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{{Short description|Exploitative type of social influence}}
{{Short description|Exploitative type of social influence}}
{{Other uses|Manipulation (disambiguation){{!}}Manipulation}}{{Disputed|date=July 2022}}
'''Manipulation''' is the use of means to exploit, control, or otherwise influence others to one’s advantage.<ref name="APA">{{cite APA Dictionary |title=Manipulation |shortlink=manipulation |access-date=10 October 2021 }}</ref><ref name="WebMD">{{cite web |last1=Brennan, MD |first1=Dan |title=Signs of Emotional Manipulation |url=https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/signs-emotional-manipulation |website=www.webmd.com |publisher=WebMD |access-date=23 November 2020}}</ref> In the extreme, it is a stratagem of tricksters, swindlers, and impostors who disrespect moral principles and take advantage of others’ frailty and gullibility.<ref name="Bereczkei">{{cite book |last1=Bereczkei |first1=Tamás |title=Machiavellianism The Psychology of Manipulation |year=2017 |publisher=Taylor and Francis Group |location=London |isbn=9781315106922 |edition=First |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315106922/machiavellianism-tam%C3%A1s-bereczkei}}</ref> At the very least, manipulation is influence used to gain control, benefits, or privileges at the expense of the others.<ref name="WebMD"/>
'''Manipulation''' is the use of means to exploit, control, or otherwise influence others to one’s advantage.<ref name="APA">{{cite APA Dictionary |title=Manipulation |shortlink=manipulation |access-date=10 October 2021 }}</ref><ref name="WebMD">{{cite web |last1=Brennan, MD |first1=Dan |title=Signs of Emotional Manipulation |url=https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/signs-emotional-manipulation |website=www.webmd.com |publisher=WebMD |access-date=23 November 2020}}</ref> In the extreme, it is a stratagem of tricksters, swindlers, and impostors who disrespect moral principles and take advantage of others’ frailty and gullibility.<ref name="Bereczkei">{{cite book |last1=Bereczkei |first1=Tamás |title=Machiavellianism The Psychology of Manipulation |year=2017 |publisher=Taylor and Francis Group |location=London |isbn=9781315106922 |edition=First |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315106922/machiavellianism-tam%C3%A1s-bereczkei}}</ref> At the very least, manipulation is influence used to gain control, benefits, or privileges at the expense of the others.<ref name="WebMD"/>


Revision as of 15:19, 24 July 2022

Manipulation is the use of 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 and take advantage of others’ frailty and gullibility.[3] At the very least, manipulation is influence used to gain control, benefits, 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 it is not seen as unduly coercive.[4] Persuasion is the ability to move others to a desired action, usually within the context of a specific goal. Influence and persuasion are neither positive nor negative.[5]

Characteristics of manipulators

The motivation for manipulation can be self-serving or it can be intended to help or benefit others.[6] Anti-social manipulation is using "skills to advance personal agendas or self-serving motives at the expense of others",[6] pro-social behavior is "a voluntary act intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals".[7]

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".[8]

"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]

Manipulators typically exploit the following vulnerabilities:

Vulnerability Description
Naïveté or immaturity People who find it too hard to accept the idea that some people are cunning, devious and ruthless or are "in denial" if they are being taken advantage of.[9][10]
Over-agreeableness People who are too willing to give another the benefit of the doubt and see their side of things.[9]
Low self-esteem People who struggle with self-doubting, lacking in confidence and assertiveness, and who are likely to go on the defensive too easily.[9]
Over-intellectualization People who try too hard to understand and believe others have some understandable reason to be manipulative.[9]
Emotional dependency People who have a submissive or dependent personality. The more emotionally dependent a person is, the more vulnerable they are to being exploited and manipulated.[9]
Greed People who are greedy and dishonest may be easily enticed to act in an immoral way.[10]

Manipulation and mental illnesses

Individuals with the following mental health issues are often prone to be manipulative:

Borderline Personality Disorder is unique in the grouping as "borderline" manipulation is characterized as unintentional and dysfunctional manipulation.[13] 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.[14] 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.[13]

Clinical assessment tools

Emotional manipulation scale (EMS): EMS employs a ten-item scale to characterize the approaches used by individuals to manipulate.[15]

Managing the emotions of others scale (MEOS): MEOS measures the ability to change the emotions of others.[16] The test measures six categories: mood (or emotional state) enhancement, mood worsening, concealing emotions, capacity for inauthenticity, poor emotion skills, and using diversion to enhance mood. The worsening and diversion categories have been used to identify the ability and willingness of manipulative behavior.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Manipulation". APA Dictionary of Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. n.d. Retrieved 10 October 2021.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  2. ^ a b Brennan, MD, Dan. "Signs of Emotional Manipulation". www.webmd.com. WebMD. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  3. ^ a b Bereczkei, Tamás (2017). Machiavellianism The Psychology of Manipulation (First ed.). London: Taylor and Francis Group. ISBN 9781315106922.
  4. ^ Nichols, Shaun. "The Ethics of Manipulation". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  5. ^ Duncan, Rodger Dean. "Influence Versus Manipulation: Understand The Difference". www.forbes.com. Forbes. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  6. ^ a b c Ngoc, Nguyen Nhu; Tuan, Nham Phong; Takahashi, Yoshi (October 2020). "A Meta-Analytic Investigation of the Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Manipulation". SAGE Open. 10 (4): 215824402097161. doi:10.1177/2158244020971615. ISSN 2158-2440.
  7. ^ Rodriguez, Lucas Marcelo; Mesurado, Belén; Moreno, José Eduardo (2018-11-29), "Ethical Position, Empathy and Prosocial Behaviour Model: Its Contribution to Prevention and Psychotherapeutic Approaches of Antisocial Disorders", Psychiatry and Neuroscience Update, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 273–286, ISBN 978-3-319-95359-5, retrieved 2022-05-08
  8. ^ a b 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.
  9. ^ a b c d e Simon, George K (1996). In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People. ISBN 978-1-935166-30-6.
  10. ^ a b Kantor, Martin (2006). The Psychopathology of Everyday Life: How Antisocial Personality Disorder Affects All of Us. ISBN 978-0-275-98798-5.
  11. ^ a b c d e f 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.
  12. ^ "Machiavellianism". APA Dictionary of Psychology. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  13. ^ a b Aguirre, Blaise (2016). "Borderline Personality Disorder: From Stigma to Compassionate Care". Stigma and Prejudice. Current Clinical Psychiatry. Humana Press, Cham. pp. 133–143. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-27580-2_8. ISBN 9783319275789.
  14. ^ Staff writer(s). "On Manipulation with the Borderline Personality". ToddlerTime Network. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  15. ^ Austin, Elizabeth J.; Farrelly, Daniel; Black, Carolyn; Moore, Helen (July 2007). "Emotional intelligence, Machiavellianism and emotional manipulation: Does EI have a dark side?". Personality and Individual Differences. 43 (1): 179–189. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2006.11.019. ISSN 0191-8869.
  16. ^ Austin, Elizabeth J.; O’Donnell, Michael M. (October 2013). "Development and preliminary validation of a scale to assess managing the emotions of others". Personality and Individual Differences. 55 (7): 834–839. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.005. ISSN 0191-8869.

Further reading

Books

  • Barber, Brian K. Intrusive Parenting: How Psychological Control Affects Children and Adolescents (2001)
  • 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)
  • Sasson, Janet Edgette. Stop Negotiating With Your Teen: Strategies for Parenting Your Angry, Manipulative, Moody, or Depressed Adolescent (2002)
  • 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)

Academic papers

External links

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