We all want to get our needs met, but manipulators use underhanded methods. Manipulation is a way to covertly influence someone with indirect, deceptive, or abusive tactics. Manipulation may seem benign or even friendly or flattering, as if the person has your highest concern in mind, but in reality it's to achieve an ulterior motive. Other times, it's veiled hostility, and when abusive methods are used, the objective is merely power. You may not realize that you're being unconsciously intimidated.
If you grew up being manipulated, it's harder to discern what's going on, because it feels familiar. You might have a gut feeling of discomfort or anger, but on the surface the manipulator may use words that are pleasant, ingratiating, reasonable, …show more content…
Manipulators often use guilt by saying directly or through implication, "After all I've done or you," or chronically behaving needy and a helpless. They may compare you negatively to someone else or rally imaginary allies to their cause, saying that, "Everyone" or "Even so and so thinks xyz," or "says xyz about …show more content…
This approach can be used to break a date, promise, or agreement. Parents routinely manipulate with bribery - everything from, "Finish your dinner to get dessert," to "No video games until your homework is done." I was bribed with a promise of a car, which I needed in order to commute to summer school, on the condition that I agree to go to the college that my parents had chosen rather than the one I'd decided on. I always regretted taking the bribe. When you do, it undermines your self-respect.
Manipulators often voice assumptions about your intentions or beliefs and then react to them as if they were true in order to justify their feelings or actions, all the while denying what you a say in the conversation. They may act as if something has been agreed upon or decided when it hasn't in order to ignore any input or objection you might have.
The "foot-in-the-door" technique is making a small request that you agree to, which is followed by the real request. It's harder to say no, because you've already said yes. The reversal turns your words around to mean something you didn't intend. When you object, manipulators turn the tables on you so that they're the injured party. Now it's about them and their complaints, and you're on the defensive. Fake concern is sometimes used to undermine your decisions and confidence in the form
If you grew up being manipulated, it's harder to discern what's going on, because it feels familiar. You might have a gut feeling of discomfort or anger, but on the surface the manipulator may use words that are pleasant, ingratiating, reasonable, …show more content…
Manipulators often use guilt by saying directly or through implication, "After all I've done or you," or chronically behaving needy and a helpless. They may compare you negatively to someone else or rally imaginary allies to their cause, saying that, "Everyone" or "Even so and so thinks xyz," or "says xyz about …show more content…
This approach can be used to break a date, promise, or agreement. Parents routinely manipulate with bribery - everything from, "Finish your dinner to get dessert," to "No video games until your homework is done." I was bribed with a promise of a car, which I needed in order to commute to summer school, on the condition that I agree to go to the college that my parents had chosen rather than the one I'd decided on. I always regretted taking the bribe. When you do, it undermines your self-respect.
Manipulators often voice assumptions about your intentions or beliefs and then react to them as if they were true in order to justify their feelings or actions, all the while denying what you a say in the conversation. They may act as if something has been agreed upon or decided when it hasn't in order to ignore any input or objection you might have.
The "foot-in-the-door" technique is making a small request that you agree to, which is followed by the real request. It's harder to say no, because you've already said yes. The reversal turns your words around to mean something you didn't intend. When you object, manipulators turn the tables on you so that they're the injured party. Now it's about them and their complaints, and you're on the defensive. Fake concern is sometimes used to undermine your decisions and confidence in the form