Manipulation (psychology)

Manipulation is the usage of means to exploit, control, or otherwise influence others to one’s advantage. In a extreme, it is a stratagem of tricksters, swindlers, as well as impostors who disrespect moral principles and gain advantage of others’ frailty & gullibility. At the very least, manipulation is influence used to work control, benefits, or privileges at the expense of the others.

Manipulation differs from general influence and persuasion. Influence is generally perceived to be harmless as it respects the adjustment of the influenced to accept or reject it and it is for not unduly coercive. Persuasion is the ability to carry on a others to a desired action, commonly within the context of a particular goal. Influence and persuasion are neither positive nor negative.

Characteristics of manipulators

The motivation for manipulation can be self-serving or it can be returned to assist or expediency others. Anti-social manipulation is using "skills to cover personal agendas or self-serving motives at the expense of others", pro-social behavior is "a voluntary act remanded to guide or benefit another individual or chain of individuals".

Studies of the predictors of emotional manipulation indicate that the mechanisms late 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".

Manipulators typically exploit the following vulnerabilities: