Archive for category: Joost A.M. Meerloo

Joost A.M. Meerloo (1903–1976) was a prominent psychiatrist and writer especially known for his critical analysis of totalitarian systems and psychological warfare. He emigrated to the US and published numerous books on psychological control and manipulation.

Quote about majority opinion and authority by Joost A.M. MeerlooCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork

Asch on Majority Opinion and Authority – Joost A.M. Meerloo

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"In his important social psychological experiments with students, Asch found out in simple tests that there was a yielding toward an ERRING MAJORITY opinion in more than a third of his test persons, and 75 percent of subjects experimented upon agreed with the majority in varying degrees. In many persons the weight of authority is more important than the quality of the authority." Joost A.M. Meerloo
Quote about Pavlovian strategy and mass opinion by Joost A.M. MeerlooCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork

Pavlovian Strategy and Mass Opinion – Joost A.M. Meerloo

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"The Pavlovian strategy in public relations has people conditioned more and more to ask themselves, "What do other people think?" As a result, a common delusion is created: people are incited to think what other people think, and thus public opinion may mushroom out into a mass prejudice. Expressed in psychoanalytic terms, through daily propagandistic noise backed up by forceful verbal cues, people can more and more be forced to identify with the powerful noisemaker. Big brother's voice resounds in all the little brothers." Joost A.M. Meerloo
Quote by Joost A.M. Meerloo about culture, manipulation, and authoritarianismCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork

Joost A.M. Meerloo Quote on Culture and Manipulation

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"Every culture institutionalizes certain forms of behavior that communicate and encourage certain forms of thinking and acting, thus moulding the character of its citizens. To the degree that the individual is made an object of constant mental manipulation, to the degree that cultural institutions may tend to weaken intellectual and spiritual strength, to the degree that knowledge of the mind is used to tame and condition people instead of educating them, to that degree does the culture itself produce men and women who are predisposed to accept an authoritarian way of life." Joost A.M. Meerloo