"We are the origin of all coming evil . . . " ~Carl Gustav Jung Truer words have never been spoken. We are always looking "out there" for the next threat. The next virus, the next meteor, the next earthquake, the next hurricane. All of these things pose threats, for sure, but they are external. No threat, as professor Jung points out, is greater than the internal threat; the threat we pose to each other. And, the root of this threat is the human mind along with our ignorance of it. The real threat stems from the fact that most people are ignorant of the inner workings of the mind, but not everybody. There are select groups of people who study the human psyche and how to manipulate it. One such group are hypnotists, or as practitioners of this art call it, "neuro-linguistic programming". That sounds much more scientific, doesn't it. The point is, it works. A decent hypnotist can induce a trance in the majority of people and get them to do things totally outside of their awareness and conscious control. In the TED talk posted below, Albert Nerenberg is amazingly open with the audience. He reveals some of how hypnotism works and he keeps the presentation fairly light and even comical. I couldn't help but notice how in one part of the video he gives one of the subjects an imaginary gun they are to use to put the other subjects to "sleep" with, as well as themselves. The subject did not hesitate to do as instructed with the imaginary gun, just like all of the other post-hypnotic suggestions subjects were given. Often subjects do not remember performing all of the things they did while under hypnosis. Not to put too fine a point on it, but what if it was a real gun? Another group which studies the mind is psychologists. A particular branch of psychology, operant conditioning, is concerned with changing behavior. B.F. Skinner is given credit for doing the initial experiments in this field. Most people are familiar with terms such as positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment. Initially these techniques were focused on modifying the behavior of animals. Researchers soon realized that these techniques are effective in modifying human behavior as well. In fact, much of the popularity of operant conditioning techniques is based on the fact that it works, even on humans. B.F. Skinner did not invent operant conditioning. He merely invented the vocabulary used to describe it scientifically. His experiments were mainly restricted to animal subjects. However, operant conditioning has been used on human beings for centuries. Is it ethical to use operant conditioning on humans? In some cases "nature" or the environment delivers natural consequences to our actions which may influence future behavior. However, when one person or group is given power over another, the power to administer positive or negative reinforcement or punishments. This is the only way operant conditioning works, by giving one group power over another. Just read through your mobile phone contract to see who holds the power in that relationship. And, it works very well. It works on animals, and everyone pretty much agrees that humans are superior to animals, so there is little ethical concern. But, what about when we turn this tool on our fellow humans. It works very well on humans, too, but the power differential must be there for it to work, and because of this there is the potential for abuse. This is why there are some ethical concerns with the use operant conditioning on humans. Consider the utter inability of most adolescents to control their smart phone use, let alone many adults. These devices are based on operant conditioning. It is not necessarily for the customer's benefit that they work that way either. Of course, it is primarily based on positive reinforcement, a "reward" system. However, it can be just as manipulative, if not more so, due to the covert nature of the positive reinforcement. What is being reinforced (i.e. controlled) is your behavior. None of these lessons from the fields of neuro-linguistic programming and operant conditioning have been lost to one of the most powerful industries in the modern world. Namely, advertising and media. Some of the best evidence for the importance given to advertising is the amount of money spent. Last year (2020) 263.4 billion dollars was spent, in the U.S. alone, on advertising. Few of us are aware of just how much of our beliefs, attitudes, and behavior are controlled by outside forces. There may be many nefarious reasons to want to control people in this way, but the most obvious reason is economic. They want your money! It is very useful to study psychology. As Carl Jung says, ignorance of the human mind may prove to be the downfall of our species. A good place to start is with the two subjects mentioned above, and to become aware of how this knowledge is being used all around us all the time.
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AuthorCurrently teaching High School Environmental Science and Biology. Archives
March 2024
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