“Manipulation of consciousness” or otherwise “manipulation” is a concept with which every individual is somewhat familiar today.
At the same time, a manipulator is called a person who, guided by the principle that impudence is the second happiness, overwhelms a person who cannot refuse, with requests and tasks. Both advertisers, blackmailers, and young children, who scam their favorite toy by hook or by crook from their parents, also belong to them.
Manipulation of consciousness is a much larger phenomenon. Scientists from different countries have created many definitions of this phenomenon. However, they can be generalized and reduced to the fact that the manipulation of consciousness is a thought-out mechanism of influence on an individual or society in order to influence his actions in a certain way, to convince him of something or change his preferences.
Once upon a time, one person, whose name is now unknown, set himself the goal of systematizing and summarizing the mechanisms of personality manipulation, his perception of information. The so-called "psychological vulnerabilities" have learned to use. The manipulation of the mass consciousness was adopted by spies and scouts, this knowledge served a good service, contributing to the search and retrieval of the necessary information. By manipulating consciousness, political decisions can be influenced , and the manipulation of public consciousness can lead to coups d'etat.
It is clear that a good scout must always be an experienced psychologist in order to have the ability to recruit the right person. To do this, he can “push” in one place and “stroke” in another, if we talk about the psychological aspect of its impact. These are only the simplest methods of manipulating an individual personality, and the top of the iceberg is still far away.
Pickupers
The concept of “pick-ups” is known, which use the techniques of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming). Mathematician Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder were the founders of NLP. They use the techniques of manipulating the personality, its consciousness, but with a prosaic purpose - to evoke sympathy and achieve the location of a representative of the opposite sex. It is clear that the books of Bandler and Grinder appeared for a reason, not from scratch. The whole theory presented in them is based on the revised and rethought works of outstanding psychotherapists and psychologists.
Manipulation of public consciousness
The rapid development of the media and the global Internet is a concern about the possibility of impact on the public consciousness of huge masses of people. Research is being conducted, the study of the psychology and consciousness of the crowd, effective mechanisms have already been created for influencing the mass of people. No wonder certain circles believe that the intelligence of the whole crowd is lower than the intelligence of even its most primitive member.
In 1895, an interesting book was written by G. le Bonn, entitled "The Psychology of Peoples and Masses." It contains the calculations that have become fundamental to today's political strategists, and with the development of the media they got a new life.
Manipulation of consciousness through the media, one way or another, is carried out every day. Advertising forms preferences in the choice of goods, PR-companies draw positive images of public figures and politicians, determine fashion trends. All this works thanks to the carefully thought out impact of the media. The influence of cinema forms a stereotypical idea of the image of modern youth. In the minds of modern man there are a lot of template concepts, values and ideas introduced from the outside.
Manipulation of consciousness is an interesting and important phenomenon, because, using its methods, it is possible to exert a hidden influence on millions of people. The methods of manipulating the consciousness of the individual and the crowd are based on knowledge of general psychology, sociology, ethnopsychology, physiology, political science and cybernetics.
It is very serious, inadmissible to be skeptical about what is written. To protect your consciousness from external influence and rise above the “gray mass”, it is desirable to show interest in this problem and get acquainted with some works in the field of consciousness manipulation.