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CHAPTER IV - THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
THE systematic study
of mass psychology revealed to students the potentialities of invisible
government of society by manipulation of the motives which actuate man in
the group. Trotter and Le Bon, who approached the subject in a scientific
manner, and Graham Wallas, Walter Lippmann and others who continued with
searching studies of the group mind, established that the group has mental
characteristics distinct from those of the individual, and is motivated by
impulses and emotions which cannot be explained on the basis of what we know
of individual psychology .So the question naturally arose: If we understand
the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control
and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it? The
recent practice of propaganda has proved that it is possible, at least up to
a certain point and within certain limits. Mass psychology is as yet far
from being an exact science and the mysteries of human motivation are by no
means all revealed. But at least theory and practice have combined with
sufficient success to permit us to know that in certain cases we can effect
some change in public opinion with a fair degree of accuracy by operating a
certain mechanism, just as the motorist can regulate the speed of his car by
manipulating the flow of gasoline. Propaganda is not a science
in
the laboratory sense, but
it is no longer entirely the empirical affair that
it
was before the advent of the study of
mass psychology. It is now scientific
in
the sense that it seeks to base its
operations upon definite knowledge drawn from direct observation of the
group mind, and upon the application 0f principles which have been
demonstrated to be consistent and relatively constant. The modern
propagandist studies systematically and objectively the material with which
he is working in the spirit 0f the laboratory. If the matter
in
hand is a nation-wide sales campaign,
he studies the field by means 0f a clipping service, or of a corps of
scouts, or by personal study at a crucial spot. He determines, for example,
which features of a product are losing their public appeal, and
in
what new direction the
public taste is veering. He will not fail to investigate to what extent it
is the wife who has the final word in the choice of her husband's car, or of
his suits and shirts.
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Scientific accuracy of results is
not
to be expected, because many 0f the
elements of the situation must always be beyond his control. He may know
with a fair degree of certainty that under favorable circumstances an
international flight will produce a spirit of good will, making possible
even the consummation of political programs. But he cannot be sure that some
unexpected event will not overshadow this flight in the public interest, or
that some other aviator may not do something more spectacular the day
before. Even in his restricted field of public psychology there must always
be a wide margin of error. Propaganda, like economics and sociology, can
never be an exact science for the reason that its subject-matter, like
theirs, deals with human beings. If you can influence the leaders, either
with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the
group which they sway. But men do not need to be actually gathered together
in a public meeting or in a street riot, to be subject to the influences of
mass psychology. Because man is by nature gregarious he feels himself to be
member of a herd, even when he is alone in his room with the curtains drawn.
His mind retains the patterns which have been stamped on it by the group
influences. A man sits in his office deciding what stocks to buy. He
imagines, no doubt, that he is planning his purchases according to his own
judgment. In actual fact his judgment is a mélange of impressions stamped on
his mind by outside influences which unconsciously control his thought. He
buys a certain railroad stock because it was in the headlines yesterday and
hence is the one which comes most prominently to his mind; because he has a
pleasant recollection of a good dinner on one of its fast trains; because
it
has a liberal labor policy, a
reputation for honesty; because he has been told that J. P. Morgan owns some
of its shares. Trotter and Le Bon concluded that the group mind does not
think
in the strict sense of the word. In
place of thoughts it has impulses, habits and emotions. In making up
its
mind its first impulse
is
usually to follow the example of a
trusted leader . This
is
one of the most firmly established
principles of mass psychology. It operates in establishing the
rising
or diminishing prestige of a summer
resort, in causing a run on a bank, or a panic on the stock exchange, in
creating a best seller, or a box-office success.
24But
when the example of the leader is not at hand and the herd must think for
itself,
it
does so by means clichés, pat words
or images which stand for a whole group of ideas or experiences. Not many
years ago, it
was only necessary to tag a
political candidate with the word interests to stampede millions of people
into
voting against
him, because anything associated with "the interests" seemed
necessarily corrupt. Recently the word Bolshevik has performed a similar
service for persons who wished to frighten the public away from a line of
action.
By playing upon an old cliché, or
manipulating a new one, the propagandist can sometimes swing a whole mass
of group emotions. In Great Britain, during the war, the evacuation
hospitals came in for a considerable amount of criticism because of the
summary way in which they handled their wounded. It was assumed by the
public that a hospital gives prolonged and conscientious attention to its
patients. When the name was changed to evacuation posts the critical
reaction vanished. No one expected more than an adequate emergency
treatment from an institution so named. The cliché hospital was indelibly
associated in the public mind with a certain picture. To persuade the
public to discriminate between one type of hospital and another, to
dissociate the cliché from the picture it evoked, would have been an
impossible task. Instead, a new cliché automatically conditioned the
public emotion toward these hospitals.
Men are rarely aware of the real
reasons which motivate their actions. A man may believe that he buys a
motor car because, after careful study of the technical features of all
makes on the market, he has concluded that this is the best. He is almost
certainly fooling himself. He bought it, perhaps, because a friend whose
financial acumen he respects bought one last week; or because his
neighbors believed he was not able to afford a car of that class; or
because its colors are those of his college fraternity.
It is chiefly the psychologists of
the school of Freud who have pointed out that many of man's thoughts and
actions are compensatory substitutes for desires which he has been obliged
to suppress. A thing may be desired not for its intrinsic worth or
usefulness, but because he has unconsciously come to see in it a symbol of
something else, the desire for which he is ashamed to admit to himself. A
man buying a car may think he wants it for purposes 0f locomotion, whereas
the fact may be that he would really prefer not to be burdened with it,
and would rather walk for the sake of his health. He may really want it
because it is a symbol of social position, an evidence of his success in
business, or a means of pleasing his wife.
This general principle, that men
are very largely actuated by motives which they conceal from themselves,
is as true of mass as of individual psychology. It is evident that the
successful propagandist must understand the true motives and not be
content to accept the reasons which men give for what they do. It is not
sufficient to understand only the mechanical structure of society, the
groupings and cleavages and loyalties. An engineer may know all about the
cylinders and pistons pf a locomotive, but unless he knows how steam
behaves under pressure he cannot make his engine run. Human desires are
the steam which makes the social machine work. Only by understanding them
can the propagandist control that vast, loose-jointed mechanism which is
modern society. The old propagandist based his work on the mechanistic
reaction psychology then in vogue in our colleges. This assumed that the
human mind was merely an individual machine, a system of nerves and nerve
centers, reacting with mechanical regularity to stimuli, like a helpless,
will-less automaton. It was the special pleader's function to provide the
stimulus which would cause the desired reaction in the individual
purchaser. It was one of the doctrines of the reaction psychology that a
certain stimulus often repeated would create a habit, or that the mere
reiteration of an idea would create a conviction. Suppose the old type of
salesmanship, acting for a meat packer, was seeking to increase the sale
of bacon. It would reiterate innumerable times in full-page
advertisements: “Eat more bacon. Eat bacon because it is cheap, because it
is good, because it gives you reserve energy.” The newer salesmanship,
understanding the group structure of society and the principles of mass
psychology, would first ask: "Who is it that influences the eating habits
of the public?" The answer, obviously, is: "The physicians." The new
salesman will then suggest to physicians to say publicly that it is
wholesome to eat bacon. He knows as a mathematical certainty, that large
numbers of persons will follow the advice of their doctors, because he
understands the psychological relation of dependence of men upon their
physicians. The old-fashioned propagandist, using almost exclusively the
appeal of the printed word, tried to persuade the individual reader to buy
a definite article, immediately. This approach is exemplified in a type of
advertisement which used to be considered ideal from the point of view of
directness and effectiveness: "YOU (perhaps with a finger pointing at the
reader) buy
O'Leary's rubber heels -
NOW." The advertiser sought by means of reiteration and
emphasis directed upon the individual, to break down or penetrate sales
26 25
resistance. Although the appeal was
aimed at fifty million persons, it was aimed at each as an individual. The
new salesmanship has found it possible, by dealing with men in the mass
through their group formations, to set up psychological and emotional
currents which will work for him. Instead of assaulting sales resistance
by direct attack, he is interested in removing sales resistance. He
creates circumstances which will swing emotional currents so as to make
for purchaser demand. If, for instance, I want to sell pianos, it is not
sufficient to blanket the country with a direct appeal, such as: "YOU
buy a Mozart piano
now. It is cheap. The best artists use it. It will last for years."
The claims may all be true, but
they are in direct conflict with the claims of other piano manufacturers,
and in indirect competition with the claims of a radio or a motor car,
each competing for the consumer's dollar. What are the true reasons why
the purchaser is planning to spend his money on a new car instead of on a
new piano? Because he has decided that he wants the commodity called
locomotion more than he wants the commodity called music? Not altogether.
He buys a car, because it is at the moment the group custom to buy cars.
27
The modern
propagandist therefore sets to work to create circumstances which will
modify that custom. He appeals perhaps to the home instinct which is
fundamental. He will endeavor to develop public acceptance of the idea of
a music room in the home. This he may do, for example, by organizing an
exhibition of period music rooms designed by well known decorators who
themselves exert an influence on the buying groups. He enhances the
effectiveness and prestige of these rooms by putting in them rare and
valuable tapestries. Then, in order to create dramatic interest in the
exhibit, he stages an event or ceremony. To this ceremony key people,
persons known to influence the buying habits of the public, such as a
famous violinist, a popular artist, and a society leader, are invited.
These key persons affect other groups, lifting the idea of the music room
to a place in the public consciousness which it did not have before. The
juxtaposition of these leaders, and the idea which they are dramatizing,
are then projected to the wider public through various publicity channels.
Meanwhile, influential architects, have been persuaded to make the music
room an integral architectural part of their plans with perhaps a
specially charming niche in one corner for the piano. Less influential
architects will as a matter of course imitate what is done by the men whom
they consider masters of their profession. They in turn will implant the
idea of the music room in the mind of the general public. The music room
will be accepted because it has been made the thing. And the man or woman
, who has a music room, or has arranged a corner of :[ i the parlor as a
musical corner, will naturally think if I of buying a piano. It will come
to him as his own idea. Under the old salesmanship the manufacturer said
to the prospective purchaser, "Please buy a piano." The new salesmanship
has reversed the process and caused the prospective purchaser to say to
the manufacturer, "Please sell me a piano." The value of the associative
processes in propaganda is shown in connection with a large real estate
development. To emphasize that Jackson Heights was socially desirable
every attempt was made to produce this associative process. A benefit
performance of the Jitney Players was staged for the benefit of earthquake
victims of Japan, under the auspices of Mrs. Astor and others. The social
advantages of the place were projected-a golf course was laid out and a
clubhouse planned. When the post office was opened, the public relations
counsel attempted to use it as a focus for national interest and
discovered that its opening fell coincident with a date important in the
annals of the American Postal Service. This was then made the basis of the
opening. When an attempt was made to show the public the beauty of the
apartments, a competition was held among interior decorators for the best
furnished apartment in Jackson Heights. An important committee of judges
decided. This competition drew the approval of well known authorities, as
well as the interest of millions, who were made cognizant of it through
newspaper and magazine and other publicity, with the effect of building up
definitely the prestige of the development. One of the most effective
methods is the utilization of the group formation of modern society in
order to spread ideas. An example of this is the nation- wide competitions
for sculpture in Ivory soap, open to school children in certain age groups
as well as professional sculptors. A sculptor of national reputation found
Ivory soap an excellent medium for sculpture. The Procter and Gamble
Company offered a series of prizes for the best sculpture in white soap.
The contest was held under the auspices of the Art Center in New York
City, an organization of high standing in the art world.
28
School
superintendents and teachers throughout the country were glad to encourage
the movement as an educational aid for schools. Practice among school
children as part of their art courses was stimulated. Contests were held
between schools, between school districts and between cities.
Ivory soap was adaptable for
sculpturing in the homes because mothers saved the shavings and the
imperfect efforts for laundry purposes. The work itself was clean.
The best pieces are selected from
the local competitions for entry in the national contest. This is held
annually at an important art gallery in New York, whose prestige with that
of the distinguished judges, establishes the contest as a serious art
event.
In the first of these national
competitions about 500 pieces of sculpture were entered. In the third,
2,500. And in the fourth, more than 4,000. If the carefully selected
pieces were so numerous, it is evident that a vast number were sculptured
during the year, and that a much greater number: must have been made for
practice purposes. The good will was greatly enhanced by the fact that
this soap had become not merely the concern of the housewife but also a
matter of personal and intimate interest to her children.
A number of familiar psychological
motives were set in motion in the carrying out of this campaign. The
esthetic, the competitive, the gregarious (much of the sculpturing was
done in school groups), the snobbish (the impulse to follow the example of
a recognized leader), the exhibitionist, and - Iast but by no means least
- the maternal.
All these motives and group habits
were put in concerted motion by the simple machinery of group leadership
and authority. As if actuated by the pressure of a button, people began
working for the client for the sake of the gratification obtained in the
sculpture work itself.
This point is most important in
successful propaganda work. The leaders who lend their authority to any
propaganda campaign will do so only if it can be made to touch their own
interests. There must be a disinterested aspect of the propagandist's
activities. In other words, it is one of the functions of the public
relations counsel to discover at what points his client's interests
coincide with those of other individuals or groups.
In the case of the
soap sculpture competition, the distinguished artists and educators who
sponsored the idea were glad to lend their services and their names
because the competitions really promoted an interest which they had at
heart-the cultivation of the esthetic impulse among the younger
generation. Such coincidence and overlapping of interests is as infinite
as the interlacing of group formations themselves. For example, a railway
wishes to develop its business. The counsel on public relations makes a
survey to discover at what points its interests coincide with those of its
prospective customers. The company then establishes relations with
chambers of commerce along its right of way and assists them in developing
their communities. It helps them to secure new plants and industries for
the town. It facilitates business through the dissemination of technical
information. It is not merely a case of bestowing favors in the hope of
receiving favors; these activities of the railroad, besides creating good
will, actually promote growth on its right of way. The interests of the
railroad and the communities through which it passes mutually interact and
feed one another. In the same way, a bank institutes an investment service
for the benefit of its customers in order that the latter may have more
money to deposit with the bank. Or a jewelry concern develops an insurance
department to insure the jewels it sells, in order to make the purchaser
feel greater security in buying jewels. Or a baking company establishes an
information service suggesting recipes for bread to encourage new uses for
bread in the home. The ideas of the new propaganda are predicated on sound
psychology based on enlightened self- interest. I have tried, in these
chapters, to explain the place of propaganda in modern American life and
something of the methods by which it operates-to tell the why, the what,
the who and the how of the invisible government which dictates our
thoughts, directs our feelings and controls our actions. In the following
chapters I shall try to show how propaganda functions in specific
departments of group activity, to suggest some of the further ways in
which it may operate.
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History of Banking Fraud:
The Coming Battle
By M. W. WALBERT
The Coming Battle
documents from Congressional records, newspaper reports and writings by
the founding fathers and others a chronology of events long forgotten that
shaped our fledgling nation from 1776 to 1899. Read about the manipulation
of our money and its supply, the intentional creation of recessions,
depressions and panics, manipulation of the stock markets, and the
demonetization of silver.
Secrets of the Federal Reserve
by Eustace Mullins
Eustace Mullins' carefully
researched and documented treatise picks up from Walbert's expose' of
control of the money supply and the economy and
brings it to the mid 1980's.
The
World Order
by Eustace Mullins
How control of the world's money has inexorably led to an ever tighter
grip on control of the world's people.
Uranium Wars by Leuren Moret
How control of the world's people has inexorably led to wider use of
depopulation methods which include spreading radioactivity in food,
water, air, and the human genome.
Taking Back Your Power
by Allen Aslan Heart
WHAT CAN YOU DO? Stop playing THEIR game. Take back
your power. Stop paying taxes that are not legal or lawful. Stop paying
bills you don't really owe. Stop using THEIR money. There ARE ways if you
open your mind and look for the gaps in their fences that keep the sheeple
in their pasture. Are you chattel or a real person? You are the one who
makes that choice.
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Debt Collection Practices: When
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Dealing with a debt
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calls, threats, and use of obscene language can drive you to the edge.
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An
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Debt Collection Puts on a
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As consumer loans hit an all-time
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© 2007, Allen Aslan Heart / White Eagle Soaring of the Little Shell Pembina Band,
a
Treaty
Tribe of the Ojibwe Nation
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