English

Noun

brain-washing ‎(plural brain-washings)

1. A form of indoctrination that forces people to abandon their beliefs in favour of another set of beliefs by conditioning through various forms of pressure or torture^[1][2][3][4]
   • 1994, David Lawrence Pedersen, Cameral Analysis: A Method of Treating the Psychoneurosis Using Hypnosis, page 96:

     So it came about, through Pavlov's work, that the Soviets developed and perfected the 'brain-washing' technique seen to be so effective in the state trials of the 1930s. An amazed world witnessed the sight of intelligent and renowned figures genuinely confessing to criminal acts against the state, or voicing ideological dogma in a total reversal of their previously held values.

   • 2000, Boyé De Mente, The Chinese Have a Word for It: The Complete Guide to Chinese Thought and Culture, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0658010786, page 421:

     All new prisoners were assigned to "study groups" or "introductory teams" that were responsible for applying a variety of brain-washing techniques designed to break down all old beliefs and attitudes and replace them with Communist-Socialist thoughts.

Translations

Alternative forms

• brainwashing

References

1. ↑ David A. Statt (1990) The Concise Dictionary of Psychology, Routledge, ISBN 0415026628, pages 18-19
2. ↑ James K. Boehnlein (2000) Psychiatry and Religion: The Convergence of Mind and Spirit, American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., ISBN 0880489200, pages 73-74
3. ↑ Raymond J. Corsini (2001) The Dictionary of Psychology, Routledge, ISBN 1583913289, page 127
4. ↑ Virginia A. Sadock, Harold I. Kaplan (2007) Kaplan and Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, ISBN 978-0781773270, page 676