Stimulus-Response in Man
(EN: This book is somewhat controversial - not merely because of its topic, but because of its origin. It is presented as a synthesis of various Soviet documents on the practice of brainwashing, but may in fact be a fabrication to provoke outrage and opposition to the communist party and due to its suspicious origin is considered that it may be a hoax or a work of science fiction. I've read it, and preserved notes, as it seems interesting and plausible, in spite of its dubious validity and origin.)
Discussions of stimulus-response generally consider the work of Pavlov, but in fact stimulus-response is a natural proclivity of man. Everything man does is responding to external stimuli - we react automatically to sensory stimuli, either by instinct or by accidental conditioning. We find that training dogs, or even educating people, is merely the intentional association of a stimulus to a response.
And man is gladly so: he is at his happiest when he reacts automatically, without having to burden himself with thinking. He abhors dilemmas, and shows anxiety when he is not certain how to react. Teach him what to do, condition him to do it, and he will happily comply because it saves him the effort of thinking and the anxiety that he may be blamed for making a bad choice.
The mechanism of stimulus-response is easily demonstrated: a rodent who receives an electric shock for stepping on a blue tile learns that there is a cause and effect relationship, and will avoid stepping on blue tiles to avoid being shocked; and if it is given a pellet of food for pressing a green button, it will learn to press a green button when it is hungry.
The mechanism is much the same in man, but memory and abstract reasoning enables a practitioner to merely state the reason for the stimulus: when an individual is beaten and told that they are receiving the punishment for doing (or failing to do) something, they associate the pain of the punishment to the activity identified. One can even tell a person they will be punished if they do something, and this will establish a weak connection. Naturally, it is stronger if there is a direct connection, but it is nonetheless effective in discouraging or encouraging behavior even if the activity is described.
This is often used in educating children: the parent will offer a reward for desirable behavior or threaten a punishment for undesirable behavior. The child will at first need the rewards and punishments to be delivered in order to believe in the parent's authority. But once authority is established, even a vague indication that a reward or punishment may be forthcoming is sufficient to alter behavior. Unruly children are the product of lenient parents - their disapproval means nothing if the child does not believe in the certainty of punishment. There is some "mawkish sentimentality" about the brutality of corporal punishment, but if the goal is to have an obedient and well-behaved child, a single severe punishment is far more effective than a series of more lenient ones.
While it is true that rewards can be used instead of punishment, reward is more costly and weaker. People are more motivated by pain than pleasure - the mind is focused entirely on a single pin prick when the rest of the body is in a state of comfort. Anything that implies danger is perceived more immediately and prioritized as more important than simultaneous stimuli that imply opportunity. There is also value in severity: an individual will remember a single poignant incident better than a succession of mildly stimulating ones.
Sensitivity to stimuli can also be increased by deprivation - to deny a person sleep, food, or water places them in a weaker state in which a lesser intensity of stimulus will have a greater effect. The use of certain drugs can also cause a subject to be more sensitive, and as a result more susceptible to suggestion. In some instances, a person who is drugged or in a state of duress is susceptible to suggestion without any appreciable stimulus.
In animal conditioning, it can be observed that once a behavior is associated to a stimulus,. It will be adopted in anticipation. A rat, shocked for stepping upon a red tile, will avoid the tile after a few repetitions even when it is no longer electrified - he does not attempt to test it again because he has been conditioned to expect the punishment. Human beings are the same: an operative may use duress to discourage behavior, and then observe that the person will refrain from that behavior even when there is no threat of punishment.
There is a brief consideration of brain surgery as a psychopolitcal method, but this remains in an experimental state. In theory, it should be possible to identify the part of the brain in which an undesirable association has been made and, if no other tactic succeeds in breaking that association, to extract it. The procedure is very crude and often creates a permanent state of idiocy or a vegetative state, so it will require further research to perfect this methodology.
There is also a mention of sex as a reward - it is a very cheap reward, and a very effective one because the reproductive drive is very strong and primitive. In many instances the implied promise of a sexual reward is sufficient motivation to cause subjects to obey, even with suggestions that are expressly against their interests and even contrary to common sense. Social approval and "peer pressure" are similar in their effects - children and even adults can be convinced to undertake some action if offered the promise of social acceptance or the threat of being shunned or humiliated.