Encyclopedia of propaganda methods. Part 2

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Encyclopedia of propaganda methods. part 2

Emotional resonance
The technique of emotional resonance can be defined as a way to create a certain mood among a wide audience while simultaneously transmitting propaganda information. Emotional resonance allows you to remove the psychological defense that a person builds at the mental level, consciously trying to protect himself from propaganda or advertising "brainwashing". One of the basic rules of propaganda says: first of all, you need to appeal not to the mind, but to the feelings of a person. Defending against propaganda messages, at a rational level, a person is always able to build a system of counterargument and reduce all efforts to "special processing" to zero. If the propaganda influence on a person occurs on an emotional level, outside of his conscious control, no rational counterarguments in this case do not work.

The corresponding techniques have been known since ancient times. They are based on the phenomenon of social induction (emotional infection). The fact is that the emotions and feelings we experience are largely social phenomena. They can spread like an epidemic, infecting sometimes tens and hundreds of thousands of people and causing the masses to "resonate" in unison. We are social beings and easily perceive the feelings that arise in others. This is clearly visible at the level of interpersonal relationships-when it comes to close people. Everyone knows what it means to "spoil the mood" of a loved one and how easy it can sometimes be done. Thus, a mother who has negative feelings always transmits them to her young child; a bad mood of one of the spouses can be instantly transmitted to the other, etc.

The effect of emotional contagion is especially strong in the crowd-a situational set of people who are not connected by a conscious goal. A crowd is a property of a social community characterized by the similarity of the emotional state of its members. In the crowd, there is a mutual infection of emotions and, as a result, their intensification. The nature of mass emotional contagion is almost unknown. One of the interesting hypotheses states that the main role in this is played by the occurrence of resonant vibrations in the structure of electromagnetic fields formed by the human body.

The mechanism of human behavior in a crowd is described in many sources, all of them coincide in the fact that a person, becoming part of the mass, falls under the power of passions. Typical signs of human behavior in a crowd are the predominance of situational feelings( moods), loss of intelligence, responsibility, hypertrophied suggestibility, easy manageability. These states can be enhanced by various means. The necessary moods are evoked by the appropriate external environment, a certain time of day, lighting, light stimulants, various theatrical forms, music, songs, etc. In psychology, there is a special term — fascination, which denotes the conditions for increasing the effectiveness of the perceived material through the use of concomitant background influences. Most often, fascination is used in theatrical performances, game and show programs, political and religious (cult) events, etc. - to infect people in the crowd with a special emotional state. Against this background, the relevant information is transmitted, and we must strive to ensure that there is not too much of it.

In the modern world, the emotions we experience are largely the result of the induction caused by the mass communication media. Creating emotional resonance is one of the main tasks of most news reports and entertainment shows. The media always try to evoke strong emotions in a wide audience, and if necessary, they bring these emotions to convulsions (see Psychological Shock). A simple example: pay attention to the intonation with which radio or TV presenters read us information about events in the country and in the world. When it comes to tragic events (disaster, war, terrorist act), the intonation is usually filled with noble grief or indignation towards the perpetrators. If, for example, this is followed by a message about the next meeting of the head of state with miners (pilots, teachers, doctors), you will notice how the screen face will instantly transform and "constructive optimism" and confidence in the happy future of the nation will clearly appear in her voice . This technique is called "emotional adjustment to the situation". In this simple way, you can form the emotional attitude of the mass audience to a particular event.

In addition to emotional adjustment, there are other methods that make the audience "vibrate" with the desired degree of intensity. One of them is the rhetorical device gradation: the commentator repeats the arguments with increasing tension: "Our people have endured, long endured, very long endured! We endured hunger, poverty, humiliation, shame! We have suffered, we have suffered for a long time, we have suffered for a very long time! Until ... "Such a reception emotionally" turns on " listeners. To enhance the emotional impact of the message, it is often saturated with specific details that are better remembered and better absorbed. "Eyewitness accounts" are particularly effective, since they rely on elements of a person's personal experience. A variety of classifiers are also used to create emotional resonance.

Many techniques for creating the right mood in the media audience were developed in Germany during the Second World War and shortly before it began. In particular, the radio broadcasts used techniques of sound influence, artificially enhancing aggressive experiences. All of A. Hitler's speeches were accompanied by music from Wagner's operas, which made a depressing impression on the audience: heavy, complex, it gave the impression of an impending Nazi war machine, capable of crushing a person, and was of a threatening nature. To inflame mass psychosis, parades, marches, and rallies were broadcast on the radio.

And here is a more complex example of emotional resonance: numerous television series, as well as entertainment real - and talk shows, which are abundantly presented on modern television. Pay attention to the high emotional intensity at which such actions take place. The characters of the series constantly find out the relationship in high tones, violently show their emotions, the plots of these films are designed to keep the viewer in constant emotional tension: "What will happen next?". Professionally trained participants of the talk show, playing the role of "ordinary people from the street", tell their" life stories "vividly and emotionally, constantly striving to settle scores with their abusers directly on "live". Almost an obligatory element of such TV shows is a fight or a stormy showdown, designed to emotionally "wind up" the audience, to catch it alive... All this is done for a reason. The goal is to create emotional dependence in the audience. Having got used to receiving a dose of acute emotional experiences from this source, a person will continue to give preference to it in the future. In this way, TV bosses build up a permanent audience of TV series addicts, show addicts, and so on. people are zombified in order to bind them to this method of obtaining acute emotional experiences. And a permanent audience is already a product that can be sold very profitably to advertisers. Mass-media zombies, like any drug addicts, will try to maintain their "high" without end - and therefore will unrestrainedly absorb more and more new TV products, generously diluted with commercial and political advertising...

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Boomerang effect
When the official media attacked Boris Yeltsin in unison (in the late 1980s), he defied logic and became a national hero, winning the presidential election in June 1991 with flying colors. Then V. Zhirinovsky became the object of intense ridicule and debunking, and this contributed to his noisy success in the Duma elections (December 1993). In December 1995, the Communist Party won the majority of seats in the Duma — another object of television harassment. In the fall of 1999, the ORT's harassment of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov only strengthened his position among the Moscow electorate. A year earlier, the same thing happened in Ukraine with the Kiev mayor A. Omelchenko. A similar problem was discussed by American publicists half a century ago, after the unexpected victory of F. Roosevelt in the presidential election. Conclusion: if you want to gain popularity among the masses, create an image of a fighter for justice, persecuted by the authorities.

The boomerang effect is the rake that powerful groups regularly step on. By organizing a total harassment of their opponent, they "hammer" him to such an extent that in the end he begins to cause pity and sympathy among a wide audience. The same thing happens when the authorities suddenly decide to fight the negative rumors circulating in society — the credibility of the rumors only increases.

The boomerang effect can also have the opposite effect. For example, the oversaturation of the air with advertising of a particular candidate begins to irritate the audience.

The halo effect is based on an insidious psychological property — the human tendency to think in false analogies. It consists of two common stereotypes-misconceptions.

1. "Near-means together". As a result of this phenomenon, being near a famous or high-ranking person slightly increases the status in the eyes of others. It is no accident that those who are captured in the photo next to the " big " people are happy to show these photos to all their friends and acquaintances. Like, I'm on good terms with them... Similarly, politicians love to be in the company of popular artists or athletes. In this case, a part of the love and adoration that the people give to their idols is automatically projected on the unremarkable "servants of the people".

2. The second stereotype is as follows. A person who has achieved significant success in a particular area is considered by others to be capable of more in other matters. Numerous facts prove that this is just a common misconception. There are many examples where people who do one thing brilliantly are completely helpless in everything else.

Nevertheless, this stereotype is being exploited by politicians and business advertising. It is enough to recall how many popular artists-athletes-journalists-writers-satirists are hired by political parties on the eve of elections. Not so long ago, this technique was actively used by businessmen seeking to make a political career. In this case, the following message is used: "We are successful and accomplished people who made themselves, realized themselves in this life, managed to survive and succeed in today's difficult conditions! Having the experience of positive decisions in various spheres of social life, we are ready to broadcast our success to the whole society! We have been effective in our professional activities, so we will be effective in politics as well! We know what to do and how to do it. We are a new and successful generation. The future is ours! " - etc.

In fact, under the guise of a "new generation of successful people", the electorate is being sold the Bolshevik slogan, smelling of mothballs, that any cook can run the state. With the only difference that instead of a cook today, for example, a successful businesswoman is presented, who managed to establish a network of laundries and dry cleaners in her city.

A former Olympic champion, a brave military general, a successful bakery owner, or even a bank manager, having achieved success in their professional field, will not necessarily be able to pass good laws while sitting in parliament. This simple idea is hushed up in every possible way by those media outlets that arrange propaganda hysteria in honor of the next "savior of the fatherland".

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The primacy effect
Dr. Goebbels introduced one of the key principles into modern propaganda: the person who says the first word to the world is always right. Later, psychologists discovered that the candidate who first convincingly presents himself as the winner during the election campaign is the one who is recognized by the mass consciousness. Similar conclusions were reached by K. Hovland and scientists at Yale University in England, as well as N. Janis and L. Daub, who believed that the success of a propagandist is largely ensured if the information reached the audience earlier than the information of his opponents. Here one of the perception effects is triggered: when contradictory information is received (which cannot be verified) we tend to prefer the one that came first. It is very difficult to change an already formed opinion.

This effect is taken into account when a massive "drain of compromising material". In the end, it is always the one who has been doused with dirt who is to blame — after all, he will need to be washed. In addition, the status of the accuser in the public consciousness is perceived as higher than that of the accused. At the household level, it looks like this: "Once justified, then guilty." Hitler stated: "The public always prefers to believe at least 90% of an unproven accusation, rather than a refutation, even if it is 100% justified."%»

It should be noted that as early as 1925, the American psychologist M. Lundt formulated the "law of precedence", according to which any first message about a particular fact or event has a stronger impact on the audience than the subsequent ones. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is that the person who first reported the information has priority in meeting the existing need and, as a result, the formation of the primary psychological attitude to the fact or event. A source of information that is the first to report on significant events becomes more attractive to the audience than others. This contributes to the formation and consolidation of a preference for this source of information for the future, compared to those who act less quickly.

By virtue of this principle, today every media outlet strives to be the first to convey its interpretation of events to a wide audience. The problems that arise from this are now well known. For example, the desire of journalists to immediately issue "hot messages" when covering terrorist acts always plays into the hands of terrorists who coordinate their actions in accordance with the information received through the media about what is happening.

Presence effect
The technique was also introduced by Nazi propaganda. Today, it is described in all textbooks on journalism. Includes a number of tricks that are supposed to simulate reality. They are constantly used in "reports from the battlefields" and in the criminal chronicle, fabricating a retroactive shooting of the "real" capture of bandits or a car accident. The illusion of a" combat situation " is created, for example, by a sharp twitch of the camera and knocking it out of focus. At this time, some people are running in front of the camera, shots and screams are heard. It looks as if the operator is in a terrible state of excitement, under fire, filming reality.

From journalistic memoirs: "Before the American bombing of Afghanistan, the Taliban and the Northern Alliance rarely fired at each other, mostly in the air. The tanks hit the targeted points, so that, God forbid, no one would be hurt, and then suddenly you would get into a neighbor in the village. That is why it was very difficult for America and Russia, who made enormous efforts to push them against each other, to convince them to really fight. It happened that a journalist came to the front line with a task: to film the fighting, and there is no sign of them. And then he ordered an imitation. He paid the money, and the Mujahideen loaded their machine guns and fired in the direction of the Taliban, and the Taliban responded in kind. Everything was filmed on a video camera. After that, world news agencies reported that a group of journalists was fired upon by the Taliban. The TV news was full of "real" video footage...".

The illusion of authenticity has a strong emotional impact and creates a sense of great authenticity of events. A powerful presence effect is created, as if we are thrown into a terrible reality, not suspecting that this is just a cheap trick.

This technique is widely used by commercial advertising — all sorts of "overlays" are specially staged to create an image of unsophisticated "simple" people. Especially touching are the videos in which the next "aunt Asya" tries to emulate the speech of "people from the people" with a well — choreographed voice of a professional actress-allegedly random pauses, made hesitations, slight pronunciation defects, ostentatious uncertainty... This is a primitive, but effective method of "capturing the audience". Information blockade
The epigraph here can serve as a quote from the analytical note of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia: "Where the price of information is expressed in human lives, there can be no place for democracy, transparency and so-called objective coverage of events...". If you are used to watching the development of the current "anti-terrorist operations" through the eyes of the American CNN or Russian ORT and RTR, you encounter the method of information blockade on a daily basis. For example, after the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001, the US government put forward a list of" recommendations " to the American media. Among other things, they were urged to refrain from detailed coverage of Al-Qaeda, from quoting Bin Laden, and from publishing interviews with him. To deprive the enemy of the opportunity to publicly express their position is one of the main tasks of the propaganda war.

Information blockade is always closely related to information dominance. These are two sides of the same coin. They are used both in the case of military operations and in peacetime (for example, during elections). There is a creation of an information vacuum on some issue, followed by the dissemination of biased information about it. Very often, government agencies block information on any problem, and then give it out in a non-alternative mode. Since the interest in this issue is very strong in society, information that is beneficial to the authorities is distributed as widely as possible. This makes it possible to provide a unified interpretation of the events that are taking place and represents, in fact, a mass zombification of people. In this case, the fixed position of the media is not subject to change, so another point of view is almost inaccessible to a wide audience.

The information blockade today accompanies almost all military-political conflicts. Thus, the war with Iraq in 1991 was portrayed as" clean " and fair. Western media touted the virtues of "surgically accurate strikes"in every possible way. At the same time, any evidence of the opposite nature was carefully suppressed (the same cases that could not be hidden were called annoying "mistakes" in order to smooth out the negative reaction of the public-see Substitution). Even the former US Secretary of Justice, R. R., was censored at that time. Clark and a well-known American cameraman, who brought back from Baghdad the recorded evidence of the death and suffering of civilians. All the American TV companies canceled previously scheduled meetings with them, and none of them showed unwanted footage.

During the NATO air attacks against Yugoslavia, the UK held elections to the European Parliament. The small Socialist Labor Party has featured documentary footage of the devastation caused by the NATO bombing of Serbia in its campaign video. When you televise this episode... it was simply cut out by the BBC, "the world's most respected and objective media outlet."

How to explain such censorship? The answer to this question was given during the First World War of 1914-1918 by the then British Secretary of War Lloyd George: "If people knew the truth about the war, it would be stopped tomorrow. But they don't know her, and they never will."

G. Pocheptsov on the example of the war in Chechnya classifies the blocking control of the information space as follows:

1. Control of verbal designations (see Substitution). An example is such streamlined phrases as "Carpet / spot bombing", "Clearing the territory" , etc., which remove the deadly character from the consciousness.
2. Control of the visual image, according to which there are no images of the wounded and killed on the TV screen, loss of equipment on the part of the federal troops.
3. Control of the unity of interpretation of events. A clear example is the special instruction of Minister Lesin, who forbade the screening of interviews by Chechen militants on the television screen.

In the Russian media, an example of an information blockade is not only the coverage of events in Chechnya, but also in neighboring countries: Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. Special studies conducted in 2000-2001 showed that 90-95% of the materials about these countries are subjective comments of Russian correspondents or editorial offices. In other words, the Russian press practically does not allow representatives of these countries to express their position independently. (At best, everything is limited to their individual phrases, taken out of context.) In fact, this is one of the options for censorship. The result: these countries, as they appear on TV screens or on the pages of Russian newspapers, often have as little to do with reality as the classic stereotype of bears wandering around Moscow with a balalaika under their arm and drinking vodka from their throats.

Information blockades are often used during election campaigns. Biased media create an information hype only around the preferred candidate. At the same time, his opponent is completely deprived of the opportunity to express his position in the media, to respond to attacks against him. At best, the TV channels show it to us "without sound", accompanying the video sequence with tendentious journalistic comments. There is an important caveat here: instead of giving the floor directly to Mr. N, journalists start telling us about him. They tell us what, where, when and how he spoke, comment on his actions, etc. Therefore, the information blockade is closely related to another propaganda technique — commenting.

The information blockade is widely used not only for political but also for economic purposes. So, in the early 1990s, during the preparation and implementation of the market reforms of E. Gaidar and A. Chubais, a real information blockade was established — specialists who warned about the disastrous consequences of "privatization according to Chubais" and asked "inconvenient" questions were not allowed to the mass audience: for example, what is the point of giving into private hands effective, competitive state - owned enterprises of the world level, which enriched the treasury and fed the country? In the mid-1990s, the techniques of the information blockade served as a cover for numerous scams of unscrupulous banks to create financial pyramids. Electronic media, broadcasting massive aggressive advertising, not only did not compensate for it with warning comments, but also did not give access to the air to those Russian and foreign specialists who could warn depositors and explain the mechanism of financial pyramids. In the same way, already in 1997-1998, the information blockade served as a cover for the scam of Russian business and government circles with T-bills, which took on an international scale and led Russia to a severe crisis in August 1998. The media did not give clear reports even about the debates in the Duma and the Federation Council on this issue in April-May 1998. Obtaining this information by the public would allow, if not to prevent the collapse, then at least to mitigate its consequences, and citizens to save a significant part of their deposits.

Using mediators
This technique is based on two postulates. First, special studies have found that the most powerful influence on the formation of the "average" person's opinion on any issue is not massive propaganda campaigns in the media. The biggest effect is, oddly enough, the myths, rumors and gossip that circulate in society. The second postulate follows from the first: effective information influence on a person is carried out not directly from the mass communication media, but through authoritative people who are important to him, familiar to him ("opinion leaders") - translators of opinions and rumors. Unofficial personal communications are more important for people than "official" media reports.

In most cases, people's opinions about something are formed in the process of communication in the family, in the team, etc. In conversations with each other, relatives, friends, and colleagues make sense of events and facts, develop a common approach in accordance with their usual values and norms. Opinions on each issue (from the simple-what washing powder to buy, to the complex-who to vote for) are formed and approved under the influence of certain authorities. These are people who either formally occupy (parents, spouses, older siblings, boss, leader among like-minded people) a central position in the group (group leaders), or are recognized as experts in this field (opinion leaders). In other words, the propaganda influence of the media is always indirect.

G. Pavlovsky, one of the creators of the Kremlin's modern information policy, puts it this way: "You can't fetishize the electronic media as such. The growing chorus of praises today (addressed to Vladimir Putin). Putin-ed.), broadcast through the media channels throughout the country, leads to the opposite result. People never tell each other official formulas and lackey hymns to the authorities — in their own circle, people tell each other what they consider important and interesting. The mass media are significant only to the extent that they supply the content, ideologems and texture (reasons) for mass "chatter" — that is, a real political discussion in the grassroots, which does not stop in Russia for a minute. Political initiatives and situations can be transmitted to the grassroots level (the level of mass communications) to the extent that they are dramatic, dramatized, that is, they have turned into an interesting and accessible plot (gossip, anecdote, scenario, myth). Russian Russian media in the propaganda campaign is necessary in order to break through the direct channel "Russian capital — Russian lands".

Today, entire newspapers, magazines, and television programs, under the guise of spreading news, are entirely devoted to composing and spreading plausible rumors that can be transmitted to the level of interpersonal communication. In recent years, specialized Internet projects have also appeared, almost entirely dedicated to this task. (For example, as of 2002, they include such Russian-language media portals as SMI.Ru, VERSIONS.Ru, NEWSPAPER.Ru, RusGlobus, etc.)

Let us consider in more detail the mechanism of perception of such information. After receiving the information message, the recipient does not immediately decide to accept or reject it. Consciously or subconsciously, he seeks advice from the people around him and, above all, from the so-called "opinion leaders" of his group. Opinion leaders are highly authoritative members of a group whose opinions and advice on certain issues are of particular value to others. They play a crucial role in shaping the attitude of the general public to the problem depicted in the propaganda message.

This phenomenon is reflected in the model of a two-stage flow of communication, developed in the mid-50s in the United States by Paul Lazarsfeld. In the model proposed by him, the two-step nature of the propaganda process is taken into account, first, as the interaction between the source and the authorities of the microsocial level, who are designated as opinion leaders or "mediators" (intermediaries), and secondly, as the interaction of opinion leaders or mediators with individual members of microsocial groups.

In the practice of information and psychological influence of the media, this, in particular, led on the one hand to the fact that propaganda and advertising messages became more focused on the leaders of microsocial groups, and on the other-they began to use persons whose opinions are significant for others. American experts believe that in order to form the opinion of a wide audience on any issue, it is enough to process only 10% of its members-opinion leaders (mediators), who transmit the message to the mass level. Informal leaders, politicians, representatives of religious confessions, cultural, scientific, and artistic figures, athletes, military personnel, sex bombs, etc.can act as mediators in various situations and for different social groups and strata-each category of the population has its own authority. In the psychology of influence, this is called "fixation on authority". Most people are prone to imitative behavior, focusing in their actions on the actions of authoritative opinion leaders for them. They tend to take an example from those whom they respect and who is a leader for them. Therefore, the choice of pop and sports "stars" and other popular persons for advertising and propaganda programs and participation in election campaigns is primarily due to the fact that they have a fairly wide audience of fans, many of whom are not inclined to bother assessing the competence of their idols not only in political, but also in other issues on which they give their assessments or carry out advertising promotion (for example, products that they personally may not use, etc.). On the other hand, in commercials and propaganda stories, "ordinary people from the people", "such as we"are also widely used. It all depends on the specifics of the promoted product or idea.

For example, we are more likely to be convinced that the advertised medicine is really necessary by a professional doctor (or rather, by the set of signs that we perceive as "authoritative" indicators of professionalism: a white coat, a doctor's office, the use of medical terms in conversation). In extreme cases, a popular artist will cope with this task. But we buy everyday goods based, first of all, on the opinion of "people like us", our immediate environment — friends, relatives, neighbors. The main task of all advertising and PR campaigns is to use the" fixation on authority " to get the target audience to purchase the desired product or service. For example, to do this, you can find a reputable group leader and give him this product, thus making this product fashionable and prestigious. The use of such a fixation mechanism is well illustrated by a simple example from the practice of advertising. The watch of a certain brand XXX had to be "promoted" in the youth environment. In order for teenagers to buy them, it was necessary to inspire a sense of fashion, exclusivity and accessibility of these watches at the same time. For this purpose, a series of parties were held in fashionable clubs, during which everyone who has a certain authority in the youth environment was awarded XXX watches — the best DJs of the city, members of popular pop groups, presenters of popular youth TV programs, etc. The winners of various competitions also received watches. In this way, the illusion was created that all the "best" ones would definitely get the "best" XXX watches. Since imitative behavior is very strongly developed among teenagers, many young people tried to buy XXX watches for themselves, and were very interested in what models of these watches were given to certain celebrities....

Comments
The goal is to create a context in which a person's thoughts go in the right direction. The fact message is accompanied by the commentator's interpretation, which offers the reader or viewer several reasonable explanations. It depends on the skill of the commentator to make the necessary option the most plausible. American specialist O'Hara in the book "Media for millions" writes about the speaker: "His message may appear objective in the sense that it does not contain approval or disapproval, but his vocal addition, intonation and meaningful pauses, and facial expression often have the same effect as an editorial opinion."

For this purpose, several additional techniques are usually used. They are actively used by all experienced commentators. First, the inclusion in propaganda materials of so-called "bilateral messages", which contain arguments for and against a certain position. "Two-way communication" seems to anticipate the opponent's arguments and, with skillful criticism, contribute to the creation of a certain immunity against them.

Secondly, positive and negative elements are dosed. In order for a positive assessment to look more plausible, you need to add a little criticism to the characteristic of the described point of view, and the effectiveness of the condemning position increases if there are elements of praise. All the criticisms, factual data, and comparative materials used are selected in such a way that the necessary conclusion is sufficiently obvious.

Third, the selection of facts of strengthening or weakening of statements is carried out. Conclusions are not included in the text of the above messages. They should be made by those for whom the information is intended.

Fourth, comparative materials are used to enhance the importance, demonstrate trends and scale of events and phenomena.

The desired effect can also be obtained by structuring the delivery of messages (see "Poison Sandwich").

Statement of fact
The desired state of affairs is presented to the media as a fait accompli. This is based, in fact, on the hypnosis of the audience-nails are driven into a non-existent coffin. Examples:

— "In the opposition camp — confusion and vacillation! —
-" The influence of the head of the presidential administration is rapidly falling..."
- " The agrarian faction in the parliament is leaving more and more deputies..."
- "The movement" Our Home-Fatherland " is rapidly losing its supporters. Over the past month, his electorate has shrunk from 10% to 8%...»,
— The "New Generation Team" electoral bloc is rapidly gaining momentum. Within a few months, he had become a powerful political force. It will certainly pass in the future parliamentary elections...", etc.

The technique is used to create appropriate moods in society. The calculation here is simple. The fact is that most people think in stereotypes: "There is no smoke without fire", " Since everyone is talking about it, it means that it is so." A person artificially creates a feeling of being in the minority. As a result, he becomes uninitiative, giving priority to the one whom he considers the representative of the "majority".

This kind of propaganda is usually presented under the guise of news or the results of sociological research. This reduces the criticality of perception — it is difficult for people to understand that under the guise of reports about events in the country and the world, they are fed the usual"dez".

To give credibility to such messages, "opinion leaders" are widely used: popular journalists, well-known political scientists, sociologists, and so on. Shedding the burden of authority is a psychologically difficult process. It requires courage and free will. After all, those in power and money bags always have the opportunity to hire a pleasant presenter, a favorite artist, a respected academic, an incorruptible human rights activist or a sex bomb — for each category of the population there is a different authority.

This technique is also used in business advertising. The headline in the business magazine: "Demand for prestigious offices in the center begins to exceed the supply!". (Artificially creates a sense of scarcity). False analogy
One of the most dangerous psychological traps is the tendency of a person to think in analogies, to build so-called pseudo-logical sequences in their thinking. The usual style of thinking for most people is the style that uses the logical connectives "cause-effect". These bundles seem to be completely accessible to the control of consciousness and correspond to the sphere of"common sense". We tend to extrapolate the "specific cause — specific effect" link that has ever taken place to other objects that have nothing to do with the original ones — here lies the catch.

This psychological feature is actively used by propagandists. Excellent examples of this kind, dating back to the time of the so-called "perestroika", are found in S. Kara-Murza's book" Manipulation of Consciousness": "Let's remember the metaphor of market traders:"you can't be a little pregnant." They say that it is necessary to completely destroy the planned system and go to the elements of the market. But there is no similarity between pregnancy and the economy. Moreover, the real economy does not recognize "either-or", it is, if you want, just "a little pregnant" with many economic structures. Since all the experts ' instructions on constant errors of this kind were ignored, we are talking about deliberate actions to destroy logic. Sabotage against logic-in all references to the West (we will not even find fault with the fact that the Western reality itself was presented falsely). It was constantly repeated, for example, this: "The British Empire collapsed-so the USSR had to collapse!". And no justification for similarity. And why is it compared to the British Empire, and not to China or the United States? Or should they also break up today? By the way, from the thesis about the regularity of the collapse of the USSR, it inevitably follows that the Russian Federation must also disintegrate — after all, it is exactly the same empire as the USSR was. Well, a little less, but that doesn't change things."

The propaganda technique of creating Associative connections is based on the use of false analogies.

Feedback
People who act as participants in an action are more likely to change their views in favor of the opinion recommended by its scenario than passive observers of what is happening. This has been established by numerous psychological experiments. The illusion of participating in a discussion on an actual issue leads to a greater change in opinions and attitudes than a simple passive perception of information. In order for the audience not to have a sense of one-sided influence and a complex of "indifference of the addressee", modern media widely practice the methods of so-called "feedback" in various forms: calls to the studio during a live broadcast, choosing the answer to a question by phone, etc. Such a "make-up" is designed to create the illusion of mass audience participation in the information process.

If you have ever tried to call the studio during a TV show to ask a question to its participants, you know that before "releasing" you on the air, the supervising editor will be sure to ask the essence of the question being asked. You will only be allowed in if the question you are asking corresponds to the general editorial policy of this TV channel. If you suddenly start saying something completely different, you will instantly be "cut off" from the air in the middle of a word-tested in practice .

Pseudo-sociological surveys (when viewers vote for a particular answer on the phone during the broadcast) are most often just a way of forming public opinion, and not its real reflection, that is, a kind of ordinary propaganda manipulation. Questions are formulated in such a way as to give the audience a "correct" view of a particular problem. They direct the course of our thoughts in a specific direction. "Never ask a question that you can't get the answer you need," is the main principle of such surveys. In these cases, the formulation of the problem in terms of" gain, gain of something "will be more convincing against the background of contrasting statements about the same in the categories of" loss, loss of something".
Here is a simple example in a somewhat exaggerated form: The question: "How do you want to see your country's place in the modern world?"
:
A) I want my country to become a donor of raw materials for highly developed countries and a source of cheap labor for multinational corporations.
B) I want my country to become a landfill for chemical and nuclear waste from all over the world.
C) I want my country to become a powerful state with a developed economy and a high standard of living.

Guess from three attempts, which answer option will be chosen by the majority of people who called the studio? Almost all "interactive telephone surveys"are built in this way.

Opinion poll organizers have long known that subtle changes in wording lead to significantly different responses. Practical Yankees at one time even conducted a special study on this topic. Psychologists B. Lockerbie and S. Borelli found, for example, that the percentage of Americans who supported the provision of assistance to the Contras (anti-government forces) in Nicaragua, for the period from 1983 to 1986, varied from 13% to 42%, depending on how the question was formulated. If the question explicitly mentioned Ronald Reagan or the Contras, or used ideological labels to identify opposing forces in Nicaragua, then more Americans supported the help. If the question referred to a dollar-denominated amount of aid or presented both sides of the problem, a much smaller number of Americans wanted to help the rebel contras.

A brilliant example of this kind of manipulation was carried out by a Moscow radio station in the late 1990s, which, after repeatedly repeating the message about the difficulties with gasoline in St. Petersburg, asked its listeners the question: "Is it necessary to supply fuel to Yugoslavia?» At the same time, there was no mention of the opinions of professional experts about the reasons for the difficulties with fuel and information about the loss of Russian export revenues in the event of a failure of supplies to Yugoslavia. As a result, 75% of people who called the station gave a negative answer.

In cases where the opinion that is unfavorable to the communicator dominates, the task of "feedback" is reduced to correcting, changing the mindset of the masses. The demonstration of falsified results of telephone surveys, the "filtering" of calls to the studio, the organization of "public opinion" through fake people "from the street" , etc. are aimed at creating a psychological attitude of a "white crow" in a person who has a different opinion — it turns out that others, and most of them, think differently. Sometimes dissent and dissent are deliberately or accidentally allowed, for example, an outraged phone call is voiced or a protest is published. This point is played out in every possible way, the advantages of this source of information are emphasized, which "objectively" shows the whole range of opinions and points of view on various issues.

A type of feedback is the so-called technique of staged events. First of all, it includes various options for communication of high-ranking persons with "ordinary people". "Communication" can be direct (answers to questions asked by citizens on the phone, intimate conversations with "random passers-by" on the street, etc.) and indirect (press conferences, briefings for the mass media, answers to journalists ' questions, etc.). Most often, the so-called communication with the people is just a well-rehearsed performance. It is known, for example, that French President de Gaulle has not received a single question in his entire life at press conferences, for which he was not prepared in advance. During his press conferences, the US President also answers questions that are provided in advance by journalists to the White House press service. In general, the consultants of any political leader always prepare their boss for the expected questions, losing possible answers. In the period of the scandal with M. Lewinsky, the President of the United States B. Clinton was deliberately forced to let off steam at press conference rehearsals, so that in the real context he would look calm and confident. As for Boris Yeltsin, the former employee of his press service D. Shevchenko emphasizes the following: "All the questions at the press conferences were agreed in advance with Yeltsin. He even knew the exact seating arrangement of the correspondents in the first row — Kostikov drew a calligraphic plan-diagram for the president every time."

The relevant TV programs are organized in such a way as if the head of state (or another high-ranking person) spontaneously answers questions asked by citizens over the phone or via the Internet. The best impromptu is a pre-prepared impromptu. This old saying comes to mind when you observe how the next Guarantor of the Constitution, with a glibness and coherence of speech unattainable for ordinary mortals, very successfully answers several dozen very difficult questions that come in a short time. In reality, he gives carefully rehearsed answers, specially prepared by his team. Questions are usually selected based on the results of sociological research. They should reflect the current social problems that concern the broad masses of people, or form a favorable image of this official. Next, the people watch another TV show called "The Head of State answers the questions of ordinary citizens live", followed by a demonstration of the approving reviews of "ordinary people from the street" ("Ah, I did not even imagine what a democratic president we have — simple and accessible, open to dialogue, everyone can communicate with him!", etc.).

Outflanking
Let's return to the research of Western propaganda theorists. It is established: in the United States, there are no Democrats at Republican election rallies, and vice versa. Most of the people surveyed showed that they turn off the radio or TV program when they hear a program in defense of a point of view that contradicts their own. In these cases, a psychological defense mechanism is triggered, which maintains a person's state of internal balance, self-confidence, and protects him from cognitive dissonance (traumatic experience of a conflict situation). Therefore, in particular, propaganda during election campaigns rarely recruits a significant number of new supporters of a particular candidate — mostly it reinforces existing views. Hence the conclusion: in order to be successful, the propagandist must be able to make himself listen. You also need to be able to break through the negative predisposition of the audience or bypass it in order to be able to influence people.

During the Second World War, the BBC included a weather report in its broadcasts to Nazi Germany. Indifferent to the military, political, and ideological positions of the belligerents, the figures, which made no sense to falsify, were supposed to extend the effect of truthfulness caused by them to all BBC broadcasts. Such tricks, designed to create the impression of an open-minded and objective source of propaganda, gradually multiplied and became more complex. Currently, they have grown into a clever system of "flanking". The main place in the tactics of "flanking" is occupied by information propaganda (so-called factographic propaganda) It consists in the metered transmission of reliable information, the accuracy of which is known in advance to listeners or readers and can be easily verified by them. The category of such "persuasive information" includes, in particular, factual data. For example, names, street names, house numbers, a huge number of details that are reliable and in which propaganda messages are "packed".

For example, during the Second World War, British intelligence managed to get the full-name lists of all the commanders of German submarines, the composition of their families, the names of their mistresses, data on their relationships with each other, relations between families, their weaknesses, hobbies, and so on. This was actively used. In particular, there are known daily propaganda radio broadcasts in German, which were conducted for the German submariners in combat campaigns by the Anglo-American intelligence, revealing their amazing awareness. Each transmission began with a direct appeal to the crew of a particular submarine and to specific submariners. They were told, for example, that a family had been killed by bombs in Hamburg or had been evacuated somewhere, that a friend or relative had died of wounds in a hospital. The appeals sounded something like this (quoted from the book by I. Bunich " Operation Thunderstorm»): "We are writing to you, commander of the U-507 submarine, Lieutenant Commander Blum. It was very rash of you to leave your wife in Bremen, where your friend, Lieutenant Commander Grossberg, is currently spending his vacation. They have already been seen together at least three times in a restaurant, and your neighbor Frau Mogler claims: your children have been sent to their mother in Mecklenburg... " After that, propaganda messages were transmitted about the uselessness of the war, the hopeless situation in Germany, etc. Later, during the Cold War, American and British radio stations broadcasting to the USSR, engaged in " gray "(spreading false information) and" black " (spreading disinformation) propaganda, often used city phone books to mention the real names and addresses of Soviet citizens in their broadcasts. The most influential media concerns of the Western world, CNN, BBC, DW, have been accumulating the authority of imaginary objectivity for decades, using the technique of factual verisimilitude. Most of the time in their programs they devote to various kinds of information programs, where a politically oriented point of view is presented under the guise of dispassionate news. The impression of" objectivity "and" impartiality "is created by interspersing propaganda materials with" opinions of the opposite side " or facts that at first glance are unfavorable to the official point of view of the countries from which they are broadcast.

The diverse playing of authentic factual material is not the only method of "outflanking". There are others. One of them is a fake for the views, tastes and inclinations of the target audience. Another is the presentation of the material from such an angle, as if the preached idea is only the development of the ideas accepted in this audience. Here the emphasis is on a gradual, unhurried, "evolutionary" involvement in the orbit of ideological and political views. Western researchers have found that slow, implicit involvement in the sphere of propaganda influences is often very effective for people with unstable views, who have not determined for themselves an attachment to a certain circle of people, a way of thinking and a way of life, etc.

American psychologists have traced and described, for example, how the process of assimilation of a person's views, points of view, opinions that are not characteristic of his worldview, social status, social environment. A person accidentally stumbled upon previously unknown information. He got acquainted with it, saw an interesting statement of the question, interesting information, an answer to some problem of concern to him. And only then did I find out that it was written "alien". If he had known this earlier, he probably wouldn't have read or listened. And now-another matter. The predisposition was broken. Next to the remaining wariness, loyalty to strong ideas, there is an element of tolerance. If a person now meets information from the same source or similar content, he will no longer push it away. With repeated contacts, even more interest can be aroused. The person begins to search for them purposefully. If he finds in the new information an echo of his needs and interests (as he understands them) and at the same time does not see a corresponding convincing interpretation in "his" traditional sources of information, then he may imperceptibly completely reorient himself. At the same time, it is not excluded. that he will be convinced that he has not changed his views. But he had already begun to explain the world from a different perspective.

It is also possible that a person knows that he is dealing with hostile propaganda and looks at it with prejudice. But curiosity prevails, he begins to study it-and then everything goes according to the above scheme. Prejudice, even prejudice, can be pushed aside, and then completely disappear, turn into its opposite. Thinking that he has developed "his own position", a person begins to fall under the influence of a completely different ideological system.

Another recommendation of the creators of the tactic of "flanking" is to hide their true goals in every possible way, to avoid conflicts with the views, values, norms, and the prevailing worldview that are generally recognized in this audience (in this society). If you do not do this, you will not break through the negative predisposition. "Propaganda is only doomed to failure when it looks like propaganda," experts say.

Great importance is attached to flirting with the audience, for example, extolling its national qualities and achievements of national genius, emphasizing its "compassion" for the situation of certain social groups, individual individuals, etc. All this should be done without a single word of explicit blasphemy against opponents and without a single word of outright praise for "their own»

In this regard, it is useful to quote the document "Psychological War against the USSR", developed by CIA analysts in the 1950s. It contains a list of recommendations and" suggested topics " of propaganda messages. This document is very instructive. So,

"Task #1. To discover and develop the spiritual values, moral and ethical concepts of the Soviet people, especially the Russians, and to establish the identity of these values with the values of the free world. Suggested topic:

a) Truthfulness, compassion, generosity, love for family, hospitality-these are some of the values dear to the Soviet people, all derived from their spiritual life. It is a common property with the peoples of the free world, but it is despised by the rulers of the USSR.

b) The historical contribution of Russians in various creative fields of the free world: philosophy, art and science-has always been recognized and respected.

c) The study of classical Russian literature, political philosophy, and ethics shows that Russia shared and was influenced by the creative social and cultural forces that the West developed. The political and ethical ideals of the Russian people are basically the same as in the West, for they stem from the same spiritual sources, they are perverted in the communist state, but they have not died. A warning. We should not overdo it when talking about Western influence, and not give the impression of talking down.

d) The Russian family is based on love, trust, mutual assistance and respect for the rights of others. These are values shared with the free world.

e) What the Soviet people fought for during the revolution— peace, freedom and a good life for all-are the basic concepts shared with the free world. These concepts are implemented daily in the political life of the free world.

(e) To assure the Russian people that the free world does not harbor any designs against them or their country, but only seeks for them freedom and prosperity in a friendly and cooperative world."

It is equally instructive to turn to the "recommended topics" of propaganda stories about the United States:

"a) The United States is peaceful, respects the sovereignty and independence of the peoples of other states;

b) the Americans distinguish between the Soviet people and their government;

c) The United States has never been at war with Russia;

d) The United States helped the Soviet people in World War II even before the United States entered the war with Germany;

e) The United States continued to help the people of the USSR even after the end of hostilities in World War II;

e) the Americans provided their knowledge and experience in the construction industry in the USSR;

g) the love of technology and science in everyday life is common for the peoples of the USSR and the United States;

h) our countries are great, and we are making bold plans;

i) we have a common spirit of pioneers;

k) there are many thousands of people of Russian and Ukrainian origin living in the United States, who have a significant impact on American life;

Russian Russian and Ukrainian folk music and the music of their composers (including Soviet ones) are very often performed in the United States; many of our outstanding musicians are of Russian origin;

m) novels and short stories by Russian writers are very popular in the United States and in the free world. All major universities study Russian literature. Note. Russian Russian writers ' new biographies and studies on Russian literature should be reviewed, even if they do not contain any political content.;

n) the peoples of the United States and the free world are aware of the courage, energy, and aspirations of the Soviet people, and many Americans have publicly expressed their admiration for these qualities;

a) The US helps all nations wherever it can, regardless of whether or not they agree with US policy;

p) the Stanislavsky system is still being studied in the American theater, and no attempt is being made to conceal its Russian origin;

p) the US government, many private organizations and individuals tried to establish cultural, scientific and technical exchanges with the USSR;

c) the essence of America and the free world, the basic ideals that we share with the Soviet people, are represented by American and other Western literature available in the USSR: Steinbeck, Upton Sinclair, Mark Twain, Jack London, Dickens, etc. Although some of these books belong to the direction of "social protest", they show a democratic belief in social progress in action»

It should be noted that approximately in this way, American propaganda operates today. Of course, with an adjustment to the current political situation and the national and cultural characteristics of the next "enemies of the entire civilized world".

Distraction
For propaganda, like any other type of manipulation, an important task is to suppress the psychological resistance of a person to suggestion. Therefore, according to most experts, any propaganda should be a combination of entertainment, informational and persuasive components. Entertainment is understood as any means that arouses interest in the message and at the same time masks its true meaning, blocks the critical perception.

In the 1960s, it was found that messages directed against an opinion or attitude were more effective if, at the time of their transmission, the recipient's attention was diverted from the content of the message (for example, by playing a popular musical tune). In this case, it is difficult for the recipient to comprehend the information and develop counter-arguments — the basis of resistance to suggestion. Research in the 60s increased the effectiveness of manipulation in the press and on television. Newspapers began to use a "kaleidoscopic" arrangement of material, diluting important messages with gossip, contradictory rumors, sensationalism, colorful photos and advertising. Television began to compose the video series in a new way, accurately selecting distracting images. Today, almost all news TV shows are a kaleidoscopic set of attractive visual images and informational messages about unrelated events. This has its own logic. So, And. Kalinauskas believes that when there is too much diverse information, a person is not able to process it meaningfully. Therefore, it is necessary to write it into your consciousness as a whole, i.e. to perceive it uncritically.

«...Sometimes, on the contrary, hard-coded (traditional) events can be used to distract attention from a political action that would otherwise cause increased public activity. So, Yeltsin was very skillfully dismissed-on December 31, 1999, when all the people were preparing to celebrate the new year, and then they were hungover until January 4." (Based on the book by S. Kara-Murza " Manipulation of consciousness»)

Unprecedented and unusual events (murders, catastrophes, terrorist acts, high-profile scandals) have an exceptionally strong distracting effect. Under their cover, politicians are usually in a hurry to pull off all the dark things.

The technique of distraction also includes pre-election concerts and various folk festivals, during which pop stars shout to us from the stage: "Vote or lose!", "The Motherland is in danger!", "Let's protect Russian culture!" — receiving American dollars for this.