by Tamara Kulish from https://tamarakulish.com/

How words manipulate us into behaving certain ways

We all like to think we’re not easily manipulated and we think for ourselves.

We don’t see ourselves as being pawns of more powerful people who have their own agenda and need to provoke us into thinking and behaving certain ways to achieve their outcomes. We may even get upset when someone accuses us of having been manipulated or worse *gasp* deluded.

Words have power, and utilizing certain groups of words can drastically alter how the listener perceives something. Years ago, in English writing class in high school, my class learned how the power of editorializing can slant a newspaper or media outlet, and as consumers we subconsciously absorb these words which in turn redirect how we perceive the world.

Marketing companies have known about this phenomenon and have used it extensively, as have politicians and media outlets. We are all fodder and fair game for their manipulations. Sadly, even the creators have come to believe their own words, for they feel validated when thousands and millions of people believe what they write to be true.

In the article 16 social experiments that led to unexpected results, they show how purposefully using certain words can influence people to the point of even creating false memories!

#13 False Memory Experiment

Idea: In 1974, Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer tried to investigate the effects of language on the development of false memory. The experiment involved two separate studies.

In the first test, 45 participants were randomly assigned to watch different videos of a car accident. The videos had shown collisions at 20 mph (32 km/h), 30 mph (48 km/h) and 40 mph (64 km/h). Afterwards, participants filled out a survey, which asked the question, “About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” The question always asked the same thing, except the verb used to describe the collision varied. Rather than “smashed”, other verbs used included “bumped”, “collided”, “hit”, or “contacted”. Participants estimated collisions of all speeds to average between 35 mph (56 km/h) to just below 40 mph (64 km/h). If actual speed was the main factor in estimate, it could be assumed that participants would have lower estimates for lower speed collisions. Instead, the word being used to describe the collision seemed to better predict the estimate in speed rather than the speed itself.

The second experiment also showed participants videos of a car accident, but the phrasing of the follow-up questionnaire was critical in participant responses. 150 participants were randomly assigned to three conditions. Those in the first condition were asked the same question as the first study using the verb “smashed”. The second group was asked the same question as the first study, replacing “smashed” with “hit”. The final group was not asked about the speed of the crashed cars. The researchers then asked the participants if they had seen any broken glass, knowing that there was no broken glass in the video. The responses to this question had shown that the difference between whether broken glass was recalled or not heavily depended on the verb used. A larger sum of participants in the “smashed” group declared that there was broken glass.

Result: In this study, the first point brought up in the discussion is that the words used to phrase a question can heavily influence the response given. Second, the study indicates that the phrasing of a question can give expectations to previously ignored details, and therefore, a misconstruction of our memory recall. This indication supports false memory as an existing phenomenon.

16 social experiments that led to unexpected results https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/16-social-experiments-that-led-to-unexpected-results/ar-AA1RMSbw?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=6967a5614003460a93b6690fac6d5e4d&ei=96

Take a look at the descriptive words in posts and articles you read. Take note of how they force a slant to one side or another, and how some words have the power to polarize people into seeing an us vs them ideology.

I’m not going to tell you what to think, I just want you to become aware how skillful the media outlets are to convince us to believe what they want us to believe.

Peace to you!

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Blessings!
Thank you for liking, sharing this post and for following me!
Tamara

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23 thoughts on “How words manipulate us into behaving certain ways”

    1. This is a quite lengthy article, and it raises a lot of questions about Elizabeth Loftus. I don’t find I’m understanding what she says about memories any clearer, especially since it appears that she has suppressed her own memories of her childhood. I find the subject is rather muddled now. I’ll need to reread the article at a different time to see if it makes more sense to me.

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  2. Yes indeed Tamara, those with that supposed ‘gift of the gab’ use it to the hilt to create a direction for them. A line of thought, a thinking pattern, a belief. It has been interesting just how much my world changed when I stopped watching or listening to media. My thoughts and beliefs changed dramatically. Mind you, standing in the truth of that love found within definitely isolates you from the ‘junk’ out there 🤗❤️🙏

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    1. Yes, looking through a lens of love for others definitely helps one keep more grounded and less likely to be fooled, though really clever manipulation disguises itself as love. Twisted for sure, but when one is hungry for love, it’s easy to be taken in by smooth sounding words. Stepping back is a good thing, it allows the rhetoric to filter away and become less insistent.

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      1. Actually I didn’t explain that properly. When you do go beyond your fear, then it works as I said above. But as you said, and of all things, love can and does really get used against you. It is the one thing that we seek so strongly so its effect is powerful because we want it so badly. We do many things in the hope of receiving something in return while ever the fear is our driver. Well said kind lady 🤗❤️🙏

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  3. False Memory Syndrome, one of the examples given, has undergone some criticism, as well. You also might want to track down essays about Loftus’s background. As to David Rosenhan, I sometimes think that a well-trained and talented actor on stage or in the movies can make us forget that he is an actor. Mental Health professionals are certainly not perfect.

    As a quote attributed to Lincoln reminded us, “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

    It turns out, no one knows whether he said it or who said it. We’ve been fooled there. too. Thanks for the interesting article, Tamara.

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    1. Hmmm, very interesting adrenaline. Stein, I need to look into this more about the false memorytopic. I appreciate you pointing it out. Thanks for the insight.

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  6. My parents taught we to recognize marketing persuasion techniques when we were young (reciprocity, scarcity, authority, social proof, liking, consistency, etc.) so we could recognize the psychological triggers that encourage purchasing decisions; it was a great lessons. Marketing, research, and even “unbiased” news stories are loaded and not always worthy of our unquestioning trust.

    Thanks for spreading awareness! It’s more important now than ever before.

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    1. I’m glad your parents were aware of the tactics used and taught you. This should be taught in English language classes, for twisting up words to get people to do or believe certain things is important to creating people who see through the BS and who won’t be easy prey.

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      1. Yes, 100%!! And I feel that when I point out to peer, they can’t recognize it, so I’d love if we taught people at a younger age.

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        1. Interesting how people aren’t seeing the slant. This explains so much, why so many people get taken in by manipulative people. Yes, these things need to be taught.

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  7. Loved the post. Words have so much power and people that use them to manipulate others are so good at it that oftentimes we don’t even notice what’s happening. We may even blame ourselves and start feeling like we’re the problem when in reality we’re the victim.

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    1. “so good at it that oftentimes we don’t even notice what’s happening” this. So true. The self blame part often comes with it, but they help speed it along with their gaslighting. Words matter more than we like to think, and becoming aware of how they’re directed at us and how we’re receiving them is an important step to making any changes that will improve our lives.

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