The 8 types of manipulators: how does each one act?

Individuals who use sophisticated techniques to deceive you. How do they do it?

One of the characteristics of manipulative people is precisely that they act in such a way that they cannot be recognized as such.

One of the factors that serve to understand how they can go unnoticed in this way is that, instead of there being a typical pattern of manipulative behavior, there are different types of manipulative people, there are different types of manipulative people, or manipulative strategies to be followed.. This makes it not always easy to recognize when someone is being deceived for one's own benefit.

• Recommended article: "6 manipulation strategies used by abusers".

The main types of manipulative people

Despite all the difficulties, it is not impossible to detect these cases of continuous deception.

The following are the main types of manipulative people I describe the main manipulation strategies that manipulative people adopt according to their personality or the context in which they are trying to deceive someone. according to their personality or the context in which they try to deceive someone.

1. False victims

Some manipulative people hide behind a disadvantaged situation that in many cases is fictitious and that, if it is real, they always try to exaggerate. The objective is clear: to be pitied..

This is a strategy that appeals to the parts of the brain most closely related to the limbic system and emotional memory and has a powerful effect on the behavior of others. In fact, some people cannot help but give in to everything that is directly or indirectly requested by these types of manipulators despite the intuition that they are being deceived.

2. Attention seekers

In certain people with narcissistic traits, attention is such a precious resource that they are willing to elaborate strategies whose ultimate goal is to obtain this element. And, in many cases, these strategies include a part of deception and manipulation.. For example, this is what happens in people who pretend to have a power they do not have just to have a way to stand out without doing too much, or who pretend to be interested in other people just to have this interest born towards oneself by the other.

In addition, this type of manipulative people know that it would be so strange for others to assume that they do everything for attention that they do not even think about it, and therefore it is unlikely that they will be discovered.

3. Authorities in the field

This class of manipulators make the ad verecundiam fallacy their own in order to exert control over others.. The idea, quite simply, is that they know a lot about a particular subject, and therefore they must be the leaders and have the last word on a given subject.

Of course, the moral position on which they decide what others should do is merely a facade that serves its function: to deceive others.

4. Echo chamber manipulators

These are people who want to gain socially or economically by giving the reason to an authority figureThis means refraining from offering their point of view in exchange for reinforcing the decisions of someone powerful.

This harms both the others, who see how there is a very clear imbalance of power (a person who is already important has the unconditional help of another person) and the person who is the leader, since he/she cannot be informed when his/her decisions and opinions are flawed.

5. Smearers

If the two previous types of manipulative people are based on authority, with this type the opposite is true**: they try to damage someone's position in order not to have competition**.

To do so, these people may systematically position themselves against what the selected person does, and will often speak ill of him/her behind his/her back. It is not the person you want to harm directly that is being manipulated, but his or her entourage.

6. False prize manipulators

This type of manipulator is characterized by offering a long-term reward in exchange for following a plan.. Of course, when the time comes to give the reward, they will disappear. This is a manipulative style that is linked to a specific object and a specific task.

7. Flatterers

These manipulators go out of their way to speak well of someone so that the person will believe they are indebted to them and will agree to do what they ask.. As with false victims, it is possible to fall into their trap despite being partially aware that you are being manipulated.

8. Argumentative tricksters

These are people who, in order to manipulate, opt for a strategy based on a verbal game: they make statements that after a while they manipulate to make it look as if they were saying something else, and they do the same with the speeches of others to make it look as if they have said something else.They do the same with the speeches of others in order to make it look as if they have said something else.

This happens a lot in discussions, to win public opinion. For example, if someone claims that a mayoral candidate has no education and another person points out that he does have a degree, the manipulator will reply that suggesting that a university degree is decisive to be a good mayor is ridiculous. In this case, we play with distractions and with the audience's memory to manipulate them by talking a posteriori about things that have not happened.