http://bactra.org/notebooks Cosma's Notebooks en http://bactra.org/notebooks/2008/07/03#persuasion Really, non-rational techniques of persuasion. (A somewhat cloudy concept, which I probably ought to work on making clear.) For instance: is a mis-leading or a lie a form of non-rational persuasion? (Probably not.) How about the threat of torture? (No, because it doesn't instill belief, merely lead to a specific action.) <P>Connections <a href="conversion.html">religious conversion</a>, <a href="initiation-rites.html">initiation rites</a>, <a href="possession.html">possession and multiple personality</a>, <a href="psychotherapy.html">psychotherapy</a>. Exploitation by <a href="memes.html">memes</a>. Cf. <a href="intellectual-immunity.html">Intellectual Immune Systems</a> <ul>Recommended: <li>Phil Agre, <a href="http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/jargon.html">Notes on the New Jargon</a> <li>Jack Balkin, <cite>Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology</cite> [<a href="http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/jbalkin/cs/">Full text free online</a>] <li>Nicholas Spanos, <cite>Multiple Identities and False Memories</cite> <li>Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson, <cite>Relevance: Cognition and Communication</cite> </ul> <ul>To read: <li>Edward L. Bernays, <cite>Public Relations</cite> <li>Michael Billig, <cite>Arguing and Thinking: A Rhetorical Approach to Social Psychology</cite> [<a href="http://cambridge.org/9780521567398">blurb</a>] <li>Jeff and Marie Blyskal, <cite>PR: How the Public Relations Industry Writes the News</cite> <li>Raymond Boudon, <cite>The Art of Self-Persuasion</cite> <li>J. A. C. Brown, <Cite>Techniques of Persuasion</cite> <li>Robert Cialdini, <cite>Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion</cite> <li>John Dewey, <cite>The Public and Its Problems</cite> <li>Eric Dezenhall, <cite>Nail 'em! Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities and Businesses</cite> <li>Theodore Dorpat, <cite>Indoctrination in Psychotherapy: Gaslighting, the Double Whammy, Interrogation and Other Methods of Covert Control</cite> <li>Gary Dorrien, <cite>The Neoconservative Mind: Politics, Culture, and the War of Ideology</cite> <li>Tom Douglas, <cite>Change, Intervention and Consequence: An Exploration of the Process of Intended Change</cite> <li>Stuart Ewen, <cite>PR! A Social History of Spin</cite> <li>James Grunig and Todd Hunt, <cite>Managing Public Relations</cite> <li>Robert Jackall and Janice M. Hirota, <cite>Image Makers: Advertising, Public Relations, and the Ethos of Advocacy</cite> <li>Gareth S. Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell, <cite>Propaganda and Persuasion</cite> <li>Philip Lesly, <cite>Overcoming Opposition: A Survival Manual for Executives</cite> <li>Robert Jay Lifton, <cite>Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism</cite> <li>Walter Lippmann, <cite>Public Opinion</cite> <li>Bill Mallinson, <cite>Public Lies and Private Truths: An Anatomy of Public Relations</cite> <li>Roland Marchand, <cite>Creating the Corporate Soul: The Rise of Public Relations and Corporate Imagery in American Big Business</cite> <li>Stanley Milgram, <cite>Obedience to Authority</cite> <li>Caryl Rivers, <cite>Slick Spins and Fractured Facts: How Cultural Myths Distort the News</cite> <li>Christopher Simpson, <cite>Science of Coercion: Communication Research and Psychological Warfare, 1945-1960</citE> <li>John stauber and Sheldon Rampton, <cite>Toxic Sludge is Good for You!</cite> <li>Larry Tye, <cite>The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of Public Relations</cite> </ul>