Positive Reinforcement Manipulator

Use of rewards to instigate behaviors that benefit only the manipulator.

Positive reinforcement is a fundamental concept in behavioral psychology.

In its benign application, it occurs when a desirable stimulus or reward is presented immediately after a behavior, with the goal that the behavior will be repeated in the future.

Parents, teachers and managers use it on a daily basis to encourage constructive habits, study or productivity, establishing a neural connection between effort and gratification.

However, this pedagogical tool becomes a weapon of control when it falls into the hands of a dark personality.

In the context of manipulation, positive reinforcement does not seek the individual's growth, but his or her submission.

The manipulator uses rewards - which may be gifts, praise, money or affection - to condition the victim to perform actions that exclusively benefit the aggressor's agenda, often to the detriment of the victim's own well-being.

The mechanics are identical to those of animal training: if the victim obeys or yields to an unfair demand, he or she immediately receives a pleasurable stimulus.

The desire to obtain that reward again modifies her future behavior, making her more willing to yield again to replicate the positive sensation.

The danger of "bought complicity" and numbing to abuse.

A particularly sinister application of this technique is the purchase of silence or complicity.

A classic example is found in the cycle of domestic abuse: after an episode of violence or verbal abuse, the abuser gives an expensive gift or shows inordinate affection.

This gesture is not a genuine apology, but a tactical maneuver to avoid denunciations, complaints or abandonment of the relationship.

The victim, confused by the contrast between pain and pleasure, unconsciously associates that enduring the abuse leads to a subsequent "reward", which perpetuates the cycle.

In the work environment, this dynamic is used to make people complicit in malpractice.

A manipulator may offer preferential treatment or unofficial bonuses to a colleague to ensure his or her silence about illicit activities or harassment.

Machiavellian profilers are adept at applying this conditioning incrementally: they start with small abuses followed by small rewards. As the initial transgression seems insignificant, the victim lets it go.

Gradually, both the abuse and the reward increase in intensity, "numbing" the victim's c