Conditioning
The author mentions Pavlov's experiments with dogs, which demonstrate how involuntary responses may be coordinated with arbitrary signals. Conditioning has been seen to work on other species as well, including man, and it is speculated that it could be extended beyond momentary reflex actions (though this has not yet been demonstrated).
(EN: It is observed that many mental disorders involve the triggering of an emotional response - a child bitten by a white dog comes to fear the color white because it is associated to the pain of being bitten. But again, this is simple association rather than a link between a trigger and a complex activity.)
The ambition of conditioning research is that all of human behavior can be programmed and that even complex, thinking activities can be associated to triggers. Significant research has allegedly been done in the Soviet Union - and while there are no credible claims of a fully programmed human being, there is evidence enough that the basic emotions can be manipulated to cause people to be more loyal to a given cause/party and apprehensive toward any other.
On one hand, it can be said that conditioning affects momentary emotional responses and has no effect on reason. Human begins are not entirely ruled by their emotions, and often recognize that their emotional responses are incorrect and attempt to adjust - the difference between a child and an adult is they have learned not to be ruled by their emotions. But on the other hand, it's clear that emotions influence reasoning, as if is commonplace for a person to rationalize emotional responses rather than consider that they were inappropriate.
There is also the human propensity for adventure, which leads some men to rebel and dissent. They resist not only the will of the social majority, but also tend to doubt in one's own beliefs - the notion that something is universal and infallibly true immediately arouses our suspicions and doubts that it may not be so, and curiosity leads us to observe and experiment to test these beliefs.
Swinging back to topic, the author considers the notion of a "reflex," the idea of which goes back to Descartes in the seventeenth century, who considered the actions of the human body to be analogous to those of a machine - each movement is a response to an external stimulus. Therein is the problem in that a machine is completely mindless and incapable of acting on its own. (EN: in more modern times, man is compared to computers, but behavior is still limited by the assumption that all actions are reactions and that man is not self-directed.)
Man is a very complex organism. Some of his behaviors can be explained as physical reactions that involve no thought (strike a tendon and the arm twitches), other behaviors are presumed to be based on instincts in the most primitive parts of the mind, others are presumed to be thoughtless habits, and but a little is considered to be of deliberate intent. It is generally agreed that each of these phenomena influence behavior, but there is great argument about the degree to which each is influential and the degree to which each may be overridden or modified.
It's also noted that the notion of instinct is overused - many actions are learned. We cannot say that man was born with an instinct to use a brake to stop a car in an emergency - it is a behavior that was learned and has been automatized. A person must learn how to operate an automobile in order to use the brake - learning to drive is difficult, but in time the patterns become habits. So when a child darts into the road, a driver doesn't need to decide what to do, but presses the brake without deliberation.
The Conditioning of Man
Most of the "skills" we possess are merely patterns of behavior to which we have intentionally conditioned ourselves. We learn that a given behavior is connected to a given outcome, and this becomes part of our mental programming. It is not always intentional: connections are formed based on experiences, whether or not we mean to make associations, they are made.
The author mentions the Razran experiment, which a group of students was treated to a series of luncheons. For the test group, the same music was played each time. Later, the students were asked to evaluate a number of pieces of music and indicate what the music made them think of - naturally, the group associated the music that had been played at the luncheons with food or eating. No such association was made by a control group. It is simply because the two coincided that the connection was made.
However, it's noted that conditioned reflexes are a temporary adjustment that requires reinforcement. Once Pavlov's dog had been conditioned to associate a bell and food, it would salivate at the sound of the bell even if no food was presented. But if the bell was sounded and no food was presented, the association would in time be broken. It is not a matter of a coincidence always/never occurring, but an assessment of the possibility of a coincidence. (EN: Other sources elaborate: the probability is not consciously calculated, but unconsciously assessed according to the recentness, frequency, and intensity of the association and related stimuli.)
In more complex behavior patterns, a person develops skill at a task my learning a pattern of activities and behaviors that lead to success. He continues to follow the same pattern in the past, expecting the same outcome in the future. If he fails to receive that outcome, he tries the same activity again, assuming he did something wrong. It takes a few attempts for it to dawn on him that the procedure that worked in the past is no longer working (under new conditions) and to consider a different approach to achieving his goals. (EN: It's also been observed that the more complex the pattern or the more protracted the process, the sooner the individual will recognize the problem, hence it is harder to train and harder to break training.)
And so, conditioned behavior is part of human life, and is often used in obvious and beneficial ways. We develop good habits and learn skills by conditioning ourselves - and when we raise a child, teach a student, or train an employee we are leveraging the exact same mechanisms to condition them. And when someone engages in brainwashing, they are leveraging the same mechanisms as well. Ultimately, the difference between "brainwashing" and 'educating" is political: whether we agree with the end to which these techniques are used.
(EN: It might also be suggested that a difference is that the subject is aware of what is being done to him - but little distinction is made. Parents and teachers "trick" children into developing good habits and the "treatment" given by therapists can be intentionally done without informing the patient of their intentions. So again, it is political - whether one agrees with what is being taught.)
Isolation and Other Factors in Conditioning
It's noted that conditioning usually depends on isolation, in a situation in which the subject's attention is focused on the factors that the conditioner wants to control and there are a minimum of distractions. There is a reason that psychological researchers must sequester their subjects in a laboratory, an animal tamer must bring a horse into a corral, or a teacher must teach within a classroom rather than in the market square - there are too many distractions and too many random stimuli that will impair the ability to make a specific connection.
In a political sense, this is the reason that those who wish to indoctrinate others attempt to isolate them from society. Religious groups have "retreats" and "lock-ins" to have complete control over their victims. Governments create training camps in which people are indoctrinated. Prisons and mental hospitals isolate dissenters from influencing the public, as well as being influenced by others. In a broader sense, the subjects of a totalitarian government are often forbidden to travel abroad and books from foreign countries are banned to prevent the distraction of unauthorized ideas.
Another finding is that some individuals learn more quickly when given a reward for success (modeling the desired behavior), whereas others learn more quickly when punished for failure. One is no more effective than the other in general, so the conditioner must determine for any given subject which is the better approach. Much may depend on the situation.
It's also observed that individuals who are easily conditioned also tend to lose their conditioned learning easily - they have a very weak level of commitment and are very submissive and easy to change, which can work against the conditioner who wishes to create a strong and lasting impression. In this sense, an easy mark who is very susceptible to brainwashing isn't always the best target to use, particularly if there is a long-term rather than a short-term need for his support.
It seems doubtful that a person can be "subliminally" conditioned, as Pavlov's experiments demonstrate that a strong stimulus (a loud bell) is more effective than a weak one (a barely audible bell). Also, regardless of intensity, conditioning can fail if the stimulus-response event is too frequent. The use of hypnosis and sleep deprivation is also questioned: while these techniques can weaken the will, it also weakens the strength of a conditioned association.
Mass Conditioning Through Speech
It is a mistake to anthropomorphize animals: a dog may be conditioned to behave differently when his trainer speaks different words (sit or stay) but this does not mean that the animal understands those words as language. The same effect could be achieved using different hand signals, or different non-word sounds (bells of different tones).
However, language does have a richer meaning to the human being, as emotional portent is attacked to a word. The word "illness" or "plague" does not merely have a logical meaning, but an emotional association. Hence, people react to words not only on a logical level, but an emotional level. They may feel a tinge of disgust at the mention of illness, but a tinge of panic at the mention of a plague. In political speeches, particularly, it is easy to recognize that a speaker chooses words that have an emotional impact, which is in some instances more important to motivating the audience than any logical content.
Conditioning an individual may be facilitated by leveraging the existing emotional portent of language, or it may require changing the emotions associated to language - to speak in the victims terms, to change the terms the victim uses, or to change the meaning the victim attaches to the terms. This is as true of propaganda, which attempts to influence the masses, as it is of conversations with an individual.
Repetition is the chief means of creating association of words and meanings, and in that sense the masses can be used against the masses. The author mentions that in Red China, youth were encouraged to chant slogans and recite speeches, acting as "little brothers" to spread the message of "big brother." Religions that encourage advocates to proselytize are making use of much the same technique.
Political Conditioning
Political condition is differentiated from training or education in that it is feared not merely to cause an individual to perform certain actions, but to endorse and support an ideology. The same punishment/reward mechanism is used, but in pursuit of a goal that the subject does not clearly understand. Compliance is not consent to perform a specific activity, but to consent to anything - to surrender oneself without question to a party, to agree to be agreeable to its demands, regardless of what they are.
In essence, political conditioning is a "taming program." The goal is to convince the individual that his will is unimportant and his welfare is of lesser importance to that of the state. In so doing, they produce a perpetually subservient individual who does not need to be convinced or conditioned to any specific task.
It's noted that political conditioning often takes place in isolation: prisons, concentration camps, and asylums that were intended to isolate and contain residents also create conditions that are very conducive to conditioning - those in which they are completely alienated, under the authority of others, outside of any normal role or routine, etc. All of these conditions reduce an individual's sense of self-worth, purpose, and identity. It is much easier to convert an individual into an automaton once he has been dehumanized.
The Desire to be Controlled
Discussions of thought control, including this one, often assume that people wish to be autonomous and attempts to control them are unwanted violations of their persons. However, this is not always so: there are personality types who desire to be controlled, and who gladly surrender themselves to be dominated by others. Whence this urge to be conditioned, to conform, and to obey?
Essentially, it is an escape from having personal responsibility - of making difficult choices and accepting the blame for any unfortunate consequences. Even people who are quite autonomous and strong-willed will eagerly seek out authorities to tell them what to do in specific instances - to see a doctor when they are sick is to yield to his authority. Those who are less intelligent and strong seek out authorities more often, for less significant things. Anyone who undertakes to diet is essentially admitting they are not competent to choose the foods they eat, and has placed themselves in the hands of an authority, and is glad to be told what to do. Life is so much easier when one is relieved of the burden of thinking and can simply obey orders. (EN: This is a very significant point that few authors on this topic, as well as political topics, fail to recognize. Many people are eager to follow anyone's guidance rather than to think for themselves and accept the blame for their own failures.)
The willingness to compromise is the basis of human society. While living with others is beneficial in many regards, it is also detrimental in others - and man chooses to participate in society because the good outweighs the bad. The same can be said of an individual who submits to any system of control: so long as he perceives that the benefits of obedience outweigh the costs, he will remain obedient. In many instances, this is faith in institutions that, like religious fervor, is based on belief rather than any evidence that can be presented - life in a totalitarian regime may be miserable, but if it is perceived to be better than the past, or hoped that it will be better in future, people will accept and support the state.
It is not accurate to state that such people have been conditioned - they are voluntary participants and coercion and deception are unnecessary. Those who need conditioning are the ones who do not perceive that the benefits of obedience outweigh the costs - and if the state cannot change the balance by its actions (providing greater benefits at lesser costs), then it may attempt to change the perception of such individuals: to convince them that the benefits are greater than they are, or the cost is less than it is.
To the autonomous individual, the greatest cost of subordination is his own dignity and humanity, hence the most common technique for gaining is compliance is to abolish both: one he has been dehumanized and stripped of his dignity, he has nothing to lose by cooperating with those who wish to control him. If freedom is not an option, he can only choose which master to whom he will enslave himself. If thinking for himself is not possible, he can only choose who will do his thinking for him. And this is the basis of all forms of conditioning - to adjust an individual's perception of cost and benefit.