Recognizing Seven Strategies to Influence Others
In various relationships, from friendships to workplaces, manipulation can be a hidden and insidious force. This article aims to shed light on some common manipulative behaviours and provide strategies for dealing with them.
Manipulation can take many forms, such as lying, flattery, projection, guilt-tripping, and moving the goalposts. Lying is often used by manipulative people to control or coerce others, or to avoid blame for their actions. Flattery, on the other hand, is used disingenuously as a tool to gain emotional leverage. Projection happens when one person claims an emotion they're feeling is being experienced by someone else, while guilt-tripping involves making someone feel responsible or guilty for their actions or decisions. Moving the goalposts is a tactic where someone constantly changes their expectations to keep others running towards their goals.
One of the most common manipulation methods reported by professionals in therapy practice is the use of cognitive distortions and selective information presentation. Emotional appeal and authority misuse are also common tactics.
Love bombing, a form of manipulation, involves showering someone with excessive attention, gifts, compliments, and affection. This can leave you isolated and make you lose sight of who you are. To avoid such manipulation, it's important to recognise the signs and stay aware of your emotions.
Triangulation, another manipulative behaviour, often involves a third person in communication to avoid responsibility or protect from feeling like they've lost an argument. This is likely to occur if there's a lack of support and connectedness within the family, especially when parents live with depression and adolescents live with emotional dysregulation.
To combat manipulation, it's crucial to maintain boundaries, stay calm, avoid personalizing, listen, respect boundaries, and tell someone you trust if you feel you're being manipulated. If needed, seeking help from a therapist can be beneficial. Psych Central's guide to finding mental health care can be a starting point for seeking help.
Remember, genuine feedback or praise can be beneficial to a person's mental well-being, while flattery often has an expectation of getting something in return. Recognizing one's own needs and disengaging can be helpful in avoiding feelings of demoralization when dealing with manipulative people.
Comparing one's own feelings and actions to those of a manipulative person can help disrupt projection. By understanding the signs of manipulation and taking proactive steps to protect oneself, it's possible to maintain healthy, honest relationships.
Read also:
- Understanding Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis: Key Facts
- Stopping Osteoporosis Treatment: Timeline Considerations
- Tobacco industry's suggested changes on a legislative modification are disregarded by health journalists
- Expanded Community Health Involvement by CK Birla Hospitals, Jaipur, Maintained Through Consistent Outreach Programs Across Rajasthan
