To the question "What is manipulation?" most often you can get an answer about the psychological impact in order to achieve a certain personal benefit. Moreover, such an influence is often hidden.
What is manipulation
Manipulation is a kind of psychological device, the purpose of which is to force a person to certain actions contrary to his desire. Moreover, the influence is not carried out explicitly, but hidden. The essence of the manipulation is that the person who is under pressure must herself want to perform certain actions, even if it is not beneficial for her.
People resort to manipulation in the event that they are afraid of failure or are obviously confident in the negative outcome of a particular enterprise. Perhaps, even those individuals who do not fully understand what manipulation is, without realizing it, quite often use this psychological device to achieve their goals. Even children's whims can be attributed to some extent to manipulation.
Why do people resort to this
In order to perform a certain manipulation, there must be a reason, which can be both conscious and subconscious. So, for such receptions people are forced by the following:
- the danger of being in a difficult or hopeless situation (in this case, the person begins to use others in order to circumvent uncomfortable moments);
- lack of self-confidence often leads to the fact that a person subconsciously tries to influence others;
- public pressure, as well as stereotypes associated with a specific situation, often induce manipulation, the purpose of which is to conceal or justify certain actions;
- negative attitude to a certain personality, as well as a desire for revenge often becomes the cause of psychological impact;
- manipulation often becomes an unscrupulous method of achieving selfish ends.
How to neutralize manipulation
Having understood what manipulation is, it is important to familiarize yourself with the methods of neutralizing it. So, to avoid psychological impact, it is recommended to use the following techniques:
- recognizing the manipulation, it is worth immediately and openly declaring the inadmissibility of such an impact on you (if it is caused by self-doubt, such a sharp answer will immediately discourage the opponent);
- disclosing the intentions of the manipulator and exposing it to others (the publication of uncomfortable facts will make the impact ineffective and inappropriate);
- if you feel pressure from the opponent, call him for a frank conversation in order to clarify the situation and determine the motives of behavior (a compromise may be found during the conversation);
- a fairly effective method of dealing with manipulation is to criticize a person who is trying to put pressure on you;
- if you understand that diplomatic methods did not help you get rid of pressure from the outside, show resistance to your opponent by engaging in open confrontation with him (the confrontation will knock him out of his rut);
- try to respond by manipulation to manipulation.
How to understand that you are being manipulated?
Manipulation (exposure) can have a variety of manifestations, and in order to effectively resist it, it is important to be able to recognize it. So, it is accompanied by the following situations:
- a feeling of psychological discomfort and lack of logic in the sequence of events;
- the contradiction between the verbal and non-verbal messages of the opponent;
- tension in the conversation;
- the mood swings of the manipulator, depending on whether he manages to achieve the desired;
- atmosphere of distrust between the interlocutors.
Simple tricks
The following simple manipulations are distinguished:
- an attempt to achieve your own goal, based on a feeling of resentment or guilt (in this case, the opponent begins to feel obligated to please the “victim”);
- the psychological effect of silence is to demonstrate mental distress and draw attention to one’s experiences;
- the manipulation of anger and other negative feelings is based on the fact that the blackmailer demonstrates his unbalanced psychological state, trying to get certain actions or concessions from you;
- pressure on the feeling of love is designed for loved ones (often such situations arise in families or couples when one of the parties speculates with a good attitude, trying to achieve selfish goals);
- the promise and instilling in the interlocutor of a certain hope is a fairly common method, which is used to provoke a person to specific actions or concessions;
- manipulation of vanity involves pressure by demonstrating high status;
- sarcasm and ridicule can knock a person out of a rut, which makes him more malleable in terms of management.
Complex manipulations
Complex methods of manipulation can be described as follows:
- such a technique as a shift in emphasis is quite common in the media (the same news can be presented in completely different ways if you focus on certain facts);
- certain words or situations can cause a storm of emotions in a person, which facilitates the process of manipulating him;
- in order to give a person an orientation to certain actions, it is not necessary to speak directly about it (for this it is more reasonable to use interrogative intonation or the sentence form);
- psychological pressure, as well as playing on strong emotions in order to make their illegal actions less significant against their background;
- if the manipulator does not have a clear argument for his behavior and requirements, he begins to aggressively demonstrate resentment, trying to get away from a constructive conversation;
- the methodology of the dispute bias is that, not having sufficiently convincing arguments in defense of the argument, a person begins to actively criticize him;
- in order to confuse the opponent, the manipulator can bombard him with a flood of questions in order to later accuse him of misunderstanding and unwillingness to give a detailed answer.
How does this happen
The algorithm for manipulating public consciousness involves passing through several successive stages:
- drawing up a psychological portrait of a group or a specific person in order to determine basic beliefs and values;
- bringing the planned situation in line with the current climate in society through exposure through the media and other techniques;
- the introduction of certain mechanisms that will facilitate the transition to a new state;
- subsequent monitoring of the situation in order to prevent deviations from a given course of development.
Types of Manipulation
Trying to achieve certain goals, a person can use all sorts of methods of psychological impact. In this regard, it is important to understand what manipulations are usually allocated:
- conscious manipulation is purposeful and planned (a person is clearly aware of the algorithm of his actions to achieve the desired effect);
- unconscious manipulation does not have a specific purpose, and the individual has not developed a clear plan and understanding of methods of influencing an opponent (often the scenario develops randomly, under the influence of strong emotions);
- linguistic (or communicative) manipulation is based on the oratorical abilities of the individual, through which he seeks to provoke the interlocutor to certain actions;
- behavioral manipulations are based on the commission of a certain kind of actions and actions that do not require additional verbal techniques.
Manipulation tools
In order to perform the manipulation, an individual can use the following means:
- verbal communication in order to convince the opponent of his innocence and appeal in specific actions;
- emotional component, which is aimed at demonstrating one’s own feelings or challenging those of the interlocutor;
- appeal to urgency that knocks an opponent off balance and requires quick adoption of rash decisions;
- constant repetition of the same statement in order to put pressure on the interlocutor;
- highlighting a specific fragment from the general context of events in order to present the situation from the most advantageous side;
- talking about the problem without mentioning the context and a number of important circumstances that may clarify the real situation;
- suppression of the opposite opinion by speculation;
- the use of stereotypical thinking to convince others of their rightness;
- presentation of one’s own opinion as objective and verified information from reliable sources;
- pressure on the interlocutor with the help of his authority or high social position.
Vulnerability
Most often, the following personalities can be manipulated:
- Those wishing to please everyone around and receive constant approval;
- people who are afraid of quarrels and hostile attitudes;
- non-independent and indecisive personalities (only depending on others do they feel emotional comfort);
- gullible people, confident in the honesty and correctness of others;
- altruists who consider it their duty to help everyone and in everything;
- impulsive personalities who make important decisions under the influence of momentary emotions;
- young people who do not yet have their own established life position and are in search of authority;
- single people who are looking for communication and friendships;
- unsure personalities who consider the opinions of others more correct and rational than their own.
Conclusion
Manipulation by people is the strongest mechanism of psychological influence (often hidden), which implies forcing the interlocutor to take some actions (the latter must be sure that he wants it himself). Such phenomena can occur both consciously and unconsciously. Moreover, the success of manipulation depends both on the person himself and on the psychological characteristics of the individual to whom the impact is directed.
The reasons for the manipulation may lie in the character of the person or in external circumstances. So, most often it is resorted to by people who are panicky afraid of crisis situations and are trying in every possible way to avoid them. Also, these kinds of tricks are used by insecure individuals who simply do not see for themselves another way to achieve their goals. Manipulation can cause strained relationships between people, and is also an unfair method of obtaining benefits.
In order to resist manipulation, you need to find the strength to give a tough answer and issue a warning about the inadmissibility of such actions. A person must understand that his intentions are revealed. It is better if this fact is widely publicized in order to block the manipulator from further paths to action.