Brainwashing: The Science Of Thought Control

Kathleen E. Taylor

Oxford University Press, 2004 - Psychology - 324 pages

The term 'brainwashing' was first recorded in 1950, but it is an expression of a much older concept: the forcible and full-scale alteration of a person's beliefs. Over the past 50 years the term has crept into popular culture, served as a topic for jokes, frightened the public in media headlines, and slandered innumerable people and institutions. It has also been the subject of learned discussion from many angles: history, sociology, psychology, psychotherapy, and marketing. Despite this variety, to date there has been one angle missing: any serious reference to real brains. Descriptions of how opinions can be changed, whether by persuasion, deceit, or force, have been almost entirely psychological. Brainwashing, Kathleen Taylor's fascinating and informative voyage through the subject, combines the latest findings in social psychology and neuroscience to investigate the incredibly complicated workings of the human brain. In elegant and accessible prose, and with abundant use of anecdotes and case-studies, she looks at the history and myth, psychology, neuroscience, and politics of how we humans manipulate each others' minds.

What people are saying

Review: Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control

User Review  - Sophie Nusslé - Goodreads

Interesting overview of a complex and controversial topic, surveying both the literature and the science.

Review: Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control

User Review  - Helena S. - Goodreads

It was an interesting read. The author managed to explain how/if brainwashing occurs and I think most of us can breathe out with a sigh of relief - it is mostly newspaper headlines that love scaring ...

Contents

• The birth of a word: 3
• God or the group?: 25
• The power of persuasion: 49
• Hoping to heal: 67
• I suggest you persuade he brainwashes: 79
• Brainwashing and influence: 95
• The traitor in your skull: 103
• Our everchanging brains: 105
• Webs and new worlds: 127
• Swept away: 147
• The power of stopandthink: 167
• That freedom thing: 187
• Freedom and control: 205
• Victims and predators: 207
• Mind factories: 219
• Science and nightmare: 233
• Taking a stand: 247
• Notes: 269
• References: 287
• Further reading: 299
• Glossary: 301
• Index: 307

About the author

Kathleen Taylor is a research scientist in the physiology department, Oxford University. In 2003 she won first prize in both the THES/OUP Science Essay competition and the THES Humanities and Social Sciences Writing Prize.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Brainwashing: The Science Of Thought Control
• Author: Kathleen E. Taylor
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2004
• ISBN: 0192804960, 9780192804969
• Length: 324 pages
• Subjects: Psychology / General; Psychology / Social Psychology