Brainwashing : the story of men who defied it.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hunter, Edward, 1902-1978, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Brainwashing.

Persuasive Communication.

Medical Subjects:

Persuasive Communication.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Other Title:

APA PsycBOOKS.

Place of Publication:

New York : Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, [1956]

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

"This book examines the subject of brainwashing. The titles of some of the book's eleven chapters suggests parts of its content: Ivan P. Pavlov, Brainwashing in action, The Negro as P.O.W., Camp life, The independent character, The British in Korea, What brainwashing is, How it can be beat, and, A matter of integrity. The new word "brainwashing" entered our minds and dictionaries in a phenomenally short time. The reason the word was picked up so quickly was that it was not just a clever synonym for something already known, but described a strategy that had yet no name. A vacuum in language existed: no word tied together the various tactics that make up the process. The German-born Sinologue, Max Perleberg, who is fluent in both modern and classical Chinese, told me that the term might well have been derived from the Buddhist expression "heart-washing," which goes back to the time of Mencius. Heart-washing referred to the withdrawal into meditation of a middle-aged man--perhaps weary of worldly cares--living in a bare pavilion in some placid corner of his garden, leaving his offspring to attend to his business. The Free World began to hear strange reports from the communist-operated prisoner-of-war camps in North Korea. Broadcasts were heard in voices recognized as those of normal young men of the American, British, and other U.N. forces. The voices belonged to these men, but the language did not. Pro-communist publications everywhere began to carry purported confessions and grotesquely worded statements said to have been signed by these soldiers in support of whatever propaganda appeal international communism was making at the moment. The free press generally referred briefly to these matters, smelling a rat somewhere, but was confused by the problem of how to handle them. Each editor had to determine for himself, out of his own experience and conscience, whether this material was to be treated as straight news or enemy propaganda." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Notes:

Electronic reproduction. Washington, D.C. : American Psychological Association, 2011. Available via World Wide Web. Access limited by licensing agreement. s2011 dcunns

Other Format:

Original

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.