What Do Manipulative People Do?

Manipulate ; It aims to change the feelings, thoughts and behaviors of others without making them aware of it by using various methods. A person who manipulates tries to influence the other person in line with his own interests and desires.

Feelings of selfishness and individualism come to the fore during the manipulation process. The negative behavior of the person who tries to justify himself can greatly affect both parties. It is important to be aware of these situations that may cause serious problems and to receive professional support in this regard.

What Do Manipulative People Do?

Manipulative people ; He acts in line with his own interests by targeting different people or a group. It aims to change a person or a group by behaving incorrectly. Perception management and manipulation are active in achieving this situation . Therefore , manipulation is an action that can be considered as a violation of rights as well as a psychological process.

manipulation ; It can be considered as a secret way to deceive, lie and use people for one’s own interests.  Manipulation methods are applied on the person. The interests of the person making the manipulation come to the fore.

Manipulation methods ; It leads to an exploitative, cunning and deceptive effect. Because the act of manipulation ; It includes feelings of selfishness and individualism. While trying to justify himself, a person can negatively affect the other person’s behavior.

What are the Personality Traits of Manipulative People?

Manipulative people can exhibit different behaviors with the techniques they use. However, in general, these people; They may come to the fore with their characteristics of being good at managing the emotions of others, selfish, far from a sense of justice, merciless and narcissistic.

Personality characteristics and behaviors of manipulative people may be as follows:

• resorting to lies frequently
• Criticism and judgment
• be violent
• Love to rule and rule
• consider themselves superior
• being selfish
• Be greedy
• Weak sense of compassion
• Disdain
• seeing as worthless
• Being controlling and directing

How to Manipulate?

Manipulate ; It is a situation in which a person tries to direct the truths, wishes and desires of another person towards his own purpose. Since manipulation is a secret way of using people for different interests, it may be difficult for the person being manipulated to realize this. This is the purpose of manipulation . The other party is deliberately intervened and a secret power is exercised over it.

The person who manipulates ; It uses different methods to influence people’s minds and direct their thoughts and behaviors. Sometimes a person tries to persuade the other person. Sometimes he may exhibit behavior such as emotional exploitation.

What are Manipulation Techniques?

People who manipulate generally feel the need to feel powerful and to activate their feelings of domination over others. They engage in some repetitive behaviors while consciously or unconsciously manipulating. These behaviors can be expressed as manipulation techniques . Some manipulation techniques are as follows:

• Positive reinforcement: Praise, apologies, smiling and positive facial expressions are used. These behaviors strengthen the manipulation
• Negative Reinforcement: Behaviors such as yelling, scolding, crying and making people feel guilty are used. These behaviors aim to direct the person’s feelings and thoughts.
• Ego stroking: The person is exalted. The manipulator takes the person’s ego to the next level.
• Persuasion: Logic and reasoning methods are used. In this direction, it is aimed to direct the person’s thoughts.
• Emotional exploitation: It is a technique used to make a person feel guilty and doubt themselves.
• Lying: This technique is used to distort facts.

What are the Manipulation Methods?

Manipulation methods ; These are tendencies that involve violent behavior such as deprivation, humiliation or emotional violence. Situations where these tendencies are seen can be shown as examples of manipulation . Apart from these, the manipulative person often uses manipulation sentences that can make the other person feel guilty . The person who is targeted to change with manipulation sentences can come under power in a very short time without realizing it.

The person who performs psychological manipulation has egocentric thinking. He exhibits narcissistic attitudes and aims to manipulate the other person by using certain methods .

Psychological manipulation methods can be expressed as follows:

• To convince
• give advice
• perception management
• Humiliation
• Emotional pressure
• do not deprive
• Creating feelings of guilt
• Playing the victim role
• Applying emotional violence

Emotional Manipulation

Emotional manipulation ; It includes behaviors exhibited for purposes such as gaining power, control, benefit and privilege over a person through mental and emotional distortion. Emotional manipulation can have an impact on both women and men. It can cause the person to feel greatly restricted emotionally.

Emotional manipulation, which can bring about important emotions such as loss of confidence and unhappiness, can negatively affect a person’s life. It would be wrong to consider manipulation as merely a deliberate behavior or attitude. The most important factor that reveals this process is that the manipulator has an egocentric nature.

Emotional manipulation includes behaviors and attitudes that can cause extreme harm to the individual. After a certain period of time, the victim may question his or her own intelligence, logic, feelings and thoughts. The situation may begin to become pathological over time. Loss of control over one’s own emotions and thoughts can reach almost the same extent as a traumatic experience. Therefore, if a person thinks that he is being subjected to emotional manipulation, he can change his perspective towards the manipulator by getting professional support in this regard.

What are the Consequences of Emotional Manipulation?

Emotional manipulation can cause psychological disorders in the person. It is also possible to say that it is effective in the emergence of psychiatric disorders. It may even cause the person to feel helpless and lose self-esteem.

It is obvious that the person who is manipulated is negatively affected by this situation. However, the manipulative person will also unknowingly be negatively affected in his private and social life because he exhibits dishonest behavior.

Psychological Manipulation

Psychological manipulation causes the influence and guidance of different individuals to be effective in a decision taken. It is possible to find many equivalents of psychological manipulation throughout society. Manipulate can be used in social and private life. However, we can say that it is not limited to this, but is also used to manage societies and institutions.

If you feel the need to prove yourself, if you want to be approved, if your self-confidence has decreased and if you think you have reached a point where you may hate yourself, you are at high risk of becoming a victim of psychological manipulation .

What can be done when exposed to manipulation?

It is necessary to act extremely carefully when exposed to manipulation. Realizing that you are being manipulated and having the right attitudes will determine the course of events.

When exposed to manipulation, the person must realize that he or she is being manipulated. It is important to define the behavior of the manipulating person and understand what tactics he is trying to influence the other person.

It is necessary to reject manipulative behavior and ignore tactics that try to influence emotions and thoughts. In this case, protecting oneself would be a very conscious and correct move. Most importantly, it is necessary to reduce or completely cut off communication with the person who manipulates. In such cases, you can get support from a psychologist and follow a more professional path.

Manipulation Therapy

Manipulation therapy aims to protect the person from methods that affect their thoughts and behaviors. It is aimed at repairing the negative situations that occur as a result of manipulation.

When a person realizes that he is being manipulated, he must first protect himself. It is important for him to be able to express himself without suppressing his emotions. Moving away from the manipulative person’s attitudes will greatly contribute to restoring balance.

The situation can be improved through a professional support process. Individual treatments can be applied for the feelings of guilt, unhappiness and helplessness felt by the person. In manipulation treatment, it is extremely important that not only the exposed party but also the manipulation party is present in the process.

Summary

Manipulation is a situation in which a person aims to direct another person’s beliefs, wishes and desires, and even behavioral patterns within the framework of his own wishes and thoughts. Manipulate ; It includes behaviors that can be considered as a way of lying, deceiving, and using people for one’s own interests.

Manipulative people change the perceptions of the people around them. It aims to change their personal feelings and thoughts, influence them and make them feel powerless. However, healthy advice, support or guidance should not be confused with manipulative guidance. Behaviors based on the person’s well-being and happiness aim to provide benefit. The purpose of manipulation is to deliberately interfere with the other party and gain superiority over them.

If you think that you are being manipulated and that you cannot cope with this situation alone, it would be a good decision to get professional support. It would be very healthy to balance the manipulated situation with an expert.

Frequently asked Questions

What are the Characteristics of Manipulative Behavior?

There are manipulative behavioral characteristics such as playing the victim role, humiliating the other person, inflicting emotional violence, denial, and devaluing the other person’s feelings and thoughts.

Why Does a Person Become Manipulative?

Manipulation is acting dishonestly towards others in pursuit of one’s own interests. This is considered a form of social influence. Manipulative tendencies; It may be caused by psychological disorders such as borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder.

If a person has any of the personality disorders mentioned above, it may pave the way for manipulation-oriented behavior. In this regard, starting the treatment process of psychological disorders can also improve the manipulation situation.

Does a Manipulative Person Change?

If a person is aware of himself and has motivation and belief in change, he can get rid of his manipulative behavior. Getting professional support for this would be a very appropriate decision. However, it may be difficult for people who are not open to change, unaware of their behavior, or satisfied with their behavior to make a positive change.