Manipulation affects everyone, everywhere, every day. Because Communication is manipulation. How can we protect ourselves from this?

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The daily manipulation

Many manipulations are so subtle that we hardly notice them. And not just in the media, but probably every day when dealing with colleagues, bosses, friends and partners. And it happens to each of us every day. Who are manipulated and manipulate also himself.

Often so subtle that we don't even notice it. Manipulation is an integral part of normal communication, so to speak: psychologists with a somewhat negative worldview put forward the thesis in the 80s that everyone constantly manipulates others, for example parents by rewarding or punishing their children, couples by depriving each other of love or affection.

Manipulation in the job

And also those who assert themselves properly at work, their ideas to the man or the Ms. wants to bring, manipulates bosses or clients in a certain way. Conversely, bosses also like to manipulate their employees or colleagues with one another:

For example, if you want to convince people to do something they don't do Lust have. Who doesn't know the nasty sayings after that Pattern: “But everyone does that”, where the manipulator plays with peer pressure? On the other hand, you can also simply convince people that you can confident occurs!

Dangerous manipulation

However, manipulations are really dangerous if you hardly notice them. Many People is probably not clearhow they are influenced on a daily basis. Really well trained Seller On the other hand, they no longer act in such a clumsy, persuasive manner as is commonly believed: banks, for example, who use brain research and customer profiles to manipulate in a targeted manner.

Tricky are also sellers, where you initially suspect no self-interest, because they are illegally not labeled at all and with a system - I was recently able to experience this myself or with my wallet.

Social media and the Internet as a danger?

And maybe social media is also a dangerous instrument in this sense, because here the boundaries between private interests and Marketing more and more in danger of becoming blurred – even if I find the scaremongering in this regard a little exaggerated.

The German philosopher and theologian Theodor W. Adorno also shows that it is worth thinking about it with his thoughts on conformism and excessive social adjustment. Timeless, to the point and still absolutely true.

Adorno on social adjustment

The three main fields of observation of his critical theory are the economy, the development of the individual and culture. In a Combination Marxist and psychoanalytic perspectives, in particular, Society viewed critically. It is not only understood as a totality of people in a certain time, rather social conditions are analyzed that overpower the individual and the Character and limit people's ability to act. Family socialization (Family as a psychosocial agency), the mass media and mass culture.

According to Adorno, increasing mechanization, scientific progress and the resulting bureaucracy result in alienation in capitalist society: the Significance of the individual is lost. Although enlightened reason saw the acquisition of true knowledge of the world as the essence of man, this reason had changed to an instrumental and purposeful one. This instrumental reason considers people solely from the point of view of utility. According to the argument, the relationships between individuals are largely objectified and objectified as traditional ties are dissolved. They were increasingly reduced to mere exchange relationships.
In the end, therefore, a totally administered world emerges, which is comprehensive in relation to the individual Control exercises and idealism, nonconformism, unconventionality or creativity – as opposed to their character – consistently suppressed.

When are we most vulnerable?

So much for conformism and societal adjustment. But to the extent that the state and society are accused of targeted manipulation here, there is no need to exacerbate the subject. The joke, however, is that many people believe they are enlightened and immune to manipulation - as Robert Levine did in his book The Great Seduction: Psychology of manipulation” describes:

“People tend to have the strange illusion that they have a personal invulnerability to manipulation—we think we fall for them more easily than others around us. This illusion is partly created by the subtle Method generated by clever professionals who make it difficult to tell that you are being manipulated. To some extent, however, it is also fed by another, 'normal' illusion, namely that we are smarter and therefore better protected than other people... But the more confident we are in our immunity, the less inclined we are to take precautionary measures, and as a result, we become particularly vulnerable”

So I have to make it clear: Everyone is susceptible to manipulation. At any time. But often it doesn't even take a lot of words for it. Debt on it are the Spiegelneurons that ensure that moods and feelings are transmitted to other people without verbal communication. It is not said for nothing that enthusiasm is contagious. And sometimes the actual manipulation even consists in putting the other on it I aufmerksam makes that he is being manipulated.