A large number of people use the concept of brainwashing to refer to a wide range of phenomena that involve the use of persuasion to modify the behavior of other people, particularly against their will. Nevertheless, From psychology, brainwashing has been questioned due to the ambiguous nature of its definition. Let’s see what is meant by brainwashing and what precedents exist.
The concept of “brainwashing” is very close to that of “mind control.” It is an idea without a strict scientific basis that proposes that the will, thoughts and other mental facts of individuals can be modified through persuasion techniques, with which unwanted ideas would be introduced into the psyche of a “victim”.
If we define the concept in this way, we see that it has a marked similarity with another more typical of the vocabulary of psychology: that of suggestion, which refers to the influence that some individuals can exert on the mental contents of others (or on the own; in this case we speak of autosuggestion). However, the term “suggestion” is less ambitious.
Although the idea of brainwashing is not entirely incorrect, this popular concept has some unscientific connotations that have led many experts to reject it in favor of more modest ones. The instrumental use of the term in legal processes has contributed to this, especially in disputes over child custody.
Examples of brainwashing
It is common for complex phenomena such as suicide terrorism to be explained by many people through the concept of brainwashing, especially in cases where the subjects are seen as young and impressionable people. Something like that It applies to sects, religions to conduct during wars or to radical political ideologies.
In relation to this last case, it is worth mentioning that brainwashing has been used above all in attempts to provide a simple explanation for events related to violence, such as the massacres that occurred in the context of Nazism and other types of totalitarianism.
Subliminal advertising is another fact that we can relate to the idea of brainwashing. This type of promotion, which is prohibited in countries such as the United Kingdom, consists of the inclusion of messages that do not reach the threshold of consciousness, but are perceived automatically.
On the other hand, frequently psychology itself has been accused of being a method of brainwashing. Particularly well-known is the case of the behaviorism of Pavlov and Skinner, criticized by other experts and in works such as “A Clockwork Orange.” Psychoanalysis and techniques such as cognitive restructuring have received similar signs of rejection.
History and popularization of the concept
The concept of brainwashing first emerged in China to describe the persuasion to which the Chinese Communist Party subjected opponents to the Maoist government. The term “xinao,” which literally translates as “brainwashing,” was a play on words that referred to the cleansing of the mind and body promoted by Taoism.
In the 1950s The United States Government and Army adopted the term and they applied it to justify the fact that some American prisoners had collaborated with their captors during the Korean War. It has been argued that its objective may have been to limit the public impact of the revelation that chemical weapons had been used.
Russian historian Daniel Romanovsky later claimed that the Nazis had used brainwashing techniques (including re-education programs and mass propaganda) to promote their ideas to the population of Belarus, particularly the conception of Jews as an inferior race.
However, the popularization of brainwashing is fundamentally due to popular culture. Before “A Clockwork Orange” appeared the novel “1984” by George Orwell, in which a totalitarian government manipulates the population through lies and coercion. Sauron’s mind control in “The Lord of the Rings” has also been associated with brainwashing.
View from psychology
Psychology generally understands the phenomena attributed to brainwashing through more operational and narrower concepts, such as persuasion and suggestion, within which hypnosis is included. In these cases, changes in behavior depend largely on the subject’s autosuggestion from external stimuli.
In 1983, the American Psychological Association, the hegemonic body in the field of psychology, commissioned clinical psychologist Margaret Singer to lead a working group to investigate the phenomenon of brainwashing. However, Singer was accused of presenting biased data and speculation and the project was cancelled.
It cannot be stated categorically that brainwashing exists as an independent phenomenon due to the ambiguous nature of its formulation. In any case, many authors defend that the use of powerful persuasion techniques It is evident in contexts such as the media and advertising ; However, it is advisable to avoid clichés.
