Mind control

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Mind control is a general term for a number of controversial theories and/or techniques designed to manipulate an individual's thinking, behavior, emotions, or decisions.

While discussion of these techniques are popular amongst conspiracy buffs, and as a subject of speculative fiction[1], any techniques of mind control that actually work would have real-world applications. These include use by religous cults, by governments as torture techniques used to obtain confessions, as psyops to break resistance movements, by the advertising industry to manipulate consumer habits, and by the public relations industry to manufacture consent or remediate corporate image in the event of a crisis.

The feasibility of such control and the methods by which it might be attained (either direct or more subtle) are both subject to hot debates among psychologists, neuroscientists, and sociologists. Also the exact definition of mind control and the extent of its influence on the individual are debated.

The different views on the subject do have legal implications. Mind control was an issue, e.g., in the court case of Patty Hearst and also in several court cases regarding New Religious Movements. Also questions of mind control are regarding ethical questions linked to the subject of free will.

The question of mind control has been discussed in conjunction with religion, politics, prisoners of war, totalitarianism, neural cell manipulation, cults, terrorism, torture, parental alienation, and even battered person syndrome.

Contents

[edit] Theoretical models and methods

[edit] MKULTRA

Main article: Project MKULTRA

Project MKULTRA (also known as MK-ULTRA) was the code name for a CIA mind control research program that began in the 1950s[2], and continued until the late 1960s[3]. There is much published evidence that the project involved not only the use of drugs to manipulate persons, but also the use of electronic signals to alter brain functioning.[4]

Central Intelligence Agency documents suggest that the agency considered and explored uses of radiation for the purpose of mind control as part of MKULTRA. Other early efforts focused on LSD, which appears to have formed the majority of research as time went on. Experiments included administering the drug to CIA employees, military personnel, doctors, other government agents, prostitutes, mentally ill patients, and members of the general public in order to study their reactions, usually without the subject's knowledge.

There is no evidence that the CIA (or anyone else) has actually succeeded in controlling a person's actions through the "mind control" techniques that are known to have been attempted in the MKULTRA projects. The file destruction makes a full investigation of claims impossible.

[edit] Subliminal advertising

Main article: Subliminal message

Outline:

One of the more serious sides of subliminal advertising is the fact that it is theoretically possible to control people's behaviour. For example, if a drink company were to utilize it, anyone watching or listening to the advertisement may be compelled to purchase that drink for a supposedly unknown reason. It is also claimed it can control political ideology and even tendency to commit crime. promote something. It must be noted that the efficacy of any of these methods has not been proven.

[edit] Lifton brainwashing model

Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, M.D. described in his 1961 book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China eight coercive methods which, he says, are able to change the minds of individuals without their knowledge and were used with this purpose on prisoners of war in Korea and China. [1] These include

  • milieu control
  • mystic manipulation
  • confession
  • self-sanctification through purity
  • aura of sacred science
  • loaded language
  • doctrine over person
  • dispensed existence

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[citation needed].

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

[edit] 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. [2]. Singer sees no need for physical coercion or violence.

  • controlling a person's time and environment,
  • creating a sense of powerlessness,
  • manipulating rewards and punishments to suppress former social conditioning
  • 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

[edit] BITE model of Steven Hassan

Psychologist and cult counselor Steven Hassan, author of the book Combatting Cult Mind Control, 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. [3]

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.[citation needed] They argue that Hassan does not merely say that fraudulent salesmanship persuaded the believers; he states 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.[citation needed]

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 the "strategic interaction approach" or SIA. He states that this approach is a goal-oriented, therapeutic course of action that can be initiated and implemented by motivated relatives or friends, in which they learn how to work together to help "awaken" the cult member to the pervasiveness of the group's alleged control over a former member's life, after which the person can leave the cult, regaining a sense of personal power, integrity, and direction.

[edit] Mind Control and the Battered Woman Syndrome

A very different explanation of the control some groups have over their members is by associating it to the Battered Woman 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).


[edit] Social psychology tactics

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

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

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. [4]
"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."

In Influence, Science and Practice, social psychology researcher Robert Cialdini shows how mind control is possible through the covert exploitation of the unconscious rules that underlie and facilitate healthy human social interactions. He notes the most common social rules that can be used to prey upon the unwary and titles them as follows:

  • "Reciprocation: The Old Give and Take...and Take"
  • "Commitment and Consistency: Hobgoblins of the Mind"
  • "Social Proof: Truths Are Us"
  • "Liking: The Friendly Thief"
  • "Authority: Directed Deference"
  • "Scarcity: The Rule of the Few"

Using these six broad categories, he shows many specific examples of both mild and extreme mind control (both one on one and in groups), notes the conditions under which each social rule is most easily exploited for false ends, and offers suggestions on how to fight these insidious, and often unconscious mind control methods.

[edit] 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: [Stahelski, 2004]:

  1. Depluralization: stripping away all other group member identities
  2. Self-deindividuation: stripping away each member’s personal identity
  3. Other-deindividuation: stripping away the personal identities of enemies
  4. Dehumanization: identifying enemies as subhuman or nonhuman
  5. Demonization: identifying enemies as evil

[edit] Cults and mind control controversies

Several of the above mind control models have been related to religious and non-religious cults (for debates regarding what is a cult, see the article). Among scholars, adherents of NRMs and the pro-cult and anti-cult communities, it is hotly debated, if mind control is applied in any or certain cultic movements.

[edit] Scholarly points of view

While in science of religion the majority of scholars reject mind control (e.g., Massimo Introvigne and J. Gordon Melton), it is often accepted in psychology and psychiatry (e.g., Margaret Singer, Michael Langone, and Philip Zimbardo) and in sociology the opinions are divided (e.g., David G. Bromley and Anson Shupe contra, Stephen A. Kent and Benjamin Zablocki pro). Most scholars have either a decided contra or a decided pro opinion; there are few who advocate a moderate point of view.

The renowned medical journal The Lancet as well as "The American Journal of Psychiatry" published favorable reviews of Steven Hassan's 1988 book on mind control. [5] [6] The latter review was written by anti-cult activist Louis Jolyon West, a long time advisory board member of the American Family Foundation and the Cult Awareness Network.

According to James T. Richardson on his "Brainwashing" Claims and Minority Religions Outside the United States: Cultural Diffusion of a Questionable Concept in the Legal Arena, while heavy on theory, the mind control model is light on evidence:

"The CCM movement has collected some information to support its belief that religious groups successfully employ mind-control techniques. But the data is unreliable. The information typically represents a very small sample size. It is not practical to obtain information before, during and after an individual has been in a NRM. Often, their data is disproportionately obtained from former members of a religious organization who have been convinced during CCM counseling that they have been victims of mind-control." [7]

Dr. James Richardson, a Professor of Sociology and Judicial Studies at the University of Nevada, claims that if the NRMs had access to powerful brainwashing techniques, one would expect that NRMs would have high growth rates, while in fact most have not had notable success in recruitment, most adherents participate for only a short time, and that the success in retaining members has been limited. In addition, Thomas Robbins, Eileen Barker, Newton Maloney, Massimo Introvigne, John Hall, Lorne Dawson, Anson Shupe, David G. Bromley, Gordon Melton, Marc Galanter, Saul Levine and other scholars researching NRMs have argued -- and established to the satisfaction of courts and relevant professional associations and scientific communities -- that there exists no scientific theory, generally accepted and based upon methodologically sound research, that supports the brainwashing theories as advanced by the anti-cult movement.

On the other hand, sociologist Benjamin Zablocki sees strong indicators of mind control in some NRMs and demands the concept should be researched without bias:

"I am not personally opposed to the existence of NRMs and still less to the free exercise of religious conscience. I would fight actively against any governmental attempt to limit freedom of religious expression. Nor do I believe it is within the competence of secular scholars such as myself to evaluate or judge the cultural worth of spiritual beliefs or spiritual actions. However, I am convinced, based on more than three decades of studying NRMs through participant-observation and through interviews with both members and ex-members, that these movements have unleashed social and psychological forces of truly awesome power. These forces have wreaked havoc in many lives—in both adults and in children. It is these social and psychological influence processes that the social scientist has both the right and the duty to try to understand, regardless of whether such understanding will ultimately prove helpful or harmful to the cause of religious liberty." (Zablocki, 1997)

Sociologists David Bromley and Anson Shupe consider the idea that "cult"s are brainwashing American youth to be "implausible".[8], on the other hand, the Canadian sociology professor Stephen A. Kent published several articles where he relays practices of NRMs with brainwashing [9], [10]

The American Psychological Association (APA) in 1984 requested Margaret Singer, the main proponent of anti-cult mind control theories, to set up a working group called Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control (DIMPAC).

In 1987 the DIMPAC committee submitted its final report to the Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology of the APA. On May 11, 1987 the Board rejected the report. In the rejection memo [11] is stated: "Finally, after much consideration, BSERP does not believe that we have sufficient information available to guide us in taking a position on this issue.".

There are two interpretations of this rejection: one side (e.g. Amitrani and di Marzio 2000 and Zablocki 2001) see it as no position on the issue of brainwashing, the other (e.g. Introvigne 1997) sees it as rejecting all brainwashing theories.

In 2002 Dr. Philip Zimbardo who teaches at Stanford University a course "the psychology of mind control", commented on the request by former members of new religious movements (NRMs) to reconsider the APA's position on the possibility of mind control [12]

Recently, there are indications that some members of both parties are willing to start a dialog, e.g. the 2001 book "Misunderstanding Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field" in 2002 the American Family Foundation invited Eileen Barker to its yearly conference and the Evangelical Ministries to New Religions had J. Gordon Melton and Douglas Cowan as conference speakers.

[edit] Mind control and exit counseling

Opponents of some new religious movements have accused these of being cults that coerce recruits to join (and members to remain) by using strong influence over members instilled and maintained by manipulation (see also anti-cult movement and Christian countercult movement). Such opponents frequently advocate exit counseling as necessary to free the a cult member from mind control. The practice of coercive deprogramming has practically ceased. (Kent & Szimhart, 2002)

Opponents of exit counseling generally regard it as an even worse violation of personal autonomy than any loss of free will attributable to the recruiting tactics of new religious movements. These people complain that targets of deprogramming are being deceived, denied due process, and forced to endure more intense manipulation than that encountered during their previous group membership.

[edit] Mind control and recruitment rates

Eileen Barker documents that out of 1000 people persuaded by the Moonies [Unification Church] to attend one of their overnight programs in 1979, 90% had no further involvement. Only 8% joined for more than one week and less than 4% remained members in 1981, two years later." [13]

Tyler Hendricks, former president of the Unification Church, estimates approximately 100,000 people "moved into" the Unification Church as full-time members from the 1970s to the 1990s. Membership in the church was 8,600 in 2004 (counting only those who joined as adults, and excluding the children of members). This is an attrition rate of 93%.

Billy Graham, one of the most prominant evangelists of the last century had only an average of 1% of the attendants of his evangelizations heed the altar call at all. Follow-up work after evangelizations shows that only 10% of the people responding to an altar call actually do join a church. So successful Christian evangelizations result in a longterm success rate of 0.1% - compared to the 4% of Barker's observation. And these 0.1% do not become fulltime missionaries like in the Unification Church. (Langone, 1993).

[edit] Mind control and faith

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) published a statement in 1977 related to brainwashing and mind control. In this statement the ACLU opposed certain methods "depriving people of the free exercise of religion". The ACLU also rejected (under certain conditions) the idea that claims of the use of 'brainwashing' or of 'mind control' should overcome the free exercise of religion. [14]

Leon Festinger based his theory of the cognitive dissonance, a component of Hassan's Mind Control model, on his observation that the faith of most members of a UFO cult was unshattered by failed prophecy. [15].

Barrett who is affiliated with CESNUR and Eileen Barker, whom some anti-cult activists consider cult apologists, wrote that logical arguments are irrelevant when trying to persuade some members to leave a movement due to the certainty that they have about their faith, which he sees as not confined to cults, but also occurring in some forms of mainstream religion. He also wrote that some members do not leave the movement even though they realize that things are wrong. See also Leaving a cult.

[edit] Counter-cult movement and mind control

In the Christian counter-cult movement there are several commentators who refute mind control as a factor in cult membership, and membership in both Christian and non-Christian cults as a spiritual or theological issue.

In an article by the evangelical Christian writers Bob and Gretchen Passantino, first appearing in Cornerstone magazine, titled Overcoming The Bondage Of Victimization: A Critical Evaluation of Cult Mind Control Theories they challenge the validity of mind control theories and the alleged "victimization" by mind-control, and assert in their conclusion:

[...] the Bogey Man of cult mind control is nothing but a ghost story, good for inducing an adrenaline high and maintaining a crusade, but irrelevant to reality. The reality is that people who have very real spiritual, emotional, and social needs are looking for fulfillment and significance for their lives. Ill-equipped to test the false gospels of this world, they make poor decisions about their religious affiliations. Poor decisions, yes, but decisions for which they are personally responsible nonetheless. As Christians who believe in an absolute standard of truth and religious reality, we cannot ignore the spiritual threat of the cults. We must promote critical thinking, responsible education, biblical apologetics, and Christian evangelism. We must recognize that those who join the cults, while morally responsible, are also spiritually ignorant.[16]

In a rebuttal to the Passantino's article, a protagonist of the counter-cult movement, Paul R. Martin, Ph.D. et al. in his Overcoming the Bondage of Revictimization: A Rational/Empirical Defense of Thought Reform, (first appeared in Cultic Studies Journal 15/2 1998), writes :

"The Passantinos are well known and respected evangelical writers. Consequently, their critique, which is rife with errors and misinterpretations, disturbs us very much and calls for a detailed rebuttal. [...]For us, theological considerations inform our understanding of the sociological and psychological destruction caused by cults, although others hold similar positions without considering theological issues. Cults distort one's perceptions both of natural reality (sociological and psychological) and spiritual reality. In the Christian tradition, the former is supposed to reveal the latter; therefore, those interested in spiritual issues must address both sides in order to minister adequately to former cult members.[17]

[edit] Legal issues

Some persons have claimed a "brainwashing defense" for crimes committed while purportedly under mind control. In the cases of Patty Hearst, Steven Fishman and Lee Boyd Malvo the court rejected such defenses.

Also in the court cases against members of Aum Shinrikyo regarding the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system the mind control defense was not a mitigating factor.

Starting from the Fishman case (1990) (where a defendant accused of commercial fraud raised as a defense that he was not fully responsible since he was under the mind control of Scientology) American courts consistently rejected testimonies about mind control and manipulation, stating that these were not part of accepted mainline science according to the Frye Standard (Anthony & Robbins 1992: 5-29). Margaret Singer and her associate Richard Ofshe filed suits against the APA and the American Sociological Association (who had supported APA's 1987 statement) but they lost in 1993 and 1994.

The Frye standard has since been replaced by the Daubert standard and there have been to court cases where testimonies about mind control have been examined according to the Daubert standard.

Some Civil suits where mind control was an issue, were, though, more effective:

In the case of Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California the court states church practices had been conducted in a coercive environment and so were not protected by religious freedom guarantees. Wollersheim was finally awarded $8 million in damages. (California appellate court, 2nd district, 7th division, Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California, Civ. No. B023193 Cal. Super. (1986)

"During trial, Wollersheim's experts testified Scientology's "auditing" and "disconnect" practices constituted "brainwashing" and "thought reform" akin to what the Chinese and North Koreans practiced on American prisoners of war. A religious practice which takes place in the context of this level of coercion has less religious value than one the recipient engages in voluntarily. Even more significantly, it poses a greater threat to society to have coerced religious practices inflicted on its citizens." "Using its position as religious leader, the 'church' and its agents coerced Wollersheim into continuing auditing even though his sanity was repeatedly threatened by this practice... Thus there is adequate proof the religious practice in this instance caused real harm to the individual and the appellant's outrageous conduct caused that harm... 'Church' practices conducted in a coercive environment are not qualified to be voluntary religious practices entitled to first amendment religious freedom guarantees" [18]

In 1993 the European Court of Human Rights upheld the right of a Greek Jehovah's Witness Minos Kokkinakis, who had been sentenced to prison and a fine for proselytizing, to spread his faith, though the court sought to define what it regarded as acceptable ways of sharing one's faith. However, in a dissenting judgment, two judges argued that Kokkinakis and his wife had applied "unacceptable psychological techniques" akin to brainwashing. KOKKINAKIS v. GREECE (14307/88) [1993] ECHR 20 (25 May 1993) [19]

[edit] Mind control against children in Parental Alienation

Stanley Clawar and Brynne Rivlin have claimed in Children Held Hostage: Dealing with Programmed and Brainwashed Children that many forms of mind control are used in Parental alienation by one parent against the other parent using both parents' children as unwitting weapons. This use of mind control is often devastating to children and follows them into adulthood by creating a chronic condition known as Parental Alienation Syndrome. In addition the mind control used in Parental Alienation often permamently damages or destroys the target parent's bonds with his or her children.

[edit] Mind control in conspiracy theories

Mind control is a common feature in many conspiracy theories, as it provides a mechanism by which an alleged conspiracy could maintain control over innocent people, prevent knowledge of the conspiracy's actions, or prevent the conspiracy theorist's intended audience from believing the theory's allegations.

The means by which victims are alleged to be controlled varies according to the nature of the theory in which they are said to be used. Theories centering on existing governmental groups or intelligence agencies usually feature mind control via hypnosis, subliminal messages or other technological means, while theories focusing on non-human entities, extraterrestrials, demons, invisible masters, and organised secret societies, such as the Illuminati, Freemasons, or Black Dragon Society, are more likely to involve supernatural or magical means, or particularly fanciful technology such as "mind control satellites". Theories that involve the United States government frequently refer to MKULTRA. Radio waves or microwave radiation are frequently claimed to be used for mind control; radio and television broadcast towers, and more recently cell phone towers, are often considered suspect.[20] Other theories may involve the use of lasers, or other methods such as various trauma-based or electronic-based mind control (see here).[5]

J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye was rumored to be a device for FBI/CIA mind control at one time, based on the apparent coincidence of Lee Harvey Oswald and Mark Chapman owning a copy. Seeing as this has always been a popular novel among intelligent and alienated young men, however, this coincidence of ownership is hardly surprising. Nevertheless, there is a large fringe literature on the supposed 'mind control' subtext of 'Catcher in the Rye' [21].

Some individuals imagine themselves to be victims; for example Dan Rightmyer, who has published under the pen name "Alex Constantine." His books are published by a fellow traveller named Adam Parfrey, who runs Feral House. Rightmyer claimed in a letter to the now-defunct "Mondo 2000" magazine that he repelled magnets from his head. "For die-hard skeptics, I can offer this proof: Two of the leading child psychologists in the country once witnessed magnets repelled from my cranium. When I wrote a letter to Amnesty International about my plight (it was ignored), friends of mind [sic] were subjected to microwave attack..."

[edit] Validity of claims

The perceived validity of conspiracy theories are highly subject to opinion and may often find themselves to be at the center of a debate. There are almost always many arguments or instances of evidence indicating reasons to believe or disbelieve any such theory, and for this reason, it may be difficult to discern fact from fiction. Proponents often find themselves with fewer supporters and are in the position to suggest that those in opposition maintain an "open mind" and allow themselves to consider what may seem contrary to one's prior knowledge. Often the antagonists in this position may be relatively unresponsive and negatively poised towards such arguments. Ergo, this is a controversial subject.

[edit] Arguments for

In support of such claims conerning mind control, one note of worth is that the U.S. Secret Service's use of hypnosis and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)'s use of brainwashing has been confirmed in past court cases where testimony was conclusive and the agencies were decided as guilty.

Principles behind electronic-based mind control devices have been proposed. A study in the 1930s concerning the neural cells of giant squid (see here) showed that establishing a potential energy field across a neuron or neural cell membrane will cause it to fire. Although they are much larger in size, the brains of such squid are similar to humans and such experiments could potentially be applied the human mind. 75 years of understanding these facts lends support that devices could have been devised to affect human mental and bodily processes and functions using external energy sources.

Some arguments in support of mind control conspiracy theories in fact stem from the belief in other conspiracy theories which, if they were true, would seem to validate such thinking. For example, if the belief in the presense of extraterrestrials were to be considered a given, this would give reason to believe that conspiring forces may possess the means of technology required to execute such actions.

[edit] Arguments against

There are certainly those who discredit the notion of mind control as a secretive or conspirative tool. Some conspiracy theorists have even been viewed by some as crazy or paranoid individuals who lack a convincing basis for their claims. Others discredit conspirative claims in that they may be attributed to possible symptoms of schizophrenia or other forms of psychosis.

[edit] Mind control in fiction and popular culture

Mind control has proven a popular subject in fiction, featuring in books and films such as The Ipcress File, and The Manchurian Candidate, which has the premise that controllers could hypnotize a person into murdering on command while retaining no memory of the killing.

  • The TV series The Prisoner featured mind control as a recurring plot element.
  • In the Anthony Burgess novel A Clockwork Orange, later adapted into a film by Stanley Kubrick, the "Ludovico Technique" is a form of mind control that causes the subject, in this case the thug anti-hero Alex, to feel sickness and pain whenever he has a violent or anti-social impulse.
  • There has also been a rapidly growing genre known as erotic mind-control, where the controller's motivation is to control victims for the controller's own pleasure, although this is often described as resulting in pleasure for the victims as well. Most such stories are published only online as they are written by amateur writers as a hobby.
  • The Illuminatus! Trilogy pokes fun at conspiracy theorists' assertions of pervasive mind control. The best known example for the book is the fnord, a word that the populace at large has been programmed since birth to not consciously notice, but to associate with a sense of fear and general unease; it is supposedly inserted into published works on current events, such as magazines and newspapers, but is absent from advertising, leading people to avoid knowledge of the world and to be obedient consumers.
  • In the MMORPG World of Warcraft, players of the priest class gain the ability to mind-control other humanoid characters, gaining full control over their actions for a short period. (Due to interface limitations, priests cannot do anything else while controlling a target.)
  • Preacher units in Populous: The Beginning as well as priests in Age of Empires are able to take control of an opponent's units (in fact, this is their primary function in both games). Although this is not mind control, but rather preaching to the enemy so that they willingly convert sides.
  • In Konami's stealhy title "Metal Gear Solid" for the PlayStation, Psycho Mantis, a rogue special forces member with powerful telepathic abilities, subtly controls a small army, and on several occasions completely dominates a single persons movements and speech. It is also speculated that he may have had control over the other rogue members.
  • In "The Matrix", a chemical was injected into Morpheus to make him reveal access codes.
  • Michael Crichton's "Terminal Man" has doctors implant a simple computer into the brainstem of a man who suffers from impulsive violence. The plan is to stimulate certain nerves to ease the violent impulses. Instead, the violence becomes even more irresistable.
  • In Bionicle storyline, a Kanohi mask called Komau allows the user the power to control minds of beings.
  • In the anime, movie and video game series Street Fighter 2, Vega (known as M.Bison in the US) uses his "Psycho Power" to brainwash and corrupt street fighters across the world into joining his criminal organization known as Shadowloo, turning them into remorseless killing machines fully under his control.
  • In the movie Control Factor, an unsuspecting "everyman" slowly realizes he is an unwitting guinea pig being used in a mind control test. If successful, the test will then expand to behavioral control of an entire population.

See also: mind uploading

[edit] Mind control as entertainment

Hypnotism has often been used by stage performers to make volunteers do strange things, such as clucking like a chicken, for the entertainment of audiences. The British psychological illusionist Derren Brown performs more sophisticated mental tricks in his television programmes, Derren Brown: Mind Control.

[edit] See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
theory of conversion exit tactics
brainwashing
mind control
thought reform
coercive persuasion		 deprogramming
exit counseling
intervention (counseling)

[edit] Further reading

  • Cialdini, Robert B., Influence: Science and Practice, Allyn & Bacon, 2000.
  • Alberto Amitrani and Raffaella di Marzio: "Mind Control" in New Religious Movements and the American Psychological Association, Cultic Studies Journal Vol 17, 2000.
  • Bromley, D.B., Shupe, A.D., Strange Gods: The Great American Cult Scare, Beacon Press, Boston, (1981).
  • Clawar, Stanley, and Rivlin, Brynne, Children Held Hostage: Dealing with Programmed and Brainwashed Children, ABA, 2003.
  • Glasser, William, WARNING: Psychiatry Can be Dangerous to Your Health, Quill, 2004.
  • Hadden, Jeffrey K., The Brainwashing
  • Huxley, Aldous, Brave New World#Brave New World Revisited, 1958, 1965 essays
  • Intelligence Now
  • Kramer, Joel, and Alstad, Diana, The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power, North Atlantic, 1993.
  • Singer, Margaret et. al.: Report of the APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control, November 1986 (DIMPAC report) [22]
  • Introvigne, Massimo, “Liar, Liar”: Brainwashing, CESNUR and APA (Rebuttal to DIMPAC report) [23]
  • Keith, Jim, Experiments in Mind-Control
  • Kent, Stephen, Brainwashing and Re-Indoctrination Programs in the Children of God, The Family CULTIC STUDIES JOURNAL Volume 17 (2000)
  • Kent, Stephen, Brainwashing in Scientology's Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF), 2000, Hamburg, Behörde für Inneres, Arbeitsgruppe Scientology und Landeszentrale für politische Bildung property=source.pdf (pdf)
  • Kent, Stephen and Szimhart, Joseph: Exit Counseling and the Decline of Deprogramming, Cultic Studies Journal 1/3, 2002
  • Kilde, Rauni Leena, M.D.: Microwave Mind-Control[24]
  • Langone, Michael: Recovery from Cults (book), 1993
  • Lifton, Robert J., Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism (1961);
  • Lifton, Robert J., Destroying the world to save it: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence and the New Global Terrorism, (1999);
  • Martin, Paul R. et al.: Overcoming the Bondage of Revictimization: A Rational/Empirical Defense of Thought Reform in Cultic Studies Journal 15/2, 1998 [25]
  • Passantino Bob and Gretchen. Overcoming The Bondage Of Victimization. A Critical Evaluation of Cult Mind Control Theories. (1994) Cornerstone Magazine. [26]
  • Ramirez Boulette, Teresa and Andersen, Susan M.: Mind Control and the Battering of Women, Cultic Studies Journal 3/1 (1986) [27]
  • Ross, Colin A., Bluebird : Deliberate Creation of Multiple Personality by Psychiatrists, Manitou Communications (December 6, 2000) ISBN 0-9704525-1-9
  • Schein, Edgar H. et al., Coercive Persuasion (1961)
  • Shapiro, K. A. Pascual-Leone, A., Mottaghy, F. M., Gangitano, M., & Caramazza, A. (2001). Grammatical distinctions in the left frontal cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 13(6), 713-720 [28]
  • SSSR Resolution on New Religious Groups
  • Stahelski, Anthony: Terrorists Are Made, Not Born: Creating Terrorists Using Social Psychological Conditioning, Journal of Homeland Security, March 2004 [29]
  • Young, Robert Vaughn: Toward a new model of "cult mind control" (2000) [30]
  • Zablocki, Benjamin, The Blacklisting of a Concept. The Strange History of the Brainwashing Conjecture in the Sociology of Religion, Nova Religio, vol. 1/1, October 1997
  • Zablocki, Benjamin, Towards a Demystified and Disinterested Scientific Theory of Brainwashing, in Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins (ed.), Misunderstanding Cults, 2001, ISBN 0-8020-8188-6
  • Zimbardo, Philip Mind Control: Psychological Reality or Mindless Rhetoric? in Monitor on Psychology, November 2002 [31]
  • Zimbardo, Philip: Understanding Mind Control: Exotic and Mundane Mental Manipulations in Langone, Michael et al.: Recovery from Cults (book), 1993, ISBN 0-393-31321-2

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ See, Manchurian Candidate
  2. ^ Chapter 3, part 4: Supreme Court Dissents Invoke the Nuremberg Code: CIA and DOD Human Subjects Research Scandals. Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments Final Report. Retrieved on August 24, 2005. "The CIA program, known principally by the codename MKULTRA, began in 1950"
  3. ^ U.S. Congress: The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Foreign and Military Intelligence (Church Committee report), report no. 94-755, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1976); p. 392 "According to the CIA, the project [MKULTRA] was decreased significantly each budget year until its complete termination in the late 1960s."
  4. ^ The referenced sentence was originally sourced from here; it is not obvious what the context of this reference was.
  5. ^ Educate-Yourself.org: Mind Control
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