Manipulation (psychology)

In psychology, manipulation is defined as an action designed to influence or control another, usually in an underhanded or unfair manner which facilitates one's personal aims.^[1] Methods someone may use to manipulate another person may include seduction, suggestion, coercion, and blackmail to induce submission.^[2]^[3] Usage of the term varies depending on which behavior is specifically included, whether referring to the general population or used in clinical contexts.^[4] Manipulation is generally considered a dishonest form of social influence as it is used at the expense of others.^[5]

People with Cluster B personality disorders may be more prone to certain negative behaviors related to power and control over others. Group B includes narcissistic, histrionic, borderline and antisocial personality disorders^[8].

People with borderline personality disorder tend to think in black and white and are sensitive to other people's attitudes toward them. This aversion to rejection may motivate them to obtain conformity in order to control the perceptions of others^[9].
People with histrionic personality disorder need to be the center of attention and, in turn, attract people so they can use (and eventually get rid of) their relationship^[10].
People with narcissistic personality disorder^[11]^[12]· have inflated self-esteem, hypersensitivity to criticism, and a sense of entitlement that drives them to persuade others to comply with their demands. To maintain their self-esteem and protect their vulnerable true identity, narcissists must control the behavior of others, especially that of their children^[13]^[14]· seen as extensions of themselves.
People with sadistic personality disorders^[15]^[16]· derive pleasure from the distress caused by their aggressive, degrading, and cruel^[17] behavior toward others. They have a poor ability to control their reactions and become enraged by minor disturbances, with some sadists being more severely violent. They use a wide range of behaviors to inappropriately control others, ranging from hostile stares, threats, humiliation, coercion, and restriction of others' autonomy. Often the goal of their behavior is to control and intimidate others^[18].

Differentiation

Manipulation differs from general influence and persuasion. Non-manipulative influence is generally perceived to be harmless and it is not seen as unduly coercive to the individual's right of acceptance or rejection of influence.^[19] Persuasion is the ability to move others to a desired action, usually within the context of a specific goal. Persuasion often attempts to influence ones beliefs, religion, motivations, or behavior. Influence and persuasion are neither positive nor negative, unlike manipulation which is strictly negative.^[20]^[21]

Elements of manipulation

While the motivations for manipulation are mostly self-serving, certain styles of social influence can be intended to be to the benefit of others.^[22] Manipulation is using "skills to advance personal agendas or self-serving motives at the expense of others", and is usually considered antisocial behavior.^[22] Pro-social behavior is a voluntary act intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals and is an important part of empathy.^[23]^[24]

Different measures of manipulativeness focus on different aspects or expressions of manipulation, and tend to paint slightly different pictures of its predictors. Features such as low empathy, high narcissism, use of self-serving rationalisations, and an interpersonal style marked by high agency (dominance) and low communion (i.e. coldheartedness) are consistent across measures.^[25]^[26]^[27]

Manipulative behaviors typically exploit the following vulnerabilities:

Manipulation and mental illnesses

Manipulative tendencies may derive from cluster B personality disorders such as narcissistic, antisocial personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder (usually by feigning distress or using flattery, gaslighting,^[29] emotional blackmail or love-bombing or seduction^[29] to obtain affection or to avoid abandonment).^[30] Manipulative behavior has also been related with one's level of emotional intelligence.^[22]

Deceitfulness and excessive manipulative behavior are the most common traits among antisocial personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder.^[31]

Antisocial personality disorder features deceit and manipulation of others as an explicit criterion. This runs the gamut of deception, from lying and superficial displays of charisma to frequent use of aliases and disguises, and criminal fraudulence.^[3] The Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD) in Section III of DSM-5 requires the presence of manipulative behaviour for a diagnosis of ASPD, with two symptoms (deceitfulness and manipulativeness) reflecting such tendencies out of the seven listed, with six being required for diagnosis (the others are impulsivity, irresponsibility, risk-taking, callousness and hostility).^[3] The related syndrome of psychopathy also features pathological lying and manipulation for personal gain, as well as superficial charm, as cardinal features.^[3]

Borderline personality disorder is unique in the grouping as "borderline" manipulation is characterized as unintentional and dysfunctional manipulation.^[32] 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.^[33] 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.^[32]

Conduct disorder is where behavioral and age appropriate actions are taken advantage of, primarily occurring in children and adolescents. Individuals with this are characterized as "lack of empathy, sense of guilt, and shallow emotion". These behaviors are shown in connection to manipulation by tying in narcissistic traits. Aggression and violence are two factors pursued by individuals with this disorder. In order for this disorder to be consistent and shown, the progression must be made for at least 12 months.^[34]

Factitious disorder is a mental illness in which individuals purposely fake having symptoms of some condition, physically or psychologically. (Individuals who fake symptoms merely as a strategy for avoiding work obligations or legal trouble do not have factitious disorder.) Fabricating illnesses allows individuals to feel a thrill^[35] and receive free aid in hospital admissions and treatment. Feelings of persistence, abuse in early childhood, and excessive thoughts were common for these individuals who connected to Borderline Personality Disorder.^{[clarification needed]}^[36]

Histrionic personality disorder foresee individuals who seek scrutinizing behaviors, inappropriate alluring tactics, and irregular emotional patterns. Histrionic symptoms include "seeking reassurance, switching emotional, and feeling uncomfortable." Histrionic and Narcissistic Personality Disorders overlap because decisions are sporadic and unreliable. These individuals can experience these symptoms from failed attempts of depression like symptoms.^{[clarification needed]}^[37]

Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized as feelings of superiority, exhibitionism, charming but also exploitive behaviors in the interpersonal domain, success, beauty, feelings of entitlement and a lack of empathy.^[38] Those with this disorder often engage in assertive self enhancement and antagonistic self protection.^[38] All of these factors can lead an individual with narcissistic personality disorder to manipulate others.

Under the ICD-11's dimensional model of personality pathology, deceitful, manipulative and exploitative behaviours are cardinal expressions of the lack of empathy domain of the Dissociality trait.^[39]

Assessment tools

MACH-IV

Manipulativeness is a primary feature found in the Machiavellianism construct.^[40]^[41] The MACH-IV, conceptualized by Richard Christie and Florence Geis, is a popular and widely used psychological measure of manipulative and deceptive behavior.^[42]

Emotional manipulation scale

The emotional manipulation scale is a ten-item questionnaire developed in 2006 through factor analysis, primarily to measure one's tendency to use emotions to their advantage in controlling others.^[43] At the time of publication, emotional intelligence assessments did not specifically examine manipulative behavior and were instead predominantly focussed on Big Five personality trait assessment.^[43]

Managing the emotions of others scale

The "Managing the Emotions of Others Scale" (MEOS) was developed in 2013 through factor analysis to measure the ability to change emotions of others.^[44] The survey questions measure six categories: mood (or emotional state) enhancement, mood worsening, concealing emotions, capacity for inauthenticity, poor emotion skills, and using diversion to enhance mood. The enhancement, worsening and diversion categories have been used to identify the ability and willingness of manipulative behavior.^[22] The MEOS has also been used for assessing emotional intelligence, and has been compared to the HEXACO model of personality structure, for which the capacity for inauthenticity category in the MEOS was found to correspond to low honesty-humility scores on the HEXACO.^[45]

In popular psychology

Harriet B. Braiker

Harriet B. Braiker identified the following ways that manipulators control their victims:^[46]

Positive reinforcement: includes 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.
Negative reinforcement: involves removing one from a negative situation as a reward.
Gaslighting.
Intermittent or partial reinforcement: Partial or intermittent negative reinforcement can create an effective climate of fear and doubt. Partial or intermittent positive reinforcement can encourage the victim to persist.
Punishment: includes nagging, yelling, the silent treatment, intimidation, threats, swearing, emotional blackmail, guilt trips, sulking, crying, and playing the victim.
Traumatic one-trial learning: using verbal abuse, explosive anger, or other intimidating behavior to establish dominance or superiority; even one incident of such behavior can condition or train victims to avoid upsetting, confronting or contradicting the manipulator.

According to Braiker, manipulators exploit the following vulnerabilities (buttons) that may exist in victims:^[46]

the desire to please
addiction to earning the approval and acceptance of others
emotophobia (fear of negative emotion; i.e. a fear of expressing anger, frustration or disapproval)
lack of assertiveness and ability to say no
blurry sense of identity (with soft personal boundaries)
low self-reliance
external locus of control

Manipulators can have various possible motivations, including but not limited to:^[46]

the need to advance their own purposes and personal gain at (virtually any) cost to others
a strong need to attain feelings of power and superiority in relationships with others - compare megalomania (associated with, for example, narcissistic personality disorder)^[47]
a want and need to feel in control
a desire to gain a feeling of power over others in order to raise their perception of self-esteem
furtherance of cult dynamics in recruiting or retaining followers^[48]
boredom, or growing tired of one's surroundings; seeing manipulation as a game more than hurting others
covert agendas, criminal or otherwise, including financial manipulation (often seen when intentionally targeting the elderly or unsuspecting, unprotected wealthy for the sole purpose of obtaining victims' financial assets)
not identifying with underlying emotions (including experiencing commitment phobia), and subsequent rationalization (offenders do not manipulate consciously, but rather try to convince themselves of the invalidity of their own emotions)
lack of self-control over impulsive and anti-social behaviour - leading to pre-emptive or reactionary manipulation to maintain image

George K. Simon

According to psychology author George K. Simon, successful psychological manipulation primarily involves the manipulator:^[28]

Concealing aggressive intentions and behaviors and being affable.
Knowing the psychological vulnerabilities of the victim to determine which tactics are likely to be the most effective.
Having a sufficient level of ruthlessness to have no qualms about causing harm to the victim if necessary.

Techniques of manipulators may include:

Martin Kantor

Kantor advises in his 2006 book The Psychopathology of Everyday Life: How Antisocial Personality Disorder Affects All of Us that vulnerability to psychopathic manipulators involves being too:^[49]

Dependent – dependent people need to be loved and are therefore gullible and liable to say yes to something to which they should say no.
Immature – has impaired judgment and so tends to believe exaggerated advertising claims.
Naïve – cannot believe there are dishonest people in the world, or takes it for granted that if there are any, they will not be allowed to prey on others.
Impressionable – overly seduced by charmers.
Trusting – people who are honest often assume that everyone else is honest. They are more likely to commit themselves to people they hardly know without checking credentials, etc., and less likely to question so-called experts.
Careless – not giving sufficient amount of thought or attention to harm or errors.
Lonely – lonely people may accept any offer of human contact. A psychopathic stranger may offer human companionship for a price.
Narcissistic – narcissists are prone to falling for unmerited flattery.
Impulsive – make snap decisions.
Altruistic – the opposite of psychopathic: too honest, too fair, too empathetic.
Frugal – cannot say no to a bargain even if they know the reason it is so cheap.
Materialistic – easy prey for loan sharks or get-rich-quick schemes.
Greedy – the greedy and dishonest may fall prey to a psychopath who can easily entice them to act in an immoral way.
Masochistic – lack self-respect and so unconsciously let psychopaths take advantage of them. They think they deserve it out of a sense of guilt.
The elderly – the elderly can become fatigued and less capable of multi-tasking. When hearing a sales pitch they are less likely to consider that it could be a con. They are more likely to give money to someone with a hard-luck story. See elder abuse.

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^ Giovacchini PL (1996). Treatment of Primitive Mental States. Master work series. Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson. p. 24. ISBN 9781568218083. 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.
^ Halperin DA, ed. (1983). Psychodynamic Perspectives on Religion, Sect, and Cult. Littleton, Massachusetts: J. Wright, PSG, Incorporated. p. 364. ISBN 9780723670292. Retrieved 24 July 2021. [...] theologians and philosophers have, for the most part, avoided other questions which usually fall within their purview: ethical questions, for instance, like those highlighted by the calculated deceit and crass manipulation integral to many cults.
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