Thought Manipulation: The Use and Abuse of Psychological Trickery (6 page)

To complete this description, I will sketch a three-dimensional graph (see Figure 1). This graph describes the considerations of a rational, efficient motivator who is operating in ideal circumstances. The graph is composed of three variables: level of control, level of influence, and level of misleading. The extremes are coercion (maximum control), persuasion (maximum influence), and deception (maximum misleading). Manipulation, which combines different levels of control, influence, and misleading, is located in a triangular plane between the extremes.

Figure 1

It is important to emphasize that Figure 1 presents the considerations of a rational human being who is determined to motivate. In ideal circumstances, he will select the motivating strategy according to his estimation and evaluation of the level of control and the extent of influence that he holds over the target. In other words, the description suggested here, in contrast to Klaidman and Beauchamp’s “objective” analysis, is based on the motivator’s evaluation of the balance of power prior to choosing his motivating action. Therefore, instead of an “objective” description that uses variables that seems to be immeasurable (such as level of influence and control in practice), I suggest analysis based on the intention, evaluation, and estimation of a rational motivator.

To animate and concretize our theoretical model, I will ask assistance from an expert on manipulative matters. I will invite Niccolo Machiavelli, the great Italian thinker, to join our exploration. Machiavelli’s most famous political treatise is
The Prince
, which was composed almost 500 years ago.
The Prince
is a short political treatise written as a handbook for the common authoritarian leader who has graduated from the academy of crime with honor.

In
The Prince
, Machiavelli patiently explains to his ruler that he has to use force, guile, and stratagem wisely to survive politically:

“You must, therefore, know that there are two means of fighting: one according to the laws, the other with force; the first way is proper to man, the second to beasts; but because the first, in many cases, is not sufficient, it becomes necessary to have recourse to the second. Therefore, a prince must know how to use wisely the natures of the beast and the man...and the one without the other cannot endure.

Since, then, a prince must know how to make good use of the nature of the beast, he should choose from among the beasts the fox and the lion; for the lion cannot defend itself from traps and the fox cannot protect itself from wolves. It is therefore necessary to be a fox in order to recognize the traps and a lion in order to frighten the wolves.”

In our description, the sophisticated motivator will act like a lion (coercion) whenever he assumes that he is able to control the situation. He will operate as an honest human being (persuasion) whenever he thinks that he is able to influence his target. However, as soon as he feels that he loses control and influence he will have to start behaving like a fox (manipulation).

BETWEEN MANIPULATION AND DECEPTION

The last section presented a theoretical model. It described the decision-making process of a rational manipulator who chooses his actions under ideal circumstances. The intention was to provide a better orientation of the topography of manipulation relative to other motivating actions (i.e., persuasion, coercion, and deception). No doubt the distinction between manipulation and deception, which perhaps still seems to lack clarity, needs better clarification.

Manipulation is characterized by acts of leading astray. Therefore, distinguishing between manipulation and deception is difficult and not always possible. Two criteria could be useful in differentiating between deception and certain kinds of manipulation. The first criterion relates to the use of false information in order to encourage the target toward a desirable action. The second entails motivating by a wish that clearly cannot be fulfilled. I will argue that a motivating action that fills at least one of these criteria would be better categorized as deception rather than as manipulation.

Manipulation is an indirect motivating action. This means that manipulative behavior, in general, is designed to invisibly interfere with the decision-making process of the target. The sophisticated manipulator affects the target’s critical capacity and provides him with incentives to act. Motivating someone to operate by using false information seems to be a more direct approach. The liar simply misleads the target. These cases miss the unique sophistication of manipulation and appear instead to be clear cases of deception.

We saw that an effective motivating technique is to create a link between the intentional action (the manipulator’s goal) and the fulfillment of the target’s powerful wish (or the satisfaction of his strongest desires). Often enough, however, the sophisticated manipulator does not specifically promise, or explicitly commit, to satisfy the target’s wish (that, ironically, sometimes he, the manipulator, has created). He uses elusive language, such as symbols, hints, and indirect messages, to give the impression that a realistic possibility of achieving satisfaction exists. No one promises us that drinking Coca-Cola will make us attractive, desirable sex symbols like the models used in the soft drink maker’s advertisements.

Of course, we can always find cases where the manipulator is actually committed to fulfilling the target’s wish. However, in those cases there are almost always hidden elements that the manipulator does not share with his targets—otherwise, there is no manipulation. Take, for example, an advertisement that introduces a powerful, efficient, and effective vaccination. The ad describes in detail the horrible symptoms of the relevant disease. However, the creative advertiser “forgets” to mention that he is speaking about an extremely rare illness.

Motivating a person to act by using a false wish, a wish that clearly will not be fulfilled, seems to bypass the elusive magical characteristic of manipulation. Therefore, I am inclined to classify those cases, at least in this book, as deception. Let me explain by using an example taken from the handbook of the ultimate Casanova.

Joseph invites Natalie to his apartment to hear him play the piano. Joseph, who finds Natalie very attractive, has hidden intentions (a covert agenda) that extend far beyond playing private serenades. There is a realistic possibility that Joseph will be able to fulfill the motivating wish (private concert exclusively for Natalie) only if he knows how to play the piano and if there is a piano in his apartment. In this case we can categorize Joseph’s behavior as manipulative. However, if he cannot play the piano, or there is no piano in his apartment, then his behavior can instead be categorized as deception.

The fulfillment of a powerful wish is a prominent motif in manipulation and illusion. Accordingly, it is not surprising to find out that our criterion used to distinguish between manipulation and deception (the possibility to fulfill the motivating wish) is similar to Freud’s principle of differentiation between illusion and false idea (delusion): “What is characteristic of illusions is that they are derived from human wishes. In this respect they come near to the psychiatric delusions. But they differ from them, too, apart from the more complicated structure of delusions. In the case of delusion, we emphasize as essential their being in contradiction with reality. Illusions need not necessarily be false—that is to say, unrealizable or in contradiction to reality. For instance, a middle-class girl may have the illusion that a prince will come and marry her. This is possible; and a few of such cases have occurred...Examples of illusions which have proved true are not easy to find...” In a similar mode, I have proposed to make a distinction between manipulation and deception.

NOTES

1. Compare to Weber, M. (1949),
The Methodology of the Social Sciences
(Illinois: The Free Press of Glencoe), 93: Ideal-type is “a conceptual construct (Gedankenbild) which is neither historical reality nor even the “true” reality. It is even less fitted to serve as a schema under which a real situation or action is to be subsumed as one instance. It has the significance of a purely ideal limiting concept with which the real situation or action is compared and surveyed for the explication of certain of its significant components.”

2. Klaidman, S., and T. L. Beauchamp (1987),
The Virtuous Journalist
(New York: Oxford University Press), 187.

3. Ibid., 183.

4. See, for example, Goodin, R. E. (1980),
Manipulatory Politics
(New Haven and London: Yale University Press), 19.

5. I have argued and demonstrated, in the beginning of the chapter, that coercion, persuasion, and deception, are better regarded as ideal types (at least for our purposes).

6. The chief purpose of this chapter is to demarcate the territory of manipulative behavior. However, as it is quite common in philosophical and scientific inquiries, it is almost impossible to predict the outcomes [see Popper, K. R., “Models, Instruments and Truth,” in M. A. Notturno (Ed.)
The Myth of the Framework: In Defense of Science and Rationality
(London and New York: Routledge, 1994)]. Accordingly, I will mention briefly the possibility that the final presentation will serve as a guideline for an econometric model that might even be tested empirically. The dependent variable (the variable being explained) is the level of misleading that the motivator chooses to use in his actions. The independent variables (the explaining variables) are the level of controlling and influencing that the motivator estimates he has on his target prior to the motivating interaction. Of course, any further mathematical formulations and empirical tests exceed the scope of this book.

7. Machiavelli, N. (1979b),
The Prince
in P. Bondanella and M. Musa (Eds.)
The Portable Machiavelli
(New York: Penguin Books), 133–134.

8. Freud, Sigmund. [1927] (1968) “The Future of an Illusion” in
The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud
21: 3–56, Translated by James Strachey (London: Hogarth Press), 31.

CHAPTER 3

Freedom of Choice and the Ethics of Manipulation

THE TARGET AND FREEDOM OF CHOICE

We have seen that manipulation is an elusive motivator that invisibly interferes with the decision-making process of a target. The manipulator generally does not force the target to do something but, instead, provides him strong incentives to do so. The interesting question is:
Does the target have a substantial role in the outcome of any manipulative interaction or does the manipulator determine it all? In general, we can distinguish between two extreme cases: we identify cases where the target is clearly sharing some responsibility in the outcome of the interaction and, conversely, we find cases where the target’s responsibility is minimal.

The target in the first category seems to have the ability, possibility, and option to resist the manipulative interference, but he does not do so. As strange as it may sound, it turns out that the target is even cooperating with the manipulator. For example, we withhold judgment at magic shows and imitation performances. When we see an actor imitating George W. Bush, we know he is not Bush but we cooperate with the comedian and laugh.

The cases in which the target decides to cooperate with the manipulator seem to be paradoxical. On the one hand, the target decides, or agrees, to give up critical judgment. On the other hand, during the interaction he seems to forget his decision and is not fully aware that he is being manipulated—otherwise, we would not be able to find comedic imitations funny. An analogy to daydream or fantasy can be useful in illustrating this psychological phenomenon.

During a daydream, a person who has decided to escape into an imaginary world finds it difficult to distinguish between dreams and reality. The power of fantasy actually depends on the ability to pause discernment of reality. In manipulative fantasies, in contrast to situations of self-imposed fantasies, someone external is actually staging our private show. We often invite a professional manipulator, like a filmmaker, to play with our imagination, and we even label the most successful cases as masterpieces. There are well-known movies, such as
Titanic
, where the audience is familiar with the story long before the show begins, and still the director succeeds in creating impressive effects of tension, surprise, and drama.

In manipulative art, we let someone else lead and take us on an imaginary journey. However, we still have a strong feeling that we are able to determine the boundaries of our voyage. We let artists carry us until a certain point. Whenever our tour guide crosses an objectionable line, we will probably leave the performance or, at least, show a strong dissatisfaction. The important questions are: What about those manipulative fantasies outside the theater, especially those that are not going to benefit us in the final account? Is the target able to wake up, judge his moves critically, and stop going through an imaginary construction that an interested manipulator offers? Are we able to judge critically a megalomaniac speech of an extremely charismatic fascist leader?