Mind control - Encyclopedia

Mind control is a general term for a number of controversial theories proposing that an individual's thinking, behavior, emotions or decisions can, to a greater or lesser extent, be manipulated at will by outside sources.

People who believe they are subject to mind-control are usually psychotic. Suitable doses of anti-psychotic drugs remove the delusion or make it less obtrusive.

The principal feasibility of such control and the methods by which it might be attained (either direct or more subtle) are both subject to hot debates among psychologists, neuroscientists, and sociologists. Also the exact definition of mind control and the extent of its influence on the individual are debated.

The different views on the subject do have legal implications. Mind control was an issue, e.g., in the court case of Patty Hearst and also in several court cases regarding New Religious Movements. Also questions of mind control are regarding ethical questions linked to the subject of free will.

The question of mind control has been discussed in relation with prisoners of war, totalitarianism, neural cell manipulation, cults, terrorism but also regarding the battered wife syndrome.

While mind control remains a controversial subject, the principal possibility of influences on individuals by methods like advertising, media manipulation, propaganda, group dynamics, or peer pressure has been well researched in social psychology and is today undisputed. Electromagnetic manipulation of neurons, since the discovery that neural cells could be fired by establishing a potential voltage across a neural cell membrane in the 1930s, has been suggested as a technology.

There are several and very different methods which were suggested for achieving mind control. None of these methods have been universally accepted in the science community.

The CIA program MKULTRA made from 1950 tried to achieve mind control through drugs. Drugs used in experiments were LSD or heroin, mescaline, psilocybin, scopolamine, marijuana, alcohol, and sodium pentothal or a combination of barbiturates and amphetamine or ecstasy.

Other theories have been based on the use of antidepressant drugs and mood stabilizers which have a definite effect on mood, through what is believed to be a direct action on the chemistry of the brain. However, most people would not say that this constituted mind control, and people taking these drugs do not feel "controlled".

In the MKULTRA program, radiation and electroshocks were tested, but apparently did not achieve any sort of mind control.

With intense modern magnets and the technique of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or repetitive TMS (rTMS), researchers have succeeded in transiently suppressing certain thought processes — such as the conjugation of verbs — with fleeting magnetic pulses to specific areas of the brain. The technique has proved a valuable tool for testing hypotheses about the role and interplay between brain regions in particular cognitive activities and psychiatric symptoms such as depression.

Tests with ELF technology are better documented. From the 1950s to the 1970s, both the Soviet Union and the United States carried out several experiments using ELF pulse transmissions to mimic human nerve impulses, in effect implanting certain states of consciousness -- particularly emotions -- by radiation. Scientists found that certain ELF frequencies, when transmitted in pulse mode, could induce emotions in subjects.

Any further going conclusions from these results, belong rather in the field of conspiracy theories than of science. But this, too, begs the question, as it would be quite naive to assume no one has ever conspired to develop technologies useful for controlling others. Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, e.g, a former Finnish physician and a well-known ufologist and conspiracy theorist, sees many 'schizophrenics' as misdiagnosed victims of mind-control experiments. Physical implants discovered in the cerebral tissue of such 'schizophrenics' have allegedly substantiated such claims.

In the 1960's, José Silva made known the Silva Mind Control Method (later Silva Method) which uses a combination of positive thinking, visualization, meditation, and self-hypnosis and claims that its application can achieve psychic abilities, remote viewing and healing, none of which is empirically proven.

Outline: Subliminal advertising is an unproven method of mind control in which messages are relayed to the public by being hidden in broadcasted advertisements, TV/radio shows and movies. Subliminal advertising has been discovered (often by chance) in media around the world, though it is denied. Some common methods include carefully wording a radio advertisement so your hear something different when it is played backwards. The theory is that your brain registers the hidden message even though you don't realise it. Another common technique is to add one frame of video in the middle of a movie or TV show. While it flashes by too quickly to be registered by your "conscious", your eyes still detect it and it registers in your brain. This is often done as a joke (it is alleged that some film-makers add one frame of pornography to their works, and 60% of men viewing the video get an erection). This type of subliminal advertising is more common in less mainstream movies, for obvious reasons. One of the more serious sides of subliminal advertising is the fact that it is theoretically possible to control people's behaviour. For example, if a drinks company were to utilise it, anyone watching or listening to the advert may be compelled to purchase that drink for a supposedly unknown reason. It is also claimed it can control political ideology and even tendency to commit crime. Of course, none of this has been proven, but in the ruthless world of business some people will try anything. Subliminal advertising is the same as subliminal messaging, although the latter is not designed to promote something.

• James Vicary coined the term "subliminal advertising" .
• The publication in 1957 of Vance Packard's The Hidden Persuaders brought the term to the attention of the general public.
• In 1973 the book Subliminal Seduction claimed that advertising made widespread use of subliminal techniques and could in theory be used as a form of mind control.

Psychiatrist Robert Lifton described in his 1961 book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China eight coercive methods which, he says, are able to change the minds of individuals without their knowledge and were used with this purpose on prisoners of war in Korea and China. [1] These include

• milieu control (controlled relations with the outer world)
• mystic manipulation (the group has a higher purpose than the rest)
• confession (confess past and present sins)
• self-sanctification through purity (pushing the individual towards a not-attainable perfection)
• aura of sacred science (beliefs of the group are sacrosanct and perfect)
• loaded language (new meanings to words, encouraging black-white thinking)
• doctrine over person (the group is more important than the individual)
• dispensed existence (insiders are saved, outsiders are doomed)

In his 1999 book Destroying the world to save it: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence and the New Global Terrorism, he concluded, though, that thought reform was possible without violence or physical coercion.

Edgar Schein, who investigated similar programs in China concluded in his book Coercive Persuasion that physical coercion was an important feature of brainwashing.

Psychologist Margaret Singer, using the work of Lifton, described in her book "Cults in our Midst" six conditions, which would, she says, create an atmosphere where thought reform is possible. [2]. Singer sees no need for physical coercion or violence.

• controlling a person's time and environment, leaving no time for thought
• creating a sense of powerlessness, fear and dependency
• manipulating rewards and punishments to suppress former social behaviour
• manipulating rewards and punishments to elicit the desired behaviour
• creating a closed system of logic which makes dissenters feel as if something was wrong with them
• keeping recruits unaware about any agenda to control or change them

Psychologist and cult counselor Steven Hassan, using the research of Singer and Lifton and the cognitive dissonance theory of Leon Festinger, describes in his 2000 book Releasing the Bonds the BITE (Behavior, Information, Thought, Emotion) model, which explains mind control as a combination of control over behavior, information, thought and emotions. According to Hassan, the BITE model dispenses with any required environment control, and its effects can be achieved when the control mechanisms create overall dependency and obedience to some leader or cause. [3]

Hassan's critics argue that Steve Hassan uses the term "mind control" (for what they see as essentially a strong form of influence) only to justify the forcible extraction of believers from religious groups. They argue that Hassan does not merely say that fraudulent salesmanship persuaded the believers; he claims that these groups literally take away a victim's freedom of mind. For this reason an involuntary procedure must operate in order to "rescue" a "victim" from a "destructive cult", for "victims" may not realize their victimhood status and may resist rescuing. Hassan, after taking part in a number of deprogrammings in the late 1970s, distances himself from this practice and the criminal activities associated with that occupation and refers to his method as "strategic interaction".

A very different explanation of the control some groups have over their members is by associating it to the Battered Women Syndrome. This has been done by psychologists Teresa Ramirez Boulette, Ph.D. and Susan M. Andersen, Ph.D. (as well as by former Scientologist Robert Vaughn Young).

Battered Women Syndrome is an example of activating capture-bonding. Capture-bonding is understood in Evolutionary psychology as an evolved response to capture in the last few million years. Cults such as Scientology tap this psychological trait by abusive practices (RPF) that have the same paradoxical effect of bonding victims to the abusers.

In addition, the intense attention rewards cults focus on members has brain effects nearly identical to drug addiction in some people.

A contemporary view of mind control sees it as an intensified and persistent use of well researched social psychology principles like compliance, conformity, persuasion, dissonance, reactance, framing or emotional manipulation.

One of the most notable proponents of this theory is social psychologist Philip Zimbardo, former president of the American Psychological Association:

Anthony Stahelski identifies five phases of social psychological conditioning which he calls cult-like conditioning techniques employed by terrorist groups: [Stahelski, 2004]:

1. Depluralization: stripping away all other group member identities
2. Self-deindividuation: stripping away each member’s personal identity
3. Other-deindividuation: stripping away the personal identities of enemies
4. Dehumanization: identifying enemies as subhuman or nonhuman
5. Demonization: identifying enemies as evil

Several of the above mind control models have been related to religious and non-religious cults (for debates regarding what is a cult, see the article). Among scholars, adherents of NRMs and the pro-cult and anti-cult communities, it is hotly debated, if mind control is applied in any or certain cultic movements.

While in science of religion the majority of scholars reject mind control (e.g., Massimo Introvigne and J. Gordon Melton), it is often accepted in psychology and psychiatry (e.g., Margaret Singer, Michael Langone, and Philip Zimbardo) and in sociology the opinions are divided (e.g., David G. Bromley and Anson Shupe contra, Stephen A. Kent and Benjamin Zablocki pro). Most scholars have either a decided contra or a decided pro opinion, there are few who advocate a moderate point of view.

The renowned medical journal The Lancet as well as "The American Journal of Psychiatry" published favorable reviews of Steven Hassan's 1988 book on mind control. [5] [6]

According to James T. Richardson on his "Brainwashing" Claims and Minority Religions Outside the United States: Cultural Diffusion of a Questionable Concept in the Legal Arena, while heavy on theory, the mind control model is light on evidence:

Dr. James Richardson, a Professor of Sociology and Judicial Studies at the University of Nevada, claims that if the NRMs had access to powerful brainwashing techniques, one would expect that NRMs would have high growth rates, while in fact most have not had notable success in recruitment, most adherents participate for only a short time, and that the success in retaining members has been limited. In addition, Thomas Robbins, Eileen Barker, Newton Maloney, Massimo Introvigne, John Hall, Lorne Dawson, Anson Shupe, David G. Bromley, Gordon Melton, Marc Galanter, Saul Levine and other scholars researching NRMs have argued -- and established to the satisfaction of courts and relevant professional associations and scientific communities -- that there exists no scientific theory, generally accepted and based upon methodologically sound research, that supports the brainwashing theories as advanced by the anti-cult movement.

On the other hand, sociologist Benjamin Zablocki sees strong indicators of mind control in some NRMs and demands the concept should be researched without bias:

Sociologists David Bromley and Anson Shupe consider the idea that "cult"s are brainwashing American youth to be "implausible".[8], on the other hand, the Canadian sociology professor Stephen A. Kent published several articles where he relays practices of NRMs with brainwashing [9], [10]

The American Psychological Association (APA) in 1984 requested Margaret Singer, the main proponent of anti-cult mind control theories, to set up a working group called Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control (DIMPAC).

In 1987 the DIMPAC committee submitted its final report to the Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology of the APA. On May 11, 1987 the Board rejected the report. In the rejection memo [11] is stated: "Finally, after much consideration, BSERP does not believe that we have sufficient information available to guide us in taking a position on this issue.".

There are two interpretations of this rejection: one side (e.g. Amitrani and di Marzio 2000 and Zablocki 2001) see it as no position on the issue of brainwashing, the other (e.g. Introvigne 1997) sees it as rejecting all brainwashing theories.

In 2002 Dr. Philip Zimbardo who teaches at Stanford University a course "the psychology of mind control", commented on the request by former members of new religious movements (NRMs) to reconsider the APA's position on the possibility of mind control [12]

Recently, there are indications that some members of both parties are willing to start a dialog, e.g. the 2001 book "Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field" in 2002 the American Family Foundation invited Eileen Barker to its yearly conference and the Evangelical Ministries to New Religions had J. Gordon Melton and Douglas Cowan as conference speakers.

Opponents of some new religious movements accused so-called "cult"s of coercing recruits to join (and members to remain) via strong influence acquired and maintained by manipulation (see also anti-cult movement and Christian countercult movement). Many of these opponents advocate exit counseling as necessary to "free" the victim of a cult from mind control. The practice of coercive deprogramming has practically ceased. (Kent & Szimhart, 2002)]

Opponents of exit counseling generally regard it as an even worse violation of personal autonomy than any (possible) loss of personal freedom attributable to the allegedly deceptive recruiting tactics of new religions. These opponents complain that href = "http://www.experiencefestival.com/1970s">1970s, 1987, Age of Empires, American Civil Liberties Union, American Family Foundation, American Psychological Association, Anson Shupe, Anti-psychiatry, Aum Shinrikyo, Batman, Battered Women Syndrome, Benjamin Zablocki, Billy Graham, Black Dragon Society, Brain implant,

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Mind control", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page