://aps.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1742-9536.2012.00059.x.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Simon, George K (1996). In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People. ISBN 978-1-935166-30-6. (reference for the entire section)
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Kantor, Martin (2006). The Psychopathology of Everyday Life: How Antisocial Personality Disorder Affects All of Us. ISBN 978-0-275-98798-5.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. pp. 5–25. ISBN 978-0-89042-555-8. https://archive.org/details/diagnosticstatis0005unse/page/5.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Aguirre, Blaise (2016). "Borderline Personality Disorder: From Stigma to Compassionate Care" (in en). Stigma and Prejudice. Current Clinical Psychiatry. Humana Press, Cham. pp. 133–143. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-27580-2_8. ISBN 9783319275789.
13. ↑ Staff writer(s). "On Manipulation with the Borderline Personality". http://www.toddlertime.com/mh/terms/manipulation.htm.

## Further reading

Books

* Barber, Brian K. Intrusive Parenting: How Psychological Control Affects Children and Adolescents (2001)[ISBN missing]
* Bowman, Robert P.; Cooper, Kathy; Miles, Ron; & Carr, Tom. Innovative Strategies for Unlocking Difficult Children: Attention Seekers, Manipulative Students, Apathetic Students, Hostile Students (1998)
* McMillan, Dina L. But He Says He Loves Me: How to Avoid Being Trapped in a Manipulative Relationship (2008)[ISBN missing]
* Sasson, Janet Edgette. Stop Negotiating With Your Teen: Strategies for Parenting Your Angry, Manipulative, Moody, or Depressed Adolescent (2002)[ISBN missing]
* Stern, Robin. The Gaslight Effect: How to Spot and Survive the Hidden Manipulation Others Use to Control Your Life (2007)
* Swihart, Ernest W. Jr. & Cotter, Patrick. The Manipulative Child: How to Regain Control and Raise Resilient, Resourceful, and Independent Kids (1998)[ISBN missing]

Academic papers

* Bursten, Ben. "The Manipulative Personality", Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol 26 No 4, 318–321 (1972)
* Buss DM, Gomes M, Higgins DS, Lauterback K. "Tactics of Manipulation", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 52 No 6 1219–1279 (1987)

External links

* Fischer, Alexander / Christian Illies. "Modulated Feelings: The Pleasurable-Ends-Model of Manipulation", Philosophical Inquiries IV/2, 25–44 (2018)

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