Page 62 - How To Analyze People: 13 Laws About the Manipulation of the Human Mind, 7 Strategies to Quickly Figure Out Body Language, Dive into Dark Psychology and Persuasion for Making People Do What You Want

The manipulator’s aggression is well hidden. It makes it hard for
the victims to fight back against something they cannot clearly

pinpoint or find any evidence against. Even if their gut feeling is
telling them something is off, and that perhaps this person in
front of them is trying to take advantage, the manipulator does it
in such a stealthy manner that it becomes difficult for the victim
to identify their true motives.

It makes the manipulator seem like their resorting to any other
tactic except fighting. Covert-aggression allows the manipulator
to cover their tracks by making it seem as though they’re
defending their victim, perhaps even caring for them and

standing up for them. It is difficult to know for sure that these
tactics are nothing more than a clever ploy when the manipulator
does it in such a way that it makes just enough sense to be
believable enough that the victim begins to doubt their own gut

instincts which tell them they might be manipulated. Besides
being a clever maneuver that keeps the fact the manipulator is
actually fighting the victim well hidden, covert-aggression
simultaneously keeps the victim consciously defensive, making

it very difficult for them to think straight when they feel drained
from being on the run emotionally. This is why manipulators
love covert-aggression because it’s such an effective
psychological weapon.

It gives the manipulator power to know exactly which buttons to

push in their victim. Everyone has their own insecurities and
weaknesses that they deal with, and if the manipulator has been
around you long enough, they will know these weaknesses better
than you might like, using covert-aggression to exploit you in

just the right manner that it becomes easy to forget you’re being
taken advantage of. Take a parent for example who knows that
one of their weaknesses is the fact that they can easily be made
to feel guilty. When their manipulative child who has been able

to detect this weakness pushes on the right buttons to get what