Any armchair psychologists in the house?

[The Backlash Cometh]

I'm trying to determine if there have been any studies in the area of motivational psychology which might determine if it's easier to plant suggestive ideas in a subject when the person is so engaged in repetitious and/or menial (manual) work because the part of the brain that involves critical thinking is relaxed (not engaged.)

I have a theory that hate talk radio may be reinforcing prejudicial ideas in their listeners in a way that can be studied and measured. And I suspect that such studies would have turned up somewhere in the private sector where advertisement and subliminal messages have been researched thoroughly.

For more background information on how this topic came up, check the last paragraph in this post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=272998&mesg_id=272998

[NMDemDist2]

1. interesting idea

and some university could probably do such a study if it were suggested

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Tell me what university to write to.

I think that this phenomena needs to be researched. Think of the implications. Not just the bad, but the good. Imagine if there is a link between doing menial work, and improving the way the brain absorbs outside stimuli. Imagine how we would apply this to the classroom. Kids would actually be encouraged to do some fun, but menial task, while there's a television on, teaching them something.

[NMDemDist2]

6. any one that has a major psychology dept n/t

[Boojatta]

48. Why just kids? You could be operated on by a surgeon

whose entire training in surgery consisted of watching surgery television while performing fun, menial tasks.
(insert appropriate smilie here)

[Fovea]

2. It has been too many years and a stroke ago

But I think a guy named Kennedy at the Menninger institute did work on suggestabilty like what you need.

Also Vance Packards, "The Hidden Persuaders." Pocket Books, 1984.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Thanks, I'll take a peek.

[Fovea]

7. I added the packard book

which is germane to your question as well.

[AnnInLa]

3. Interesting theory

Would that work for TV too? (Not necessarily info that reinforces prejudices, but commercial appeals that would trigger certain buying responses.) Reason I ask is that I think alot of those people keep their RW talk radio on out of habit and don't pay attention to it about half the time, the way I do my TV (cnn, msnbc). Then again, probably not, as they do have the choice to have the talk-radio on, rather than the country/western staple. Interesting. If you research it, can you report back?

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. I don't have the resources to research it.

However, I don't think a t.v. advert is long enough to make this work, and the work the person does also has bearing. It has to be something that either relaxes the person, or, at least, is something that allows the brain to reach a certain wave length. I'm just conjecturing.

[AnnInLa]

13. Was wondering because, as I mindlessly work around the house,

with the TV on in the background, I am not really paying attention to the TV, but end up humming some tune from a commercial I didn't listen to. Anyway, I think you've "got something there."

[PhilipShore]

9. I am not a shrink - but as a pacifist...

I think I read some articles, about propaganda in the Nazi era.

The study said something like: in order for the brainwashing to be effective - it is only necessary to keep repeating the same word, phrase and/or idea to the audience, and the repeating of it three times is generally all that is needed, but of course the more the better.

[distantearlywarning]

10. A brief search of the literature reveals the following:

Rosenblatt, Paul C. Persuasion as a function of varying amounts of distraction. Psychonomic Science. Vol 5(2) 1966, 85-86. Psychonomic Society
Ss in 4 conditions heard the same communication. No slides were shown in a nondistraction condition; irrelevant slides shown in 1 condition were intended to be moderately distracting; those in the others, to be strongly distracting. Significantly more persuasion occurred in the moderate distraction condition than in the nondistraction or strong distraction conditions. Suspicion of persuasive intent was greater for nondistracted Ss.

Romero, Anna A; Agnew, Christopher R; Insko, Chester A. The cognitive mediation hypothesis revisited: An empirical response to methodological and theoretical criticism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Vol 22(7) Jul 1996, 651-665.
Tested the cognitive mediation hypothesis (A. G. Greenwald, 1967) of persuasion theory using the forewarning (FW) effect in 3 experiments on 159 college students. In Exp 1, Ss read a counterattitudinal message and were assigned to 1 of 6 conditions: Optimal FW, low involvement, no delay, distraction, and message only and no message control. The dependent variables were persuasion and cognitive response measures, manipulation checks, and demographics. In Exp 2, Ss read the counterattitudinal message and rated counterarguments on a 9-point scale. They were assigned to FW and no FW, and prior or no prior thoughts conditions. Optimal FW was presented under high or low involvement conditions in Exp 3. Results support the cognitive mediation hypothesis, reconfirming the role of cognition in the persuasion process. Interference with either motivation or ability to counterargue reduced FW-induced resistance to persuasion

Petty, Richard E; Wells, Gary L; Brock, Timothy C. Distraction can enhance or reduce yielding to propaganda: Thought disruption versus effort justification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol 34(5) Nov 1976, 874-884.
Two experiments were conducted to test competing accounts of the distraction-persuasion relationship, thought disruption and effort justification, and also to show that the relationship is not limited to counterattitudinal communication. Exp I, with 132 undergraduates, varied distraction and employed 2 discrepant messages differing in how easy they were to counterargue. In accord with the thought disruption account, <b>increasing distraction enhanced persuasion for a message that was readily counterarguable, but reduced persuasion for a message that was difficult to counter-argue. The effort notion implied no interaction with message counterarguability. Exp II, with 54 undergraduates, again varied distraction but the 2 messages took a nondiscrepant position. One message elicited primarily favorable thoughts, and the effect of distraction was to reduce the number of favorable thoughts generated; the other, less convincing message elicited primarily counterarguments, and the effect of distraction was to reduce counterarguments. A Message * Distraction interaction indicated that <b>distraction tended to enhance persuasion for the counterarguable message but reduce persuasion for the message that elicited primarily favorable thoughts. The experiments together support the principle that distraction works by inhibiting the dominant cognitive response to persuasive communication and, therefore, it can result in either enhanced or reduced acceptance

Shamo, G. Wayne; Meador, Linda M. The effect of visual distraction upon recall and attitude change. Journal of Communication. 19(2) 1969, 157-162.
Used 2 groups to test the hypothesis that distraction can aid in persuasion. Group 1 listened to an emotional message about segregation and was tested for comprehension and attitude change. Group 2 heard the same message but was shown color slides irrelevant to the message, during the presentation. The distracting stimuli produced a significant reduction in recall of information and a significant opinion shift.

There are others, but I didn't feel like posting them all. It would appear that there is a fairly significant body of research on this topic.

In general, social psychological research on persuasion indicates that certain kinds of persuasive messages work well when the subject can't fully attend to the message (because they are distracted, because they are unmotivated to put energy into thinking, or whatever). Specifically, messages that rely on peripheral cues rather than elaborate, well thought-out messages are especially persuasive when subjects can't think about messages carefully. Peripheral cues are things like having an actor dressed like a scientist delivering propaganda about global warming or a politician standing in front of an American flag when she gives a speech. The bad news is that persuasion is generally easier to accomplish via the peripheral route. The good news is that if you can get people to attend to a cognitively-involving message and think about it, their attitude change tends to be a lot longer lasting.

In other words, Rush Limbaugh and his ilk can reach a lot of people by delivering messages full of emotionally-loaded peripheral cues ("taking American jobs", "red diaper doper baby"), but unless he repeats the message every day, it's probably not going to stick. On the other hand, if you sit your Rush Limbaugh-listening grandfather over a beer in a quiet place and explain your viewpoints carefully, you just might have him for life.

If you want more information about this type of thing, go directly to the source: Cacciopo and Petty (the two major names in persuasive communication), also the Elaboration Likelihood Model - http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~mr277199/elab.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaboration_Likelihood_Model

Sorry if I rambled - it's just that you asked a question about my field. And I hope this helped answer your question. :-)

Edited because I did not read HTML directions carefully enough.

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. But they are delivering the same messages, regardless of which

right-winger is talking. And it's the same message.

By the way, someone on the other thread came up with a name for the phenomena I experienced. It's called "state dependent learning." You combine that, with the last study you mentioned, and it is beginning to come together.

[distantearlywarning]

14. State dependent learning

Also not a new topic in psychology, but an interesting one. This theory posits that an individual will remember information better if he/she is asked to recall it in a similar environment to the one he/she learned it in.

There's a couple of funny studies out there about state-dependent learning: one involves teaching participants some task (sets of anagrams? pictures?) while they are underwater or on dry land, and the other indicates that students do better on tests if they chewed gum when they studied and also chewed gum when they took the test.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. That's right. And when do these right-wingers listen to talk radio?

When they're working. Even an IT specialist has moments when he can do paperwork and listen to talk radio. And then there's country music interspersed with some of the channels. In other words, everything they hear, all day, reinforces a belief system that sinks in without them even taking the time to process it critically.

[ShortnFiery]

54. Whoa! That's why my chronically pot head friends passed their courses.

They'd take a hit from the bong upon awakening and stay high seemingly 24/7.

I wouldn't advise it ... they had IMO far too much practice taking tests with bloodshot eyes. :blush: :shrug:

[Warpy]

12. It would seem to me to be less easy

because although people may be a million miles away while they're putting shoes into shoeboxes or doing other really mindless work, they're still spending a great deal of brain power on keeping that eye hand coordination going.

I knit and watch DVDs all the time and enjoy them, but I usually can't describe the plot or remember the dialogue as well as I can when I'm not doing any knitting.

If it's regular TV, I do yell at the "news" breaks, so it's not like I don't know what's going on. It just doesn't get into permanent storage.

[distantearlywarning]

16. Read my other post above

It depends on what the message content is. If it's a highly involving message that you have to think carefully about, then yes, you won't be easily persuaded by it if you are doing something distracting while you listen.

If it's a message that is full of peripheral cues, then you will be MORE persuaded if you are distracted.

Right-wing journalists and the Bush administration rely heavily on peripheral cues in their propaganda - using pictures from 9-11 in campaign ads is a great example. Another example is something DUers have complained about recently: "accidentally" calling Obama Barak OSAMA. It's not an accident, and it has the intended effect on listeners who are distracted or not motivated to think carefully about what they are hearing.

I don't know for sure, but I think it is HIGHLY likely that the Bush administration has communication and social psychology Ph.D.s on their campaign staff, and persuasion is a field that has more than 50 years of laboratory research invested in it. You can be sure that they know and use every trick researchers have discovered to get people to do whatever it is they want them to do (hate liberals and immigrants, be afraid of terrorists, vote for a Republican, whatever).

I also know that they use social psychologists to manipulate populations in the middle east, because I was looking at job postings in my field recently and ran across one for the U.S. military requesting applications from social psych and communication Ph.D.s to do work on just that thing. The pay was excellent. Somebody will undoubtably take the job. It won't be me.

The average lay-person has literally NO idea how easy it is to manipulate a human being psychologically.

[PhilipShore]

17. Brainwashing 101

I don't know for sure, but I think it is HIGHLY likely that the Bush administration has communication and social psychology Ph.D.s on their campaign staff, and persuasion is a field that has more than 50 years of laboratory research invested in it. You can be sure that they know and use every trick researchers have discovered to get people to do whatever it is they want them to do (hate liberals and immigrants, be afraid of terrorists, vote for a Republican, whatever).

Yes, they took brainwashing 101. I am not a shrink -- but I think brainwashing was invented by Nazi shrinks.

[not_a_robot]

20. meh?

brainwashing is pretty old, probably prehistory. It's the utility of scientific method and technology that allows the current abuse of human psychology. Maybe it's time for public awareness of such methods rather than direct exposure, as most people think brainwashing is magic.

[The Backlash Cometh]

25. Welcome NAR.

Public awareness would break the spell. I think satire is the magic wand. It cuts straight to the areas of critical thinking required to break the spell.

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. I bet some really good people get suckered in.

I know of one incredibly good soul who was a straight right-winger. He had fear in his eyes when we talked politics, and his wife quilted and only would watch Fox News. Their entire house had America memorabilia. So, I think they were especially susceptible because the icons mean quite a bit to them.

[distantearlywarning]

23. I am a social psychologist.

So this is a little offensive. Everyone who gets a degree in communications or certain fields of psychology takes "Brainwashing 101", otherwise known as Attitudes & Persuasion - it doesn't make any of us Nazis.

Although I'm sure that we are in complete agreement about the moral validity of the Bush administration using these kind of techniques on populations to get them to vote in certain ways or hate members of certain out-groups, I would also like to remind you that persuasive techniques can be (and are) used in a multitude of positive ways as well. The vast field of health psychology comes to mind. For instance, women are encouraged to get yearly mammograms via advertising using the same techniques. Like a hammer, this type of research can be used for negative purposes (bashing your neighbor in the head) and positive ones (building your neighbor a house).

Also, don't think for a second that Democratic politicians are entirely ignorant of "brainwashing 101". I know for a fact that the Kerry campaign employed communications experts also - one of my professor's sons (a Ph.D. with a specialization in persuasive political advertising) had a lucrative job with them in 2003 and 2004.

[The Backlash Cometh]

26. Always good to have someone with credentials to talk to.

:hi:

[PhilipShore]

37. I can assure you I have no issue with you just the profession of psychology...

In order to investigate the social forces at work undermining the free individual development of man's mind, we have to look at manifold aspects of political life.

Joost A. M. Meerloo, M.D. - 1956


and the philosophy of the of profession of psychology. You even suggest in your own article that psychological techniques can be used for destructive purposes - as well as allegedly good purposes. Well, if the ethical ramifications for a free society to be "free and just" are that the techniques of psychology are generally destructive - then perhaps the profession itself should be dismantled.

For example, the invention of Nuclear energy, was in theory supposed to bring world peace, forever - and there would be no more World Wars, however, now Nuclear technology in the hands of man has turned destructive for humanity and the planet (Global warming pollution), wars, terrorism etc.

If there were not so many PR ad agency shrinks around and politicians getting paid to basically lie (even about a reality called Global warming), we might not even be living in a world with Global Warming ( a very real ethical problem that is not good for the health of the mind, soul, society, etc.)

What I also find interesting is that about the only shrink that talks about -- this very topic -- we are discussing now, his book is "out of print" and he obviously was involved in the good side of psychology that you are addressing, but that good side has been de facto censored from political discussions - something which Joost A. M. Meerloo, M.D says is essential for the health of the mind. See his article below:

_______________________________________________________


THE RAPE OF THE MIND: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing, by Joost A. M. Meerloo, M.D., Instructor in Psychiatry, Columbia University Lecturer in Social Psychology, New School for Social Research, Former Chief, Psychological Department, Netherlands Forces, published in 1956, World Publishing Company. (Out of Print)


CHAPTER SEVEN - THE INTRUSION BY TOTALITARIAN THINKING

In order to investigate the social forces at work undermining the free individual development of man's mind, we have to look at manifold aspects of political life. As a clinician and polypragmatist, I don't want to bind myself to one political state or current, but want to describe what can be experienced in social life everywhere. Where human thinking and human habits are in the process of being remolded, they are under the influence of tremendous political upheaval. In one country this may happen overnight, in others more slowly. The psychologists' task is to observe and describe the impact of these processes on the human mind.

http://www.ninehundred.net/control/mc-ch7.html

[kerry-is-my-prez]

43. You are absolutely correct. I studied a lot of this as a Psych major.

[EFerrari]

15. My undergrad education yields the idea of muscular memory.

Overview

When an active person trains movement, often of the same activity, in an effort to stimulate the bodymind’s adaptation process, the end result is to induce a physiological change such as increased levels of accuracy through repetition. Even though the process is really brain-muscle memory or what some call motor memory, the nickname muscle memory is commonly used.

Individuals rely upon the bodymind’s ability to assimilate a given activity and adapt to the training. As the brain and muscle adapts to training, the subsequent changes are a form or representation of its muscle memory.

There are two types of motor skills involved in muscle memory, fine and gross. Fine motor skills are very minute and small skills we perform with our hands such as brushing the teeth, combing the hair, or using a pencil or pen to write and even playing video games. Gross motor skills are those actions that require large body parts and large body movements like throwing sports (bowling, American football, baseball), golfing, swimming, and tennis. The list goes on and on, from racing a car to archery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_memory

* * *
And what I suspect is, that most discussions of this topic won't include accounts of "thought" memory that go along with this kind of learning because they are so focussed on the physical activity.

I think you're right.

[The Backlash Cometh]

27. I know muscle memory.

My daughter is in sports, so I understand the repetition involved.

However, this is a little more. For me, the activity has to be something new that I'm doing, but it's usually quickly mastered. In other words, it doesn't require much cognitive power but it does requires repetition. My hands, therefore, are busy, but my brain starts searching for some outside stimulation and that usually is the talking box (t.v.). Then, it just happens and I don't even know it happened until I do the same task a week or more later, and the entire show I had watched that night and every thought that crossed my mind and every emotion I felt comes flooding back like a case of deja vu magnified.

[EFerrari]

64. I understand. And now, you've got me interested in the process

you describe. :)

[not_a_robot]

19. I'm 100% armchair psychologist and philosopher

I also enjoy baking cakes.

Anyway It seems to me most of the hate radio does not use repetitive wording on it's own. I hear a lot of persuasive buddy talk, as if they are discussing an important subject with their pub pal, work buddy, using pub or BS language you'll find in the workplace or at a good old fashioned BBQ/gluttony get together. IT tends to use a kind of peer pressure, as if disagreement or doubt would be offensive or show some self maintained flaw. It's the language of the NPD/sociopath and I don't think it requires much study. It would be interesting though to replicate such a programming technique in a controlled environment, but replace the bigotry, hate, and sociopathic themes with other easily deniable ideas, like that the earth is made of peanut butter, etc. I believe such a study could really be useful to the public.

[PhilipShore]

30. All of Germany during World War II is a case study -- Rape of the Mind - Chapter 7

It would be interesting though to replicate such a programming technique in a controlled environment, but replace the bigotry, hate, and sociopathic themes with other easily deniable ideas, like that the earth is made of peanut butter, etc


This is interesting to me as a pacifist (I am not a shrink), that people generally do not know about the shrink research done by the Nazis. Hell, they invented the use of double talk (propaganda) as a means to cause destructive behavior. They were well aware of the technology of the media, and how to use people, in ways that a normal reasonable person would not.

____________________________________________________

http://www.ninehundred.net/control/mc-ch7.html


THE RAPE OF THE MIND: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing, by Joost A. M. Meerloo, M.D., Instructor in Psychiatry, Columbia University Lecturer in Social Psychology, New School for Social Research, Former Chief, Psychological Department, Netherlands Forces, published in 1956, World Publishing Company. (Out of Print)

The multiform use of words in DOUBLE TALK serves as an attack on our logic, that is, an attack on our understanding of what monolithic dictatorship really is. Hear, hear the nonsense: "Peace is war and war is peace! Democracy is tyranny and freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength! Virtue is vice and truth is a lie." So says the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's grim novel, "1984." And we saw this nightmare fantasy come true when our soldiers who had spent long years in North Korean prison camps returned home talking of totalitarian China with the deceiving cliche of "the people's democracy." Pavlovian conditioning to special words forces people into an AUTOMATIC THINKING that is tied to those words. The words we use influence our behavior in daily life; they determine the thoughts we have.

[GreenPartyVoter]

21. Possibly. Certainly worth looking into, I say.

[slackmaster]

24. I have studied Corrective Phrenology as a basis for motivation

It works pretty well.

[The Backlash Cometh]

28. Does it require a hammer?

[slackmaster]

31. You start with a very small hammer

If the patient is uncooperative or isn't learning fast enough, you use a bigger hammer and so on.

[PerfectSage]

59. Does that require asking the patient how many lumps they want?

:rofl:

[distantearlywarning]

33. LOL!

Corrective Phrenology. I love it! :rofl:

[sojourner]

29. "peripheral route processing" theory:

has shown that information that is not carefully attended to most definitely has effects on opinion/attitudes (which contribute to motivation), especially when the information is simple (vs complex) and is emotionally based. basically it's the idea that because the brain is not attending to the information, it is incorporated into the schema (concept) more or less automatically -- and the result of that is generally a strengthening of the schema or the idea being "plugged" --- and the effect of the emotional component also has a strengthening effect.

[The Backlash Cometh]

32. Is that basically what I said at the beginning?

That the part of your brain that processes critical thinking is not being used when you do repetitious menial work, therefore, you're more susceptible to suggestion from background noise?

[sojourner]

63. basically

enter "peripheral route processing" in a search and you can get more specific info, most recent studies, etc.

[sandnsea]

34. Radio writing is visual

Men are visual. Hate radio paints vivid images and pictures. Halfrican. Femi-nazi. Welfare queen. Treehugger. Latte-drinker. on and on. That's why it works. The guy who is doing manual labor can still conjure up a sexual image, right? Hate radio just has them conjuring up different images.

That's why liberal radio doesn't work. We keep building literary legal cases. We don't paint pictures.

[The Backlash Cometh]

35. Well, it would be a start to prove that this kind of subliminal persuasion

is occurring, but once we do that, we need to let them see themselves through humor.

[sandnsea]

36. We know it happens

The question is how. See the social psychologist's posts above. That's the equivalent of what liberals put on the radio and in communications messages. Do you think a waitress, with 5 orders to get out, or a mechanic, rolling across the garage floor on his creeper, is going to listen to that psycho-babble junk??

[distantearlywarning]

52. Sadly, I agree.

The conservative candidate puts up a picture of the World Trade Center burning, and the liberal expounds for an hour and a half on his theory about terrorism, complete with big words. The average citizen can't and/or won't follow the lecture, but recognizes the emotion behind the picture. It's a real problem for the progressive side, because our values are just not as simple as Muslim = bad person. How do you simultaneously convey complicated arguments AND compete with simple pictures?

BTW, I realized after I posted that original thing that probably nobody would read it because it was too complicated. I wasn't trying to show off. I just got excited that somebody here was finally talking about the things I'm interested in. And I agree with your statement about the waitress and the mechanic. If I can't get DUers to read it, certainly somebody who works 12 hours a day isn't going to either. It's not "psychobabble junk" - we use the scientific method in our experimental human subjects research, and much of it is very sound and replicable - but it comes across that way to the average person. However, if you explain some of these things more simply, people don't believe you.

It's a problem I struggle with daily, actually. A lot of this stuff is critically important and relevant to our world situation today (in my opinion, at least), but can't be explained in a way that makes sense to the average person who has an attention span of 35 seconds and little practice with critical thinking skills.

I worry a lot about other people - that they're just sheep to the slaughter for this administration and corporate America because they don't realize how they are being influenced every day - but I feel a little powerless to do anything about it.

[sandnsea]

58. Frustrating situation

I don't think your knowledge is psycho-babble junk either. The ability to translate your knowledge into colorful words that resonate is a unique talent and I don't have it either. Even liberals who do have it, like Will Pitt, end up writing to the choir so it doesn't do any good either. It's like those two Edwards bloggers writing about the Catholic Church - very visual - but not the visuals that will move the people we need to move. It's very frustrating, I agree with you.

[The Backlash Cometh]

61. Well, I understood most of it.

And you can believe that Rove understood it too. Just like a lawyer who can predict how a person will vote at the voir dire by asking a few questions. Actually, they've gone a step further because these people are using their knowledge of human nature to make boxed pigeons out of most Americans.

[PhilipShore]

41. It is not complicated - to see reality...

That's why liberal radio doesn't work. We keep building literary legal cases. We don't paint pictures.

It is not necessary in a a free society -- to be more creative with language by words or pictures. What is needed is the genuine use of language, that is the profession of the poets. Social psychologists (shrinks) no nothing about this area.

The only technique they (the GOP) use to distract and make the people brain dead to the reality around them - is the destruction of language.

Man has to just understand what language is; and apply it to the world around them. If man wants to best understand how to use language he should read the poets, and political bios of great liberals, JFK, Einstein, Jesus, King, Gandhi, etc.

And of course -- it helps to have basic writing skills, so as to share all that wisdom to the ignorant crowds.

[The Backlash Cometh]

44. You know why we won't be able to paint pictures?

Because our PC police will come and censor us. We stifle our own creativity, as well as our ability to get down to the truth, because we have tabus that we won't bridge.

[AlienGirl]

55. What tabus would it be useful to bridge to paint the picture? And what should the picture look like?

[Name removed]

62. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[distantearlywarning]

51. Actually...

some psychologists specialize in the study of language - how it is used socially, how humans develop language, language usage in animals and so forth.

Also, social psychologists, cognitive psychologists, developmental psychologists, neuropsychologists, and a whole other host of people from research psychology disciplines are not generally called "shrinks".

The term "shrink" is short for "headshrinker", which is a term only applied to clinical psychologists and therapists.

Generally speaking, the average person has no idea that there are many other disciplines within the field of psychology which are totally research oriented and have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with "head-shrinking". I myself have never seen a patient in my life, nor do I even study anything having to do with therapy or psychotropic drugs or anything like that. I know about as much about the mentally ill as any random person on the street.

In fact, my particular specialty is group behavior, particularly minority influence in small groups and reaction to opinion deviance. In layman's terms, I study how groups react when one member expresses an opinion contrary to a group value or belief - for instance, under what circumstances do they reject the contrary person vs. change their beliefs? As you can imagine, DU provides me with a lot of interesting field data. :-)

I am sorry that you believe that the entire field of psychology has nothing to offer the world. Perhaps this is because you have only been exposed to the work of "head-shrinkers". I must admit that I am not particularly enamored with the clinical side myself (I think they abuse people).

However, because I am in the field, I have had the chance to see a lot of the positive work that psychologists do, some of which drives some very "liberal" public policy. For instance:

- the Jigsaw classroom, developed by a social psychologist, improves race relations and decreases bullying among elementary school children
- social psychological work on the benefits of diversity influences the implementation of minority retention and affirmative-action programs on college campuses
- neuropsychologists and developmental psychologists are investigating social and biological factors that cause autism, with the ultimate goal of mitigating these factors
- Some psychologists specialize in the study of legal systems and the law, and their research has been extremely influential in some states' decision to remove the death penalty. One psychologist in particular has devoted his entire lab of graduate students to working on freeing innocent people on death row.

These are just a few things I can think of right now. As for myself, I just finished a large paper reviewing social psychological theories related to minority academic underachievement. That work was done at the behest of a large European country, and they will be using it as a guide for implementing nationwide school reform designed to improve academic experiences for immigrant children. (Really evil, I know...I should be ashamed of myself for engaging in such horrific work!)

It's interesting that you brought up the Nazis earlier. Much of the early social psychological research was done by people who were deeply affected by the Holocaust and wanted to know how their fellow human beings could have behaved so abominably.

[PhilipShore]

53. Thanks for explaining that -- As a pacifist...

later on in life, then the Nazi era I researched Nazism - and the pacifist movements that opposed them, etc.

I am half jewish and half Irish; and I was just a infant during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but Hannah Arendt a philosopher, and social artists of the time, such as Rolf Hochhuth, and Franz Jägerstätter a pacifist, gave me valuable insights about life, while I was in college.

Jägerstätter's non-violent resistance had real social ramifications for the Germans. Most of that literature is hard to find in the ordinary University library, however.

You might want to read up on pacifism literature, if you research how groups react to people with different points of view, as a social psychologist, etc.

Franz Jägerstätter, for example, was so hated by the other Germans around him -- people would not even sell him milk in a store, ect.

It would give you valuable insight about the social psychology here on DU, as well. For example, if you read the history of liberals that were pacifists -- you will see they were not part of popular movements at all. Most Democrats don't have clue what a pacifist is -- or about the history of liberal Democrats in America.

How come your profession of psychology has not ran some of these social psychologists (for the GOP) out of town, that just use psychology for socially destructive purposes?

[Nikki Stone1]

38. How about this book?

http://www.amazon.ca/Rushed-Judgment-Persuasion-American-Political/dp/0231118074/ref=dp_return_2/701-5693973-0984354?ie=UTF8&n=916520&s=books

[The Backlash Cometh]

39. It's close to what we're talking about, but it sounds like we're going

one step further than what the book covers. We know what they're saying on talk radio, but what we're trying to figure out is how it seeps into the brains of so many Americans without ever going through a critical review. And, the answer seems to be that distraction as well as peripheral images are used to great effect.

[Nikki Stone1]

40. The book is connected to a study by the same author

which actually followed a number of subjects.

[The Backlash Cometh]

47. It certainly will be something to pursue,

since this thread and subject probably won't make it beyond tonight.

Thanks for the reference.

[PhilipShore]

45. Thanks, I will read it

[kerry-is-my-prez]

42. People can be VERY influenced while in a semi-conscious state....

Many say that it is the unconscious state that actually drives a lot of what we do. THAT'S why a lot of people are hypnotized in order to quit smoking and to diet, etc.

THe Republicans are very well-versed in the whole psychological aspect of politics.

[The Backlash Cometh]

46. And they're obviously using the media as a vehicle to control

people's opinions. Now that we understand how they're doing it, it's more important than ever to bring back the Fairness Doctrine.

[PhilipShore]

49. TV is the ultimate tool to hypnotize - popular to billions...

that puts people in "a semi-conscious state" -- perhaps if people simply turned off the TV -- we would then become more free and democratic.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

50. Talk radio is even worse....

n/t

[AlienGirl]

56. The brains of people watching TV produce alpha waves

Alpha waves are associated with states of meditation, daydreaming, being "zoned-out," and nearing sleep; as opposed to beta waves, which are associated with conscious mental activity.

Tucker

[lectrobyte]

57. No kidding. I think even if you are aware of what they are trying to

do, the imagery and messages still creep in. And it seems to frame a certain worldview, no matter what. I'm not explaining it well, but if you watch a lot of TV, try to quit for just a week and then see how it is when you turn it back on.

[Ilsa]

60. My father-in-law just got FOX Noise channel and he said "They tell you

exactly what you want to hear." He was speaking of their blame game ("hey, it's not my fault!"), and how they appeal to peple are self-righteous and believe they are morally superior.

I think enough repetition while the brain is engaged in enough other minutiae could do the trick for the right-wingers.

[aikoaiko]

65. You're on the right track I think. Read about the Elaboration Likelihood Model

The Elaboration Likelihood Model is a fairly comprehensive and well studied model for understanding attitude change and persuasion. It doesn't account for everything, but it may give you an academic language to think about your ideas.

As others have said (and alluded to this model), when you are prevented from processing information carefully (the central route), then we utilize or are vulnerable to persuasion through less critical consideration (the peripheral route). As you noted, people working repetitive labor type jobs are partially distracted and probably can't engage in central route processing, but might still engage in peripheral route processing.

Here is a recent chapter/article that does a good job outlining the model.
http://www2.psych.purdue.edu/~wegener/psy643/Petty%20&%20Wegener%201999.pdf

If you can discuss your ideas in terms of ELM, any cognitive oriented social psychologist will be able to understand you and might be interested.

[The Backlash Cometh]

66. I think we just figured out how they're doing it, but how do we explain it

to them so we can start breaking the spell? Nobody likes to feel like they're being manipulated, and if we can point out to them how, through the media, their fears are subliminally being amplified, I think they'll do the only right thing and turn off the damn thing, or at least there will be a reason to ask for it not to be aired in public places, like the YMCA, for instance.