Brainwashing is a process of persuading someone to abandon their beliefs and adopt new ones. It involves separating the person from their surroundings, breaking them down emotionally, and gradually introducing new concepts. Brainwashing has been used historically on POWs and by governments to control citizens. It can be insidious when done by an expert and may require deprogramming. True brainwashing is rare, and people are often simply coaxed into a new point of view.
Brainwashing is a process in which someone is persuaded to abandon previously held beliefs and assume new values and ideals. There is a great deal of misconception about this practice, ranging from paranoid delusions about government mind control devices that are supposedly used as remote controls to skeptics who firmly admit that any form of brainwashing is impossible. The truth, as often happens, lies somewhere in between.
In the brainwashing process, someone is persuaded to believe something through a combination of tactics. There are many approaches to this, but they all tend to rely on separating someone from everything they know, breaking that person down into a vulnerable emotional state and then gradually introducing new concepts. As people absorb the new material, they are rewarded for expressing thoughts and ideas that conform to these ideas, further reinforcing the brainwashing.
People have been using brainwashing techniques on each other for a long time. Historically, for example, POWs have sometimes been broken down and persuaded to switch sides, occasionally becoming fervent converts to new ideas. In the 20th century, the term “brainwashing” arose, as well as more sophisticated techniques that could be used to forcibly indoctrinate people. These techniques were based on the field of psychology, which demonstrated how people could be persuaded to change their minds.
Some governments have been accused of controlling the minds of their citizens to force them to accept and support a particular point of view, or of brainwashing prisoners of war. Such allegations have also been leveled against the kidnappers, and many cults are accused of using mind control tactics to keep their members compliant. Whether it’s re-education, thought reform, forced indoctrination, or brainwashing, the technique can be quite insidious when done by an expert.
At times, people have used a mind control defense to justify behavior that would normally be considered unacceptable. A hostage who turns into a criminal, for example, might suggest that he has been brainwashed by his captors and therefore the hostage is not responsible for criminal activity.
More commonly, people are simply coaxed into a point of view, rather than brainwashed. True brainwashing, where someone’s previous value system is deconstructed and replaced, is actually quite rare. Instead, people are persuaded to change their views, sometimes with the use of forceful tactics, sometimes not. In either case, serious work may be required to deprogram the results of brainwashing or determined persuasion.
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