Brainwashing and Modern Techniques of Mind Control

HISTSCI 1760 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

This course examines the phenomenon of brainwashing as a modern set of techniques that can apparently force a subject radically to alter their beliefs against their will. The Cold War roots of 'brainwashing' - both the myth and the reality -- lie in the politics of twentieth-century anti-Communism and the deeper fear that people's most strongly held thoughts, ideas, and ideological commitments could be vulnerable to powerful infiltration. I argue this fear is justified — that brainwashing is  real. In order to understand the dynamics of this process we will examine case studies beginning with the Korean War P.O.W.s, the American interdisciplinary science of "coercive persuasion" that arose in response, and successive waves of technological, political, and sociocultural developments. We will also look at “hyper-persuasion”: how persuasive techniques operate via social media and AI among larger groups, crowds, organizations, and mass societies.