Mind Control 101 : Part 1
For most of us the idea of Mind Control is very scary. The notion that someone else can influence the way an individual thinks, feels and acts seems to run contrary to what most of us consider as our basic human right to free will.
Well before we go any further we really need to look at the idea of free will and the things that have always and will always effect the way we think and feel.
Many neurologists do not accept the idea of ‘free will’ as they maintain that so much of what we think of as being a ‘conscious choice’ is what our unconscious processing has presented to us a choice or an option.
So much of our perceptual processing acts below the level of conscious thought, as it were, so that we only become ‘consciously’ aware of our environment, our thoughts, our feelings our internal ‘gatekeepers’ of consciousness let things through.
Perception is an active process and is a process we are not fully conscious of.
There is a school of thought which maintains that internal filters, which are driven by our needs, values, attitudes and beliefs, drive the perception process. In many ways then, we see, hear, feel, touch, taste and smell what we either expect to touch, taste, hear, feel, smell or believe we can touch, taste, feel, hear and smell. This is why we misinterpret, misperceive and misrepresent things to ourselves.
Paraedolias of various kinds, seeing the Virgin Mary in a paintwork blemish or hearing words in random sounds, are the result of our minds trying to give meaning to what we are seeing and hearing.
Our senses are limited and our interpretation of those senses is further limited by the way our minds process the signals it receives. The reality we create internally is actually two steps removed from the reality that exists outside of ourselves.
What’s this got to do with mind control?
Well on one level the idea that you are actually making conscious decisions and choices is, neurologically speaking, untrue. Your emotions, beliefs, attitudes, expectations and desires will all affect the way your mind interprets what your senses perceive. So to control your mind all someone has to do is press the right emotional, value, belief and desire buttons in your unconscious mind.
That’s exactly what advertising is all about.
Modern advertising and PR was created in the 1920’s by Edward Bernays who was the nephew of Sigmund Freud.
Freud’s basic contribution to psychology was the suggestion that external human behaviour is the result of various unconscious drives, many of which are repressed. The repression of these drives, in Freuds terms, could cause psychoses and other behaviour disorders. The therapy he developed, psychoanalysis, maintained that individuals could explore these repressed desires through conversations and therapeutic encounters.
Bernays realized that if media messages could be targeted at the deep, self-focussed, desires and needs of the individual then those messages would (could) influence behaviour. His observations of the Nazi rise to power post World War 1, led him to see the power of propaganda and mass media. Bernays realized that ‘people’ en masse, could not be trusted to make decisions that would benefit humanity as a whole; more importantly he felt that it was imperative for the ‘masses’ to be guided in making the ‘right choices’.
Bernays adapted Freuds psychoanalytic approaches to marketing – focus groups were born. In these groups the individual could express their desires and needs so that emotionally powerful advertising could be created. It was not only the birth of consumerism, but the birth of a new kind of persuasion.
Advertising is Propaganda.
Notice how that sounds and feels.
Two words, one perhaps having a stronger emotional hook that the other.
Perhaps ‘advertising’ is a less emotionally negative word than ‘propaganda’?
The point is that mind control not simply something that happens in laboratories or within cults – it is something that is part of everyday life – only we call it persuasion and sales.
The Myth of Subliminal Persuasion
James Vicary is the advertising executive who popularized the, now urban legend, of the ‘eat popcorn’ and ‘drink coke’ subliminal messages in movies. In seems that this so called ‘experiment’ never really took place. In an interview in 1967, Vicary admitted that the original study never took place. Despite that the ‘eat popcorn’ and ‘drink coke’ experiment is firmly lodged in the public consciousness.
“By 1958, just nine months after the Vicary subliminal story first broke, 41 percent of survey respondents had heard of subliminal advertising. This figure climbed to 81 percent in the early 1980s, with more than 68 percent of those aware of the term believing that it was effective in selling products.”
Anthony Pratkanis
In his excellent review of subliminal advertising, Pratkanis (CSI 16.3 1992) concludes that there is no evidence for the effectiveness of subliminal advertising in terms of controlling or directing large scale behavioural changes. However, this author feels, that if placed within a context of other psycho-emotional techniques, it may well influence emotions which often drive behaviours.
Propoganda (advertising) is not a one-hit thing. It is through continual exposure to ideas, images, subtle perceptual cues and so forth that ideas and opinions are shaped. In this regard then, one-hit subliminal messaging, may not work in terms of effecting behaviour but adds to the cumulative effects of persuasion.
The Korean War is responsible for the modern interest in Mind Control and the wealth of conspiracy theories that revolve around this idea…. but that’s for the next instalment
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