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Manipulation Defense

Manipulation Defense practice

Compliance tactics
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After you grant a tiny favor, a much bigger ask follows. Name the tactic.
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Spot and shut down manipulation tactics
Learn to recognize and resist manipulation — the covert tactics people, salespeople, and scammers use to bypass your judgment, and the concrete moves that shut them down. This is defensive: spotting the pressure, not applying it. Name the tactics — gaslighting, guilt-tripping and the FOG (fear, obligation, guilt), love-bombing, DARVO (deny, attack, reverse victim and offender), the silent treatment, moving the goalposts — and the compliance tricks from persuasion science turned against you: manufactured urgency and scarcity, the reciprocity trap, foot-in-the-door, false social proof, and fake authority (Cialdini’s “weapons of influence”). Then practice the defenses: naming the tactic out loud, buying time to defeat urgency, the “broken record” and “gray rock,” refusing to JADE (justify, argue, defend, over-explain), verifying claims independently, and trusting the gut feeling of confusion or guilt as a signal. Covers interpersonal manipulation, high-pressure sales, and scams (phishing, romance and “pig-butchering” schemes). Every item has one defensible best answer, and the explanation names the trap. Complements Media Literacy (evaluating information) and Digital Security (staying safe online) with the interpersonal, psychological side. Educational skill practice — not therapy, legal, or safety advice; if you are in danger, contact local support services.
• Meets you at your level — never too easy, never too hard.
• Adapts every question to how you’re doing.
• Tracks your level over time. Skill practice, not a test.

New here? Read the Manipulation Defense guide

A free 19-minute primer — the mental model, the mistakes beginners make, and what to practice first.

Curriculum

182 concepts across 26 chapters, from foundations through advanced practice — each one a concept the adaptive question bank can teach and test.

A. Influence, persuasion and manipulation

7

B. Why people are persuadable

7

C. Reciprocity as an attack surface

7

D. Commitment and consistency as an attack surface

7

E. Social proof as an attack surface

7

F. Liking, similarity and affinity as an attack surface

7

G. Authority and impersonation

7

H. Scarcity and manufactured urgency

7

I. Emotional levers

7

J. Framing, anchoring and choice architecture

7

K. Dark patterns and deceptive design

7

L. Phishing, pretexting and social engineering

7

M. Romance and relationship fraud

7

N. Investment and financial fraud

7

O. Advance-fee, job and prize scams

7

P. Elder financial exploitation

7

Q. High-pressure sales and contract traps

7

R. Gaslighting

7

S. DARVO and blame reversal

7

T. Coercive control

7

U. Relationship abuse tactics and safety

7

V. High-control groups and undue influence

7

W. Manipulation at work

7

X. Refusal skills and boundaries

7

Y. After the fact: reporting and recovery

7

Z. Reading the influence literature honestly

7
View the full curriculum →
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