PSYCHOMANIPULATION - Tomasz Witkowski

got what was coming to him, probably he was too lazy to work or, if he worked, he had some
kind of morally dubious job which brought about his current problems. If, conversely, someone
is successful, we assume that he earned it. No doubt he spared neither time nor effort to get
ahead, and probably he was a diligent student. The observant reader will not fail to notice the
cultural background to such a belief. It is, of course, typical of Protestant thinking to believe in a
just world, and no doubt the belief is formulated differently in Catholic cultures and to an even
greater extent in countries where socialist values were imposed in addition to the influence of
Catholicism. Coming back to the arguments of the author of the theory, it needs to be
emphasized that the result of such a perception of the world is a particular kind of behaviour. It
turns out that people with a strong belief in a just world are more likely to be involved in
charitable activities. Why, we may ask? The reason is the need to defend one’s vision of the
world. By helping others, we help to restore justice, thus confirming ourselves in our beliefs.
From the point of view of our discussion, the most interesting thing is that people are more likely
to engage in altruistic activities when they believe that their actions had a significant impact on
the situation of the person they were helping! Conversely, if they believe that their actions have
no effect, they begin to denigrate the person on the grounds that they have clearly deserved such
a situation and that there is no point in making an effort to help them, as nothing will change.
This tendency becomes even stronger if they see a person in troubles of their own making.
Of course, not everyone shares in the belief in a just world to the same extent. However,
the behaviour of people who subscribe to it is yet another instance of the important role played
by our conviction that someone has control over his own destiny. This conviction has a
significant influence on our actions, particularly on actions involving, or even caused by another
person, and it determines whether or not we will do anything to help.
What does all of this have to do with manipulation? There is a whole range of
manipulative techniques which are intended to create the impression that the person
manipulating us is not in full control of his behaviour, and is not in a position to influence its
results. Moreover, by skilful presentation of information and facts, he leads us to believe that
only we are in a position to influence the course of events. My favourite example of this, which
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