Propaganda. It sounds like an old-fashioned word. Typical of other times. From another generation. Still, the propaganda never went away. In fact, today it is more active than ever. Its strong point is that hardly anyone notices it, so it can perfectly fulfill the objectives for which it was conceived. As psychologist Noam Shpancer said, "If you don't hear a lot of propaganda, this is what you are hearing."
The distant origin of propaganda
Propaganda has always existed, since ancient Greece. However, the term itself dates back to the 17th century, when the Catholic Church strove to propagate its views and worldview in order to curb the rise of Protestantism.
In fact, the first historical document in which the word "propaganda" appears dates back to 1622, when Pope Gregory XV instituted the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide o "Sacred congregation for the propagation of the faith of the Catholic and Roman Church". It was then when a papal propaganda office was established to coordinate the Counter-Reformation efforts against Lutheranism.
A long time has passed since then. After going through the Nazi propaganda of Joseph Goebbels and the propaganda of both sides of the Cold War, this concept has gradually taken on a negative aura that basically refers to self-interested lies, generally promoted by some systems of social control to try to manipulate public opinion.
What exactly is propaganda?
Il Propaganda Analysis Institute of the United States defined it "The expression of an opinion or action of individuals or groups deliberately designed to influence the opinions or actions of other individuals or groups with reference to predetermined ends".
Therefore, propaganda consists of the dissemination of partial or misleading information that is used to promote or advertise a particular cause or political point of view with the aim of influencing public opinion and individuals in particular.
Propaganda has a dual purpose. On the one hand, it tries to shape people's opinions on a certain topic by offering a partial interpretation and on the other hand, it tries to push those same people into action so that they change their world and support certain ideas.
The Machiavellian principles of propaganda
THEAmerican Psychological Association indicates that "Propaganda makes little use of techniques that help people manage their behavior intelligently and bets more on those that induce the individual to follow their emotional and non-rational impulses."
List the four principles of propaganda used to manipulate public opinion:
1. Appeal to emotions, never argue
2. Focus the propaganda on the model: "us" versus an "enemy"
3. Reach out to groups and individuals
4. Hide the propaganda as much as possible
In fact, the most effective propaganda is that aimed at a public that is unaware of the use of this type of information manipulated on it. Therefore, propaganda is not a magic show, but rather a full-fledged scam. A mind that is not trained to detect and neutralize propaganda is a naïve and easily manipulated mind.
In this sense, it is no secret that propaganda has been an effective tool used by both Germany and the United States to influence the opinion of their respective populations to "explain" how they should see the opposite side. Through posters, films, radio and other media, governments have influenced the population to support their cause.
After repeated exposure to this type of propaganda, a phenomenon known as "repeat priming", people began to believe and stand up for what each government had told them. For them, propaganda has become the truth.
How does propaganda disable our critical capacity?
Psychologist E. Bruce Goldstein believes that propaganda works through priming, which "Occurs when the presentation of a stimulus changes the way a person responds to another stimulus." In fact, science has confirmed that when we are exposed to statements we have previously read or heard, we are more likely to rate them as true. This is known as "illusory effect of truth induced by repetition".
In fact, when we hear a story or point of view that aligns with our beliefs, we are less likely to question it. There is no cognitive dissonance. We may also feel good because we have confirmation of what we thought. Consequently, we do not check this information because we believe it is "correct".
This trap we fall into occurs due to a complex process in the brain. Our brain has an "executive control network" which is primarily responsible for our critical attitude and thinking. However, research conducted at the Harvard Medical School revealed that fear, like fear of foreigners, immigrants or others, can disable that network.
In other words, fear makes it harder for our brains to think critically and objectively, so when this emotion - a favorite of propaganda - is activated it is more difficult for us to detect false information and we are more vulnerable to lies and manipulations.
Participatory propaganda in the age of social networks
Previously, propaganda was fundamentally dominated by the power system, which exercised censorship on media such as newspapers, radio and television. Currently, the Internet and social networks have changed that iron control by becoming a megaphone to give the floor to dissenting voices.
In this context, a new way of manipulating public opinion, participatory propaganda or peer-to-peer propaganda has emerged. It is a universe in which each person replicates the propaganda message on their own networks, becoming even more involved, feeling more identified with those ideas and, of course, helping to affirm them as true, in turn exerting pressure on the people who follow them on those social networks. network.
“Participatory propaganda seeks to offer a new way to restore state sovereignty over people in a new information environment and to rebuild the walls that have been demolished by global horizontal communications networks. Its goal is to mitigate the ability of these networks to challenge state sovereignty. If the state cannot control the flow of information and communications, it focuses on how this information is interpreted and analyzed.
“Participatory propaganda restores state sovereignty from within. It aims to build walls in the internal spaces of the person, configuring categories of perception of the environment. First, it constructs the object of a conflict that can potentially divide people, and then provides it with the technological tools to manage that propaganda idea ", says academician and journalist Gregory Asmolov for the MIT.
Propaganda, especially on social networks, becomes an instrument of polarization and disconnection. It generates a socialization of the conflict. It excludes those who think differently and creates bubbles that sanction a single vision of the facts. As a result, the dialogue is interrupted. Logical thinking disappears. Propaganda wins.
Thinking freely under the siege of propaganda
Propaganda not only silences our critical thinking, but also breaks the bridges of understanding with each other and, what is worse, condemns us to obscurantism, feeding a partial and extremely simplified vision of complex and multidetermined problems. As a result, we become easily manipulated pawns willing to blindly follow certain doctrines.
To escape propaganda, we need to activate our critical thinking and deactivate our fears. Assuming that any medium can spread propaganda. Whenever someone tells us what to think and which side to stand on, he should sound an alarm bell. Whenever the official narrative veers in one direction, we should be suspicious. And above all, to escape propaganda we must not think that we are immune to it.
Sources:
Asmolov, G. (2019) The Effects of Participatory Propaganda: From Socialization to Internalization of Conflicts. JoDS; 6:10.21428.
Nierenberg, A. (2018) Why Does Propaganda Work? Fear-Induced Repression of the Executive Control Brain Network. Psychiatric Annals; 48 (7): 315.
Goldstein, EB (2015) Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience (4th And.). Sl: Wadsworth.
Biddle, WW (1931). A psychological definition of propaganda. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology; 26(
Admission Propaganda today: how has it transformed to continue manipulating us? was published first in Corner of Psychology.
