Dark persuasion : a history of brainwashing from Pavlov to social media /
Dimsdale, Joel E.,1947-author.
"This gripping book traces the evolution of brainwashing from its beginnings in torture and religious conversion into the age of neuroscience and social media. When Pavlov introduced scientific approaches, his research was enthusiastically supported by Lenin and Stalin, setting the stage for major breakthroughs in tools for social, political, and religious control. Tracing these developments through many of the past century's major conflagrations, Dimsdale narrates how when World War II erupted, governments secretly raced to develop drugs for interrogation. Brainwashing returned to the spotlight during the Cold War in the hands of the North Koreans and Chinese. In response, a huge Manhattan Project of the Mind was established to study memory obliteration, indoctrination during sleep, and hallucinogens. Cults used the techniques as well. Nobel laureates, university academics, intelligence operatives, criminals, and clerics all populate this shattering and dark story--one that hasn't yet ended"--publisher's website.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-274) and index.
Before Pavlov: Torture and Conversion -- Pavlov's Dogs and the Soviet Show Trials -- Extracting Information with Drugs: The Military's Quest in World War II -- A Cold War Prelude to Korea -- The Korean War and the Birth of Brainwashing -- The CIA Strikes Back: Dead Bodies -- Dead Memories: The Canadian Legacy of Ewen Cameron -- Flash Conversion of Hostages: Stockholm Syndrome and Its Variants -- Patricia Hearst: Where Stockholm Met Indoctrination -- From Racial Harmony to Death in the Jungle -- Heaven's Gate: Beliefs or Delusions? -- The Beleaguered Persistence of Brainwashing -- The Future of Brainwashing in Neuroscience and Social Media.
"This gripping book traces the evolution of brainwashing from its beginnings in torture and religious conversion into the age of neuroscience and social media. When Pavlov introduced scientific approaches, his research was enthusiastically supported by Lenin and Stalin, setting the stage for major breakthroughs in tools for social, political, and religious control. Tracing these developments through many of the past century's major conflagrations, Dimsdale narrates how when World War II erupted, governments secretly raced to develop drugs for interrogation. Brainwashing returned to the spotlight during the Cold War in the hands of the North Koreans and Chinese. In response, a huge Manhattan Project of the Mind was established to study memory obliteration, indoctrination during sleep, and hallucinogens. Cults used the techniques as well. Nobel laureates, university academics, intelligence operatives, criminals, and clerics all populate this shattering and dark story--one that hasn't yet ended"--publisher's website.
Brainwashing
Control (Psychology)
Social control.