emotional manipulation
Exploiting someone's feelings
Emotional manipulation is the use of psychological tactics to influence someone's feelings, perceptions, or behavior for one's own benefit.
Manipulators may employ guilt, gaslighting, selective affection, or exploiting insecurities to control others: She recognized his constant criticism as emotional manipulation.
The term implies deception or bad faith—leveraging emotional vulnerability rather than communicating honestly.
- gaslightingManipulation causing self-doubt
- guilt-trippingInducing remorse deliberately
- silent treatmentRefusing to speak
- blame-shiftingAttributing fault to others
- moving goalpostsAltering criteria during evaluation
coercion · triangulation · divide and conquer · hoovering · anxiety · walking on eggshells · self-doubt · stonewalling · control · exploitation · invalidation · boundary violation · shame · guilt · dependency · mistrust · love bombing · hot and cold
- demagogueryrabble-rousing, fearmongering, fear mongering, scapegoating, pandering
- manipulationgaslighting, guilt tripping, blame-shifting, brainwashing, guilt trip
- elder abuseelder neglect, elder fraud, senior neglect, nursing home abuse, caregiver abuse
- romance scamsromance scam, romance scams, romance fraud, sweetheart scam, catfishing
- sentimentalismsensibility, sentiment, sentimentality, pathos, feeling
- tearjerkerstearjerker, tearjerkers, weepie, weepies, weepy
emotional manipulationemotional support
Compassionate help during distress
active listening · holding space · reassurance · comfort · encouragement
emotional manipulationinformed consent
Permission given with understanding
empowerment · mutual respect · letting be · acceptance · giving space