# 53. Social manipulation ## 53.5. Methodology/Refinements/Sub-species ### 53.5.9. Illusion of transparency This is an illusion in which we overestimate other people's ability to know us and overestimate our own ability to know other people. We tend to believe that we are an "open book" to others and that they are similarly transparent to us. In fact, some will say human beings are often inscrutable. Even when quite distressed or rather happy, we may not necessarily demonstrate any obvious physical signs of emotion. Human beings are actually not very transparent in terms of emotional expression. A manipulator may use this phenomenon to deceive a victim into believing that the manipulator is not experiencing a strong emotion of some kind. In the same way a manipulator can pretend to be experiencing intense emotions simply to fool the victim.