PSYCHOMANIPULATION - Tomasz Witkowski

is fairly widespread in the literature on the subject is based on the criterion of the depth of
interference in the mind of another individual. This system is of particular relevance to analysis
of the effects of manipulation and to moral and even legal considerations. In this system the first
category is of techniques which are intended to produce concessions; in this case, the aim is to
modify behaviour on a single occasion only. For example, a shop assistant might persuade us to
buy something which we didn’t really want to buy, or a beggar might talk us into giving him a
coin which we had no intention of giving. A second group of techniques goes deeper, with the
aim of changing not only behaviour, but attitudes. These are often described as persuasive
techniques. For example, in the previous example, the shop assistant might succeed not only in
selling us some object, but also in influencing us so that after the sale we believe that we actually
needed the object, and that we bought it intentionally. Changes in personality, or rather in
identity, and thought control, are the results of the third type of techniques. The effects of this
process are the slowest to appear. Examples of this kind of indoctrination are the influence of
some religious sects, political and terrorist groups, and so-called brain-washing.14
A similar system has been suggested by Margaret Thaler Singer, a specialist in research into
thought control. According to her, methods of exercising influence can be located on a
continuum. At one end of the continuum are methods used in education, next are advertising
methods, propaganda techniques and indoctrination techniques, with methods of thought control
at the other extreme.15
However, this book is not intended to demonstrate the superiority of one system of
classification over another, but to present the issues of manipulation in situations of human
interaction in an accessible manner; therefore, I would like to remind those who find the
question of classification to be an obstruction of the words of a certain preacher: "Brothers, here
is the barrier; let us face it bravely and we will overcome."16
The book which you are reading is on the subject of manipulations. This is an unusually
14 There are detailed descriptions of these systems of classification in:
http://www.influenceatwork.com/definit.html, and: T. Maruszewski, E. Ścigała, Nasze wyprane mózgi
łowców.”Charaktery”, 1999, no.7, pp.12-18.
15 M. T. Singer, J. Lalich, Cults in our midst. Jossey-Bass Publishers: San Francisco 1995.
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