The Aporia · Beware of 'kind-hearted' colleagues bringing cupcakes into the office...they may be manipulating you

Beware of 'kind-hearted' colleagues bringing cupcakes into the office...they may be manipulating you

Read the original at Daily Mail ↗

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APA MLA Chicago

Dobson, R. (2026, September 19). Beware of 'kind-hearted' colleagues bringing cupcakes into the office...they may be manipulating you. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16144919/Beware-kind-hearted-colleagues-bringing-cupcakes-office-manipulating-you.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

Daily Mail reports on research suggesting that bringing cupcakes or performing other kind acts in the workplace might not always be genuine but could instead be a strategic tactic called "competitive altruism." This behavior is often employed by women to boost their status and reputation, potentially leading to advantages like pay raises. Researchers from Canada and Chile found that over 100 participants experienced colleagues using generous acts as manipulative tools, with common tactics including offering food or gifts, performing warmth in public, targeting certain groups, aiding superiors, and fostering female rivalry through kindness selectively.

Written by AI on 2026-09-20, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Academics from Canada and Chile, writing in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, suggest that acts like bringing cupcakes to work might not always be purely altruistic. They argue that such behavior, more common among women, can serve as a strategic tactic to enhance one's status and reputation within an office setting. According to their research, these actions are often aimed at quietly competing with colleagues by appearing the most generous or cooperative person in the room. Some women who engage in these acts admitted feeling "fake" and "deceptive," indicating that these gestures may indeed have a manipulative element intended to benefit them professionally. This implies that what appears as innocent kindness could be part of an effort to boost one's standing, potentially leading to rewards like promotions or pay raises.

Written for “Office Politics Manipulation” on 2026-11-03, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

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Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

24%

4 of 17 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

withheld

no quote in the article backed the model's score

Publisher signals

69/100

Daily Mail's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Politics

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Who wrote this

Roger Dobson

5 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Narrative

Claims (17 extracted, 4 hedged)

- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source There's at least one in every office - a kind-hearted co-worker who makes tea every day, brings in cakes on a Friday or remembers everyone's birthday. asserted

who → see → birthday

But beware: such apparent thoughtfulness, most common in women, is more likely to be a machiavellian bid to manipulate others. asserted

thoughtfulness → beware → others

Research suggests that providing treats and doing favours for others is a tactic known as 'competitive altruism' - in other words, quietly competing to become the most generous person in the room. uncertain

providing → suggest → room

Women who performed such tasks admitted as much to researchers, telling them that they felt 'more fake' and 'deceptive' than their colleagues. asserted

they → perform → colleagues

It means that innocent-looking tray of cupcakes could be a calculated ruse to boost a colleague's status and reputation and bank a pay rise. uncertain

tray → mean → rise

Academics from Canada and Chile, writing in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, said: 'While some of women's cooperation is actually genuinely cooperative, we argue some is strategic, with a manipulative element. ' asserted

some → write → element

Displays of helping behaviour, kindness, and generosity may serve as a form of advertisement of one's qualities. uncertain

Displays → help → qualities

We propose that some of women's prosocial behaviour is a low-risk competitive tactic in which kindness secures allies and reputation advantage while remaining deniable as competition. asserted

kindness → propose → competition

The familiar expression 'kill them with kindness' points to this possibility.' asserted

expression → kill → possibility

Research suggests that some seemingly kind-hearted workplace behaviour, such as bringing in cakes, giving gifts or doing favours, can be used as a form of 'competitive altruism' to improve status and reputation To conduct their study, the researchers developed a competitive altruism test which was completed by more than 100 women. They found almost all had experience of colleagues who tried to out-compete them with generous acts to manipulate others. uncertain

who → suggest → others

Five different types of tactics were identified. asserted

types → identify → tactics

The most common was using food, gifts or treats to foster goodwill, which had been experienced by 33 per cent of those in the study. asserted

which → use → study

One quarter of women had witnessed 'performed warmth' where the friendliness of a colleague in public was an act, while a further 15 per cent had seen warmth directed particularly at men. asserted

warmth → witness → men

Another tactic involved offering assistance to a superior to gain an advantage. asserted

tactic → involve → advantage

The final tactic was linked to female rivalry, where some women used kindness to foster relationships with some women but not others. asserted

women → link → women

Women who scored highly in competitive altruism rated themselves as significantly more manipulative, more deceptive, more fake, and less honest than others their age. asserted

who → score → others

The researchers concluded these higher scores 'relate with Machiavellianism and low agreeableness rather than warmth'. asserted

scores → conclude → Machiavellianism

Beware of 'kind-hearted' colleagues bringing cupcakes into the office...they may be manipulating you

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Claims (17 extracted, 4 hedged)