Brainwashing. The science of thought control

Description

Cover Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control Copyright Contents List of figures Preface to 2017 edition Politics Science Preface to first edition Part I: Torture and seduction 1: The birth of a word Origins and cognates Aspects of brainwashing Case study: Patty Hearst Purpose Cognitive difference Timescale Last resort Case study: Thomas Cranmer Victims and environments Case study: Father Luca Case study: Father Simon Case study: Nineteen Eighty-Four Brainwashing as process Brainwashing as idea Summary and conclusions 2: God or the group? The accursed power Religion and politics The ideas The emotions The consequences Small-scale cults: the Manson family Large-scale cults: the Jonestown massacre The psychology of cults Leaders and followers Rebelliousness and paranoia Simplicity and purity Future-slanted thinking Violent finales Why are groups so important? The structure of a cult Ingroups and outgroups The self and its world Group pressures Are cults totalitarian? Are cult members brainwashed? What makes some groups turn nasty? Summary and conclusions 3: The power of persuasion Advertising and the media Soma World Thought control without a controller Case study: textual persuasion Education Education and critical thinking Education and ideology Summary and conclusions 4: Hoping to heal Doctors and demons The anti-psychiatrists´ challenge The power of authority Totalitarianism and brainwashing Summary and conclusions 5: `I suggest, you persuade, he brainwashes´ The military Criminal justice Domestic abuse Abuse and brainwashing Torture Summary and conclusions 6: Brainwashing and influence Types of brainwashing The ideas behind brainwashing The idea of power The idea of change The idea of causation The idea of responsibility The idea of the self The idea of free will Summary and conclusions Part II: The traitor in your skull 7: Our ever-changing brains Tantalizing science Neuroscience in a nutshell What are brains made of? Where do neurons live? Inside and outside How do neurons work? How do neurons communicate? Learning Brain layout The solid self Feeding the brain Lightning in the brain Shaking foundations The importance of memory The schematic self The schem(a)-ing brain Summary and conclusions 8: Webs and new worlds What are beliefs? A digression: terminology Strength of belief Mental weathering: neural activity and the role of consciousness Channel size Smoothness Number of channels Neighbouring channels Intricacy Hypothesis testing Implicit beliefs and fallible convictions The power of faith Individual differences: `one man´s faith is another man´s reason´ Summary and conclusions 9: Swept away Universal feeling Feelings and physiology Short cuts and memos Stressing the brain The emotion excuse Flooding the brain Feeling what we think we ought to feel Emotion systems Feeling brains The cortical candidates The all-emoting brain Summary and conclusions 10: The power of stop-and-think Managing the brain Dancing eyes: how brains delegate in eye control First stop: the little hill Lateral inhibition What´s `what´? Second stop: the wall Third stop: output command Last stop: PFC central Stop-and-think: all-over function Effort and adaptation Consciousness The personal brain Summary and conclusions 11: That freedom thing The problem of free will Freedom and determinism A brief history of freedom Free will and determinism: the hope of togetherness Freedom and responsibility The feeling of freedom Summary and conclusions Part III: Freedom and control 12: Victims and predators We´re all individuals Suckers and cynics Changing beliefs Changing cogwebs Number of cogwebs Strength of cogwebs Prefrontal abuse: bypassing stop-and-think The capacity to stop and think The power hunters Charisma Summary and conclusions 13: Mind factories Infectious notions Ideas matter Societies and shared ideas The media-tors Charisma for groups Brainwashing the masses Summary and conclusions 14: Science and nightmare Back to brains Physical influences Mechanical and organic influences Chemical influences Genetic influences Social influences Facing the future Summary and conclusions 15: Taking a stand Incessant influence Meme vaccines Stop-and-think: the influence antidote Recognition and resistance Thought warp Breaking the stranglehold Large-scale resistance: from individuals to societies Relativism Social cohesion Changing our politics Milieu control Mystical manipulation The demand for purity The cult of confession Sacred science Loading the language The primacy of doctrine over person The dispensing of existence Why adopt a FACET approach? Making it happen: implementing a FACET approach Summary and conclusions Notes Chapter 1: The birth of a word Chapter 2: God or the group? Chapter 3: The power of persuasion Chapter 4: Hoping to heal Chapter 5: ‘I suggest, you persuade, he brainwashes’ Chapter 6: Brainwashing and influence Chapter 7: Our ever-changing brains Chapter 8: Webs and new worlds Chapter 9: Swept away Chapter 10: The power of stop-and-think Chapter 11: That freedom thing Chapter 12: Victims and predators Chapter 13: Mind factories Chapter 14: Science and nightmare Chapter 15: Taking a stand References Movies and Music Books, Journals, Pamphlets and Websites Further Reading Brainwashing Cults and Social Psychology Neuroscience Free Will The Media and Politics Glossary Index Titles in the Oxford Landmark Science series