by Anthony Pratkanis, Elliot Aronson
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Product Description
Americans create 57% of the world's advertising while representing only 6% of its population; half of our waking hours are spent immersed in the mass media. Persuasion has always been integral to the democratic process, but increasingly, thoughtful discussion is being replaced with simplistic soundbites and manipulative messages.
Drawing on the history of propaganda as well as on contemporary research in social psychology, Age of Propaganda shows how the tactics used by political campaigners, sales agents, advertisers, televangelists, demagogues, and others often take advantage of our emotions by appealing to our deepest fears and most irrational hopes, creating a distorted vision of the world we live in.
This revised and updated edition includes coverage of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, recent election campaigns, talk radio, teen suicide, U.F.O. abductions, the Columbine shootings, and novel propaganda tactics based on hypocrisy and false allegations.
Amazon.com Review
Drawing on the history of propaganda and modern research in social psychology, this book reveals mass persuasion in action -- not just the tactics, but why they work so well, and how we can protect ourselves from manipulation.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Just plain scary , 2008-12-17
This book here is just plain scary!!! It has amazing facts! This is really a good read and every breathing human being should read this and get educated! No reason don't have the time!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
An Eye Opener, 2008-06-13
What I like about this book:
- It is great to help people become aware of how the media manipulates our fears, insecurities and prejudices to make us want to buy everything in sight.
- It shows how advertisers take advantage of our being in a rush when shopping and not being used to think about what we're buying.
- It points out how we fall into traps without noticing it, and that it is not enough to know that ads are designed to make us like the products they are selling.
The reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that many of the experiments are too old. Over 10, 20 or 30 years sometimes. I wish there had been more current studies used as examples.
Still, it makes very pleasant, easy, informative, and many times funny reading :-)
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Great Book about Everyday Life Propaganda, 2008-02-28
This book opens your eyes concerning propaganda and the media. Everyone should read the Age of Propaganda. There are lots of examples in the book that help explain the topic.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Age of Propaganda: An excellent purchase., 2008-02-09
I have purchased, read, and studied many of the primary sources used by this book, but this book is the absolute gem in my collection on the subject of propaganda. It provides many case studies and modern examples for each technique taught. Those studies/examples range from the more mundane uses founded in everyday life to the more awsome effects of propaganda in world politics and war. I have taught from this book to my 10th and 11th grade students, and they have enjoyed it. I have enjoyed this book a great deal. The examples pulled from the 90's were great, and historical examples from the past 50 years or so really makes this book useful for understanding that propaganda is not just something our "enemies" do, or something that looks like a WWII poster - it is something being done to each of us by our own rulers, and companies. I only wish there were a new edition that could pull more examples from this proaganda-rich decade we now live in.
Buy it. Enjoy it. Understanding propaganda techniques is necessary to people living in free societies - now more than ever.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent and Easy to Read, 2007-10-26
This book attempts to demystify propaganda and the persuasion process, and it does so in a fluid and engaging manner. The authors walk the reader through the social psychology academic literature, discussing pivotal studies, and how they apply to what we see in the world around us. I especially like the section provocatively titled, "How to become a cult leader." If you've ever wondered how media, advertisers, politicians, and religious charlatans manage to so effectively manipulate audiences, this book will tell you their standard tricks. An unethical person might get this book for the purpose of learning the techniques of manipulation. It is a witch's brew of information about how to subvert and manipulate a person's reasoning processes. This is, of course, not the author's intentions. Their intent is to help readers defend themselves against manipulation.
The book is also a sobering reflection on the difficulties inherent in having a fully functioning, and fully informed, democracy in an age of advertising, packaging, spin, and big-media manipulation.
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