Grooming Detection Without Content Flags: A Trajectory-Based Method for Detecting Progressive Constraint of Receiver Autonomy in Sequential Communication

This paper introduces the Grooming Loop (GL), a trajectory-based method for detecting progressive constraint of the receiver's capacity for independent evaluation in sequential communication. GL is grounded in the evaluation framework of Transmission Origin Diagnostics v206, which specifies that grooming is not manipulation — the provision of false inputs to an intact evaluation system — but evaluation replacement: the progressive substitution of the receiver's independent consequential evaluation with the sender's. After successful GL operation, the receiver is not evaluating differently. They are not evaluating independently at all.The method is content-independent and operates across three structural mechanisms — reduction of disconfirming signals, reframing of internal states, and dependency formation — none of which are detectable in isolation or from individual messages. A 21-type marker taxonomy is derived from an 11-case calibration corpus (AV.6–AV.16) covering the full structural range from explicit activity-level grooming to content-invisible meta-evaluative grooming. A confirmed true negative case (AV.16) demonstrates the instrument's primary false-positive protection mechanism: the Boundary Gradient condition, which distinguishes grooming from ordinary rapport formation.A companion detection layer — GL-Implicit — extends the event-based system to marker-independent trajectory detection using the Receiver Autonomy Arc (REC-ARC). Full specification is provided in the companion paper (Madsen, 2026d).The method observes the Non-Intent Principle throughout: GL classifies structural trajectories, not speakers, and does not establish intent. Human review is mandatory before any consequential action. The method is exploratory and offered to invite empirical testing, replication, and critique.