Mind control

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.

Theoretical models and methods

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.

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Drugs

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.

Related Topics:
CIA - MKULTRA - Drug - LSD - Heroin - Mescaline - Psilocybin - Scopolamine - Marijuana - Alcohol - Sodium pentothal - Barbiturate - Amphetamine

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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".

Related Topics:
Antidepressant - Mood stabilizer - Mood

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There is no scientific evidence that mind control can be achieved by drugs.

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Physical methods

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

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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.

Related Topics:
Transcranial magnetic stimulation - Depression

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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.

Related Topics:
ELF - Emotion

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Any further going conclusions from these results, belong rather in the field of conspiracy theories than of science. 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.

Related Topics:
Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde - Finnish - Ufologist - Conspiracy theorist

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Silva Method

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.

Related Topics:
Silva Mind Control Method - Positive thinking - Visualization - Meditation - Self-hypnosis

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Subliminal advertising

Outline:

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• 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.

Lifton brainwashing model

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, achieve the change the minds of individuals without their knowledge and were used with this purpose on prisoners of war in Korea and China. http://changingminds.org/techniques/conversion/lifton_thought_reform.htm These include

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• 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.

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

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Margaret Singer's conditions for mind control

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. http://www.refocus.org/singerne.html. Singer sees no need for physical coercion or violence.

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• controlling a persons 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

BITE model of Steven Hassan

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.

Related Topics:
Steven Hassan - Cognitive dissonance - Leon Festinger

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http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/articles/BITE.htm

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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".

Related Topics:
Deprogramming - 1970s

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Mind Control and the Battered Women Syndrome

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.

Related Topics:
Battered Women Syndrome - Robert Vaughn Young

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Social psychology tactics

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

Related Topics:
Social psychology - Compliance - Conformity - Persuasion - Dissonance - Reactance - Framing - Emotional manipulation

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

Related Topics:
Philip Zimbardo - American Psychological Association

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:I conceive of mind control as a phenomena encompassing all the ways in which personal, social and institutional forces are exerted to induce compliance, conformity, belief, attitude, and value change in others. http://zimbardo.socialpsychology.org/

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:"Mind control is the process by which individual or collective freedom of choice and action is compromised by agents or agencies that modify or distort perception, motivation, affect, cognition and/or behavioral outcomes. It is neither magical nor mystical, but a process that involves a set of basic social psychological principles."

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Social psychological conditioning by Stahelski

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

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• Depluralization: stripping away all other group member identities
• Self-deindividuation: stripping away each member?s personal identity
• Other-deindividuation: stripping away the personal identities of enemies
• Dehumanization: identifying enemies as subhuman or nonhuman
• Demonization: identifying enemies as evil