Talk:Manipulation (psychology)/Archives/2015

Needs improved references
The two  books used  primarily for references are pop psychology books. They are not research-based. Nor do they reflect the opinion of academic and scientific psychology. The article does not fulfill WP:V and WP:RS. Also, the See also section is too long and is misleading as it contains many unrelated or only peripherally related links. Regards, — mattisse (Talk) 15:23, 3 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Both main refs are books by qualified and respected practicing psychologists. Braiker in particular identifies in some detail the underlying solid psychological theory which is reinforcement and the work of B. F. Skinner. The problem I have is that the reinforcement article is too technical for a non-academic, although i have made an effort to improve it. But this angle needs to be developed further. Also Psychological manipulation is firmly a type of social influence. I rather resent your homing in on this article when around 30% of Wikipedia psychology articles dont have a single citation of any sort and quite a few more are seriously lacking citations. Also if you start stripping away "pop psychology" citations from Wikipedia psychology articles, even fewer will have citations. I have included some academic references in the Further reading list and in fact both the Simon and Braiker books have some academic citations which i didnt include as i thought it would break the flow up but as you are making such a fuss about it i might as well put them back in. Braiker refers to Burstens work and i list "Bursten, Ben Manipulator: A Psychoanalytic View (1973)" and some academic articles. More are to be found in Google scholar. The work of psychologist David Buss is also cited by Braiker. If some body wants to get hold of the Bursten book etc and develop this article then they are welcome. It is poor me who has done all the work here and i dont see why i should have to do it all. The reinforcement article is clearly too academic and this article (which is closely related) is criticised for being too pop - you just cant win. Wikipedia is seriously short of academic psychology editors. --Penbat (talk) 16:06, 3 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, reliable sources are important. This article appears to be using primary sources sources, as it seems that the authors of these books collected the information themselves, and the editors of this article have combined the info in the books. This can be seen as original research and synthesis. The goal is no original research using preferably secondary sources. Also, psychology is an empirically-based field, and psychology articles should seek to follow a guide such as WP:MEDRS. There must be scholarly sources on this subject.  Regards, — mattisse  (Talk) 16:58, 3 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Ref "the authors of these books collected the information themselves", isnt that what all authors do ?


 * I think you were partly misled by the title of one of these books "Whos Pulling Your Strings ? How to Break The Cycle of Manipulation" - only a relatively small part of the book is self-help and advice. I have avoided the self-help and advice aspects of the books and concentrated on the meatier theoretical parts.


 * The books such as Braiker do a great job at introducing important but complex psychological concepts to a non-academic audience. They are very much rooted in proper established psychology. The core theory behind manipulation is reinforcement - reinforcement explains why manipulation works. The type of reinforcement also provides a useful classification system for individual manipulation techniques (positive, negative, partial and intermittant as per B. F. Skinners work). Other important theoretical aspects are also covered such as locus of control, personality disorders, defense mechanisms, cognitive distortion.


 * If you were arguing that the theoretical underpinnings of the article were incorrect and could point me to a source that supported that view, then I would have been sympathetic to your view. As previously mentioned, "Bursten, Ben Manipulator: A Psychoanalytic View (1973)" sounds like the best source I know of (and also referenced by the Simon book) but I havent managed to get hold of a copy but I can see no evidence that it would undermine the theoretical basis of the article anyway. I may manage to get hold of a copy one day.


 * Reinforcement and locus of control presumably conform to WP:MEDRS but they are written at the level of an academic reader. While a non-academic reader should be able to understand psychological manipulation, I think the eyes of most non-academic readers will glaze over if they follow the links from psychological manipulation to reinforcement and locus of control. The Braiker book actually contains a very useful laymans explanation for reinforcement and it would probably be a good idea to use it to provide a non-academic introduction at the start of reinforcement. --Penbat (talk) 17:38, 6 February 2010 (UTC)

Hi, There was information where the citation was needed, so I input the citation for you. More reliable references are needed in the development of expanding the scope of this article. Possibly including sections on how psychological manipulation is used in society from a normal standpoint. Psychological manipulation when pertaining to advertising, politics,etc. Lastly, under Antisocial, borderline and narcissistic personality disorders header there is a reference to the DSM-IV-TR, consider updating that information with the DSM-5.Melissa Edwards (talk) 06:08, 21 May 2015 (UTC)

So, how to deal with psychological manipulators?
This article describes (quite well) the techniques used by psychological manipulators and the definition of this, but it doesn't include any information about how to counter, how to deal with, or how to treat people that are psychological manipulators. --Waqqashanafi (talk) 04:35, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

How to deal with psychological manipulators

Given that such a section would be most helpful - is anyone interested in writing it? For there could be advice on how to spot, deal with and counter manipulators at home, work and in government. And, if that was not enough to start with, there could also be sections on the press, TV and the internet. Might not a sub-section on the impact of blog sites (say, Giving the game away) led to a few interesting comments? 84.13.11.184 (talk) 21:40, 7 June 2014 (UTC)


 * Remember that Wikipedia is not a guide, a forum or a vehicle for original research.--Charles (talk) 09:13, 8 June 2014 (UTC)

No original research or no new stuff. But what if someone is able to cite reliable, published sources that are directly related to the topic of dealing with psychological manipulators? 78.147.83.151 (talk) 20:14, 8 June 2014 (UTC)

Hello, I agree that if someone is willing to research reliable, published sources having a section on how to deal or work with psychological manipulators would be beneficial. Melissa Edwards (talk) 05:54, 21 May 2015 (UTC)

Psychopaths lie
It is absolutely not true. To lie you need to think very clearly that is the condition for a person to be judged not psycopath. It is logic that: to lie for manipulation you have to think clearly and very cleverly. So if someone lies to manipulate is not psycopath. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.55.155.214 (talk) 21:10, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
 * What you've said is not the case. Psychopaths are typically habitual liars, who only tell the truth when it suits them. They very often use psychological manipulation to make people do what the psychopath wants. Frequent psychological manipulation is usual with Cluster B people. Psychological manipulation is used by most people sometimes, but psychological manipulation for selfish reasons is habitual in psychopaths/antisocials. Manipulation does not require intelligence, and is not always planned. Threats, violence and lies do not need intelligence. Psychopaths can be of any level of intelligence and education, and vary from chaotic, uneducated, impulsive, reckless, heroin-addicted homeless idiots right up to the high-functioning, cunning, intelligent, well-educated planners. Harold Shipman was an example of the latter. He had a successful career whilst concealing his true self from the world until he was in his fifties. He killed hundreds of his patients during a period of many years until it was discovered that he was a serial killer. Jim Michael (talk) 14:18, 9 January 2014 (UTC)

Psychopaths are frivolous liars... They lie without even rethinking so they give people a perspective of what they want them to see and they are very convincing at it too and lie with so much confidence to show that what they intend on passing across is well sounded...they're not always serial killers but they're very deadly Temple007 (talk) 21:22, 1 November 2015 (UTC)