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Brainwashing -

According to Merriam-Webster, the formal definition of brainwashing is “a forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up basic political, social, or religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept contrasting regimented ideas.”

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Familiarity - When you read this, you may think of cults. However, in a diluted form, brainwashing essentially forms the basis for modern-day advertising.

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History - To understand the role it plays in present-day society, we should look at how the term was coined, and the psychology behind brainwashing.

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The Korean War (1950-53) - The identification of brainwashing has its root in 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations sent an international band of troops to fight on the side of South Korea.

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South Korea -

At the time, South Korea was effectively a colony of the United States. When North Korea invaded, the American government sent the most amount of money and troops. In the end, 300,000 soldiers were sent over to fight.

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North Korea - North Korea was supported by the Soviet Union and China. As a result, many call the war a proxy war for the tensions that were rising between the East and the West.

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Prisoners - American soldiers made up 90% of the forces against North Korea. Therefore, it was inevitable that some were captured and sent to prisons. When they were released, they were often sent back to the United States.

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Odd - The soldiers who were released were acting exceedingly odd. When they returned home, they extolled the virtues of communism and its leaders. It was very surprising, given that they had been in torturous prisons for months.

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Patriots - Also bear in mind that many of these soldiers were patriots through and through. So much so that they risked their lives to fight for their country.

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Investigate -

The US military was sure something was up, and so asked a CIA operative, Edward Hunter, to look into the case. It was he who said that the soldiers had been “brainwashed.”

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Edward Hunter - Hunter wrote a book called ‘Brainwashing’ (1961), which states that brainwashed people become as subservient as “an insect to its instincts.” This much was obvious, but how did it happen?

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Breaking it down - Before brainwashing, a person has a set of beliefs, but afterwards they believe something radically different. These new beliefs are adopted in a very short amount of time, rather than built up over a lifetime.

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Sudden conversion - William Sargant (1907-1988) was a British psychologist who discovered that these sudden conversions had been taking place regularly in the form of religious conversions, therapy conversions, and political conversions.

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Significance - Sargant stated that because they are all sudden conversions, they probably used the same psychological processes. Thus, he set to work to figure out how the human mind is rewired in these contexts.

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Broader problem - However, in this light, brainwashing is not just an issue of political prisoners, but also a problem for all human beings who decide to radically change their lives.

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Search for answers - Sargant went back to basics by looking at the work of famed physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), who studied the nervous system of animals.

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Enlightening findings - Pavlov carried out an experiment where he put some dogs under extreme stress until they crumbled and their mind literally shut off.

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Enlightening findings - Pavlov found that the behavior of the dogs drastically changed. Firstly, they forgot most previous teachings, and secondly, if he taught them a new behavior shortly after the breakdown, it became deeply embedded.

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William Sargant - Sargant realized that the same logic applied to humans. In his book ‘Battle for the Mind’ (1957), he wrote that men can be brainwashed “not by persuasive indoctrination alone, but also by imposing intolerable strains on a normally functioning brain.”

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The key - As happened in the prisons, humans have to go under intense emotional stress in order to obliterate their previous beliefs and take on new ones.

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William James (1842-1910) - Cleverly and slightly unnervingly, philosopher William James pointed out that emotional stress does not just come from torture, but can include intense experiences such as grief and heartbreak.

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Emotional experiences - For example, abusive relationships, extreme happiness, and extreme insecurity can all pass for intense emotional experiences that can cause drastic mental change.

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Old as time - Despite modern research, people have known about the ways of brainwashing for centuries–they just didn’t write it down. Probably because it was their secret weapon.

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John Wesley (1703-1791) - John Wesley was an Anglican cleric who used the brainwashing technique. In his sermons, he would instill the fear of God, literally, in churchgoers.

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Hell -

He would tell them that they would burn in hell if they did not accept God. As he was so charismatic and convincing that the audience felt emotionally stressed about death and were more likely to accept these beliefs.

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Physical - Often, the people listening to him were so overwhelmed that they would collapse in the church. This behavior may seem familiar when you think of some of the more zealous religious groups in the world.

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Cults - By no means do all groups and leaders use this technique. However, if you think of some of the famous cults such as Jonestown and Children of God, the behavior will appear near identical.

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Brain change -

It is also worth remembering that while people who are brainwashed may believe or do things that are disagreeable, it is possible that they literally could not help it.

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Evil -

Unless you believe that everyone is intrinsically evil, brainwashing can explain why many a time good people have done bad things under the influence of a “higher power.” Mass shootings and extremism, when inspected, are often the result of some sort of brainwashing.

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Bright side -

While the technique can be used for evil, it can also be used for good. In some therapies, stimulating emotional stress can allow the patient to adopt a new belief system, void of their ailment.

Sources: (Britannica)(Academy of Ideas)

See also: The weirdest and most shocking cults of all time

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