Psychological Manipulation Tactics

noun a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing

• The anthropologist studied the religious cult in depth.
• Have you heard about that cult that believes in aliens?
• I heard she joined a cult and now she's acting all weird.
• The obsession with designer labels has turned into a fashion cult.

adjective having the ability to produce sleep or trance-like state; mesmerizing or captivating

• The hypnotic effect of the music put the audience in a trance-like state.
• I find watching the flames in a fireplace to be quite hypnotic.
• That movie had some seriously hypnotic visuals, man.
• Her voice had a hypnotic quality that drew people in.

verb to frighten or threaten someone in order to make them do what you want

• The defendant's lawyer attempted to intimidate the witness during the cross-examination.
• Don't let them intimidate you, stand your ground.
• Those bullies tried to intimidate me, but I wasn't having it.
• The towering skyscrapers seemed to intimidate the small town visitors.

verb to cause extreme fear or intimidation in someone

• The government took action to prevent any group from attempting to terrorize the citizens.
• The bullies tried to terrorize the new kid at school.
• The gang thought they could terrorize the neighborhood, but they were quickly shut down by the police.
• The haunting memories continued to terrorize her dreams every night.

noun a person who inflicts severe mental or physical suffering on someone

verb to cause severe mental or physical suffering to someone

• The tormentor was finally brought to justice after years of causing harm to his victims.
• I can't believe my tormentor from high school just added me on social media.
• That tormentor is such a bully, always picking on smaller kids.
• Fear can be a powerful tormentor, holding us back from reaching our full potential.

verb Vilifying is a verb that means to speak or write about someone in a very critical or abusive way.

• The politician was accused of vilifying his opponent during the debate.
• I heard that she's been vilifying her ex-boyfriend on social media.
• Stop vilifying me behind my back!
• The media's constant vilifying of the celebrity eventually took its toll on her mental health.