Various technologies of influence came to the fore in different periods of human history. So, in antiquity, priority was given to the mechanisms of generating and maintaining sacredness, in totalitarian states - demonstrating loyalty, and today this place is firmly occupied by mass culture and journalism, which are of the same type aimed at creating exemplary models of behavior ...
Edgar Shane investigated the brainwashing techniques used by the Chinese on American prisoners of war during the Korean War. He defines brainwashing as a colloquial term describing the practice of the time. But in a more general form, he defines it as: "Any technique designed to manipulate human thinking or action against his will, will or knowledge of the individual."
In doing so, he relies on the concept of introducing changes by Kurt Lewin, where there are three stages: unfreezing old representations, introducing new representations and freezing new representations.
Shane talks about the cognitive restructuring that occurs when a person in a “thawed out” state is ready to receive new insights. The prisoners were considered guilty, although they themselves did not admit it. In the end, they admitted their guilt, associating with their more advanced fellow inmates. After going through this process, they removed the burden of social pressure on themselves.
In this regard, Shane talks about the phenomenon of defensive identification, when people, being in a hostile environment, adopt the value models of their guards, which was first described for Nazi concentration camps. Identification with the aggressor was the only possible solution. In this he refers to Bruno Bettelheim (see his professional text on the psychology of his life in a concentration camp). In fact, this is where the Stockholm hostage syndrome lies. By the way, to some extent, this may explain the behavior of the enemies of the people of Stalin's time, who were convicted in public trials, which is still incomprehensible to this day.
China had a track record of changing the mindset of prisoners of war. It is about creating groups to study, for example, Maoism. These groups were formed across the country for criticism, self-criticism, discussion and study. The group consisted of 10-12 people who did everything under the guidance of a party representative. They were organized in villages, schools, factories, prisons, farms. Each had to pass theoretical reasoning through himself, through his particular case. There were separate revolutionary universities, groups of accusations.
If we use modern words, we get an information-discursive technology, when a person himself says, in addition to propaganda, the necessary types of texts, but adjusts them for himself, since he speaks about his position. Another difference from modern propaganda is that this propaganda is not monologic, but dialogical, even polylogical, since many voices are heard at once.
A likely close analogue can be considered the methods of American Alcoholics Anonymous, as well as the psychotherapeutic practices that slip through in every Western film, where the heroes always tell a friend: " If you want to tell ... ".
In 1939, 12 steps were formulated that must be taken to undergo a course of anti-alcohol therapy. However, today there is a voice against such methods, especially since there is no clear evidence that they work. Atlantic magazine publishes an article with the following words: “These 12 steps have penetrated the United States so deeply that many people, including doctors and therapists, believe that attending meetings, earning sobriety points, and not taking another sip of alcohol is the only way to get better. Hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centers use these 12 steps as the basis of treatment. But while only a few people may realize this, there are other alternatives in the form of prescription drugs and therapies that are aimed at helping patients learn to drink in moderation. Unlike Alcoholics Anonymous, these methods are based on modern science and proven by objective research . "
We did come across a success rate of such a widespread aid program - it is from 5 to 10 percent. 90 percent get no results. There is also a well-known reason why 10 percent are able to help. These are the people around us, and so we got back to our topic with American POWs and Chinese citizens. The impact on them all comes through the environment. They say the same thing about Alcoholics Anonymous: “ It's a supportive organization where people are kind to you and it gives you structure. Some people can benefit a lot from this. And to their credit, Alcoholics Anonymous describes themselves as a brotherhood, not a treatment."
These words belong to Lance Dods, who is fighting this type of treatment (his website is www.lancedodes.com). The New York Times, in a review of Dods' book, writes: Studies of people with drug and alcohol addiction using functional magnetic resonance show that they have fewer dopamine receptors in the brain reward system than people who do not have such addiction. Dopamine is associated with pleasure, which suggests that addicts may have a lower baseline level of happiness than other people.
Dods himself identifies three key elements leading to addiction. First, it is a feeling of helplessness, which is trying to overcome addiction. Second, helplessness breeds rage at the inability to control your brain, which is a drive that leads to addiction. Third, emotional purpose and drive are expressed in substitute action rather than dealing with helplessness. As a result, the person solves the problem of helplessness with an action that he controls and which he knows will help him feel better (see excerpts from the book).
All of this is important because in the United States, programs close to 12 steps treat all types of addictions, including workaholics and obesity. In more than half of these 12 steps, there is also a reference to God, which allows critics to call its creators a pseudoscientific, religious organization.
If we return to the discursive aspects of the noted methods, which are based on conversations, then, probably, one should also pay attention to the conversion analysis, combining it to some extent with ideological attitudes in order to understand these types of social impact.
Interestingly, in this Chinese learning method, it is difficult for a person to hide anything. Alcoholics tell the whole truth themselves, because they come to the circle themselves. And the Chinese method descends on everyone without exception, so here the problem of truth / untruth should be acute. Moreover, for deviations from the right path, punishment awaits you.
Shane writes: “Criticism and self-criticism are often conducted as part of a study group. Everyone in the group is expected to write a detailed autobiography (the illiterate can always find someone to whom they can dictate their life story) as a basis for pointing out the sources of reactionary tendencies in their past and preparing to open their "inner" thoughts to the group. When life stories were critically discussed in a group, a party cadre or activist skillfully linked political ideology with moral principles."
And again we return to the colloquial genre of discussion and judgment. Something similar happened in the USSR, when meetings were discussing either enemies of the people or cosmopolitans. By the way, we have always believed that natural sciences tried not to touch especially in the USSR, since they were needed for defense, but they were not a "reserve" either. Researchers, for example, note: “ In the 1930s. Several campaigns specifically directed against scientists were carried out, such as the “Akademicheskoe Delo” of the early 1930s, the “Luzin Case” in 1936, and the “Case of the Ukrainian Physicotechnical University (UPTI)” in 1937 against theoretical physicists and the Pulkovo affair 1936-1937, which captured scientists of various specialties in several scientific centers . "
It should also be emphasized that all people on whom such an intense influence is exercised, although for different reasons, are fundamentally weakened, unable to resist the active actions of officials. Prisoners of war are in confinement, and alien, Chinese peasants or workers are afraid of future possible punishment, as are Soviet citizens who condemn the enemies of the people.
There is also a purely physical weakness, very similar to that in which the future members of totalitarian sects are going through the process of "processing". We are talking about a lack of protein food, lack of sleep, endless repetition of mantras, the need to consult with the leader of the sect on any issue, and so on. At the same time, the TV or parents are immediately subject to a ban in order to prevent an alternative opinion from being voiced during this processing.
Shane, for example, highlights factors such as: “The physical strength of the prisoner was undermined by general inadequacy of diet, loss of sleep due to interrupted and prolonged interrogations, illness, lack of exercise, excessive cold or heat combined with inappropriate clothing, long standing or squatting during interrogations, or as punishment for breaking prison rules, severe pain due to handcuffs behind the back or chains on the ankles, which were dressed as punishment (if the authorities felt that the prisoner was not trying to sincerely reform himself), the results of beatings by inmates and other endless events of prison life. The prisoner's social and emotional support was undermined by his complete isolation from communications with the outside world (no outgoing or incoming mail was allowed, there were no non-communist newspapers) .
These types of discourse propaganda should be recognized as special, since they are not just public, but publicly individual. The person pronounced these texts himself, from his own perspective, with his own examples.
The Soviet version of this individual-public propaganda included: a) repentant speeches at meetings, b) accusations of other, but familiar persons, c) accusations of strangers (in the case of the so-called enemies of the people). This was mainly in the pre-war period and immediately after the war. After Stalin's death, this practice began to decline.
In the seventies, collective letters are gaining strength, initiated by the authorities, but presented as an individual impulse. They were aimed at condemning people, actions, texts. Often they were created according to the principle “I have not read, but I condemn”.
The Soviet version of re-education in the camps no longer had such a discursive component. The gulag had primarily economic goals, although the arrest and subsequent imprisonment were, of course, political. However, the philosopher Meyer wrote an article on Solovki "Forced labor as a method of re-education." Likhachev recalls many conversations with Meyer on Solovki, saying that they shaped his ideas. As such topics for discussion, he names the myth and the word (see also "Tupolevskaya sharaga" by Kerber).
Likhachev writes: “ Already in the twenties, the power of 'verbal formulas', the mythology of language began to occupy an ever greater place in Soviet reality. "The power of words" became the most difficult manifestation of "spiritual bondage." Therefore, in our circle, the discussion of issues of language and linguistic culture became one of the most important topics ”[Likhachev D. Thoughts about life // Likhachev D. Thoughts about life. Letters of kindness. - M., 2014, S. 216].
By the way, both of them, Meyer and Likhachev, were convicted of participating in circles (see about the Meyer case). That is, the Soviet government from the very beginning destroyed such alternative discursive practices, which in this case were revived in Solovki.
Meyer writes about the myth in his articles [Meyer A. Philosophical writings. - Paris, 1982]. Likhachev notes that these texts were written in anticipation of the ideas of Levi-Strauss, Jung, Malinovsky, Losev. Eliade's name can also be added here, as his ideas also come to mind when reading Meyer's text on sacrifice.
Lifton studied two versions of the phenomena we are considering - the impact on American prisoners of war and totalitarian sects. His definition of "correction of thinking" is the following [Lifton R. Technology of "brainwashing". The psychology of totalitarianism. - SPb., 2005]: “ Regardless of the specific circumstances,“ correction of thinking ”consists of two main elements: admission of guilt, exposure and renunciation of the past and present“ evil ”; and re-education, remaking a person in accordance with the communist model. These elements are closely interrelated and overlap as they both trigger a range of pressure and call options - intellectual, emotional and physical - aimed at social control and personal change . "
From today's perspective, the book looks somewhat outdated, but we should not forget that it contains hundreds of interviews with both American prisoners of war and Chinese who left China, with whom the author of the book worked in Hong Kong. Therefore, its specific rules are based on a completely documentary basis.
At the same time, he sees similar elements in the United States in the era of McCarthyism. In an interview, he says, “ When I was in Hong Kong, I worried about the extent to which groups can manipulate the truth and launch lies at others in totalitarian practices such as mindset correction. Then I heard about not so systemic, but parallel trends in the United States with regard to McCarthyism of the fifties and the terrible atmosphere when friends were afraid to subscribe to some magazines or express critical views in public. I began to feel that they were going crazy in a totalitarian direction."
In a peaceful life, according to Shane, change begins with dissatisfaction with information, when it ceases to confirm our expectations or hopes. This is followed by the concept of guilt or the need to survive, which pushes a person to more active actions.
A person has to rebuild his view of the world. The cognitive restructuring of the world has, according to Shane, three components:
- semantic re-definition: words start to mean something different from what we are used to,
- cognitive expansion: concepts begin to be interpreted more broadly than before,
- new standards of reasoning and evaluation: the reference points used for reasoning and comparison are changed to new ones.
We can see elements of the mind-correction / brainwashing model also in Moreno's psychodrama or Levin's training groups, since both the impact on the other participant and the impact coming from him play a role in them. True, the essential difference is that this is a non-political version of the transformation of thinking and behavior.
The discursive version of propaganda, as we can summarize, has the following features:
- a combination of the individual and the public,
- personal dubbing of texts, while in ordinary propaganda monologue texts come from above,
- rethinking the given templates, since we are talking about a text that is built from the perspective of the person who pronounces it.
We see social pressure on a person in numerous examples of the theory of pushing Thaler and Sunstein, the British theory of information operations call to aim at changing the behavior of a group. That is, this toolkit also goes from group to person.
Brainwashing as a technology is designed to work in closed systems: including totalitarian sects. But its individual elements are quite suitable and are used to work in the open systems we are accustomed to.
