The idea of brainwashing had a viral moment in the 1950s when the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) decided to wage psychological warfare against Communism. Project MKUltra secretly experimented with “mind control” techniques, dosing people with lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) without their consent. In fact, at one point the CIA…
This was supposed to be the year when we collectively recovered from our pandemic trauma, found greater happiness in the workplace, and renewed loving relationships with our friends, our family, and ourselves. Did it all happen the way we mapped it out last New Year’s Eve? Probably not. But based…
The sweet, charming, handsome ex-Marine you’ve been emailing and texting with for eight months has a family emergency and can’t make his flight to meet you for the first time. You’re crushed. You’d let yourself fall hard for this guy, and now it might be another few months before you…
We’ve already shown how destructive cults and manipulative marketing tactics can weaponize extreme psychological influence. But what about a form of “mind control” that doesn’t have an industry or a social scaffolding behind it? Manipulation by an intimate partner can feel even more insidious because it’s perpetrated by someone you…
Last weekend I had the classic Saturday morning experience of watching cartoons with my daughter and hearing “I want that!” at least seven times during each commercial break. It’s glaringly obvious when children are the target of advertising campaigns. Bright colors! Music! Animal mascots! But it’s not as obvious when…
