manipulation tactics Flashcards
1
Q
Guilt-tripping
A
Making you feel bad to control your behavior.
2
Q
Silent Treatment
A
Withdrawing affection or attention as punishment.
3
Q
Love Bombing
A
Overwhelming you with affection to lower defenses.
4
Q
Fear Mongering
A
Creating fear to influence your decisions.
5
Q
Shame Induction
A
Making you feel defective or wrong to gain control.
6
Q
Gaslighting
A
Making you doubt your memory, perception, or sanity.
7
Q
Projection
A
Accusing you of what they are doing themselves.
8
Q
Triangulation
A
Using third parties to pressure, confuse, or isolate you.
9
Q
Playing the Victim
A
Acting hurt to gain sympathy and avoid accountability.
10
Q
Mirroring
A
Copying you to gain your trust — then using it.
11
Q
Reality Reframing
A
Twisting facts to create a new (false) narrative.
12
Q
Information Overload
A
Bombarding you with data to overwhelm your thinking.
13
Q
Selective Disclosure
A
Revealing only parts of the truth to manipulate choices.
14
Q
False Equivalence
A
Making two unequal things seem morally or logically equal.
15
Q
Appeal to Emotion
A
Using feelings to override your rational judgment.
16
Q
Reward-Punishment Cycle
A
Giving affection or approval conditionally.
17
Q
Moving the Goalposts
A
Changing demands after you meet the previous ones.
18
Q
Coercive Promises
A
Promising rewards if you comply — then changing terms.
19
Q
Withholding Validation
A
Denying approval to make you work harder for it.
20
Q
Inconsistent Treatment
A
Alternating hot/cold behavior to destabilize you.
21
Q
Public Shaming
A
Embarrassing you in front of others to force compliance.
22
Q
Social Comparison
A
Comparing you to others to make you feel inadequate.
23
Q
Bandwagon Pressure
A
Saying ‘everyone agrees’ to corner you into conforming.
24
Q
Authority Exploitation
A
Citing fake or real ‘experts’ to shut down your input.
25
Smear Campaign
Secretly attacking your reputation to isolate you.
26
Loaded Questions
Asking trick questions that trap you no matter what.
27
Double Bind
Presenting two bad choices as your only options.
28
Forced Urgency
Pressuring you to make decisions before you're ready.
29
False Consensus
Pretending a majority agrees when they might not.
30
Answer Control
Only offering you limited (bad) options to pick from.
31
Rapid-Fire Pressure
Firing off demands quickly so you can't think clearly.
32
Confusion Bombing
Introducing random issues to cloud your focus.
33
Emotional Exhaustion
Wearing you down so you give up resistance.
34
Self-Doubt Seeding
Planting subtle doubts about your judgment and abilities.
35
035 — Passive-Aggressive Behavior
Expressing hostility indirectly through sarcasm, procrastination, or backhanded comments.
36
036 — Appeal to Pity
Making you feel sorry for them to bypass logical judgment.
37
037 — Minimizing
Downplaying your concerns, pain, or experiences to make you doubt their importance.
38
038 — Denial
Flat-out refusing to acknowledge reality to avoid accountability.
39
039 — Deflection
Changing the subject to avoid responsibility.
40
040 — Stonewalling
Refusing to communicate, answer, or engage to frustrate you into giving up.
41
041 — Reverse Blame
Turning the blame back onto you for calling them out.
42
042 — Appeal to Loyalty
Claiming you owe them agreement or support because of past bonds.
43
043 — Bait and Switch
Offering one thing, then changing the terms after commitment.
44
044 — Catastrophizing
Exaggerating minor issues into major crises to create urgency and panic.
45
045 — False Apology
Apologizing without meaning it — to reset control or avoid consequences.
46
046 — Conditional Kindness
Only being kind if you do what they want.
47
047 — Pretending Ignorance
Acting confused or incapable to dodge responsibility.
48
048 — Blame Shifting
Assigning responsibility for their actions onto you or others.
49
049 — Future Faking
Promising amazing futures to keep you invested — with no real intention to deliver.
50
050 — Playing Dumb
Acting clueless to avoid being held accountable.
51
051 — Sympathy Fishing
Fishing for pity to divert attention from their bad behavior.
52
052 — Manufacturing Drama
Stirring up chaos or crises to distract from the real issue.
53
053 — Excessive Flattery
Overpraising you to manipulate your self-image and gain favor.
54
054 — Forced Team Mentality
Saying 'we're in this together' to pressure you into compliance.
55
055 — Deliberate Misinterpretation
Twisting your words intentionally to put you on defense.
56
056 — Overwhelming Generosity
Giving excessively so you feel indebted and compliant later.
57
057 — Demand for Instant Forgiveness
Insisting you forgive quickly to skip real accountability.
58
058 — Threatening to Leave
Using abandonment threats to scare you into compliance.
59
059 — Identity Attacks
Targeting your core traits (intelligence, loyalty, looks) to destabilize your self-worth.
60
060 — Selective Memory
Remembering only facts that benefit them, forgetting the rest.
61
False Framing
Framing a situation in a way that traps you into agreeing with their hidden agenda.
62
Conversational Steering
Subtly guiding the conversation away from dangerous topics and toward safer ground for them.
63
Strategic Vagueness
Being deliberately unclear to avoid accountability later.
64
Feigned Incompetence
Pretending they 'don't get it' to avoid doing something or taking blame.
65
Manufactured Urgency
Creating fake time pressure to rush you into bad decisions.
66
Pathologizing You
Acting like your normal emotions or concerns are signs of mental instability.
67
Playing 'Devil’s Advocate'
Pretending to argue 'just for the sake of argument' to subtly erode your position.
68
Overpersonalization
Making everything about them, even when it's clearly not, to shift focus and guilt.
69
Blame by Association
Linking you to someone else’s bad behavior to tarnish you indirectly.
70
Red Herring
Distracting you with an unrelated issue when challenged.
71
False Compromise
Offering a fake 'middle ground' that’s still heavily tilted in their favor.
72
Premature Closure
Forcing a conclusion before all information is considered.
73
Appeal to Tradition
Justifying bad behavior by claiming 'that's just how it's always been.'
74
Idealization/Devaluation
Putting you on a pedestal — then knocking you down when you don't comply.
75
Self-Deprecation as Defense
Putting themselves down so you feel guilty about criticizing them.
76
Hyper-Competence Projection
Acting superior and 'all-knowing' to discourage you from questioning them.
77
False Scarcity
Pretending resources, opportunities, or options are limited to pressure you.
78
Moral Posturing
Acting like they are morally superior to guilt or shame you into compliance.
79
Strawman Argument
Twisting your position into something absurd, then attacking that version.
80
Weaponized Insecurity
Identifying and then exploiting your specific fears or doubts.
81
Moving the Conversation Backward
Dragging the conversation back to old 'resolved' issues to destabilize you.
82
Pretending to Be Offended
Faking hurt feelings to derail criticism and silence you.
83
Polarizing ('All or Nothing') Thinking
Framing issues as only two extreme options to limit your choices.
84
Sympathy Hijacking
Using someone else's real or fake misfortune to distract or manipulate you.
85
False Transparency
Appearing open or vulnerable — but only selectively, to disarm suspicion.
86
Manufactured Coincidence
Engineering an event or meeting and pretending it 'just happened' naturally.
87
Labeling
Defining you with a fixed negative label to control how others see you.
88
Forced Secrets
Making you complicit in secrecy to tie you closer to them emotionally.
89
Learned Helplessness Induction
Conditioning you to feel powerless so you don't resist anymore.
90
Manufactured Competitions
Pitting you against others to control your behavior through rivalry.
91
091 — False Urgency via Manufactured Scarcity
Pretending an opportunity will vanish to force rash decisions.
92
092 — Strategic Silence
Pausing just long enough to pressure you into filling the silence — often with concessions.
93
093 — Selective Outrage
Getting angry about small things to distract from bigger wrongs.
94
094 — Manufactured Authority
Pretending expertise, status, or connection to power they don’t actually have.
95
095 — Emotional Checkmating
Making any response from you seem cruel, wrong, or ungrateful.
96
096 — Manufactured “Coincidences” for Surveillance
Orchestrating 'chance' meetings or encounters to monitor you.
97
097 — Excessive Gift Giving
Overloading you with favors so you feel trapped into reciprocating.
98
098 — Ideal Victim Role
Acting totally blameless and helpless so any criticism makes you the villain.
99
099 — Future Discounting
Convincing you that what you want later doesn’t matter compared to what they want now.
100
100 — High-Pressure Micro-Commitments
Getting you to say yes to small things repeatedly to escalate your compliance without noticing.
101
101 — Blurred Boundary Enforcement
Treating your stated boundaries as negotiable or ridiculous.
102
102 — Shifting Definitions Mid-Argument
Quietly changing the meaning of words or agreements without acknowledging it.
103
103 — Manufactured 'Poor Memory'
Claiming they 'forgot' important promises or offenses — only when it benefits them.
104
104 — Playing Hopeless
Pretending to be incapable of change so you'll stop expecting accountability.
105
105 — Toxic Nostalgia
Weaponizing good memories to make you ignore current bad behavior.
106
106 — Manufactured 'Accidental' Insults
Insulting you under the guise of clumsiness, jokes, or misunderstandings.
107
107 — Expectation Inflation
Quietly increasing what is expected of you without renegotiating terms.
108
108 — Censorship via Guilt
Making you feel bad for speaking uncomfortable truths.
109
109 — Premature Personal Disclosure
Sharing intimate details early to fast-track false intimacy and lower your guard.
110
110 — Manufactured Desperation
Faking extreme need or urgency to hijack your emotions.
111
111 — Forced Dichotomies
Presenting only two options — their way or total destruction.
112
112 — Hero-Savior Narrative Building
Positioning themselves as the hero of your story to trap you in loyalty or gratitude.
113
113 — Layered Reality Distortion
Twisting not just one event, but a whole sequence of them to reshape your memory.
114
114 — Strategic Victimhood in Public
Acting hurt or wronged in public to pressure you through social shaming.
115
115 — Manufactured Bad Luck Syndrome
Acting cursed or constantly unlucky to guilt you into over-helping.
116
116 — Trigger Planting
Setting up future landmines by linking emotional pain to specific situations or topics.
117
117 — Disempowerment Framing
Framing you as helpless, broken, or incapable so you doubt yourself.
118
118 — Manufactured 'Selfless' Persona
Acting ultra-generous or noble as camouflage for their manipulation.
119
119 — Ritualized Guilt Cycles
Regularly inducing guilt at predictable times to keep you off balance (e.g., birthdays, holidays, anniversaries).
120
120 — Opportunistic Compliance
Temporarily doing what you want when convenient for them — to keep you hooked longer.
