Psychological

INOCULATION: Using a weak dose of a counter-argument to make a person resistant to stronger arguments

Article Screenshot: Inoculation theory is a social psychological/communication theory that explains how an attitude or belief can be protected against persuasion or influence in much the same way a body can be protected against disease—for example, through pre-exposure to weakened versions of a stronger, future threat. The theory uses medical inoculation as its explanatory analogy—applied to attitudes (or beliefs) rather than to a disease. It has great potential for building public resilience ('immunity') against misinformation and fake news, for example, in tackling science denialism, risky health behaviours, and emotionally manipulative marketing and political messaging.

The theory was developed by social psychologist William J. McGuire in 1961 to explain how attitudes and beliefs change, and more specifically, how to keep existing attitudes and beliefs consistent in the face of attempts to change them.  Inoculation theory functions as a motivational strategy to protect attitudes from change—to confer resistance of counter-attitudinal influences, whether such influences take the form of direct attacks, indirect attacks, sustained pressures, etc., from such sources as the media, advertising, interpersonal communication, peer pressure, and other temptations. 

The theory posits that weak counterarguments generate resistance within the receiver, enabling them to maintain their beliefs in the face of a future, stronger attack. Following exposure to weak counterarguments (e.g., counterarguments that have been paired with refutations), the receiver will then seek out supporting information to further strengthen their threatened position. The held attitude or belief becomes resistant to a stronger attack, hence the medical analogy of a vaccine.

Inoculation works because it exposes people to counter-arguments, making them think about and rehearse rebuttals. When they hear stronger versions of the arguments in the future, they pay less attention to them, and perceive them to be easily dismissed. One example would be how the media portrayed anti-vaxxers as being fearful of 5G microchips in the needles. You see it in movies and TV shows too, where people like conservatives are shown losing political arguments easily or becoming easily convinced by shallow, non-convincing arguments for which they have no answer.

The goal is to convince the propaganda victim that their beliefs are correct, and they should ignore all future challenges to their belief system. They are thus resistant to all persuasion, despite being unable to answer the stronger arguments.

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Perception control through subtle word choice – the 1974 Loftus and Palmer study

This is one of the classic examples from persuasion research. The unreliability of eyewitness testimony, and the power of leading questions.

Participants were more likely to say the cars were going faster when asked “How fast were they going when the cars smashed into each other?” compared to “How fast were they going when the cars bumped into each other?”

By changing one simple word in the description of an event the participants had just witnessed, researchers could bias their answers and rewrite their memories without anybody knowing it had happened.

Psychology Study screenshot: Loftus and Palmer (1974) Study.

Aim: To test their hypothesis that the language used in eyewitness testimony can alter memory. 7 films of traffic accidents, ranging in duration from 5 to 30 seconds, were presented in a random order to each group. After watching the film participants were asked to describe what had happened as if they were eye witnesses. They were then asked specific questions, including the question "About how fast were the cars going when they (smashed / collided / bumped hit / contacted) each other?" 

Findings: The estimated speed was affected by the verb used. The verb implied information about the speed, which systematically affected the participants' memory of the accident. Participants who were asked the "smashed" question thought the cars were going faster than those who were asked the "hit" question. The participants in the "smashed" condition reported the highest speed estimate (40.8 mph), followed by "collided" (39-3 mph), "bumped" (38.1 mph), "hit" (34 mph), and "contacted" (31.8 mph) in descending order.

Conclusion: The results show that the verb conveyed an impression of the speed the car was traveling and this altered the participants' perceptions. In other words, eyewitness testimony might be biased by the way questions are asked after a crime is committed.

The media manipulation empire has been studying human psychology for generations. It knows precisely how to bias responses to certain events by controlling some of the simplest language patterns.


The Persuasive Power of Dissenting Comments

This is why news sites deleted all their comment sections. This is why they censor you on social media. This is why companies and campaigns hire content farms to bury dissent beneath a flood of approval.

They know the research shows dissenting comments reduce the persuasiveness of their propaganda, while likes and approving comments have no such persuasive power.

  • Dissenting comments are more persuasive than high numbers of likes.
  • Dissenting comments reduce the persuasiveness of news article content.
  • Comments in agreement with article content have no such persuasive impact.

Psychology Study screenshot: "They Came, They Liked, They Commented: Social Influence on Facebook News Channels." by Stephan Winter, Caroline Brückner, and Nicole Kramer; published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

Due to the increasing importance of social networking sites as sources of information, news media organizations have set up Facebook channels in which they publish news stories or links to articles. This research investigated how journalistic texts are perceived in this new context and how reactions of other users change the influence of the main articles. In an online experiment (N=197), a Facebook posting of a reputable news site and the corresponding article were shown. The type of user comments and the number of likes were systematically varied. Negative comments diminished the persuasive influence of the article, while there were no strengthening effects of positive comments. When readers perceived the topic as personally relevant, comments including relevant arguments were more influential than comments with subjective opinions, which can be explained by higher levels of elaboration. However, against expectations of bandwagon perceptions, a high number of likes did not lead to conformity effects, which suggests that exemplifying comments are more influential than statistical user representations. Results are discussed with regard to effects of news media content and the mechanisms of social influence in Web 2.0.

Josh Daws explains exactly why the Left is trying so hard to brainwash your kids with modern sexual ideology

Josh Daws, the host of The Great Awokening podcast, explains:

I’m seeing a lot of people on the right share this meme. While it may be a strong satirical response to those who get lost in nuance, it fundamentally fails to recognize why the left wants to talk to your kids about sexuality. Let’s connect some dots.

The left doesn’t want to diddle kids. They want to create little revolutionaries. To do that they need to sever the bond between students and the parents they believe are raising their children to be hateful bigots.

In order to sever the bond between parents and their children, the left is using a two-pronged approach. Critical Race Theory (CRT) and radical gender ideology (properly known as Queer Theory) are not two unrelated sets of ideas. They are two parts of the same strategy.

CRT is usually the first set of ideas to be introduced. This is often enough to radicalize racial minorities, but it’s merely step one for white (or white adjacent) students. CRT instills in these students a negative self-identity as they’re taught to believe they’re recipients of enormous privilege that was stolen from others and that they are complicit in historic and ongoing injustice. In child terms, they’re taught to believe they’re bad. Apart from the shame and guilt, this also gives them a worldview at odds with the one their parents grew up with and are trying to pass on to their kids. Step one is complete.

Once CRT is done tearing down these kids and leaving them with a negative self-identity, Queer Theory (QT) is introduced and offers them a wide assortment of positive self-identities to choose from.

Instead of living with the shame and guilt of being a member of the oppressive dominant culture, these students can be celebrated for coming out as gender nonbinary or pansexual.

In an instant, these kids can trade their negative self-identity and all the accompanying guilt and shame of being an “oppressor” for a positive self-identity as a much-venerated “oppressed” minority.

At this point, the left desperately wants this new identity to stay at school so it has time to be cemented before the parents find out. In the guise of helping these students, schools withhold this information about their child’s new identity from mom and dad. Once the parents do find out about their child’s new identity it’s firmly in place and an adversarial relationship between the child and parents has been manufactured. It takes extraordinarily deft parenting to repair the relationship once it has reached this stage. The parents’ tendency will be to overreact and push the child further into the arms of the woke radicals who now have the little revolutionary they wanted from the beginning. The bond between parents and child has been severed ending the perpetuation of hate and bigotry.

The left is determined to replicate this process in as many families as they can using whatever means at their disposal. It’s not about diddling kids. It’s about capturing the minds of impressionable children. Unfortunately, this creates environments where actual predators can thrive. When young children are isolated from their parents, encouraged to adopt different beliefs, and keep secrets from their parents, they are made easy targets for abusers.

Hear me loud and clear on this. Most teachers love the kids in their classrooms and want only the best for them. They have had their empathy *for* these students weaponized *against* them by leftist activists promoting educational programs that sound nice and caring. Highly empathetic teachers are being used to promote this agenda unaware of its insidious purpose. An example: I recently saw a teacher at a Christian school announce that she would no longer be using the words “mom”, “dad”, or “parents” in her classroom. Her reason? She had just read a paper on the importance of making kids from non-traditional families feel included. She suggested replacing “Donuts with Dads” with “Bagels with Buds” or something of the such. This sounds like a very considerate thing to do for kids who might feel different because they don’t have a dad or live with their grandparents, but its purpose is to subtly chip away at the very idea of the normative nuclear family (a stated goal of the BLM organization.)

Christians who think that we can embrace the ideas from CRT and reject radical gender ideology need to realize how the former is used to prepare kids to accept the latter.

These are your kids we’re talking about. The left wants them. They would love to sever your bond with them. They think your appeals to childhood innocence are an attempt to force heteronormativity on them. Seriously. They write papers on it. It’s not a secret agenda.

@ConceptualJames has recorded a three-part series walking through this entire agenda by looking at primary sources. I highly recommend all parents invest the time to listen to them.

The meme I opened this with is an easy response to the insanity we’re seeing today, but it’s not a great explanation. We should take the time to help people see how nice-sounding programs are being used in the classroom to create little activists and put kids in danger.





Dancing Mania and other social contagions

Definition: "Behavioral contagion"
Spontaneous, unsolicited and uncritical imitation of another's behaviour.

Behavioral contagion is a form of social contagion involving the spread of behavior through a group. It refers to the propensity for a person to copy a certain behavior of others who are either in the vicinity, or whom they have been exposed to. The term was originally used by Gustave Le Bon.

Dancing Mania. Medieval social phenomena.

Dancing mania (also known as dancing plague) was a social phenomenon that … involved groups of people dancing erratically, sometimes thousands at a time … until they collapsed from exhaustion and injuries.

The outbreaks of dancing mania varied, and several characteristics of it have been recorded. Generally occurring in times of hardship, up to tens of thousands of people would appear to dance for hours, days, weeks, and even months.

Women have often been portrayed in modern literature as the usual participants in dancing mania, although contemporary sources suggest otherwise.  Whether the dancing was spontaneous, or an organized event, is also debated. What is certain, however, is that dancers seemed to be in a state of unconsciousness and unable to control themselves.

In his research into social phenomena, author Robert Bartholomew notes that contemporary sources record that participants often did not reside where the dancing took place. Such people would travel from place to place, and others would join them along the way. With them they brought customs and behaviour that were strange to the local people.  Bartholomew describes how dancers wore "strange, colorful attire" and "held wooden sticks".

Robert Marks, in his study of hypnotism, notes that some decorated their hair with garlands.[7]: 201  However, not all outbreaks involved foreigners, and not all were particularly calm. Bartholomew notes that some "paraded around naked" and made "obscene gestures". Some even had sexual intercourse. Others acted like animals, and jumped, hopped and leaped about.

They hardly stopped, and some danced until they broke their ribs and subsequently died. Throughout, dancers screamed, laughed, or cried, and some sang. Bartholomew also notes that observers of dancing mania were sometimes treated violently if they refused to join in. Participants demonstrated odd reactions to the color red; in A History of Madness in Sixteenth-Century Germany, Midelfort notes they "could not perceive the color red at all", and Bartholomew reports "it was said that dancers could not stand... the color red, often becoming violent on seeing [it]".

Imagine the spread of dysfunctional social contagions now that social media has burst onto the scene..




MEDIA MANIPULATION LANGUAGE LIST

Language Tricks
Media Disinformation Agents Use
To Manipulate You

looming on the horizon
looming threat
heating up
imminent
an uptick
a spike
a surge
crisis
unprecedented
uncertain times
trying times
danger to our democracy
threatens our values
a direct threat to
attack on our institutions
undermines faith in
undermines the public trust
worrying levels of
at an alarming rate
potentially
a risk of
is a symptom of
expected / suspected
amid rising concerns
there is concern
growing concern
rising tensions
upheaval

———

impassioned
sends a powerful message
and it’s beautiful
here’s why that’s a good/bad thing
here’s how to think about ___
because of course it is
safe and effective
settled science
trust the science
it’s clear
it feels like
brave
heart-breaking
empowering
disenfranchised
marginalised
get educated / uneducated
the wrong/right side of history
history won’t be kind to
dustbin of history
systemic
dismantle
decolonise
the conversation
reimagining
so this never happens again
a lot to unpack
whiteness
social construct
part of the problem
it’s not who we are
opening a dialog
come together
tolerant
open and inclusive
undocumented
on both sides
deplatform
the ___ community
global goals
our shared values
hetero-normative
women and people of color

———

independent fact checkers
verified
sources reveal
experts agree
scholars agree
psychologist says
the science says
scientists predict
research suggests
studies suggest
it’s settled science
seems to suggest
officials warn
authorities advise
critics claim
according to the experts
sources familiar say
sources familiar with his thinking
according to insiders
according to new polls
appears to show
what appears to be
evidence-based
scientific consensus
studies show
new figures show
new indicators
a new start-up
in a press release
told reporters
announced today
most people agree
after investigation
valid concerns
widely seen as
widely recognised as
overwhelming
believed to be
this is where we stand
there is no debate
this is what we know
it’s irrefutable

———

misinformation
disinformation
unfounded
debunked
rumours
baseless
nonsense
blatantly false
widely disputed
roundly dismissed
falsely claims
the false claim
makes inaccurate claims about
claims without evidence
alleged
spreading conspiracy theories
a crackpot notion
taking root
his obsession with
sprung up online
propagated by
pushing the belief
advancing the idea
peddling
it’s unclear if

———

controversial
objectionable
not normal
bizarre
strange
problematic
deeply concerning
disturbing
gross
dark
shocking
sickening
dangerous
horrific
unnerving
disquieting
scary
terrifying
pervasive
divisive

———

conspiracy theorist
truther
anti-
anti-vaxxer
Qanon
fringe beliefs
fringe groups
privileged
toxic
far right
hard right
extreme right
alt right
radicalized
white supremacist
neo-nazi
fascist
denier
science denier
climate denier
hesitant
hateful
hate-filled
insurrectionist
extremist
radical
racist
anti-semitic
homophobic
transphobic
islamophobic

———

his/her rhetoric
blasts
targets
stokes
attacks
slams
rips
opens fire
lashes out
spewing
amplified
give oxygen to
provoking
bombshell
trope
canard
dog whistle
emboldened
a culture of
has a habit of
a familiar tactic
sparks outrage
catches flak
rant
a vile screed
loses his temper
ill-tempered
incites
inciting violence
attempting to undermine
is very confused about
hate speech
spreading hate
rings hollow
in bad faith
tone deaf
has no place in a ___ society

———

oppressive regimes
Russia collusion
Russian disinformation
Russian oligarchs
Russian hackers
Russian bots
Russian trolls

didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment







“Culture” creators

This guy actually thinks culture means whatever garbage propaganda the media is pumping out at the time. Sad!

Tweet screenshot: I'm starting to think our culture might not have a healthy view of workers.

Four news article screenshots compilation: 

1. "Why crying employees can sometimes be a sign of a healthy workplace." Occasionally crying at work is normal - and can sometimes indicate an honest work culture. But there are some best practices to follow when dealing with a coworker's tears.

2. CNBC: Despite work/life balance buzz, disconnecting to spend time with your kids could severely impact your future wages.

3. "There's too much life in our work-life balance." The slog of our day-to-day existence is making us shockingly unproductive.

4. The Wall Street Journal: A drawback to a shorter workday: "Everyone's outside life got so much better, at the expense of their passion for the work".

Infographic: The Iceberg Concept of Culture.

 - Primarily in awareness:
Fine arts. Literature. Drama. Classical music. Popular music. Folk dancing. Games. Cooking. Dress.

 - Primarily out of awareness:
Notions of modesty. Conception of beauty. Ideals governing child raising. Rules of descent. Cosmology. Relationship to animals. Patterns of superior/subordinate relations. Definition of sin. Courtship practices. Conception of justice. Incentives to work. Notions of leadership. Tempo of work. Patterns of group decision-making. Conception of cleanliness. Attitudes to the dependent. Theory of disease. Approaches to problem-solving. Conception of status mobility. Eye behaviour. Roles in relation to status by age, sex, class, occupation, kinship, etc. Definition of insanity. Nature of friendship. Conception of self. Patterns of visual perception. Body language. Facial expressions. Notions about logic and validity. Patterns of handling emotions. Conversational patterns in various social contexts. Conception of past and future. Ordering of time. Preference for competition or cooperation. Social interaction rate. Notions of adolescence. Arrangement of physical space.

AFS intercultural programs Inc Copyright 2010

The media machine works tirelessly to make every Western nation forget their traditions, their habits, cultural preferences, and their aesthetic ideals. Why? To turn every person into an interchangeable, mindless, corporate-branded, detached-from-history, government-owned, cog in a sick machine. If you have forgotten your history and identity, your borders can be flung open, your country can be sold off to the highest bidder or ripped to shreds, and everything stopping the centralized corporate takeover of the earth gets liquidated. The twin evils of destruction—Corporatism and Communism—must first destroy Traditionalism in order to succeed in their conquest of Earth. This is why we see both of these evils propping each other up, in everything from wars to daily propaganda, fighting together for decades against their common enemy. Nationalism and Traditionalism are the only things standing in the way of their ruthless globalist empire.

The media machine floods the airwaves with fakery 24/7, to make you forget what is real.


The anti-family, Globalist media will stop at nothing to destroy the community of nations

The hypnosis media mantra: “Don’t reproduce. Abort your children. Replace yourselves with immigrants. Consume then die. Cherish nothing. Destroy your inheritance. Bequeath nothing. Extinguish your genetic line. Throw open your borders. Delete your country. You are a good person.”

❓ Like all empires in history, the Globalist Regime employs PROPAGANDA, REEDUCATION, RESETTLEMENT and GENOCIDE to break the spirit of the individual tribes, ethnicities and nations under its dominion, and produce a uniform rootless global citizen which is easily controlled.

Will your people survive the Globalist Empire?