Edward Bernays and group psychology: the manipulation of the masses

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In this video, we will explore some of Bernays’ most fascinating ideas, focusing on his insights into how group psychology can be used to manipulate and control the masses.

In his classic work, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, Sigmund Freud described group psychology as psychology concerned with the individual as a member of a race, nation, caste, profession, institution, or as part of a crowd organized into a group at a particular time for a specific purpose.

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In other words, group psychology seeks to understand how individuals’ behavior and emotions change when they become part of a group.

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an essential element in a democratic society.

Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government that is our world’s true ruling power.

We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of… in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses.

It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.