PSYCHOLOGICAL MANIPULATION

‘Psychological manipulation’ is a form of social influence that seeks to change the behaviour or perception of others through deceptive, exploitative, devious, and sometimes abusive tactics and strategies. This type of manipulation can be employed both negatively, for example in order to advance the interests of the manipulator, or positively, for example in order to change a person’s bad habits or behaviour. In practice, social persuasion actually forms part of our everyday lives, for instance many people have advanced another person’s goals in order to get that person to do them a favour in return.

In fact, influencing others is often how we obtain jobs and promotions, how we sell products and services, and how we may gain fame and notoriety. However, psychological manipulation takes persuasion to a whole new level, with manipulators using a vast array of tactics, behaviours and strategies to ruthlessly leverage peoples’ vulnerabilities. Some people may only rarely manipulate others, whilst other people may manipulate others every day. What is more, people may be manipulated within their own family network, and also within personal relationships, often without fully realising that they are being manipulated.

ABOUT THE MASTERCLASS

This Masterclass has been specifically designed to train people to understand how psychological manipulation occurs in practice, so that they can identify situations in which they, or indeed others, may be being manipulated by others. By learning and understanding how manipulators work, the behaviours exhibited, and the techniques and strategies that they employ, attendees will be able to equip themselves with the knowledge they need to protect themselves from manipulative individuals. Manipulation comes in all shapes and sizes, and it is therefore vital that we understand when we may be being exploited by others, especially within close personal relationships, when we may be somewhat oblivious or blind to a person’s subtle manipulative strategies.

For example, people may spin the truth in order to disguise bad behaviour, or they may play the victim in order to gain sympathy and compassion from others. At other times some manipulators in relationships may constantly move the goal posts in order to confuse, disarm, and control their partners. Flattery, playing the innocent card, guilt tripping, denial, lies, sarcasm, sustained aggression, isolation, and feigning love and empathy – these are all hallmarks of psychological manipulation. The difficulty is not only identifying psychological manipulation in practice, but differentiating between occasional manipulation, which may be benign, and systematic manipulation, which may be malicious in nature.

This Masterclass will identify the range of vulnerabilities that can be exploited by manipulators, so that attendees can evaluate themselves to see if they are vulnerable to manipulation by others. By learning to recognise manipulative behaviours, tactics, and strategies, attendees will be able to guard themselves more effectively against people who might be using manipulative tactics and strategies against them now, or in the future.

When you know what can be used against you, you then have a choice and are able to guard against being manipulated by others.

By attending this intensive Masterclass, attendees will be empowering themselves by gaining a much more comprehensive understanding of all the facets of psychological manipulation, their vulnerabilities to psychological manipulation, and how to better protect themselves from psychological manipulation tactics and strategies in the future. They will be able to develop and forge stronger and safer personal, familial, and professional relationships in the future, and they will be able to identify and deal with manipulative people more effectively.

MASTERCLASS PROGRAMME

DAY 1

SESSION 1: Behavioural and Psychological Theories

● The Basics of Behavioural and Psychological Manipulation (Behavioural Concealment; Identifying Psychological Vulnerabilities; Ruthless Approach; Covert Aggression) (Simon, 1996); Antisocial, Borderline, and Narcissistic Personality Disorders (Dillard and Pfau, 2002).

● Motivations of Manipulators (Personal Gain; Financial Gain; Desire for Power Over Others; Need to Feel in Control; Need to Increase Self-Esteem; Need to Feel Superior; Covert Agenda; Boredom; Excitement; Subconscious Manipulation) (Braiker, 2004).

● Relationship Building and Manipulation (Family Relationships; Social Relationships; Work Relationships; Intimate Relationships); Benchmarking; Individual Emotional Relationship Review; Peer Emotional Relationship Review; Applying the Machiavelli Test (Christie and Geis, 1970).

SESSION 2: Advanced Psychological Manipulation Framework

● Behaviouralists (Influences; Judgements; Biases; Perceptions); and Rationalists (Strategies; Expectations; Elements; Reasonings) (Kim, 2018).

● Targeting People and Personality Vulnerability Characteristics (Blurry Sense of Identity; Carelessness; Dependency; Elderly; Emotional Dependency; Frugal; Greedy; Immaturity; Impressionable; Impulsive; Lack of Assertiveness; Loneliness; Low Self-Esteem; Low Self-Reliance; Masochistic; Materialistic; Naïvety; Narcissistic; Need for Approval and Acceptance of Others; Need to Please; Trusting) (Braiker, 2004; Kantor, 2006).

● Manipulator Characteristics (Behavioural Minimisation; Behavioural Rationalisation; Blame Shifting; Bullies; Focus on Self; Hiding behind a Façade; Lack of Care; Liars; Parasitic Behaviour; Responsibility Avoidance; Triangulators).

SESSION 3: Advanced Psychological Manipulation Skills

● Bandwagon Effect; Fear-then-relief Technique; Feigning (Innocence; Confusion); Foot-in-the-Door Technique; Language Mix; Pleasure and Pain Mix; Projecting; Regression Tactics; Role Play (Victim; Servant); Social Exchange.

● Seduction; Anger; Lying (by commission); Lying (by omission); Spinning the Truth; Denial; Rationalisation; Minimisation; Evasion; Diversion; Shaming; Punishment; Traumatic Learning; Selective Attention or Inattention; Guilt Trip; Vilification (Simon, 1996; Green, 2018).

● Positive Reinforcement (Attention; Excessive Apologies; Gifts; Money; Praise; Public Recognition; Superficial Charm; Superficial Sympathy;); Negative Reinforcement (Removing Problems; Silent Treatment; Sulking; Yelling); Intermittent or Partial Reinforcement (Climate of Fear or Doubt; Persistence) (Braiker, 2004; Pratkanis, 2007).

SESSION 4: How to Identify and Deal with Emotional Manipulation

● Individual Awareness of Potential Vulnerabilities; Identification of Historical Manipulative Scenarios; Mapping of Personal Universe; Analysis of Family, Personal, Intimate, and Professional Relationships.

● Respecting Your Rights and Boundaries; Listen to Your Feelings; Identify the Cause of Your Feelings; Words AND Actions; Value Yourself; Take Responsibility for Yourself; Trust Your Judgement; Stop Feeling Guilty; Stop Doubting Yourself.

● Distancing Relationship; Using Time; Developing Inner Strength; Asserting Yourself; No, Means No; Feeling Safe; Identifying Coercive Behaviour; Behavioural Analysis; Scenario Analysis; Confrontation; Individual Reassurance.

EXPERT TRAINER

Rodrigo Zepeda is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Storm-7 Consulting. He is an expert consultant who specialises in derivatives and banking and financial services law, regulation, and compliance. He is an expert in a very broad range of regulatory compliance frameworks such as FATCA, the OECD CRS, MiFID II, MAD 2 MAR, PSD2, CRD IV, Solvency II, OTC Derivatives, CCP Clearing, PRIIPs, BRRD, AML4, and the GDPR. He holds a LLB degree, a LLM Masters degree in International and Comparative Business Law, and has passed the New York Bar Examination. He was an Associate (ACSI) of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment from 2004 to 2014 and is now a Chartered Member (MCSI). He has created and delivered numerous conferences and training courses around the world such as ‘FATCA for Latin American Firms’ (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Panama City, Panama), ‘MiFID II: Regulatory, Risk, and Compliance (London), and ‘Market Abuse: Operational Compliance’ (London), ‘AEOI (FATCA & CRS)’ (London, Lebanon, Dubai, Malta, Manama, Bahrain); AML/CFT: Operational Compliance (Dubai, London); MLRO: Operational Compliance (London).

He has also delivered numerous In-House Training Courses around the world to major international financial institutions such as The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (MiFID II: Operational Compliance, Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates); the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment (MiFID II: Final Review, London); CAF, the Development Bank of Latin America (Swaps and Over-the-counter Derivatives, Lima, Peru); Eurex Exchange (CCP Clearing, Risk Management, Recovery and Resolution, Eschborn, Germany); European Energy Exchange AG (CCP Clearing, Risk Management, Recovery and Resolution, Leipzig, Germany); Rothschild Investment Management (UK) Limited (AEOI (FATCA & CRS), London); Resolution Life (AEOI (FATCA & CRS, London); CCP Clearing, Risk Management, Recovery and Resolution; Bethmann Bank AG (MAD 2 MAR, Frankfurt); Saxo Capital Markets (MAD 2 MAR, London); and Invesco Management, S.A. (AML/CFT, Henley); Validus Risk Management (OTC Derivatives, Eton).

For 2019 he has created some of the most cutting edge training courses available on the market today, including Artificial Intelligence in Banking and Financial Services; Supervisory Technologies (SupTech); The European Margin Rules; The 2018-2020 Collateral Paradigm; AML & CFT Advanced Practitioner; Virtual Currencies, AML, CFT: Operational Compliance; and Behavioural Persuasion Masterclass. He is a Reviewer for the Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance and has also published widely in leading industry journals such as the Capco Institute’s Journal of Financial Transformation, the Journal of International Banking Law and Regulation, as well as e-books on derivatives law. Noted publications include “Optimizing Risk Allocation for CCPs under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation”; “The ISDA Master Agreement 2012: A Missed Opportunity”; “The ISDA Master Agreement: The Derivatives Risk Management Tool of the 21st Century?”; “To EU, or not to EU: that is the AIFMD question”; and “The Industrialization Blueprint: Re- Engineering the Future of Banking and Financial Services?”.

EXAMPLES OF PAST PARTICIPANTS AT S7C TRAINING EVENTS

Disclaimer

ISDA® is a registered trademark of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc., and Storm-7 Consulting Limited is neither sponsored by nor affiliated with the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA), and the public is hereby informed that Storm-7 Consulting Limited holds no commercial, private, or other relationship with ISDA.