Brainwashing

The term “brainwashing” is one that often inspires our imagination to visualise scenarios where individuals are psychologically enslaved to perform actions against their will, often through hypnosis, subliminal messages, or by other means. This perception of brainwashing is found most often in the realm of science fiction and has caused confusion and controversy even among the psychological community regarding the efficacy of practical applications but, as with many things, we find that behind the myth there are hints of truth from which we can derive something much more useful. Perhaps a more appropriate terminology—one that avoids these common clichés that confuse the public imagination—is thought reform; a term coined by psychiatrist Robert Lifton, and popularized by UC Berkley research psychologist, and cult expert, Margaret Singer. To say “thought reform” is, in fact, far more accurate, since the aim of this chapter is not to describe brainwashing in the sense of mind-control in any form, but rather in the changing of a individual’s thoughts and ideas; mind-programming, if you will. This distinction is, more than anything, one of semantics, whereas the popular usage for the term “brainwashing” has become one associated with fictional accounts more aligned with hypnosis, but despite this, the first formal, standardized use of this form of warfare was performed by the Chinese during and immediately before the Korean War, and they called this process xi nao, which literally translates to “wash brain.”