操纵的"方法"
毫无疑问，试图操纵其他人想法和行为的企图自古就有，但是直到二十世纪早期，俄罗斯心理学教授伊万.巴甫洛夫（Ivan Pavlov）发表了他（后天习得）条件反射的研究后，操纵才成为了一门学科。巴甫洛夫发现通过给狗喂食的时候摇响铃铛，他可以让狗在听到铃声后流口水，甚至没有提供食物也是如此。一个美国心理学家约翰.沃森（John Watson）受到巴甫洛夫研究的影响，并将这个结论用于人的行为。在沃森最著名的实验中，他让一个婴儿去触摸实验用的老鼠。一开始，婴儿并不害怕，但是当每次婴儿伸手出去触碰老鼠的时候，沃森就用一个锤子击打金属，婴儿就变得害怕并且哭泣。很快，婴儿不仅在看到老鼠时哭泣，而且在看到任何毛茸茸的东西（比如玩具动物）就哭。沃森的工作为他赢得了"行为主义之父"的称号。
沃森将行为主义者规则的应用于广告的事情不是很引人注目。他的后半生职业工作都在进行广告业务，很快他发现对消费者最有效、有吸引力的广告都诉诸感情而不是理智。他建议广告商"告诉［消费者］能够产生害怕的事实，能够激发适度愤怒的事情，能够唤起喜欢和爱之反应的事物，或者冲击到深处的心理或者习惯需求。"他对一位百货公司经理所做演示时说的一句话可能最好地体现了他对待消费者的态度："消费者之于制造商、百货公司和广告机构，就如青蛙之于生理学家。"
沃森在报纸和收音机盛行的19世纪20年代和30年代之间推行这些策略。当电视出现后，这些广告策略变得更加熟练和高效，因此很多承担政治和社会任务的个人或者群体采用了它们。这些策略因为几个原因而有效，主要原因是人们相信不会受操纵的影响。很多研究者已经证明这个想法是错误的。比如，所罗门.阿希（Solomon Asch）表明因为一系列单词顺序的变化，人们的反应就会被简单地改变。他要求学生参与者通过一系列形容词对一个人进行评估。当他把正面形容词放在前面-"聪明，勤奋，冲动，挑剔，顽固，嫉妒"——参与者给予正面评价。当他反转次序，把"嫉妒"放在第一位，"聪明"放在最后，他们给予负面评价。
同样的，研究者已经表明人们的记忆会被操纵。提问题的方式可以改变一个人回忆的细节，甚至让人回忆起从来没有发生过的事情！
当然，广告商、政治和社会团体并不满足于激发情感以及（或者）在我们脑海里种下观念。他们还通过不断重复强化这些印象。听到口号或者说法越多，人们对它就越熟悉。不久，它就和那些经过仔细思考后的观点难以区分了。可悲的是，“这些包装好的观念非常高效，以至于评论者，听众，还有读者根本不能做出自己的决定。相反，他将一个包装好的观念输入到脑海，有点像将一张DVD碟片插入DVD播放器。在任何看上去适当的时候他按下播放按钮‘回放’这个观念。”很多我们认为是珍贵的，并且全力捍卫的信念可能都是通过这种方式植入我们电脑的。
很多年以前，哈利.欧服斯特里（Harry A. Overstreet ）指出“观念的气氛就像物理世界的天气，无处不在，生活在其中而不知道其它观点的人认为这是理所当然的。”大众文化的繁荣和操纵的熟练使用，让这个洞见比以往更加有意义。
原文：
“Science” of Manipulation
Attempts to influence the thoughts and actions of others are no doubt as old as time, but manipulation did not become a science until the early twentieth century, when Ivan Pavlov, a Russian professor of psychology, published his research on conditioned (learned) reflexes. Pavlov found that by ringing a bell when he fed a dog, he could condition the dog to drool at the sound of the bell even when no food was presented. An American psychologist, John Watson, was impressed with Pavlov’s findings and applied them to human behavior. In Watson’s most famous experiment, he let a baby touch a laboratory rat. At first, the baby was unafraid. But then Watson hit a hammer against metal whenever the baby reached out to touch the rat, and the baby became frightened and cried. In time, the baby cried not only at the sight of the rat but also at the sight of anything furry, such as a stuffed animal.* Watson’s work earned him the title “father of behaviorism.”
Less well known is Watson’s application of behaviorist principles to advertising. He spent the latter part of his career working for advertising agencies and soon recognized that the most effective appeal to consumers 10 PART ONE The Context was not to the mind but to the emotions. He advised advertisers to “tell [the consumer] something that will tie him up with fear, something that will stir up a mild rage, that will call out an affectionate or love response, or strike at a deep psychological or habit need.” His attitude toward the consumer is perhaps best indicated by a statement he made in a presentation to department store executives: “The consumer is to the manufacturer, the department stores and the advertising agencies, what the green frog is to the physiologist.”16
(*Modern ethical norms would not allow a child to be used in such an experiment.)
Watson introduced these strategies in the 1920s and 1930s, the age of newspapers and radio. Since the advent of television, these advertising strategies have grown more sophisticated and effective, so much so that many individuals and groups with political and social agendas have adopted them. The strategies work for a number of reasons, the chief one being people’s conviction that they are impervious to manipulation. This belief is mistaken, as many researchers have demonstrated. For example, Solomon Asch showed that people’s reactions can be altered simply by changing the order of words in a series. He asked study participants to evaluate a person by a series of adjectives. When he put positive adjectives first—”intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stubborn, envious”— the participants gave a positive evaluation. When he reversed the order, with “envious” coming first and “intelligent” last, they gave a negative evaluation.17
Similarly, research has shown that human memory can be manipulated. The way a question is asked can change the details in a person’s memory and even make a person remember something that never happened!18
Of course, advertisers and people with political or social agendas are not content to stimulate emotions and/or plant ideas in our minds. They also seek to reinforce those impressions by repeating them again and again. The more people hear a slogan or talking point, the more familiar it becomes. Before long, it becomes indistinguishable from ideas developed through careful thought. Sadly, “the packaging is often done so effectively that the viewer, listener, or reader does not make up his own mind at all. Instead, he inserts a packaged opinion into his mind, somewhat like inserting a DVD into a DVD player. He then pushes a button and ‘plays back’ the opinion whenever it seems appropriate to do so. He has performed acceptably without having had to think.”19 Many of the beliefs we hold dearest and defend most vigorously may have been planted in our minds in just this way.
Many years ago, Harry A. Overstreet noted that “a climate of opinion, like a physical climate, is so pervasive a thing that those who live within it and know no other take it for granted.”20 The rise of mass culture and the sophisticated use of manipulation have made this insight more relevant today than ever.