Hello, hope you are okay. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Sending strength and love to all survivors.

Today we will cover the following manipulation tactics:

• Authority Exploitation
• Manipulative Seduction
• Triangulation
• Discard and Re-idealization
• Withholding Information

Authority Exploitation

”Manipulative individuals frequently exploit their perceived authority or expertise to sway and control others. By presenting themselves as knowledgeable or influential figures, they can gain the trust and compliance of their victims”.

Example could be if your partner has more knowledge or a degree in certain area. Could be finances, law, psychology etc. Anything that you don’t have much knowledge can make you trust someone else better and they can use it to their own benefit. I would advise to always research about everything yourself, try it and even if someone has more expertise than you, don’t allow them to influence you easier.

Manipulative people can say that they know better because they have knowledge or experience and therefore, they push you to listen to them, instead of making your own decision.

Manipulative Seduction

”Manipulative seduction involves using charm, flattery, and romantic or sexual advances to manipulate others. By exploiting their targets’ emotional and physical desires, manipulators gain control and influence over them”.

This tactic more can be used when they know what works for you, maybe they see that certain sexual desires are your weaknesses etc. They might try different ways to seduce you just to see what works better.

Triangulation

”Triangulation is a deceitful tactic used by manipulators to sow discord and rivalry between individuals. It deflects attention from their own manipulative behavior and ensures continued control over the situation”.

Also, this tactic can be used when a third party is involved between 2 people and that party is used to see if a victim can be influenced by them. So, if your parent contacts your friend by asking for something, like to talk with you after you have a fight with them or involves someone else while you trying to sort out your life, that is considered triangulation too. Manipulators know people who are important to you, and they try to make influence by using those people.

This way they avoid responsibility as it is now transferred onto your friend or someone else who agrees to get involved most likely because they don’t know they’re being used to access you.

Or manipulative person includes someone else into situation and puts attention to that person as if they didn’t do anything wrong, but that third person did. I think we all experienced at some point someone saying – oh but they did this to you, and you were fine, but when I do it – it’s not fine. I would say it is clever idea to move your mind to completely someone else, this way distracting you from manipulator.

Discard and Re-idealization

”Manipulators often employ a pattern of behavior where they shift between idealizing and devaluing their victims. This is done to exert control and ensure that their victims remain emotionally attached. Initially, they shower their targets with praise and affection, only to suddenly retract it, which leads to feelings of bewilderment and increased reliance on the manipulator”.

One example that comes to my head is when I wanted to try to do voice-overs. My ex-partner really supported me and was happy. He would say how good I would be at it. But when I tried doing it (like creating my portfolio), his devaluation would start. He would say that my voice doesn’t sound right, that it sounds weird and he didn’t really like it. Same with my poetry, I had business idea to do with my poems. At first, he was all supportive, but when I started doing it and actually uploading to try to sell it, he told me – who is gonna buy it? Why would anyone need this? He would explain that no one needs these kinds of things. Did that stop me from continuing both adventures? Unfortunately, but yes.

Withholding Information

”Manipulators strategically withhold information to control the story and restrict their victims’ comprehension of a situation. This deceptive tactic distorts perception, enabling the manipulator to influence the victim’s thoughts and behaviors more effectively”.

As I said with another tactic, there is no way of knowing whether they’re withholding information or not until you accidentally find out. It comes to trust. Trustworthy person will be open and won’t hide anything from you that may affect your well-being.

25 Psychological Manipulation Techniques: Abuse – (mini series) part 6 – manipulation tactics. What is triangulation?