Page Six THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE Sunday, October Wit?, 1957 Page~ ~~ ,_ Six THIHGDIY AAIESna, coe ,15 Brainwashing BRattle for the Mind' Tells How It's Done Once - -Year Special! PERFUME nd and EAU 1DE 1ANVIN ,A RIPF (,J $ S.5 0 \IY SI\7 S5 .00 74e0 Q( C!N tncr. BATTLE FOR THE MIND. By how r (1a t i v e Iy uncomplicated' William Sargant. Garden physiological aiid mechanistic methods - rather than intellee- City, Nw York: Doubleday ual persuasion - can be used to & Company, Inc., 1957. 263 orce the human mind to seject pp. $4.50. old beliefs and behavior and sud- denly grasp new ones which it By JOHN B. DALBOR had previonsly thought to be fllse I HAS BEEN over four vears and pernicious: This can occur ssce the end of the Korean in reli ions conversions, police ar, asnd the memory of it is fad- confessions. and psychiatric treat- sno.fcst for most Americans. Occa- ient, as we as political brain- sionally one of the GI "turncoats" washing. returns to the United States, and The author cites case after case ts is npoa lyraseoofie of tse to show that any nervous system, leadig contros ersies to have come sihen put under enough strain and out of this sar-brainwashing. fatigue will eventually crack, and the brain will pass into a state of Most Amiericans fail to realize increased suggestibility. Ilsess ila sates slt concession of Dr. Sarant's theory of stress, lsuppist loal and itellient b r e a k d o s n, suggestibility, andj Amesricin soldiers by the Chinese conversion-occurring es en when Comrsnists represents one of the the individual fights desperately crcst polentii dsssigers to the to retain his serenity and integrity W est iin itoseresit Cold War 5wi-h is based on the experiments with the Soviet sphere. Little but Ois- does conducted by the famous information has been published of Russian scientist Pavlov. exactly how thisamazing feat was accomplished, and even less of a APPARENTLY canine behavior satisiactory nature has been done bears a greater and more dis- about it. turbing similarity to human be- Public condemnation of these havior than most of us care to{ unfoitunate figures is vehement admit. In fact, Dr. Sargant says and widespread, yet there have that the remark "Men are not been few concrete findings on dogs" becomes at times almost which to basesthe' cries of right- irrelevant. In his own words "The eous indignation. The Army policy possible relevance of these experi- of c si'lcsstion through court mar- ments to sudden religious and poli- tial sened 'inadequate as a solu- tical conversion should be obvious tion to the problem at the time, even to the most skeptical: Pavlov but now it appears downright ri- has shown by repeated and repeat- diculous in the light of some very able experiment just how a dog, unusual theories presented by a like a man, can be conditioned to British psychiatrist. hate what it previously loved, and Dr. William Sargant, in his lat- love what it previously hated. Sim- est book, Battle for the Mind, con- ilarly one set of behavior patterns tends that the more intelligent, in man can be temporarily re- "normal" and loyal an individual placed by another that altogether is, the greater chance he has of contradicts it; not by persuasive being converted or brainwashed indoctrination alone, but also by to accept ideas which are often imposing intolerable strains on a diametrically opposed to the ones normally functioning brain." he fervently held before with great The first reaction of anyone who conviction, strongly holds o u r traditional Western beliefs is apt to be one of USING A Q U I T E convincing scorn and rejection when he reads body of scientific and psychia- of how most of these theories are ric evidence, the author shows based on experimentation witha animnats. Yet the aut lor counters, inc :itostrently correctly so, that a loie part of1the world's popula- tion is not only being reindoc- trinated but has had its whole medical system reoriented along Pa-lovian lmes - partly because the mechanistic and psysiological approach to what is more com- monly regarded in the West as the proince of philosophy and rei- Igioi has achieved such politically elaonveinient results. Dr. Sargant condemns Western psychologists, psychiatrists, a n d physicians for having too Ion" underestimated the physiological aspect of the human brain and nervous system and for having dallied for centuies with irrele- vant philosophical and metaphysi- cal considerations which have re- sulted in shamefully little progress in our struggle to know the human mind and cure its ailments. If medicine had refused to compare human and canine glandular and digestive systems, he says, it would still be in the same backward state as modern psychiatry. rrHE AUTHOR insists that fur- ther research on the available means of resisting political con- version is needed in the Western world. We cannot always oppose powerfu psysiological and mech- anistic techniques merely by a placid intellectual acceptance of religious or philosophical doctrine. He makes a charge, obviously directed at American authorities for their handling of the brain- washing cases: "Some statesmen and Service chiefs seem to believe that, given the necessary patriot- ism and proper training, a decent man can resist every assault made on the fortress of his integrity, whether by fascists, communists, or any other deluded outlaws: which is quite untrue." This theory of conversion and thought control through purely physiological and external means can become quite terrifying if one meditates on all its many implica- tions. However, Dr. Sargant wisely You can buy records for LESS MONEY at The Music Center on 150 London Classical LP's 25% OFF on 50 London Pop LP's 20% OFF on all Westminster recordings (including Lab Series) 15% OFF on Folkways, Electra & Riverside labels 331/3% OFF on Classical EP's 662A% OFF on 10" Classical LP's 121/2% OFF on all $3.98 LP's by joining the Music Center Record Club Plus a wide selection of LP's at $1.98, $2.50, $2.98 and $3.48 300 S. THAYER NO 2-2500 takes great care to assure the reader that his purpose in pro- pounding these theories is cer- ELIGIBLE TO JOIN ? tainly not to advocate the adop- tion of such procedures, but almost solely to analyze them in order to comprehend them b e t t e r and Fridy ad Saurdy Nihtsthereb' resist them. Fiday and Saturday Nights We are told how during World War II, as a psychiatrist visiting civilian and military victims of . * Members and Guests battle fatigue and hysteria, Dr. I J 34EsnetSargant noted that the ailments 314 East L berty and methods used to cure them FLOOR SHOW TONIGHT Ma Lou bore a remarkable resemblance to ryPavlov's experiments with dogs. CLUB OPENS 1 1:30 A.M. FOOTBALL SATURDAYS. These findings have been largely FREE BUS SERVICE TO AND FROM STADIUM. iaored in the Western world due BUS LEAVES AT 1:00 P.M. to a lack of good translations of Pavlov's writings and the tradi- tional repugnance in our culture for dealing with human psycho- logical problems through research on animals. TO COATS! TE W A R T IM E experiments witnessed by the author en- abTedspsychiatrists later to connect Topcoats! Topcoats! such seemingly unrelated pheno- mena as Pavlov's neurotic dogs, John Wesley's mass conversions in IEngland during the 18th century, We have them in Tweeds, and Chinese Communist - brain- washing of American servicemen, Cheviots, Gaberdines. Dr. Sargant also employs his Get yours at - Pavlovian theories to e x p 1 a i n many ancient Biblical conversions, which all seem to have occurred Alligator Coats .« .. . $34.75 suddenly and only after stress and a great deal of violent resistance A. Wolff Tweeds ..... $45.00 on the part of the individual, such as the case of Saul on the road Imported Harris Tweeds $55.00 to Damascus. Jonathan Edwards' Calvinistic conversion campaigns With or without zip-in linings in Puritan NewEngland is also ex- plained along these lines, as well as Wesley's amazing success in WAL K A FEW STEPS England a century later. AND SAl1E 1 DLAiS BhHe also applies his theories to the way that apparently sincere confessions are often obtained Open till 9 P.M. Mondays from innocent people. not only behind the Iron Curtain but in our own police stations. Physio- logical and chemical cures fax forms of insanity and combat fa- tigue are also cited, and similar i --Wevidence is presented to explain N 11the mysterious efficacy of native witch doctors and Voodoo prac- titioners.