Sometimes, we think we have made up our minds when, in fact, they have been made up for us. None of us is immune to the influence of strong ideas forced upon us by other people, and much of our behavior owes less to the tree’s will than it does to the will of others.
Humans are social animals. Many of our higher conscious functions – our ideals, beliefs, standards, and even personalities – are products not only of our private experience and genetic makeup but of the influence of other people. Usually, these influences are positive: in childhood, our beliefs are shaped by our family members and teachers, and later in life, other people present us with new ideas that we ca n adopt or reject as we choose. But sometimes other people’s ideas influence our conscious – or our unconscious – minds with considerable persuasive effect. They change our attitudes and behavior without our overt consent, as if we have surrendered part of our consciousness.
Social pressure
Experiments in the 1950s by psychologist Solomon Asch demonstrate how suggestions, teamed with social pressure, can overwhelm our thinking. Asch presented groups of eight subjects with a card showing three Jines of different lengths. He then asked the subjects to point out which line on the card best matched the length of a reference line on another card. The answer was obvious, but apart from one person in each group, all the group members were ‘plants,’ briefed to give an incorrect answer. Startlingly, in 75 percent of the experiments, the one ‘.innocent’ member of the group went along with the others, denying the evidence from his or her senses.
We are all suggestible in the sense that we yield, to some extent, to social norms. But human suggestibility is also open to deliberate abuse by people who want to persuade or control others – to change not only their behavior but their underlying beliefs and feelings, too. In its most extreme form, the abuse of human suggestibility is called’ brainwashing.’ The term. It was first coined in the 1950s during the Korean War when Chinese Communists subjected American prisoners of war to various forms of mental and physical torture in an attempt to change their political attitudes. The Koreans ‘converted’ 7000 POWs to take part in pro-communist broadcasts and other forms of collaboration. Their techniques included food and sleep deprivation, isolation, highly organized group activities, repetitive chanting, and forced ‘confessions.’
Gentler persuasion?
While brainwashing relies on the use of torture, imprisonment, repetitive music, and even drugs, there are less physically aggressive forms of coercion that can be almost as powerful. The use of such techniques – known as ‘ coercive persuasion’ – has been brought to prominence by cults, religious sects, and pressure sales organizations over the last 40 years. The coercive persuasion process typically occurs in steps over weeks or months. Suggestibility expert Philip Zimbardo has found that, while some people are more susceptible to coercive tactics than others, we are likely to be influenced by such techniques. Those who have succumbed can recover with the help of cognitive-behavioral rapists that can reverse the process. Ironically, the treatment may involve techniques similar to those used in the first place.
In a milder form, coercion is also the basis of everyday advertising. The central aim of advertising is to make you want something that you do not already have. Perhaps the most common technique is the association of the item with pleasant feelings – what psychologists call Pavlovian conditioning. For example, a car will be shown with attractive people in beautiful surroundings, acempanied by evocative music. Your previous satisfaction with your present vehicle and lifestyle may be replaced with a vague hankering for a sleeker new model.
