What exactly is manipulation?

According to Professor Len Bowers, manipulation occurs when someone intentionally uses deception, coercion, trickery, and fear to get what they want from you. It is completely different from healthy social influence, as manipulators only care about themselves, their feelings, their thoughts, and their intentions.

They rarely take other people’s needs into account. When you manage to influence people fairly, you don’t use them solely for your own ends. You try to make them understand where you’re coming from while also acknowledging their feelings.