The psychology of manipulation in political ads

Politics • October 2010 • Views: 1,751

Radio interview with Joe Brewer of Cognitive Policy Works about the psychology of manipulation in political ads. This is not hysterical conspiracy theory stuff, it’s a serious discussion that applies to everyone regardless of political persuasion. It’s almost 1 hour long, but well worth your time if you care about critical thinking and not having your strings pulled by political puppeteers.

Update: Also see Rachel Maddow video on examples fear, bigotry and racism being used, and how similar it is to the Islamophobia rapidly spreading through Europe.

MP3 Audio

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5 comments

freetoken Fri, Oct 22, 2010 2:10:39pm

The application of psychology to marketing certainly was one of the big “advancements” of 20th century commerce.

CuriousLurker Fri, Oct 22, 2010 5:30:34pm

re: #1 freetoken

It’s fascinating (and disturbing) how easily we can be manipulated. I think we’re much more driven by emotional and biological responses than most of us care to admit. We fancy ourselves to be oh so intellectually sophisticated and reasonable, then someone comes along and pushes a button that’s hot-wired to one of our instinctive responses and our critical thinking skills disintegrate.

I don’t think the psychology of marketing is necessarily a 20th century advancement though. There have always been people skilled in the understanding & manipulation of human nature, though maybe not in as complete or refined a way as we understand it today. The difference now, IMHO, is the rapidity with which people, images and ideas can travel vast distances.

Throughout history there have been individuals and groups who were adept at marketing their “brand”: The Spartans, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Genghis Khan, the House of Medici, Vlad the Impaler, etc. (Yes, I’m purposely leaving religion out of it.)

I mean, when the Mongol horde was headed your way, you KNEW they were coming and you knew—thanks to the hideous but highly effective “brand marketing” techniques they employed en route to your town—to be out of your mind with mortal fear.

Wait. How did I end up talking about Mongol hordes? O_o

Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Fri, Oct 22, 2010 6:25:14pm

re: #2 CuriousLurker

You’re absolutely right, though; it was Ghengis’s manipulation of propaganda that was his biggest asset. The rest of his strategies wouldn’t have worked without it. He needed his enemies to react in predictable ways, like a hunter needs their prey to. Well-analyzed.

CuriousLurker Fri, Oct 22, 2010 7:48:55pm

re: #3 Obdicut

Thanks—That means a lot coming from you, lover of history and fearsome debater that you are.

After I listened to the interview, everything Brewer said kept percolating through my mind, especially the part about fear because it’s such a strong emotion. That, combined with my penchant for historical documentaries & docudramas, made me realize that current tactics may be subtler, but the underlying principles haven’t really changed. In some cases even the tactics haven’t changed (e.g. terrorism, genocide).

Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Sat, Oct 23, 2010 2:54:21am

re: #4 CuriousLurker

I think the key for getting beyond manipulation is realizing that it’s happening, and using it on yourself. If you read the biographies of a lot of great athletes, scientists, soldiers, you find a common thread; they actively engaged with their own emotional states. They found mental tools to propagandize themselves, to such a degree of intensity that outside influences have much less of a chance to take hold.

How to teach that to the world at large is an enormously difficult question; I think the first step is getting people to acknowledge the degree to which free will is compromised by biology. That may be one of the reasons that people find creationism and the like so comforting— in claiming that God influences us externally, it provides an illusion of ‘goodness’ to the lack of self-actualization. After all, if you were willful and independent, you wouldn’t be influence-able by God.

Such a different perspective from those who see religion as a way to wrestle with and tackle the biggest emotional and philosophical problems that confront us; some use it as a reason to not think about them, to simply act on outside influences and pretend that that is the hand of god at work.

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