Dark Persuasion: A History of Brainwashing from Pavlov to Social Media

Abstract "Manipulation of consciousness. The history of brainwashing from Pavlov to social media", Joel Dimsdale

The book by the famous American psychiatrist Joel Dimsdale traces the evolution of a phenomenon that remained at the crossroads of politics, medicine, ideology and science throughout the 20th and 21st centuries - brainwashing. From medieval torture and religious rites of conversion to Pavlov's experiments, LSD experiments, isolation methods and modern digital technologies - the author shows how approaches to mind control have changed in different historical contexts. Special attention is paid to Soviet, American and North Korean practices, the participation of special services, scientists, military and religious movements.

The author critically analyzes the ideological myths surrounding brainwashing and at the same time shows how the ideas of mind control are increasingly deeply rooted in modern technologies of mass influence. This is a book about dangerous, ever-improving tools of manipulation, about the people who created them, and about the communities that became their testing grounds.