9 Ways To Know If You Have Enemies Disguised As Friends

They Point out the “Impossible…”

I don’t think that there’s a problem with helping a friend to toe the line between being ambitious and delusional.  But at the same time, if you have a talent in something, and your ability has been noticed and supported by others, it’s a little hurtful when you have a friend that is downing your ability.  Pointing out all of the ways that it probably won’t happen, so you shouldn’t do it.  That person probably doesn’t have your best interest in mind.

…But Encourage Poor Decisions

Now, no one can make you do anything that you don’t want to do, but if you feel as though one of your friends is always encouraging you to make poor decisions (whether you follow it or not) is not a person that you should keep in your circle.  A friend is supposed to build you up, not contribute to your downfall.

Or Worse, They Say Nothing

A lot times when we’re in personal situations our judgment can be flawed, due to the fact that we’re not looking objectively.  But if you seek out a friend’s perspective, and all they can say is:  “I don’t know,” or nothing at all, really, what’s the point of them being in your life?  Especially if they see and know that the path that you are traveling down is destructive, refuse to tell you (after you ask them for their advice) and when you’re dealing with the repercussions say:  “I knew that wasn’t a good idea from jump…”

People Who try to Force an Inauthentic Connection with You

Richard Connor spent six years studying dolphin social interactions and then compared them to human interactions.  With humans he found that:

One prevailing theory in social psychology suggests that people choose their friends on the basis of homophily, which is the notion that people associate with others who are similar to them. This is not a new idea: Aristotle wrote that people “love those who are like themselves,” and Plato noted that “similarity begets friendship.” C.S. Lewis mused, “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You, too? Thought I was the only one.’”

So if you see that someone keeps on trying to find just anything to latch on to make a connection with you, that person’s motives for trying so hard to be your friend should be examined.

Keeps a Score

When you go out of your way to help a friend, especially a close one, you typically don’t keep track of every single favor that you do for them, or vice versa.  It would be nice to have someone reciprocate when you need them, and that’s understandable.  However, if someone makes it known to you that you’re in their pocket, like the first twenty minutes of The Godfather, that’s a friendship of convenience, which in turn isn’t a true friendship at all.

Only See Your Interactions in Black and White

Oh, those psychopaths.  We’ve discussed how to detect them in the past, but if you don’t want to do the checklist, there’s a good way to see if someone in your social circle might not be on the up and up.  A study was done in 2011 that dictated that when interviewing psychopaths they tended to retell their stories very matter-of-factly, black and white.

People who tend to be manipulative usually don’t see or acknowledge the gray areas in all situations.  So if your friend can tell you only what the other person did to deserve the mental/physical pain that they delivered on to them, well… they might not be a psychopath, but they definitely don’t show signs of being a good friend..

The Willingness to Divide and Conquer

If you have a group of friends and one of them seems to be trying to get them all on “their side,” not only is it a cue of their immaturity (who does that beyond high school?) but it’s a cue that they are trying to stage a coup.  For some reason they see you as a threat to them, therefore, they want to overthrow you.  If your friendship is based on a hierarchy, take the L and try to do better with picking the people in your life.

Have no Interest in Making you Better

Friendship is a give and take and all parties should be interested in helping the other to become the best that they can be (within reason).  So, if you have a friend that quickly ends a call when you need help, advice, but doesn’t mind gloating when you make bad decisions, I would be cautious with that person.

Everything’s a Competition

There’s friendly competition, and there’s that weird competition that happens, with that one friend, at all times, no breaks.  If you notice that this person is always trying to one up you, you might be in a one sided friendship, and it’s all on you.

Now, go out there and make me proud!!  Kendra Koger believes in you!!  She also tweets from @kkoger.