What is manipulation? Manipulative impact

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. At the same time, such influence is often hidden.

What is manipulation

Manipulation is a kind of psychological device, the purpose of which is to force a person to take certain actions contrary to his desire. In this case, the influence is not explicit, but hidden. The essence of manipulation is that the person who is under pressure must itself want to take certain actions, even if it is not profitable for her.

People resort to manipulation when they are afraid of refusal or are surely convinced of the negative outcome of a particular enterprise. Perhaps even those individuals who do not fully understand what manipulation is, without realizing it themselves, quite often use this psychological device to achieve their goals. Even childish whims can be attributed to some extent to manipulative influence.

Why do people resort to this

In order to perform a certain manipulation, there must be a reason that can be both conscious and subconscious. Thus, people are forced to do the following:

• The danger of being in a difficult or desperate situation (in this case, the person begins to use others in order to avoid uncomfortable moments);
• Insecurity in one's own forces often leads to the fact that a person subconsciously tries to influence others;
• The pressure of society, as well as stereotypes associated with a particular situation, often lead to manipulation, the purpose of which is to conceal or justify certain actions;
• The negative attitude towards a certain person, as well as the desire for revenge, often causes psychological pressure;
• Manipulation often becomes an unscrupulous method of achieving selfish ends.

How to neutralize manipulation

Having dealt with the fact that such manipulation, it is important to get acquainted with the methods of its neutralization. So, to avoid psychological impact, it is recommended to use the following methods:

• Recognizing manipulation, it is necessary to immediately and openly declare the inadmissibility of such an impact on you (if it is caused by self-doubt, then such a sharp response will immediately discourage the opponent);
• Disclosure of the manipulator's intentions and exposing it to others (promulgation of inconvenient facts will make the impact ineffective and inappropriate);
• If you feel pressure from the opponent, call him on a frank conversation in order to clarify the situation and determine the motives for behavior (during the conversation, a compromise can be found);
• A rather effective method of combating manipulation is criticism of 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 outside, give resistance to the opponent, having entered into an open confrontation with him (the confrontation will beat him out of the rut);
• Try to respond by manipulating the manipulation.

How to understand that you are being manipulated?

Manipulation (carrying out of influence) can have the most different displays, and to effectively resist it, it is important to be able to recognize it. So, it is accompanied by the following situations:

• The 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 conversation;
• Mood swings in 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 one's own goal, based on feelings of resentment or guilt (in this case, the opponent begins to feel obliged to please the "victim");
• The psychological impact of silence is aimed at demonstrating mental distress and drawing attention to one's feelings;
• Manipulation of anger and other negative feelings is based on the fact that the blackmailer demonstrates his unbalanced psychological state, trying to get from you certain actions or concessions;
• The pressure on the feeling of love is calculated for close people (often such situations arise in families or couples, when one of the parties speculates in a good attitude, trying to achieve selfish goals);
• The promise and introduction into the interlocutor of a certain hope is a fairly common method that is used to provoke a person into concrete actions or concessions;
• Manipulation of vanity involves putting pressure through demonstrating a high status;
• Sarcasm and ridicule are able to knock a person out of the rut, which makes him more pliable in terms of management.

Complex manipulations

Complex methods of manipulation can be described as follows:

• Such a technique as shifting accents, is often found in the media (the same news can be presented in completely different ways, if you focus on certain facts);
• Those or other words or situations can cause a person a storm of emotions, which facilitates the process of manipulating him;
• In order to give a person a set-up for certain actions, it is not necessary to speak about it directly (for this it is more reasonable to use interrogative intonation or the form of the sentence);
• Psychological pressure, as well as play on strong emotions with a view to making their illegal actions less significant against their background;
• If the manipulator does not have a clear argument for his behavior and requirements, he starts aggressively showing offense, trying to get away from a constructive conversation;
• The technique of dismissal of the dispute is that, not having enough convincing arguments in defense of the argument, a person begins to actively criticize him;
• To confuse the opponent, the manipulator can fill it with a whole stream of questions with the aim of later blaming him for misunderstanding and unwillingness to give a detailed answer.

How does this happen

The algorithm of manipulation of the public consciousness implies the passage of several successive stages:

• The drawing up of a psychological portrait of a group or a particular person with the aim of determining the basic beliefs and values;
• Bringing the planned situation in line with the current climate in society by impact through the media and other techniques;
• The introduction of certain mechanisms that will facilitate the transition to a new state;
• The subsequent control of the situation in order to prevent deviation from a given course of development.

Types of manipulation

Trying to achieve certain goals, a person can use various methods of psychological influence. In this regard, it is important to understand what manipulations are usually made:

• Conscious manipulation is purposeful and planned (the person clearly understands the algorithm of his actions to achieve the desired effect);
• Unconscious manipulation does not have a specific goal, and the individual did not develop a clear plan and understanding of the methods of influencing the opponent (often the scenario develops chaotically, 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 performance of certain kinds of actions and actions that do not require additional verbal techniques.

Means of manipulation

In order to perform manipulation, an individual can use the following means:

• Verbal communications in order to persuade an opponent to be right and call in concrete actions;
• Emotional component, which is aimed at demonstrating one's own feelings or calling those at the interlocutor;
• Appealing to urgency, which dislodges the opponent from equilibrium and requires the rapid adoption of rash decisions;
• Constant repetition of the same statement in order to exert pressure on the interlocutor;
• The allocation of a certain fragment from the general context of events in order to present the situation on the most advantageous side;
• Talk about the problem without mentioning the context and a number of important circumstances that can clarify the real state of affairs;
• Suppression of the opposite opinion by speculation;
• The use of stereotypical thinking to convince others in their own right;
• 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 status.

Vulnerability

Most often, the following persons can be manipulated:

• Wishing in every way to please others and receive constant approval;
• People who are afraid of quarrels and hostile attitudes;
• Dependent and indecisive personalities (only depending on others they feel emotional comfort);
• Trusting people, confident in the honesty and rightness of others;
• Altruists who consider it their duty to help everyone in everything;
• Impulsive individuals who make important decisions under the influence of momentary emotions;
• Young people who do not yet have their own formed life position and are in search of authority;
• Single people who are looking for communication and friendship;
• Insecure individuals who consider others to be more correct and rational than their own.

Conclusion

Manipulation by people is the strongest mechanism of psychological influence (often hidden), which implies coercion of the interlocutor to any actions (the latter must be sure that he himself wants it). Similar phenomena can arise both consciously and unconsciously. At the same time, the success of manipulation depends both on the person himself and on the psychological characteristics of the individual to whom the impact is directed.

Causes of manipulation may be hidden in the character of the person or in external circumstances. So, most often people who are afraid of crisis situations resort to it and try to avoid them in every possible way. Also, these methods are used by insecure individuals who simply do not see for themselves another way to achieve their goals. Manipulation can cause tension between people, and is an unscrupulous method of obtaining benefits.

In order to resist manipulation, you need to find the strength to give a tough answer and make 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, to block the manipulator further ways to action.