Have you ever been manipulated? How would you know?

So, what exactly is manipulation? The Oxford Dictionary puts it as the ‘disapproving behaviour that controls or influences somebody/something, often in a dishonest way so that they do not realize it. ’ When we think of manipulation, our mind immediately wanders to emotional manipulation i.e., peer pressure and bullying.

However, it can occur on a much larger scale. We are constantly being manipulated by advertisers who manipulate our emotions to make us purchase a product, that we certainly don ’t need! Politicians manipulate voters in order to win votes and influence their opinions. Manipulation is all around us and we wanted to take a deeper look at this subject and how it affects our everyday lives. Peer Pressure. By definition it is the direct influence on people by peers or the effect on an individual who is encouraged and wants to follow their peers by changing their attitudes, values or behaviours to conform with those individual groups. In school, we are told about it all the time and the harrowing effect it can have on other people. Our actions and our words can either influence those around us for better or for worse.

On average 15 is the peak age for peer pressure, at the age of 18 teens become better at setting boundaries. In a study carried out by Parent Further on peer pressure, it stated: Only 10% of the surveyed teenagers had said no when they were faced with peer pressure. Peer pressure can come in many forms some may call you names some may push you into something you do not want to do.

There are 6 types of peer pressure: Indirect, direct, positive, negative, spoken and unspoken. Spoken peer pressure is when an individual asks, persuades or suggests someone to take part in something or to engage in specific behaviour.

Unspoken is where an individual sees a particular behaviour and choses whether they chose to follow it or not.

Direct can be spoken or unspoken where an individual is forced to make a decision on the spot, indirect is subtle but can still exert a large influence.

Indirect is also when people hear whispers or react to gossip in their surroundings and then choose whether to take part in what they

hear.

Negative peer pressure is asking an individual to go against moral code, friends or family but there can also be positive peer pressure where someone is influenced by something that can have a positive impact on their life, (i.e. overhearing someone getting good grades and aspiring to also get good grades or hearing someone is earning money to buy a car and following that idea). Parents can have an extremely strong influence on children ’ s lives as they know what their child is going through and the types of peer pressure their child is facing. Having a low mood, feeling low and hopeless. New and sudden aggression or antisocial behaviour. Sudden mood changes for no present reason. Change in diets, over-eating or loss of appetite. Reluctance to go to school or in a workplace.

Choose your friends wisely. Some with similar beliefs or views. Talk to the person who is pressurising the individual and have a talk with them to tell them to stop. Pay attention to how you feel and how people around you feel. Talk to parents or people that you feel close to. Open up to them and tell them how you feel. Always remember that “ no ” is a full sentence. You are allowed to say no without having to give an excuse or explanation.

Psychological manipulation is a social influence that aims to change the behaviour or perception of others by using indirect, deceptive tactics. Usually, the manipulator does this intentionally and at other ' s expense, these kinds of methods can be exploitative and devious.

Psychological manipulation is different to social influence; social influence can be positive sometimes. For example, friends, family, experts can try to persuade to change unhealthy or dangerous habits e.g., smoking. When the person being influenced still can accept or reject and it is not harmful to anyone, social influence is harmless.

Harriet B.Braiker (2004) discovered ways that manipulators control their victims 1. Positive reinforcement – includes praise, superficial charm - superficial charm, excessive apologising - money, approval, gifts, attention -forced facial expressions e.g., laugh or smile public recognition.

2. Negative reinforcement- involves removing one from a negative situation as a reward. 3. Intermittent or partial reinforcement- Partial or intermittent negative reinforcement can create a sense of fear of doubt. Partial or intermittent positive reinforcement can encourage the victim to persist.

4. Punishment- includes nagging, yelling, silent treatment - intimidation, threats, swearing - emotional blackmail, guilt trips - sulking, crying, or playing the victim

5. Traumatic one- trial learning: -continuous verbal abuse -explosive anger - intimidating behaviour to establish dominance or superiority Even one incident of such behaviour can condition or train victims to avoid upsetting, confronting, or contradicting the manipulator.

Hitler portrayed Germany as the victimized nation and that Britain, France and the rest of the Allies were out to destroy it using the Treaty of Versailles not wanting to see the prosperity of Germany at all. When the Nazi army did invade countries in Europe, they disguised it as a necessary defence to the soldiers so they wouldn ’t begin to think of their actions as terrorising and to cause an invasion.

Back in Germany, all the propaganda was deception of the War and even then, when Germany was losing the War, they covered it up as the Nazi’ s controlled every newspaper and radio station since their control over Germany began.

The SS played a huge part of implanting a sense of fear in everyone, when things associated the Nazi party. They were the Nazi party ’ s personal army and when the Nazi Party won the vote and later Hitler became the Fuhrer of Germany the roles became so significant. They wanted to overpower the existing German army, as Hitler did agree with years before, however he had to eradicate the role of the SS members and arrested and killed them on the night of the long Knives as they weren ’t useful to him or the Nazi Party anymore. The most effective deception the Nazi party acted out was the ridding of the Jews in 1941 in Germany, Czech and Austria to the ghettos elsewhere.

They anticipated that German citizens would find that the Jews were being forced into intense labour, so took fake photographs of Jewish elders and children acting in a safe communal space that was just made for Jews, to manipulate the German society. They tricked Germany that the Jews were just being segregated but still living safe and happy lives, when in reality they were trying to kill off the trace of all Jewish people.

January 3rd, 1925: Benito Mussolini declares himself the supreme leader of Italy in a speech given to the Italian government.

The country ascends into a totalitarian fascist regime, with the journalist-turned-dictator having to uncover ways to make the population to accept him as Il Duce (The Leader), other than banning the parties which had swept elections in his previous attempts to seize power. The answer is simple: force the people to accept the regime.

One of the most well-known propaganda techniques of fascist Italy was the establishment of a ‘ personality cult’ around Mussolini, also known as Il Duce. He was often portrayed as a stereotypical ‘ macho ’ man with strong family values, although there are instances of him being depicted as a Renaissance or military man as well, capable of all subjects, hobbies and roles.

He was known to adopt many sports like fencing, skiing, horse riding and even lion taming which further elevated him to a position of great talent and capability, which most likely made a lot of the population feel the country was secure under such an accomplished leader. The light to his office was also known to be left on for long hours into the night to create the impression of a ‘ work-oriented insomniac ’ , putting his country ’ s wellbeing far before his. Being the youngest Italian prime minister in Italian history, his youth was also broadcasted to the nation as it was a symbol of vitality and action in the fascist doctrine. Newspapers and media were forbidden from broadcasting his birthdays or illnesses to preserve this image of youthful strength. Mussolini was even portrayed in a similar light to Saints to create an image of a religious, almost transcendent man who was not only dedicated to his people, but God as well, which was very conveniently in line with the beliefs of the Pope as well.

His wounding in WW1 was compared to those of Saint Sebastian, a Christian martyr in the Roman period who was shot with arrows and tied to a post because of his faith. Mussolini was also advertised as a miracle-maker, invoking rain in drought-ridden Libya in his visit in 1937 and curing a deafblind boy during one of his rallies.

Although hard to believe from a modern perspective, these qualities of the leader illustrated greatly unified both the Fascist party and Italian people, guaranteeing stability for power as it stifled opposition against Il Duce.

With the development of technology in the early 20th century like the introduction of the radio and the mass circulation of media, it was increasingly easy for the fascist regime to strengthen its power. By 1926, the last opposition newspapers had been supressed by the government, and state-controlled papers rapidly followed. Government grants were given to journalists willing to spread the fascist message and cult of personality of Mussolini, and those who were more hostile towards these ideas were either arrested or replaced. As expected, censorship ran rampant, and editors and journalists were expected to register fascist organisations to further highlight their loyalty to the regime.

Indoctrinated journalists were unlikely to publish controversial stories which would instil doubt in the public, and instead reinforced the previously formed opinions supporting the system. Mussolini also widely encouraged the use of radio sets in the 1930s particularly, providing radios to rural areas and schools where there was a large illiterate and uneducated population. This meant that his open-air speeches could reach more people, particularly the youth, and was a key tool in propagandising the typically neglected population. Despite their success at utilising other forms of media for propaganda purposes, few fascist propaganda films were made, as the Italian public was more interested in historical movies, or dramas, opposed to

‘ serious ’ cinema depicting the typical fascist beliefs like war and empire.

The Insituto Luce was established in 1924, however, and was responsible for censoring films that did not line up with the fascist agenda, and severely limited the imports of international films, specifically American ones, in fear of them containing ‘damaging ’ material.

They were also known to rewrite Italian movie scripts. Cinema created a false sense of security and national pride for the general public as it provided a new form of escapism. Because of the mass consumption of the different forms of media illustrated, the fascist message reached great amounts of people and their voices could be amplified at the expense of the opposition. This strengthened their position even more.

“They won ’t prevail” propaganda poster depicting North Africans with exaggerated features, looking lowly compared to the Roman Emperor looming over him (representing the fascist regime and its colonialist ideas). The Fascists often used Italy’ s ancient history of the Roman Empire in order to justify their invasions of Northern African countries like Libya. Mussolini was known to be enthralled with the idea of becoming the 20th century version of Augustus.

When we started this project, we hoped to educate others about manipulation and the effects it has on people and that is still our aim. Manipulation can affect people from all walks of life, so we felt compelled to write about it. Peer pressure and bullying particularly affect teenagers as it is a time of self-discovery and contemplation. It is important that we highlight these issues so that we can all be less impressionable. People who think for themselves rather than as a result of other people. It was very interesting to further research the Nazi regime and several other aspects of manipulation.

By Darcey Moriarty, Daniella Freeman, Kiran Bharaj & Nomeda Petrulis