← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · MadScienceType
Thread ID: 6634 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2003-05-13
2003-05-13 17:20 | User Profile
[url=http://freedom.orlingrabbe.com/lfetimes/attitude.htm]http://freedom.orlingrabbe.com/lfetimes/attitude.htm[/url]
This is a fascinating article about the effects of propaganda on the mind. Granted, it appears on a site dedicated to libertarianism, but don't let that dissuade those of you who may otherwise be hesitant about reading it. Particularly interesting are some of the classic experiments describe in the article. Some snippets follow.
**In dealing with highly committed people, it can be seen extreme communications are no more effective, indeed may be less effective in swinging a proportion of people's opinions. The way to sell a highly committed person is to start him off easy. However, the amazing thing was that the communications did produce shifts in attitudes along the lines urged. **
The more extreme the change urged by propaganda, the greater the shift in view evoked in recipients of the propaganda. It would appear, then, that the stereotyped wild-eyed radical extremist might be more effective than commonly thought when dealing with people not already heavily committed.** His problem is that he will be ineffective because of lacking in credibility. The people he tries to influence will take one look at him and the group he represents, evaluate him as an idiot, and be unaffected by anything he says. **
However...
When the students were tested four weeks later without having received anymore communications, it was found that credible and less credible sources had had the same long term effect.
Hmmmm.
**...while the other six people were really stooges working with the experimenter, and their only purpose was simply to unanimously agree upon obviously false answers on certain items. This left the real subject in open disagreement with the rest of the people if he were to make the correct comparison. The question was, would the lone subject conform to the false consensus, or would he maintain a judgment based upon a realistic appraisal. As it happened, there was a marked tendency for individuals to yield reality to consensus pressures, which is actually what happened in an almost incredible 37 percent of answers to rigged items. **