How To Keep Our Heads Clear When We Are Brainwashed

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

There is no person in the world who, at least once, has not been a victim of manipulation. No matter how smart and educated we think we are, everyone will remember how more than once, not two, or even ten he succumbed to the persuasion of a swindler, for example, in the guise of a gypsy or psychic, advertising, political propaganda. And it's good if you can just forget an unpleasant episode, but sometimes it quite seriously affects our lives

Let me give you an example. Two friends who once studied together at a prestigious Moscow university, then worked in the same company, were friends with families, modern people, besides IT people, with a mathematical mindset, skeptical, ironic suddenly became enemies overnight. Almost any conversation now ended with mutual attacks, insults, and shouts. In the end, they stopped communicating altogether. And it all started with the fact that for one six months he worked in the Kiev branch of the company, watched TV and listened to the radio there, while the other stayed in Moscow and received information from Russian sources. When they met, each was convinced that the other had been brainwashed. And both were right.

This is just one example, but today the front line runs in offices, on social media, in families. Enmity, aggression swept over the society. This worries me very much - both as a practicing psychologist and as a citizen.

To keep a clear head, to prevent discord in relations with loved ones, not to start massively “destroying” friends in social networks, it is important not to succumb to the glamor of suggested “knowledge”. And for this we will try to figure out how the brainwashing mechanism works.

Brainwashing: How It Works

The term brainwashing was first used in a sensational 1950 Miami News article by journalist (and CIA propaganda officer) Edward Hunter. He literally translated into English the Chinese expression "shi-nao" - "to brainwash": this is how they talked about the methods of forced persuasion, which the Chinese, brought up in the pre-revolutionary era, eradicated the "feudal" mentality.

Later, it was described in detail how during the Korean War (1951-1953), which was waged by two Koreas - South (among its allies were the United States) and North (the Chinese army fought on its side), the Chinese communists in the camps controlled by them for Prisoners of war achieved profound behavioral changes in American soldiers, as a person's individuality was destroyed by psychological and physical influence, his whole worldview was altered.

When manipulating mass consciousness, physical methods are not used, but the same psychological "three-component" mechanism is used: turn off the rationality (reduce the criticality of thinking), cause fear (create a threat), hook a person on the hook of the rescuer (suggest a way out).

Disable the radio

Usually, a person is rather critical of the information he receives. People instinctively resist new things, do not take anything for granted. We scrutinize the shoes we are going to buy, sniff food before putting it in our mouths, and are suspicious of the news: "Come on, this doesn't happen." But when zombified, our ration no longer works, and we are ready to believe in anything. Why? Our realistic adult is being turned into a frightened child. We are "turned off" by criticality and all other means of psychological protection of the individual. And we begin to operate with images and "facts" of an artificially created social mythology imposed on us. As Kozma Prutkov said, "many people are like sausages: what they stuff, they carry it in themselves."

Induce fear

How do you turn a rational adult into a gullible child? By threatening his basic needs. The harshest example is the brainwashing of American prisoners in Korean camps or people who have fallen into sects. At first, a person is isolated from the familiar environment and alternative sources of information so that the old attitudes and beliefs are not reinforced from the outside and the victim becomes completely dependent on the new owners.

Then comes the turn of a person's vital needs: he is deprived of food, sleep, and basic amenities. Quite quickly, he becomes weak-willed and helpless: if basic needs are not met, values and beliefs fade into the background. When the "object" is completely, physically and spiritually, exhausted, the owners begin to instill new "truths" in it. For good behavior - abandoning previous views - little by little they give out food, allow to sleep, improve conditions. Gradually, a person accepts a new value system and agrees to cooperate.

Paradoxically, the same method is used in advertising. Of course, we are not deprived of food, water or sleep, but immersed in an imaginary world of hunger, thirst, and lack of basic necessities - the more talented the advertising, the more reliable the images of people tormented by lack of sleep, sexual dissatisfaction, hunger, thirst, the faster we turn into “frightened child”and submit to the authority of the one who will relieve us of torment with the help of, for example, potato chips, chewing gum with a new taste, sparkling water.

The main thing is to make us afraid in any way. Anything: insomnia, hunger, fascism, threats to children. This fear is absolutely irrational, but intimidated people will do anything, even what is not beneficial to them. For example, it is enough just to utter the spell "international terrorism" - and we no longer protest when they search us at the airport, force us to take off our shoes and turn out our pockets.

Manipulation of consciousness involves playing on feelings, an appeal to the subconscious, fears and prejudices, and all of us have them. National stereotypes and myths are played up. Every nation has something to put pressure on, something to hook on. Every nation is afraid of something. Russians, for example, are fascists. Behind this word there are millions of dead, hatred of the enemies who “burned down my home, ruined my whole family,” something very terrible. And the context doesn't matter anymore. This key opens the door to the subconscious, actualizes fears, presses on our pain points. This technique is especially effective for people with a more developed right hemisphere: these are the majority of women, poorly educated men, children.

They hit the target and "dead words", different depending on the case. In propaganda, these are "fascists", "bombing", "junta". In advertising - "insomnia", "pain", "thirst". The gypsy woman has a different set: "conspiracy to die", "celibacy crown", "family curse". It is as if a person is driven into a narrowed space, in which there is no place for argumentation, where labels, infantile turns are used, where reality is explained by simple "childish" formulas. "Dead words" are not designed for critical perception. They must trigger a certain emotional response: fear, a sense of threat.

Do not think that this is possible in one country and not in another. Of course, somewhere people as a whole are more mature, more rational, better aware of their rights. And somewhere more infantile, inspired, living in myths, emotions, with a more "childish" consciousness. Our people are more of a "childish" type. Moreover, we are a “wounded” nation many times over, we have many real fears: hunger, repression, revolution, war. Our people have had to experience a lot of things from which it is difficult to escape, but which is very easy to influence.

Insert the lifeguard hook

The person was frightened, deprived of composure and the ability to think critically. And so, when he already feels himself a victim and seeks salvation, a "rescuer" appears to him. And the person is ready to carry out his orders.

This technique is well developed by the gypsies. Their victims give them everything voluntarily. When I was conducting psychotherapeutic receptions, people came to me more than once, from whom the gypsies pulled all the money. "How so? They didn’t threaten me with a knife or a pistol,”rational people were surprised in hindsight. The trick is simple. First, the gypsy disposes of the victim. Then suddenly he "notices" "corruption", "the crown of celibacy", "the evil eye and a terrible disease." Anyone will be frightened, and in a state of passion we easily succumb to suggestion. At this moment, the gypsy transforms into a “rescuer”: “It is not difficult to help your grief. This is the evil eye of an envious person. Gild the handle. " And then she can do whatever she wants with the person.

Faced with difficulties, we look for simple answers and strive to remedy the situation with simple actions, including completely unreasonable ones. In advertising, "salvation" is also always offered due to pseudologics, building a causal relationship between phenomena that have nothing in common: if you drink this coffee, you will become rich, you chew this gum - the girls will like it, you will wash with this powder - and your husband will never will go to another.

Propaganda "works" the same way. They frighten us with what makes us really afraid: wars, fascism, junta, killed, wounded. And against the background of all this nightmare, they show - here it is, the path of salvation: for example, to create a strong state that will protect, which all others are afraid of.

People in the mass are easier to fool than each individually. People, communicating, influence each other, infect each other with their emotions. Panic is especially contagious. In 1897, at the annual meeting of the Imperial Military Medical Academy, V. M. Bekhterev in his speech "The Role of Suggestion in Public Life" said: "At the present time, so much is generally said about physical infection … that, in my opinion, it is not superfluous to recall … a mental infection, the microbes of which, although not visible under a microscope, but … like real physical microbes, they act everywhere and everywhere and are transmitted through the words and gestures of those around them, through books, newspapers, etc., in a word - wherever we are … we … are in danger of being mentally infected."

That is why the impact on one person requires special professionalism, and among the masses, infection occurs instantly - it is difficult to resist when everyone around them behaves in a certain way. The crowd effect works even if everyone is sitting in front of their own separate TV.

Basic Brainwashing Techniques

I always remembered the advice of Bulgakov's professor Preobrazhensky: "Do not read Soviet newspapers before dinner" - and followed it, primarily in relation to our TV. But I had to take a hefty dose of the "poison" of today's media to understand the methods and techniques that are used to shape public opinion. All these techniques are based on the laws of the functioning of the human psyche. I tried to analyze and organize them so that they become easily recognizable. Of course, everyone can add their own observations to my list. I hope all this will help build your own protective barrier and save yourself.

Distraction

How does a gypsy distract attention? First, a meaningless phrase: "You can ask how to get through …". Then - a sharp change in theme, intonation: "Oh, girl, I can see from your face that you will have two coffins in your family!" Changing the subject plunges the victim into confusion, the ability to think is disabled, the subconscious reacts to "dead words". A person is paralyzed by sticky fear, his heart is pounding, his legs give way.

For propaganda, as for any other type of manipulation, it is important to suppress a person's psychological resistance to suggestion. If at the time of transmission of a message to divert the attention of the addressee from its content, then it is difficult to comprehend it and find counter-arguments. And counter-arguments are the basis of resistance to suggestion.

How is our attention being distracted?

Information kaleidoscope. How is the TV program usually structured? Short stories replace one another, interspersed with announcements, advertisements, shots flicker, a line with additional news runs at the bottom. At the same time, important information is diluted with rumors from the life of celebrities, from the world of fashion, etc. In ten minutes of watching TV, so many images rush before our eyes that it is impossible to concentrate on anything. This kaleidoscope of disparate information, which a person is unable to comprehend and process, is perceived as a single whole. Our attention is scattered, criticality decreases - and we are open to any "garbage".

Splitting the topic. If information needs to be introduced into consciousness without provoking resistance, it is crushed into parts - then it is not easy to comprehend the whole. It seems that everyone reported - something earlier, something later, but in such a way that it is difficult to concentrate and understand what was actually said and what happened.

Sensationalism and urgency. Often in news programs they impose on us: "Sensation!", "Urgently!", "Exclusive!" The urgency of the message is usually false, far-fetched, but the goal has been achieved - attention has been diverted. Although the sensation itself is not worth a damn: an elephant gave birth to a zoo, a scandal in the family politician, Angelina Jolie had an operation. Such "sensations" are an excuse to keep silent about important things that the public does not need to know about.

Information flashes, we are bombarded with "urgent" and "sensational" news - information noise and high levels of nervousness reduce our ability to criticize and make us more suggestible.

When our brain works at high speed, it more and more often turns on the "autopilot" and we begin to think in stereotypes, ready-made formulas. In addition, we have to rely on the information offered, there is simply no time to check it - and it is easy for a manipulator to convert us to the "correct" faith.

Focus on the secondary. It is also very easy to distract us from pressing social problems. The announcer will say about a law that seriously worsens the life of the majority as something of no particular importance.

It is like breaking the news in a small-circulation newspaper, and even printing it in small print. But the arguments about the ban on the import of lace underwear, the story of the giraffe will be washed over all the media. And now we are already worried.

To divert our attention away from reality, we need to create a replacement for it. The media can dictate what we think about - imposing their agenda for discussion. The ball is thrown to us, and we recklessly try to grab it and “play”, forgetting about the pressing problems.

The illusion of certainty

The strongest emotional response creates a sense of the authenticity of events. We seem to find ourselves in this strange reality, not suspecting that this is, perhaps, a cheap trick, staging, editing.

Presence effect. Apocalypse Now shows how news stories are filmed. "Run without looking back, as if you are fighting!" - the director demands. And people are running, bending down, noise, explosions, everything is as it really is. Of course, there is honest journalism, and reporters often risk their lives, but such tricks are not uncommon, especially when it comes to propaganda.

"Eyewitnesses of Events". This technique evokes an emotional response in us. Those "eyewitnesses" that appear in the news are not much different from the "eyewitnesses" in advertising. “Aunt Asya,” stammering, with ostentatious uncertainty, tells how his son, playing football, got his shirt dirty, and she washed it. In the news, seemingly random people are interrogated, and a semantic and emotional series is formed from their words, which must be introduced into our consciousness. The strongest impression is made by crying old people, children, young people with disabilities.

In October 1990, news spread around the world media: according to a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, Iraqi soldiers pulled babies out of the hospital and threw them on the cold floor to die - the girl saw it with her own eyes. The girl's name was hidden for security reasons. During the 40 days before the invasion of Iraq, President Bush recalled this story more than once, and the Senate also referred to this fact when discussing the future military action. Later it turned out that the girl was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, and the rest of the "witnesses" were prepared by the Hill & Knowlton PR agency. But when the troops had already entered, no one cared about the truth.

The TV story with the story of a witness about how the boy was crucified, and his mother was tied to a tank and dragged until she died, was made according to the same scheme: there was no documentary filming, the illusion of reliability was based on the words of eyewitnesses.

Anonymous authority. His name is not given, the documents cited are not shown - it is assumed that the credibility of the statement is given by references to authority. "Scientists have established on the basis of many years of research …" What scientists? "Doctors recommend toothpaste …" What kind of doctor? "A source from the President's inner circle, who wished to remain anonymous, reports …" etc. Such information is most often pure propaganda or hidden advertising, but the source is not known and the journalists are not responsible for the lie.

Figures and graphs also make us believe what they are telling us: wrinkles disappear by 90%, complexion is improved by 30%.

Halo effect. Popular people often become agents of influence - they convince fans of things that they themselves do not really understand. After all, if a person is an authority for us in one thing, then in another we are ready to believe him. I always say: do not listen to artists or athletes when they talk about politics. They do their job well, and they are used, forcing to say what is needed.

Substitution

Building associations. The essence of the technique is to bind an object to what the mass consciousness perceives as unambiguously good or bad. One side says: fascists. Another: terrorists. Such metaphors enable associative thinking - and save intellectual effort. So we are being driven into yet another propaganda trap. And so, instead of comprehending the essence of the problem, a person clings to these associations, false analogies and metaphors. This is how our brain works: whenever possible, it tries not to do unnecessary work.

In fact, associations and metaphors rarely clarify the point. For example, we are told: "Putin is like Peter the First." We are hinted that we know what really were the times of Peter and the results of his activities. “Ah, well, it’s clear,” we agree, although in reality we do not understand anything.

Positive emotional transfer occurs when information is associated with known facts, phenomena, people to whom we relate well. How does it work in advertising? Here is an obviously successful person driving a car - the underlying message is: if I have one like this, then I will also achieve success. Negative emotional transference is also possible. In this case, an association is created with a known bad case.

Often messages are supported by video. For example, they tell us about something, and on the screen - Hitler, the Nazis, the swastika, everything that causes us fear and disgust. The information itself has nothing to do with German Nazism, but in our minds one has already grappled with the other.

Conditioned reflex communication is also used. Let's say one event (person, product) is presented as good, another - as bad. When people talk about good things, the background is optimistic, pleasant music that we all love. If "bad" is shown, disturbing music plays and sad faces flash. That's it: the conditioned reflex circuit is closed.

Change of "sign". The main purpose of the technique is to call black white, and white - black, change the "plus" to "minus" or vice versa. You can "recolor" any events, pogroms can be called demonstrations of protest, bandits - freedom fighters, mercenaries - volunteers.

The propagandists of the Third Reich were especially successful in this field: the Gestapo did not arrest citizens, but "subjected them to preliminary imprisonment", the Jews were not robbed, but took their property "under reliable protection," the invasion of Poland in 1939 was a "police action." Soviet tanks in Czechoslovakia and Hungary "restored constitutional order." Karel Čapek was ironic about this: "The enemy insidiously attacked our planes, which peacefully bombed his cities."

Juggling facts. To create the necessary mood in society, wishful thinking is passed off as reality. For example, the news reports that "confusion and vacillation in the opposition camp", "the demand for prestigious offices in the center exceeds supply." And since the majority thinks in stereotypes, then, "since everyone is talking about this, then it is so." In fact, the "facts" are taken from the ceiling.

Outright falsification. From 10 to 25% of voters in elections are guided by sociological ratings - they want to vote for the strong, not for the weak. If the average man in the street, who seeks to be “like everyone else,” creates the feeling that he is in the minority, he will vote for the one with whom the majority is.

Therefore, by announcing falsified data on the candidate's high rating on the eve of the elections, one can actually increase the number of votes cast for him. In the media, these pseudo-ratings are served under a scientific sauce in order to hypnotize the layman with "smart" words: "the survey was conducted in all regions … the size of the statistical sample was 3562 people … the magnitude of the statistical error does not exceed 1.6%." And we already think childishly: since such exact figures, then it’s true.

Gain

Typical signs of human behavior in a crowd are the predominance of situational feelings, loss of responsibility and the ability to think independently, increased suggestibility, easy controllability, etc. All this can be specially enhanced in different ways: lighting, light stimulants, music, posters. At show programs, mass political events, pre-election concerts, at which pop stars shout something like "Vote or lose!", People become infected with a certain mood - and they can already be introduced with the necessary information. Before the April 1993 referendum on the radio and television, there was only heard: "Yes, yes, no, yes." They came to vote. How to answer? Yes, yes, no, yes. That's it, no questions asked. And now many will remember this "chant", but for what or against what these "Yes, yes, no, yes" were, few will say.

Repetition

If we repeat the same idea in simple phrases, then we get used to it and begin to consider it ours. What we have memorized always seems convincing to us, even if the memorization happened in the course of a mechanical repetition of a commercial or an annoying song.

Such "miracles" occur because repetition effectively affects the poorly controlled subconscious and leads to the unconscious assimilation of other people's thoughts and views.

Goebbels, a famous brainwashing virtuoso, said: “The masses name the true information that is most familiar. Ordinary people are usually much more primitive than we imagine … The most outstanding results … will be achieved by someone who is able to reduce problems to the simplest words and expressions and who has the courage to constantly repeat them in this simplified form, despite the objections of high-browed intellectuals.

In the 1980s, political psychologists Donald Kinder and Shantho Iyengar conducted an experiment. They edited the evening news in such a way that the subjects received information on a specific problem. Some were told about the weaknesses of the American defense, others about bad ecology, and still others about inflation. A week later, the majority were convinced that the problem, which was so widely covered in "their" news, the country should solve first of all. And assessed the current US president by how he copes with "their" problem.

And there is no need to fight the ideas of the enemy; it is enough to tirelessly repeat the necessary formulations.

What to do

First, we will understand what happens to us when we fall under the gun of skillful manipulators. We become uncritical, we think in imposed stereotypes, we are content with simple answers to difficult life questions, we believe only in our own truth, and are intolerant of other people's opinions. There is a social polarization in society, even the most intelligent begin to think bipolar. We no longer have time to think, we need to quickly define ourselves, urgently take a position. And then, overnight, some became for the "white", others - for the "red". Each side hears only itself and is outraged by what the opponent says. We seem to close ourselves in an information cocoon and joyfully catch only our "own" information that feeds us. The result is a split into two warring camps. Meanwhile, polar truths feed each other, forming a single whole, a kind of symbiosis, because without each other they can no longer exist. A person begins to speak in cliches, to repeat remarks from newspapers, television and radio broadcasts. He stops thinking for himself. The stamping of simple views, simple oppositions destroys the complex reality of life and, in general, meaning.

Bipolar simplification leads to aggression. As the opponents are called victims of political propaganda: ukry, dill, quilted jackets, Colorado. They seem to shoot at each other - words are like bullets. But it is easy to start a confrontation, but it is difficult to get out of it, because for many, giving up your opinion is like admitting defeat. This is how our IT friends, about whom we spoke at the beginning, “fight to the death”.

So, what advice can you give them?

In order not to succumb to manipulation, the main thing is to become an adult. What does it mean? To regain the ability to analyze information, to maintain an unclouded consciousness with a high level of criticality, to abandon simple recipes, because in addition to black and white, there are also “50 shades of gray”. The more difficult a person perceives reality, the less aggression in him.

Therefore, you can try the following.

1. Deliberately breaking contact with a source of information is a simple and effective psychological defense against brainwashing. You just have to turn off the TV, stop reading the newspapers. Give yourself a period of, say, two weeks, and the "obsession" will begin to pass.
2. Do not consume information in a relaxed state when the criticality barrier is lowered, which means that information from the outside world is deposited in the subconscious in the form of psychological attitudes and forms future behavior.
3. Look for objective information in alternative, non-propaganda sources, for example, in scientific articles, books, on unbiased sites.
4. Think: Do I need to understand all this? It is not at all necessary to have an opinion on any issue. If this or that information does not belong to the category of vital, then you can go into “internal emigration” to your “uninhabited island”.
5. To use the "Carlson method" - try mentally, "going up to the ceiling", to look at everything that we are doing. Seeing that we are "not in ourselves", turn on common sense, calm down. It is important not to confuse political conflicts and relationships and understand that everyone has their own truth. Nobody ever knows the whole truth, it is not absolute. And no matter how absurd the statements of another may seem to us, we need to understand that he probably perceives our arguments in the same way. You can argue, express different points of view, but you need to be able to say "stop" to yourself when a dispute turns into a conflict, into a war, into a break.
6. Tune in to dialogue. It expands our understanding of the world, helps to find mutual understanding with those who think differently, to treat them as partners in clarifying the truth, and not enemies. You cannot act automatically, you need to take a break and ask someone else to speak. The key words of an adult in such a conversation are: “What do you think?”, “Why do you think so?”, “Is it really so? How is this known? " And also: “I don’t know for sure”, “I doubt something”. It's good to say this even to yourself. Such a dialogue helps to complicate the picture of the world, fill it with facts, details, shades of meaning. And if the opponent does not meet halfway, does not want to hear anything, you just need to stop the conversation, not considering yourself defeated, at least for the sake of your health.
7. Learn to calmly, clearly, openly, not giving vent to emotions and not blaming opponents, to express your views and be responsible for this.
8. Allow yourself to change your mind. This is difficult for many. From childhood we were taught that we must follow our principles, defend them, be on the side of the truth and fight for it. But first you need to understand what to fight for? For someone else's goals and principles, or for a decent life for yourself and your family? It is the right of every free person to change their minds. It only says that he lives and develops.
9. Use simple "keys". For example, be on the side of the right. There are certain understandable moral laws such as "do not steal" or "do not kill."

And, of course, we, adults, do not need to be offended by the authorities, propaganda or advertising. All over the world, rulers and intellectuals are at two poles. Power, the state strives for uniformity, the task of the state is to simplify everything, because it is difficult, as Mitterrand said, to rule a nation that knows 300 varieties of cheese. And the intellectual reproduces complexity, his task is not to be afraid of diversity, otherness, to be able to be in the minority and to live in conditions of uncertainty, when it is not exactly clear who is good and who is bad.

This Article is the fruit of my thoughts over the past months. I did not set myself the goal of exposing anyone. My task as a specialist is to provide all possible help to those who want not to lose themselves in this difficult time, to maintain normal relations with friends and family. And for this we need to develop psychological immunity, which will protect our personal space and will not allow us to succumb to someone's manipulation.

Marina Melia is a coach-consultant, general director of the psychological consulting company MM-Class.