© Getty Images

Brainwashing -

According to Merriam-Webster, the formal definition of brainwashing is “a forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up basic political, social, or religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept contrasting regimented ideas.”

© Getty Images

Familiarity - When you read this, you may think of cults. However, in a diluted form, brainwashing essentially forms the basis for modern-day advertising.

© Getty Images

History - To understand the role it plays in present-day society, we should look at how the term was coined, and the psychology behind brainwashing.

© Getty Images

The Korean War (1950-53) - The identification of brainwashing has its root in 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations sent an international band of troops to fight on the side of South Korea.

© Getty Images

South Korea -

At the time, South Korea was effectively a colony of the United States. When North Korea invaded, the American government sent the most amount of money and troops. In the end, 300,000 soldiers were sent over to fight.

© Getty Images

North Korea - North Korea was supported by the Soviet Union and China. As a result, many call the war a proxy war for the tensions that were rising between the East and the West.

© Getty Images

Prisoners -

American soldiers made up 90% of the forces against North Korea. Therefore, it was inevitable that some were captured and sent to prisons. When they were released, they were often sent back to the United States.

© Getty Images

Odd - The soldiers who were released were acting exceedingly odd. When they returned home, they extolled the virtues of communism and its leaders. It was very surprising, given that they had been in torturous prisons for months.

© Getty Images

Patriots - Also bear in mind that many of these soldiers were patriots through and through. So much so that they risked their lives to fight for their country.

© Getty Images

Investigate -

The US military was sure something was up, and so asked a CIA operative, Edward Hunter, to look into the case. It was he who said that the soldiers had been “brainwashed.”

© Getty Images

Edward Hunter - Hunter wrote a book called ‘Brainwashing’ (1961), which states that brainwashed people become as subservient as “an insect to its instincts.” This much was obvious, but how did it happen?

© Getty Images

Breaking it down - Before brainwashing, a person has a set of beliefs, but afterwards they believe something radically different. These new beliefs are adopted in a very short amount of time, rather than built up over a lifetime.

© Getty Images

Sudden conversion - William Sargant (1907-1988) was a British psychologist who discovered that these sudden conversions had been taking place regularly in the form of religious conversions, therapy conversions, and political conversions.

© Getty Images

Significance - Sargant stated that because they are all sudden conversions, they probably used the same psychological processes. Thus, he set to work to figure out how the human mind is rewired in these contexts.

© Getty Images

Broader problem - However, in this light, brainwashing is not just an issue of political prisoners, but also a problem for all human beings who decide to radically change their lives.

© Getty Images

Search for answers - Sargant went back to basics by looking at the work of famed physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), who studied the nervous system of animals.

© Getty Images

Enlightening findings - Pavlov carried out an experiment where he put some dogs under extreme stress until they crumbled and their mind literally shut off.

© Getty Images

Enlightening findings - Pavlov found that the behavior of the dogs drastically changed. Firstly, they forgot most previous teachings, and secondly, if he taught them a new behavior shortly after the breakdown, it became deeply embedded.

© Getty Images

William Sargant -

Sargant realized that the same logic applied to humans. In his book ‘Battle for the Mind’ (1957), he wrote that men can be brainwashed “not by persuasive indoctrination alone, but also by imposing intolerable strains on a normally functioning brain.”

© Getty Images

The key - As happened in the prisons, humans have to go under intense emotional stress in order to obliterate their previous beliefs and take on new ones.

© Getty Images

William James (1842-1910) - Cleverly and slightly unnervingly, philosopher William James pointed out that emotional stress does not just come from torture, but can include intense experiences such as grief and heartbreak.

© Getty Images

Emotional experiences - For example, abusive relationships, extreme happiness, and extreme insecurity can all pass for intense emotional experiences that can cause drastic mental change.

© Getty Images

Old as time - Despite modern research, people have known about the ways of brainwashing for centuries–they just didn’t write it down. Probably because it was their secret weapon.

© Getty Images

John Wesley (1703-1791) - John Wesley was an Anglican cleric who used the brainwashing technique. In his sermons, he would instill the fear of God, literally, in churchgoers.

© Getty Images

Hell -

He would tell them that they would burn in hell if they did not accept God. As he was so charismatic and convincing that the audience felt emotionally stressed about death and were more likely to accept these beliefs.

© Shutterstock

Physical - Often, the people listening to him were so overwhelmed that they would collapse in the church. This behavior may seem familiar when you think of some of the more zealous religious groups in the world.

© Getty Images

Cults - By no means do all groups and leaders use this technique. However, if you think of some of the famous cults such as Jonestown and Children of God, the behavior will appear near identical.

© Getty Images

Brain change -

It is also worth remembering that while people who are brainwashed may believe or do things that are disagreeable, it is possible that they literally could not help it.

© Getty Images

Evil -

Unless you believe that everyone is intrinsically evil, brainwashing can explain why many a time good people have done bad things under the influence of a “higher power.” Mass shootings and extremism, when inspected, are often the result of some sort of brainwashing.

© Getty Images

Bright side -

While the technique can be used for evil, it can also be used for good. In some therapies, stimulating emotional stress can allow the patient to adopt a new belief system, void of their ailment.

Sources: (Britannica)(Academy of Ideas)

See also: The most brutal despots and dictators in history

© Getty Images