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General Science / Re: What is the science behind brainwashing?
« on: 03/01/2016 07:38:56 »
Propaganda probably works in multiple ways. Just repeat something often enough and people start to give it more credibility, even if its been disproven ( like autism and vaccines.)
Or there's "availability bias" where people tend to over estimate the likelihood of things or events if they can easily call to mind an example. The more examples you flash in front of the public, the more persuasive it is, even if there many more counter examples or "non-occurrences".
I also think propaganda (or any kind of persuasion, even advertising) also takes advantage of cueing certain behaviors that may be hardwired or evolutionary. In "The Rational Animal" Kenrick and Griskavicuis propose several basic behavioral "programs" humans run that make them more likely to act a particular way in certain situations. Their categories include "kin care, mate acquisition, mate retention, status, affiliation, disease avoidance, and self protection."
Propaganda, like convincing people that a certain group is a threat, seems to have employed cueing a lot of these - foreigners will attack you, violate your women, they may have weird diseases, they will cost money and take jobs. Of course, the opposition appeals to some of these elements as well - pictures of refugee children remind us of our own, and cue our protective instincts. Either way, there's always a primitive, emotional element in persuasion when there isn't the time or inclination to cite actual facts.
Or there's "availability bias" where people tend to over estimate the likelihood of things or events if they can easily call to mind an example. The more examples you flash in front of the public, the more persuasive it is, even if there many more counter examples or "non-occurrences".
I also think propaganda (or any kind of persuasion, even advertising) also takes advantage of cueing certain behaviors that may be hardwired or evolutionary. In "The Rational Animal" Kenrick and Griskavicuis propose several basic behavioral "programs" humans run that make them more likely to act a particular way in certain situations. Their categories include "kin care, mate acquisition, mate retention, status, affiliation, disease avoidance, and self protection."
Propaganda, like convincing people that a certain group is a threat, seems to have employed cueing a lot of these - foreigners will attack you, violate your women, they may have weird diseases, they will cost money and take jobs. Of course, the opposition appeals to some of these elements as well - pictures of refugee children remind us of our own, and cue our protective instincts. Either way, there's always a primitive, emotional element in persuasion when there isn't the time or inclination to cite actual facts.