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Manipulation is the use of social power by one person over another person. It can be seen as "social cause and effect." We think of some people as "manipulative" but this is a messy thing, actually. Everyone manipulates in that everyone (generally) understands that, as individuals, we need the cooperation of other people to accomplish our individual goals and convincing other people to participate in that manner is a form of manipulation. Most of this manipulation is of the form "quid pro quo" when both parties get something of use. A person is "manipulative" when the relationship is one-sided and *only* to the manipulative person's benefit. But labelling some among us as "manipulative" leads to the false idea that the rest of us aren't also manipulating.
Meta-thinking is: to give up on some level of social authenticity in the moment and engage directly with strategic manipulation. Things like reverse psychology are examples of meta-thinking. We can see in our world meta-thinking used as a reactionary measure to the manipulations of the powerful among us. When people decide that there is a "they" is not a sign of meta-thinking. However, when people decide that everything "they" say needs to be opposed, this is a sign of meta-thinking and it is very dangerous to our world. It has lead to people dismissing entire sources of good information because it is "mainstream media", for example.

Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacognition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Hart