Previous studies of sex differences in manipulation tactics have mainly shown that women use them more often than men. In this study, we wanted to explore the nature of manipulation tactics used by men and women when manipulating people of the same and opposite sex. Data was collected on 678 individuals of 339 twin pairs. They all completed manipulation tactics measure. 170 reported on their use of manipulation tactics toward a person of the same male sex, 280 toward a person of the same female sex and 228 toward a person of the opposite sex. For each participant, four scores were available: indirect tactics of coercion, direct tactics, indirect tactics for humouring and the total score. Analysis of variance with four contrasts was performed comparing men vs. women no matter which sex was the target, same vs. opposite sex, men toward men vs. men toward women, and women toward women vs. women toward men. The results showed that women generally use more manipulation tactics than men and that direct tactics are used more toward opposite sex. Only indirect tactics for humouring have not shown any sex differences. These results indicate that pattern of manipulation tactics use differs depending on both sex of the manipulator and the target.

manipulation tactics, sex differences