Brainwashing: the science of thought control

Kathleen Taylor

published by Oxford University Press, November 2004

long-listed for the Aventis Science Prize 2005

short-listed for the MIND Book of the Year Award 2005

short-listed and “highly commended” for the THES Young Academic Author of the Year Award 2005

"magisterially detailed survey … never less than direct and engaging … This is an outstanding book" (Focus Magazine)

"Just how brainwashing can be achieved is very well conveyed, and the complexities of brain function are clearly explained" (Publishing News)

"a prime example of that rarest of species -- a book that is both academic and readable" (Popular Science online)

Reviews

Please note that I do not advise on individual cases.

o       What is brainwashing?

o       Does it really happen?

o       What happens in cults?

o       What makes people commit atrocities?

o       Do we have free will?

o       Can brain science help us understand thought control?

o       How can we resist thought control?

Brainwashing is the first book to apply modern neuroscience to the topic of thought control. It combines psychology, history and cultural studies with cutting-edge brain research. Case studies range from modern-day cults to sixteenth-century England, while colourful metaphors illustrate aspects of brain function. From free will to fanaticism, neurons to 9/11, Brainwashing brings a neglected phenomenon to life and traces its continued relevance to us today.

To read more about the neuroscience of belief, as described by Alok Jha in the Guardian, click here.

To read my Guardian essay on brainwashing and terrorism (October 2005), click here.

Sample reviews

Read a review of the book on PopularScience.co.uk

Read a review of the book on Metapsychology Online

Read a review of the book on Amazon.co.uk

Media

In April 2005 I was invited onto Radio Four's Start the Week and All in the Mind to talk about brainwashing. I have also spoken at the Edinburgh Science Festival, the Cheltenham Science Festival (on fundamentalism), on RTE’s Dialogues, broadcast in September 2005, and at the Dartington and Hay-on-Wye literary festivals, as well as at Cafe Scientifiques in Oxford and London.

BRAINWASHING was published in 2004 by Oxford University Press. You can visit them to place an order or learn more about the book. Or you can take a look on Amazon (where the book has also been reviewed).

Summary
 

The term 'brainwashing' was born in the crucible of war …

Ever since the Korean War, when it was first coined, the idea of brainwashing has fascinated, baffled, frightened, and appalled us. Around the world people are being pressured, deceived, or persuaded into adopting beliefs which are extremely and obviously harmful to them and to others. How does this thought control happen, and how can we resist it?

Social psychologists have studied beliefs and belief change for many years. Yet until very recently one crucial aspect was missing from their research: the human brain. Brainwashing changes brains, so to understand brainwashing we need to understand brain science.

That science has made huge conceptual and technological advances in recent years. Uniquely among books on the subject, BRAINWASHING draws on this wealth of new material, bringing together findings from social psychology and contemporary research in neuroscience to explain how beliefs form and change, and how we can be manipulated into committing ourselves to dangerous ideas.

From the workings of brain cells to the philosophy of free will, from the history of brainwashing to the politics of how to minimise its dangers, this book ranges across a multitude of topics to investigate the past, present and future of brainwashing. For the first time, it sets the phenomenon within a wider scientific, social and political context, showing how advances in brain science may hold the key to resisting the malign effects of thought control.

Further links of interest:
 

AFF

Rick Ross's brainwashing page