Number 1: Acting clueless like it’s their job.
One of the oldest tricks in the narcissist playbook is to play dumb and pretend like they have no clue about basic human decency, cultural norms, and society’s expectations. They’ll act like they don’t know right from wrong just to duck out of trouble and avoid taking responsibility for their actions. It’s a classic way for people with NPD and other personality disorders in the cluster B spectrum to manipulate and guilt you.
You can find endless threads about this on the internet, and some folk even wonder if this is a result of narcissism or Autism. But let’s be real, it’s easy to see right through their facade of fake cluelessness. Say you’re in a relationship with a narcissist and have an argument about something morally wrong they did.
They may claim they didn’t know it was wrong, but if you’re watching a show together and they correctly call out the bad character’s actions, it just proves they’re fully aware of what’s right and wrong. Playing dumb is just one of the many mind games narcissists love to play to control and manipulate you. Up next, we’ll get into game number two: their all-time favorite.
Number 2: Distraction and destruction.
Narcissists are notorious for using the sneaky technique called distraction and destruction, aka “what about ism.” This gem was originally designed in Soviet Russia to distract people from criticizing the government by flipping it back on them, basically asking them what they’ve done to make the world a better place. Sound familiar?
So, when a narcissist gets caught red-handed, they’ll use this tactic to deflect the blame onto the person who caught them, even if there’s solid evidence against them. They’ll shift the attention away from their wrongdoing by attacking the accuser, bringing up something else they did wrong, or even straight-up lying.
If they’re lucky, they might even trigger a reaction in the other person called reactive abuse, which they can then use to make the person seem unstable or just plain old crazy.
Continue reading on the next page
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