Social and Psychological Manipulation - Dean Amory
Unlike people who are trying to influence, persuade or convince others, manipulators work with unfair means to get what they want. They do not respect the personal rights of their victims. They violate the victim's integrity, work with hidden agendas and deliberately use dishonest tricks like faulty reasoning, coercion, blackmail and lying in an attempt to control the victim's actions. Manipulation is about suiting the manipulator's advantage or purpose only, often at the expense of the victim. Yet, it is often difficult to know when you are being manipulated: manipulators do all they can to convince you that you are the one who is to benefit most from their actions and that they are acting in good faith. If we were aware that we are being manipulated, would we allow ourselves to fall victim to it - and how would we defend ourselves against it? That is where this book comes in handy: it explains the tricks manipulators use and teaches you how to best defend and
Unlike people who are trying to influence, persuade or convince others, manipulators work with unfair means to get what they want. They do not respect the personal rights of their victims. They violate the victim's integrity, work with hidden agendas and deliberately use dishonest tricks like faulty reasoning, coercion, blackmail and lying in an attempt to control the victim's actions. Manipulation is about suiting the manipulator's advantage or purpose only, often at the expense of the victim.
Yet, it is often difficult to know when you are being manipulated: manipulators do all they can to convince you that you are the one who is to benefit most from their actions and that they are acting in good faith.
If we were aware that we are being manipulated, would we allow ourselves to fall victim to it - and how would we defend ourselves against it?
That is where this book comes in handy: it explains the tricks manipulators use and teaches you how to best defend and
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The basic tact is to first provide a person with something he really wants (money, attention, support,<br />
…) <strong>and</strong> then withdraw it in an attempt to convince the victim that he needs them more then they need<br />
him.<br />
Next, the manipulator waits for the victim to make a move.<br />
Since people want what they cannot have, if the person does not contact the manipulator after he<br />
withdrew whatever he has been providing his victim with, then what he was giving apparently was not<br />
appealing enough to make them want it enough.<br />
The person with the upper h<strong>and</strong> in any situation <strong>and</strong> any given time, is the one who can (make the other<br />
think he can) walk away if the situation is not to his liking.<br />
Good manipulators radiate confidence <strong>and</strong> independence <strong>and</strong> convince their victims that they need<br />
what the manipulator has to offer, whereas it seems to make little difference to the manipulator what<br />
his victim decides.<br />
4.2. Using fallacies to mislead people<br />
Sources:<br />
http://www.thefreedictionary.com – Collins English Dictironary - Thesaurus<br />
www.wikipedia.org – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<br />
http://utminers.utep.edu/omwilliamson/ENGL1311/fallacies.htm - Master List of Logical Fallacies<br />
Definition:<br />
fal·la·cy (f l -s ) - n. pl. fal·la·cies<br />
from Latin fallācia, from fallax deceitful, from fallere to deceive<br />
1. A false notion, a false belief, a misconception, an incorrect conception<br />
2. A statement or an argument based on a false or invalid inference.<br />
3. Incorrectness of reasoning or belief; erroneousness.<br />
4. The quality of being deceptive.<br />
5. an incorrect or misleading notion or opinion based on inaccurate facts or invalid reasoning<br />
6. unsound or invalid reasoning<br />
7. the tendency to mislead<br />
8. (Philosophy / Logic) Logic an error in reasoning that renders an argument logically invalid<br />
9. pseudoscience- an activity resembling science but based on fallacious assumptions<br />
10. logical fallacy - a fallacy in logical argumentation<br />
11. pathetic fallacy - the fallacy of attributing human feelings to inanimate objects; `the friendly sun' is<br />
an example of the pathetic fallacy<br />
12. sophism, sophistry, sophistication - a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in<br />
reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone<br />
13. paralogism - an unintentionally invalid argument<br />
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