difficultpersontest

Form DPT-45Scale: Manipulativeness6 items

Manipulativeness

Using deception or other people for your own gain.

What does manipulativeness look like?

These are typical examples, written by us to illustrate the statements below — not a checklist for diagnosing anyone.

  • Telling people what works rather than what's true
  • Steering others into favors through pressure, flattery or guilt
  • Keeping score of who is useful to you

Where does this trait come from in the research?

Manipulativeness is one of seven factors that emerged when researchers analyzed 234 antagonism items from seven questionnaires (Sleep et al., 2021) (the study's label was “manipulation”). The statements used here come from the “Manipulativeness” scale of the CAT-PD static form, a personality-disorder trait measure built in a project funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (Simms et al., 2011), published in the public-domain International Personality Item Pool.

The item pool reports internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for this scale of 0.88 in a community sample and 0.85 in a patient sample. Values above about .80 mean the statements hang together well; it does not by itself show the scale measures what it claims. Validation studies found the static-form scales relate to other trait measures as expected (Long et al., 2021).

Which statements measure manipulativeness?

ItemSelf-report wordingScored
2466Take advantage of others.As answered
752Cheat to get ahead.As answered
1921Like to trick people into doing things for me.As answered
800Deceive people.As answered
1550Have exploited others for my own gain.As answered
144Am an honest person.Reversed (6 − answer)

Your manipulativeness score is the average of these 6 answers, after reversing the one item worded in the opposite direction. Item numbers are the item pool's own identifiers.

If you scored high

  • When you want something, ask for it directly, once, and accept a no.
  • Notice the moment you shade the truth; correct it within the same conversation.
  • If someone has been hurt by a past deception, acknowledge it without explaining it away.

If it's someone you deal with

  • Get important agreements in writing and refer back to them.
  • Slow down decisions that are being rushed; "I'll get back to you" is a complete answer.
  • Check claims independently rather than arguing about them.

These suggestions are our editorial judgment, not tested interventions. For the research on whether people can change these traits, read how to be less difficult; for others, dealing with a difficult person.

Take the full testRate someone

The other six traits

  1. 01

    Callousness

  2. 02

    Grandiosity

  3. 03

    Domineering

  4. 04

    Mistrust

  5. 05

    Hostile aggression

  6. 06

    Risk taking

Sources

  1. Sleep CE, Crowe ML, Carter NT, Lynam DR, Miller JD (2021). Uncovering the structure of antagonism. Personal Disord 12(4), 300-311. PubMed 34323587 · doiCross-sectional factor analysis. 532 university students answered 234 antagonism items from seven trait measures; a seven-factor solution emerged: callousness, grandiosity, domineering, manipulation, suspiciousness, aggression and risk taking. Limits: One student sample, self-report only. Checked against the abstract only, October 26, 2026.
  2. Simms LJ, Goldberg LR, Roberts JE, Watson D, Welte J, Rotterman JH (2011). Computerized adaptive assessment of personality disorder: introducing the CAT-PD project. J Pers Assess 93(4), 380-9. PubMed 22804677 · doiMeasure development. Describes the NIMH-funded project that built the CAT-PD trait model and item pool (59 candidate traits, 2,589 initial items). Limits: Early-phase report. Checked against the abstract only, October 26, 2026.
  3. Long TA, Reinhard E, Sellbom M, Anderson JL (2021). An Examination of the Reliability and Validity of the Comprehensive Assessment of Traits Relevant to Personality Disorder-Static Form (CAT-PD-SF). Assessment 28(5), 1345-1357. PubMed 32125172 · doiValidation study. CAT-PD static-form scores related to other personality measures in expected ways and moderately to functional impairment. Limits: The five-factor structure fit only marginally. Checked against the abstract only, October 26, 2026.

Item text and reliability values: International Personality Item Pool (IPIP): CAT-PD-SF v1.1 scale keys, retrieved 2026-10-26. Public domain (IPIP): use for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, is pre-granted.