How to control a human

May 13, 2006 2:49 AM

I'm looking for a book on how to manipulate and control a group of humans, non-physically. Governments use manipulation to convince it's citizens to agree with them. Companies invest billions of dollars into researching how to convince a consumer to buy a product.

The way I see it, if you wish to control a person's actions, you must start with why a person acts to begin with. "Nature" and "nurture" are the main causes. Nature is what is in humans from birth - emotions, sexual desires, instinct. Nurture is everything that is learned through a human's surroundings.

So using that information to manipulate someone. Let's say convince them to buy a car. If you place a scantily clad woman next to the car, it appeals to most men's sexual desires. That is manipulating a man's natural instincts to make him buy something completely unrelated to the instinct.

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Ideally I would like a book approached in a scientific manner describing the methods and tools that can be used to control a human, or group of humans. I'm not sure if a book like that exists, I will settle for what I can get, perhaps psychology of philosphy books dealing with human nature, or a book on marketing techniques. Thank you all in advance for any help given.

posted by JokingClown to human relations (16 comments total)

I'd start with Douglas Rushkoff's book Coercion: Why We Listen to What "They" Say and follow his references.
posted by cgc373 at 2:59 AM on May 13, 2006 [1 favorite]

• Subliminal Seduction
• The Age of Manipulation: The Con in Confidence, The Sin in Sincere

Some criticism thereof: Are subliminal messages secretly embedded in advertisements?
posted by Mr. Six at 3:43 AM on May 13, 2006

I think Influence by Robert Cialdini is exactly what you're looking for. I took a class based on this book and it's remarkable - specific, tested techniques for influencing other people (though presented more as a psychological study than a how-to manual). Whether you want to put this stuff into practice or defend yourself from it, this is the book on the subject.
posted by zanni at 4:03 AM on May 13, 2006

No snark intended (and I recognize that what I'll suggest doesn't directly meet your criteria of being "a book approached in a scientific manner describing the methods and tools that can be used to control a human"), but really, the practical guide and field manual for what you're trying to get a handle on is the Bible. And there is a metric ton of commentary and analysis of Biblical themes and methods of manipulation, one of which that is written for the laymen, and while severely dated is still a good read, is Sigmund Freud's "Moses and Monotheism."
posted by paulsc at 5:17 AM on May 13, 2006

Manufacturing Consent : The Political Economy of the Mass Media
posted by ludwig_van at 5:29 AM on May 13, 2006

Manufacturing dissent could be quite interesting.

I'd also recommend looking at Rushkoff's work.
posted by Sijeka at 5:52 AM on May 13, 2006

Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People's Minds, by Howard Gardner.
posted by enrevanche at 7:57 AM on May 13, 2006

If you're interested in specifically the shopping urge, you might enjoy The Call of the Mall [my review] written by Paco Underhill who has also written Why We Buy which I haven't read. He discusses the design of shopping spaces in order to maximize the chances that people will spend money there, what appeals to people and under what circumstances.
posted by jessamyn at 8:16 AM on May 13, 2006

Don't forget the first book on the topic, one which Mussolini, Hitler & even grandpa Prescott studied at length: Edward Bernays' 1928 classic Propaganda.

Bernays is often called the "father of propaganda" and was Sigmund Freud's nephew. His book was and still is unnervingly influential.
posted by Aquaman at 9:48 AM on May 13, 2006

find a book called "the 48 laws of power"
posted by tiamat at 12:09 PM on May 13, 2006

Thank you guys all very much, these books are just the type of thing Im looking for. Keep them coming :)
posted by JokingClown at 1:56 PM on May 13, 2006

Perhaps the classic book on this is Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard. It's certainly one of the first books ever to address marketing and advertising in the way you seem to want.

By the way, you think a "scantily clad woman" is completely unrelated to the reasons men buy cars? Hmm.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 1:58 PM on May 13, 2006

By the way, you think a "scantily clad woman" is completely unrelated to the reasons men buy cars? Hmm.

Before advertisers made automobiles a sexual object, yes.
posted by JokingClown at 2:48 PM on May 13, 2006

Before you go reading anything by this Wilson Bryan Key guy (The author of Subliminal Seduction and The Age of Manipulation: The Con in Confidence, The Sin in Sincere), please take a look at the Straight Dope link provided by Mr. Six. This fellow is the one who came up with the idea that there were hidden sexual images in ice cubes in liquor advertisements and all that nonsense.

As someone who has worked with all kinds of people in the advertising world, I can tell you that I can't imagine anyone doing anything like that, other than as a joke. One thing you might consider is that advertisers don't need to put hidden sexual images in when they use sex to sell products quite explicitly.

Advertising is much more of an art than a science--most art directors are people who just want to make money using their design skills, most copywriters are people who want to make money using their writing skills. The closest thing to science is identifying the demographic and measuring the effectiveness of a campaign.

Political advertising has always struck me as incredibly crude. I think the much more effective part of political manipulation consists of politicians' identifying the basest instincts of their constituents and framing both rhetoric and policy around them (cf. gay marriage, tax cuts, war on terror, etc.).
posted by lackutrol at 4:01 PM on May 13, 2006

Seconding zanni's recommendation of Bob Cialdini's book Influence. Very readable, very much based in social psychological research. Cialdini also does workshops, and he's a good speaker.
posted by jasper411 at 6:41 PM on May 13, 2006

I read the straight dope on Brian Key. I dont think ill be getting his books. while I know some advertisements have subliminal messages in them, and some may be there intentionally, I dont think its a hinging pointof any major advertising campaign. besides Im more interested in a book about the science of control and manipulation, not a single issue book on the evils of sublimminal messages in advertsising campaigns.
posted by JokingClown at 3:47 PM on May 14, 2006