manipulation
Let an agent help people recognise manipulation and coercive control, route them to support and reporting channels, and explain social engineering defences, without teaching manipulation tactics.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
Let an agent help people recognise manipulation and coercive control, route them to support and reporting channels, and explain social engineering defences, without teaching manipulation tactics.
Influencing others by deceptive, exploitative or covert means that serve the manipulator at the other person expense, including emotional manipulation, coercive control in relationships, and social engineering used in scams and cyberattacks.
What it is for: Recognising and resisting harmful influence.
It can be recognise signs of manipulation and coercive control; find support services for people affected; defend against social engineering scams; report fraud and abuse.
Distinguishing features
Covert or deceptive influence
Serves the manipulator
Can be abuse or crime
Recognisable patterns
What it looks like
Not physical; seen in patterns of behaviour and communication.
How it is recognised
Pressure, guilt and isolation tactics
Phishing and pretexting in scams
Persuasion that respects choice is different
Related models
is a kind of - category
includes - kind
is related to - harms
is contrasted with - related concept
In practice
Families and kinds
emotional manipulation
coercive control
social engineering
online grooming and sextortion (serious harms)
manipulative design (dark patterns)
Standards and regulation
Domestic abuse and coercive control laws
Fraud and cybercrime law
Consumer rules on dark patterns
Failure modes and hazards
Teaching manipulation techniques
Missing signs of abuse or grooming
Blaming victims
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
Help People affected.
Safety comes first.
Abuse
Coercive control.
Abuse
Coercive control.
- Is the person describing coercive control, threats or isolation? boundary
- Which domestic abuse helpline or emergency number applies? action
Children
Grooming and sextortion.
Children
Child safety.
- Is a child or young person being groomed or pressured for images? boundary
- Which child protection or reporting service should be contacted now? action
Recognition Signs.
Patterns can be recognised.
Signs
Tactics.
Signs
Warning signs.
- Which warning signs of manipulation do support organisations describe? provenance
- Do they match this situation? boundary
Versus persuasion
Distinction.
Versus persuasion
Manipulation versus persuasion.
- How does manipulation differ from honest persuasion? definition
- Is consent respected? boundary
Scams Social engineering.
Scams exploit trust.
Defend
Protection.
Defend
Defences.
- Is this message a social engineering attempt, such as phishing or pretexting? boundary
- How can the request be verified independently? action
Report
Fraud reporting.
Report
Reporting fraud.
- Where can fraud or cybercrime be reported? action
- What should be done immediately if money was sent? action
Limits Agent conduct.
No harmful help.
Tactics
No manipulation guides.
Tactics
Harmful request limits.
- Is the request seeking techniques to manipulate or control someone? boundary
- How should the agent decline and redirect? action
Design
Dark patterns.
Design
Manipulative design.
- Does this interface use dark patterns that regulators prohibit? boundary
- Where can it be reported? action
What the second pass must settle
- How should alias lists be filtered for this entry?
- Should forms be separate entries?
- How should support services be localised?