The human race has a long, sad history of sly, smooth-talking con-artists and a rich history of powerful and noble orators. There are clever and charismatic speakers and marketers who are good and moral, others bad and devious. These include politicians, consumer marketers, snake-oil medicine peddlers, religious cult gurus, business opportunity scammers and con artists engaged in consumer fraud. Authentic Christian preachers strictly expound God’s Word and don’t resort to devious emotional manipulation, as the Prosperity Gospel purveyors do. Below are nine of the more common manipulation techniques used by those with unscrupulous motives. Some of the methods below are also used in one-on-one attempts at manipulation.
Manipulators Display a Charisma that Often Outshines the Message
“Cambridge scholar Jochen Menges calls this the ‘awestruck effect.’
Magnetic leaders and powerful public speakers often have it. Their personal
energy is so strong that they could be reading the phone book and you would be
captivated. If you walk away from a presentation amazed, but you can't remember
the speaker's 2-3 key points, you have hit by the awestruck effect. Beware
buying anyone's argument if you can't recall and explain what it was. Try doing
some research and reading on their ideas on your own, without the distraction
of their physical presence.”
Manipulators Use Positivity and Humor
to Boost Listeners’ Mood
“There
is a large psychological literature on the positive effects of boosting actors’
affect (mood) with respect to their actions. In particular, there is
considerable evidence that improving affect leads to more socially desirable
behavior. An upbeat emotional appeal, convincingly delivered, improves the
listeners’ mood, increasing their propensity to act in a socially desirable
manner. The increased propensity can be captured as boosting an emotional
responder’s perceived return from his action.”
Manipulators Excel in Gaining their
Listener’s Trust
“Charismatic
leadership requires power, and part of charisma is the ability to inspire trust
through suggestive power. Charismatic
leaders are able to sell themselves as saviours from precisely the fears that
plague their followers at the given time and situation, thus generating trust,
becoming like a vicious circle of trust and power. This ‘charismatic relationship
contract’ between the leader and the followers can only happen if there is
trust, and this means that people are willing to surrender degrees of freedom
giving themselves to the cause/common goal.”
Manipulators
Excel in Triggering Emotions
“A key trait of charisma is the ability to quickly trigger specific
emotions in others. They often have a whole arsenal of stories--funny, sad, or
distressing--and listening to them is as good as any Hollywood movie. Hey,
there are few things more enjoyable than a good story well told! But check in
with yourself. Do you feel your anger rising? Or are your heartstrings being
tugged? The teller may be preparing to sell you on something, so they're
manipulating you into a vulnerable emotional state. Take a step back and a few
breaths. Ask some polite follow up questions before you commit to anything.”
Some
Manipulators Attempt to Elicit Pity
"I've had a very traumatic/abusive childhood. My ex
treated me very badly. My parents were very narcissistic, too and so on. They
will claim that they have suffered terribly in the past for one reason or
another. Initially they will claim that they have overcome these difficulties.
This ploy is used to manipulate in various ways. First of all, it elicits pity
from the listener. Being social creatures our natural instinct is to want to
take care of somebody who has been injured. The manipulators know that if
they can elicit pity from their listener they are well on their way to
controlling them.”
Manipulators
Love Bomb – Both in Cults and Business Opportunity Scams
"You are
talented. You catch on quickly. You are special. You will do very well in this
group. You are a natural at this. You are intelligent. You learn fast. We'd be
delighted to have you join us. Together we could do amazing things. You are so
friendly and open. We are one big family here, you will fit right in.
“This level of
affection is often aimed at new members entering a cult and it is called love
bombing. It is feigned affection aimed at making the new member feel incredibly
good about themselves and the group in order to very rapidly establish a bond and elicit a commitment from the new recruit.”
Cult Manipulators Keep Their Recruits
Busy
“The leader will keep
the victims busy. Busy physically and busy mentally. In cults there are
exercises to be repeated, tools to be mastered and techniques to be practiced.
There are books, DVD, audios and so on with lots of information that need to be
digested. And when you finish all of them, you are told that it's worth going
over them all again.
“And then there are
lists of your wants, desires, values, goals that need to be checked, rechecked,
rewritten, updated and so on. On top of that, the members are expected to be
telling others, spreading the word, teaching the world... There is never a
dull, boring moment in a cult. There is always something to analyze in order to
discover a deeper meaning... to learn a significant lesson... to have a
profound realization. And it's all just mental gymnastics. It's of no real
value for the cult member but what it does is keep them in the mindset of the
cult.”
Manipulators
Effectively Use Social Media “Bubbles” - Cults & Snake-Oil Medicine Peddlers Are
Having a Field Day
“While YouTube is one of the bigger platforms utilized by cults, they
will use any tool available to extend their reach, said Ross. This utilization
of social media, paired with the platform's ability to allow people to entrench
themselves into a bubble is something further exasperating the issue.
“‘People can cocoon themselves in a kind of alternative universe, you
choose who you friend on Facebook, you choose who you follow on Twitter, you
choose who you watch on YouTube and you can kinda create an alternative reality.
I've been doing this for a long time, and people can embed in such a way that
they cut themselves off from reality. There is this self-reinforcing
alternative universe they occupy. It's something people can create more and
more effectively right now.’"
Manipulators of
All Types Use Emotional Headlines To Drive
Social Media Interactions
In
our analysis we found that emotional phrases were consistently effective on
Facebook as measured by the number of interactions. For example:
Tears
of joy
Make
you cry
Give
you goose-bumps
Is
too cute
Shocked
to see
Melt
your heart
Can’t
stop laughing
The
top phrases shared on Twitter focus more on explanations and analysis. For
example:
For
the first time
…is
the new…
The
truth about
The
rise of
Things
to know
This
is what
What
we know
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Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.
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