Everyone has heard of someone who has joined a religion or sect and suddenly seems to become someone else, when this happens it is as if the individual has not thought, acted or felt as before, we say then that they have brainwashed him. , but does it really exist?
The answer is yes, brainwashing exists and also has very well defined protocols.
- There has been talk of brainwashing since the 1950s.
- But attempts to manipulate the human mind began much earlier; until then.
- However.
- No method had been systematized that would allow people to reprogram people’s minds continuously and effectively.
The term brainwashing was first used by journalist Edward Hunter in 1950, and was later the subject of great novels such as 1984 and films such as The Snake Egg.
This relationship with fiction made many think the whole subject was just a fantasy, but that’s not the truth.
“Isolation, control, uncertainty, repetition of messages and emotional manipulation are techniques used for brainwashing. “- Eduard Punset-
During the Korean War, the Americans were very surprised by the behavior of their soldiers who returned after being arrested by the Koreans.
His ideas and behavior had become very strange, some defended the communist regime even after fighting it, others did not even return, but switched sides in the war.
Edward Hunter has dedicated himself to the study of this phenomenon and discovered that the Chinese had developed a series of mechanisms to reprogram the spirit of their people, as part of the famous Cultural Revolution.
The Chinese passed on knowledge of these mechanisms to the Koreans and used them with their prisoners of war.
Thus, it has been discovered that brainwashing is different from torture, although the former usually use the latter at certain times.
The big difference is that torture usually has a specific purpose, a confession or a complaint, for example. In the other case, the intention is to restructure a person’s mind in its entirety.
Today we know that there are four mechanisms for getting a person to change their beliefs and attitudes towards the world: rational persuasion, suggestion, torture and brainwashing.
It is only in the case of persuasion that there is a relationship between equals, in all other cases it is necessary to undergo another person, for brainwashing the following mechanisms are used:
These mechanisms manipulate the human needs of security, belonging and protection, the loss of freedom on the other ends up being a necessary evil so that you can have some stability and tranquility.
No brainwashing is possible if coertion is not used. Naturally, human beings offer resistance to the possibility of losing the autonomy and identity they have built until then.
Therefore, extreme pressure is required to induce behavioral changes
The way to overcome an individual’s endurance is to generate very strong emotions, while strongly stimulating the level of stress.
It is necessary for a person to be very emotional and stressed to become permeable to the pressure exerted by those who want their brains washed.
Unfortunately, the powers have become so sophisticated that today it is possible to exert pressure that has the ability to shape the mind in an almost imperceptible way. Many people voluntarily submit to these powers, offering no resistance.
Consumerism is a good example, as is dependence on social media, if you are careful, in both realities, you can see the principles of brainwashing.
The process is so effective that people don’t even realize they’re subject to something like this, on the contrary, they believe that systematically buying and sharing their privacy is a sign of their free will.