The Michael Shermer Show Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion
4 snips
Aug 26, 2025 
Rebecca Lemov, a historian of science at Harvard and visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute, reveals the subtle ways brainwashing permeates our lives. She discusses its historical roots from POWs in North Korea to the modern dangers of social media. The conversation touches on the psychology behind cults and the moral implications of obedience in extreme situations. A focus on transformative self-awareness underscores how perceived autonomy can be manipulated. Lemov's insights challenge our understanding of control, belief, and societal norms.
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Personal Path To Studying Brainwashing
- Rebecca Lemov fell into behaviorist intellectual circles and later into a coercive romantic relationship that shaped her research interest in brainwashing.
- Those personal experiences led her to study how people lose perspective and are reshaped by social environments.
Conversion Can Look Voluntary
- Brainwashing phenomena often look empowering to participants, not purely robotic or victimized.
- Observers misinterpret apparent enthusiasm as absence of coercion when conversion can coexist with agency and enjoyment.
How A Friend Helped Her Exit
- Lemov describes losing autonomy in a drug-fueled controlling relationship and being cut off from friends and family.
- A single friend's blunt reality-check helped her regain perspective and leave the relationship.
