Brainwashing

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Behavioural influences

Brainwashing[a] is the systematic effort to get someone to adopt a particular (sometimes deceptive) loyalty, instruction, or doctrine. It is a colloquial term that refers in general to psychological techniques that manipulate action or thought against a person's will, desire or knowledge. It attempts to damage individual or group attitudes, frames of reference, beliefs, values or loyalties by demonstrating that current thinking patterns and attitudes are wrong and need change.[1] Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject's ability to think critically or independently, to allow the introduction of new, unwanted thoughts and ideas into their minds.[2][3][4]

The term "brainwashing" was first used in English by Edward Hunter in 1950 to describe how the Chinese government appeared to make people cooperate with them during the Korean War. Research into the concept also looked at Nazi Germany and present-day North Korea, at some criminal cases in the United States, and at the actions of human traffickers. Scientific and legal debate followed, as well as media attention, about the possibility of brainwashing being a factor when lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was used,[5] or in the induction of people into groups which are considered to be cults.[6]

Brainwashing has become a common theme in popular culture especially in war stories, thrillers, and science fiction stories.[7] In casual speech, "brainwashing" and its verb form, "brainwash", are used figuratively to describe the use of propaganda to sway public opinion.[8]


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  1. ^ "Brainwashing | Cults, Indoctrination, Manipulation | Britannica".
  2. ^ Campbell, Robert Jean (2004). Campbell's Psychiatric Dictionary. USA: Oxford University Press. p. 403.
  3. ^ Corsini, Raymond J. (2002). The Dictionary of Psychology. Psychology Press. p. 127.
  4. ^ Kowal, D.M. (2000). "Brainwashing". In Love, A.E. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Psychology. Vol. 1. American Psychological Association. pp. 463–464. doi:10.1037/10516-173. ISBN 1-55798-650-9.
  5. ^ Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Religion. Vol. 2. Gyan Publishing House. 2005.
  6. ^ Wright, Stuart (December 1997). "Media coverage of unconventional religion: Any "good news" for minority faiths?". Review of Religious Research. 39 (2): 101–115. doi:10.2307/3512176. JSTOR 3512176.
  7. ^ O'Brien, Terry (2005). Westfahl, Gary (ed.). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders. Vol. 1. Greenwood Publishing Group.
  8. ^ "Brainwash Definition & Meaning". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 22 July 2023. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
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