What does Christianity, for instance, succeed in doing, if not brainwashing?
It seems to me that it’s (sincere) adherents have been persuaded to believe Christianity is the most rational choice. They’ve been convinced it is the best wager available.
Is it? Is Christianity (or any religion) the best wager? Is it rational?
If not, then what can we say about the mechanism(s) used to get humans to be wholly convinced otherwise? What shall we name it? How does it work?
And how is this yet-nameless, magical process different from brainwashing?
Religions succeed in making people believe in them. But how specifically? I propose three mechanisms:
First, by providing them some advantages. There may be advantages of the belief (belief in afterlife alleviates fear of death), advantages of explicitly commanded behavior (forbidding theft reduces costs of protecting property), other advantages (meeting every Sunday in church helps one meet their neighbors).
Second, by blackmailing them. If you leave the religion, you will be forever tortured in the hell; and in some situations your former friends will murder you.
Third, by modifying their thoughts or behavior into ones that make leaving less likely. For example teaching people that things can be “true” even if they are completely invisible and statistically undetectable (which makes them less likely to realize that the beliefs are wrong), by making them too busy to make any long-term thinking (such as whether to leave the religion), by removing information sources or friends that could provide information or encouragement against the religion.
If this reflects the reality well enough, I would suggest that the word “brainwashing” means using mainly the third and second kind of mechanisms (as opposed to mostly the first one, which feels legitimate). One religious group can give people friends and pleasant social activities, so the members are happy to be there. Other religious group can make them busy 16 hours a day (praying, meditating, converting new people, etc.) and destroy all out-group contacts, so the members’ agency is crippled, and they stay even if they are unhappy.
Taboo “brainwashing”.
What does Christianity, for instance, succeed in doing, if not brainwashing?
It seems to me that it’s (sincere) adherents have been persuaded to believe Christianity is the most rational choice. They’ve been convinced it is the best wager available.
Is it? Is Christianity (or any religion) the best wager? Is it rational?
If not, then what can we say about the mechanism(s) used to get humans to be wholly convinced otherwise? What shall we name it? How does it work?
And how is this yet-nameless, magical process different from brainwashing?
Religions succeed in making people believe in them. But how specifically? I propose three mechanisms:
First, by providing them some advantages. There may be advantages of the belief (belief in afterlife alleviates fear of death), advantages of explicitly commanded behavior (forbidding theft reduces costs of protecting property), other advantages (meeting every Sunday in church helps one meet their neighbors).
Second, by blackmailing them. If you leave the religion, you will be forever tortured in the hell; and in some situations your former friends will murder you.
Third, by modifying their thoughts or behavior into ones that make leaving less likely. For example teaching people that things can be “true” even if they are completely invisible and statistically undetectable (which makes them less likely to realize that the beliefs are wrong), by making them too busy to make any long-term thinking (such as whether to leave the religion), by removing information sources or friends that could provide information or encouragement against the religion.
If this reflects the reality well enough, I would suggest that the word “brainwashing” means using mainly the third and second kind of mechanisms (as opposed to mostly the first one, which feels legitimate). One religious group can give people friends and pleasant social activities, so the members are happy to be there. Other religious group can make them busy 16 hours a day (praying, meditating, converting new people, etc.) and destroy all out-group contacts, so the members’ agency is crippled, and they stay even if they are unhappy.