What features do classic brainwashing environments have in common? Robert Lifton, the psychiatrist who first described communist “thought reform” by interviewing prisoners of the Korean War, identified eight brainwashing hallmarks. Let’s take a look, to better recognize potential “thought reform” in culture today.
How can you recognize messages promoted by “brainwashing,” or subversive one-sided indoctrination, in today’s culture? Here are some questions you can ask, based on the 7 Checks of Critical Thinking, to discern instruction versus indoctrination in everyday messages.
“Brainwashing,” defined as one-sided indoctrination, can be harder to resist in environments that hamper critical thinking. Classic brainwashing conditions include poor nutrition, isolation, and sleep deprivation, which students may unwittingly experience at university. Here are research-backed t...
Transitional fossils supposedly represent animals in some intermediate stage of evolution—for example, between fish and land creatures, dinosaurs and birds, or ape-like ancestors and humans. Museums and textbooks cite various “transitional” fossils as rock-solid evidence for evolution. Here’s how...
